Ron Paul - Frédéric Bastiat - Lysander Spooner .. On my political evolution
Politics is always a touchy subject. Always has been always will be. As a libertarian I find common ground when democrats want to talk bad about republicans, or when a republican talks bad about a democrat. Its when the compliments come towards them that I have to be quite. I see a two headed snake.
When I was younger I could care less about politics. I was busy living. I voted once already. Only half heartedly. Politics appeared to me to be a rich white man's sport, I only read Hunter S Thompson's political papers. Then I watched a video by this old politician talking about things that made too much sense! This old guy was Ron Paul..
Ron Paul was not a republican, not really. He wanted to legalize drugs, and competing currencies. He wanted to stop foreign aid, and end foreign interventions. None of those things are republican views.. He wasn't a democrat either. He wanted less government, less taxes. Less government programs, and less government organizations period. A fiscally conservative, socially liberal hybrid. A libertarian.
Because of him I got overly involved in politics. I joined the DailyPaul website and organized and took part in the RELOVUTION. My great political awakening. In my studies I heard of a second person referenced several times by Ron Paul. A guy named Frédéric Bastiat..
Bastiat is old news. His books are available for free. They were new to me though and when I found them, they were my holy grail. He plainly described how I feel about politics. He praises America and the constitution.. then goes on to tell how constitution and America will fail. Very prophetically he describes how rich people will create loopholes to help themselves, and after an outcry the poor people will get incentives to help themselves. Then it will just get worse and worse. Pillaging and plundering from each other by LAW. Law becomes the great vehicle of theft used by the government.
I read all of the Bastiat I could find. I watched countless videos. While I was watching videos I kept coming across another name. A man named Lysander Spooner..
He started the first company to compete with the United States Postal Service. His company was overburdened in law and a change in the laws forced his company to close. It was because of him that the 3 cent stamp was adopted. This wasn't what interested me so much about him. It was this quote I seen
I didn't want to admit that it was true. It didn't make it not true. I like to think that the constitution was a great document. It has obviously gone astray though. It was powerless to prevent it. It couldn't stop them from redefining words and adding bad amendments. maybe, just maybe.. it is unfit to exist. Spooner goes on to state that the constitution is a contract and its not binding to us since we haven't signed it. The rest of his No Treason pamphlet can be found here. If you take the time to read it (its a decent hour or two of reading).. prepare for some eye opening, mind blowing thoughts from a man long dead.
Anyone who took time to read this.. Thanks! I hope you liked it. Let me know what you think. What I could do to make my posts better..? Mostly I want to know what moment or person gave you your politcal eye opener? Whose political writing do you most enjoy?
Upvotes are always appreciated! Resteem if you would like to share this with others! I enjoy dialogue, so leave a comment and let's have some good conversations!
Woot Woot,
Ok Puff, let's do this. I spent the better half of my life as a full blown progressive. I was trapped in that bubble hating everything that was not progressive. Then, this past election cycle I red pilled hard. Part of it was moving & living in Japan. The other part was the venom spewed by the left against anyone not towing the line. This in my opinion is the most dangerous part as it's leading towards communism. We all knew Hillary was a crook, yet they rigged the primaries so she won. To top that the left started calling everyone racist & misogynist who didn't agree with them. I've recently found out this is the tactic of the Postmodernists & identity politics which divides us all.
Those two things really pulled me out of the bubble I'd been in. I started to actually listen to the other side & the centrists. And they had legit points on regulation, taxation etc. I know because I experienced what the left wanted to do first hand in Japan and Japan isn't near as bad as the EU. I will expand on these thoughts some other time though.
As for the Constitution, it's one of the greatest documents ever written. Free speech is so important and so powerful. We're seeing what happens all over Europe without a solid free speech law in place. You can now be thrown in jail in England and many other EU countries because you hurt someone's feelings on Facebook for fuck's sake! Really it's Orwell's thoughts being enacted. It's nefarious and will only lead to civil wars.
I personally believe it is a living document, but only slightly. There are fundamental rights in it that can not and should not be amended, however as society progresses there are things the founders could not have envisioned, the internet, inter-planetary travel, etc. that may need direction if not already covered by the 27 amendments. I think the founders would have agreed that it is living and that is why they allowed it to be amended, albeit with a 2/3 congressional majority & the states' 2/3.
As for Libertarians & Ron Paul, I am very much a Libertarian, socially liberal, fiscally conservative, but not to the extremes in either case. As I said, free speech is paramount and this hate speech BS should be relegated to history. Regulation is getting out of control in California. Each year new laws are crafted by lawyers who further increase their control over daily life. And the lists go on and on.
Ok, I'll stop now, but would love to talk to others on Steemit about this. I'll be looking into Mr. Spooner & Mr. Bastiat now thanks to you. Keep these conversations going, even if your feelings get hurt.
Hey Ive sat wand watched many people emerge from that bubble you were in.. I love the constitution, Ron Paul is all about the constitution.. Yet as Lysander Spooner states. The constitution isn't good enough to prevent crooked politicians from reinterpreting it. Its as close as we have to a perfect document. It failed to prevent the military industrial complex, the prison industrial complex. all of the entangling alliances George Washington warned us against.. The constitution couldn't stop any of it, the shadow government JFK talked about. Bastiat taught me what a bad law was, spooner showed me how powerless the constitution really is to prevent bad laws. 150 years later Ron Paul is still bitching about all the same things haha
" full blown regressive (left)".
This is more accurate terminology. Try not to let them redefine words by using their backwards definitions.
Ron Paul be like
Yes I miss that guy. I don't watch the liberty report enough anymore. but ron paul hardly spoke in it when I watched
Yes, Ron Paul was the one who got me into politics too.
I have been thoroughly disillusioned by the american political system as it now stands. No matter who is in office, they don't do anything that is helpful to "we, the people". Everything they do is based on how it will help them and the corporations that help put them in power and keep them in power.
When they talk about lowering taxes, it's only for themselves and other rich people. When they talk about getting rid of things like health care, they exclude themselves from it. I could go on about this at length, but I won't. It seems that everyone has strong opinions about politics, and everybody thinks that their opinion is the only correct one. It's not worth the arguements, everybody gets pissed off, and nobody changes their mind about any of it.
I didn't realize that I had a lot in common with the Libertarians until recently. I just knew that I didn't fall in either the conservative nor liberals camps. I always loved Ron Paul and now I know why. Libertarianism must be scary for the NWO for the Pope to speak out against it. Hmmmm.....
I think age brings wisdom. That's why we become more interested in politics. I consider myself a libertarian now that the Democrat and Republican parties have proven themselves to have gone so far astray. I think neither one even begins to represent me. I am not necessarily "for" everything the Libertarian party represents, but the more I learn, the more I identify with it/them.
Libertarians have some big divides between us. This last election the cake baking question that Austin petersen asked Gary Johnson . That shows the divide between us.. or just one of the many divides.
I used to have great respect for the Constitution too, but I understand now that it fails on one massively important point; it assumes, and creates, a powerful federal government. Hell, that was the whole point of the constitutional conventions in the first place; the government created by the Articles of Confederation was seen as too weak!
All that being said, I wouldn't mind too terribly a federal government that actually adhered to the Constitution we have now, rather than finding asterisks spattered all over it that aren't really there.
Nice post. I like all three figures mentioned by you. Another great eye-opener, in case you haven't read it, is Anatomy of the State by Murray N. Rothbard, available for free here:
https://mises.org/library/anatomy-state
Yes rothbard is good. He often cites Spooner and Bastiat.. thanks for sharing!
YES! Some of my favorite thinkers/movers/shakers. Thanks for sharing this, and making the unseen seen, as good old Bastiat says.
They are interesting characters. I would have to take the time to learn more about them. In any case your article sums up well.