thought you might want to see this. I know Wayne is "controversial" but this is a well made point both against Obamacare and the war….
Mike
Hi Mike D.,
Obviously the answer is to get out of both boondoggles!! Wayne's "support the troops" comment reminds me of Rob's recent post about the LP turning "conservative", i.e. Republican!!
Marcy
No kidding. Doug Stanhope has the perfect rejoinder to "support the troops" -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGJESEUYaQg&feature=PlayList&p=13598F7BE0D4F539&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=14
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
I understand…but this is just politics game playing. If we take the issues more seriously than the game, then we will miss play opportunities. We should get above the game and just play it. Wayne is playing the game his way. And he is playing it hard. Who else is playing the game this hard for the LP. Again, I'm not a conservative but I understand a polititian who appeals to that audience. This anti war position is good politics for us here in SF if you ask me. So we should work with it in my humble opinion as long as he doesn't embarrass us to much in some other way.
Please correct me if I am missing something.
Mike
Mike,
I wasn't arguing against the "anti-war" position, but against "support the troops." Sorry if I was unclear. But I'm not sure what you mean by "playing the game" or "get above the game and just play it." Do you mean "saying things to please people that you don't really believe?" I think that's a big part of what's wrong with politics. The more a political figure does it, the less I trust him. Because how can you know that when they say something that sounds good to you, that they really believe it, and it's not just part of "the game?"
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
Good comments Starchild….
Wayne (as a politician) is obviously positioning himself for an audience. The fact that this group isn't fond of some of the target audience is another matter.
What I mean is that Wayne is simply doing what he perceives to be in his own best political interest. This piece targets government health care while throwing a bone to anti-war activists AND militarists of which there are many. Not a bad political strategy if one can pull it off. I don't know if he can but this piece is well done.
I agree with your comments about politicians saying things they don't believe. But I think Wayne believes this stuff and is playing the game well. The question for LP voters and the rest of the voting public is which position has the potential to deliver a message and hopefully a result that is closer to our personal interests. Your personal interests and tastes may not align fully with Wayne's and that's fine. And I might agree with you personally. But I wouldn't extend that logic to the point where one wouldn't be able to recognise good politics when one sees it.
Best regards,
Mike
Mike,
Thanks for your kind words. But the possibility that Wayne Root is just doing what he thinks is in his own best political interest doesn't sit well with me. I fear that it's about Wayne and his ego more than it is about his commitment to liberty. Which if true would make him a dangerous person to hold power. I think it was Douglas Adams who said, "On no account should anyone who is able to get himself in a position to become president, be allowed to do the job." Or words to that effect.
You write, "I think Wayne believes this stuff and is playing the game well." Perhaps. Or perhaps he *doesn't* believe it, and is playing the game even *better* (well enough to fool you). Safer, imho, to find someone who obviously has a healthy, natural aversion to the game.
My read of the public is that voters are increasingly tired of inauthenticity in politicians, and younger people in particular are getting better at spotting it, which is partly they liked Ron Paul -- he comes across as real and earnest in a way most of them don't. Doug Stanhope certainly spotted the inauthenticity in Root. I wish I'd copied his comments about the former sports bookie before he took them off his website (I don't see them there now, so I assume that's what happened). You've seen his show, so you're familiar with his finely attuned B.S.-detector and ability to skewer ripe targets! 
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
All that could be true….but it still doesn't diminish the quality of a good political argument. And that is all I'm saying about the piece he wrote.
By the way…his latest piece is quite good too if you ask me.
The Obama/Goldman Sachs Small Business Scam
Was Goldman Sachs Forced to Make a Half Billion Dollar Payoff to the Minority Community as a (legal) Bribe to Obama?
Small Business Faces an Economic Armageddon, While Obama Plays “the Race Card.”
By Wayne Allyn Root, Author
The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gambling & Tax Cuts
Did you see the announcement late last week that Goldman Sachs is giving a half billion dollars to small businesses. Or are they? Why are they suddenly concerned with small business? They've certainly never cared about small business before. Could this sudden interest by Goldman Sachs be because it pays to do favors for Obama's friends? And for Obama everything- including business- is about race. You see Goldman claimed they are concerned with small business. But the reality is they are only concerned with one tiny segment of small business- MINORITY OWNED SMALL BUSINESSES. More specifically- minority businesses in minority neighborhoods. Even more specifically, those loans to minority businesses in minority neighborhoods will only be disbursed through “community organizations.”
Do you speak in legal-ese designed by Obama administration lawyers? If not, you probably missed the bleeding heart liberal code words in this announcement by Goldman Sachs. They didn't say the half billion dollars was for minority loans only. They said, “Goldman will spend $200 million on education and training programs, while funneling $300 million to so-called community-development financial institutions, which largely serve historically disadvantaged communities that have had trouble accessing capital.” Then they added in the announcement that the loans would be only for businesses in “underserved areas.”
Notice the code words used by liberals to cover up reverse racism- “historically disadvantaged communities,” “underserved areas,” “community-development financial institutions.” By the way- what the heck is a “community-development financial institution?” isn't a financial institution, just a financial institution? Well obviously not in Obama's race-charged world. Some institutions are better than others…more deserving than others…more “fair” than others in Obama's world. Obviously Goldman Sachs has chosen to become part of Obama's world.
Goldman Sachs has decided to play the “race card” to win favor (and perhaps avoid criminal prosecution for alleged crimes committed in their deep foray into the sub-prime mortgage market) from the Obama administration. That's the kind of thing you do when you want to avoid criminal charges for selling securities short, while you dump those same securities on unsuspecting investors.
“Disadvantaged” and “underserved” and “community-development” are all code words in Obama's community activist world for “minorities only need apply for government money.” It kind of reminds you of “Whites Only” signs outside playgrounds or water fountains in the 1950's. Or job openings for “whites only.” Or schools segregated for “whites only.” Or how about this oldie: “Blacks ride in the back of the bus.” Do these descriptions sound ugly? Well they are. They represent one of the most embarrassing and troubling eras in American history. They were disgraceful, biased and racist then. And they still are today- except the roles have changed. My mother used to say that “two wrongs don't make a right.” Well racism that favors minorities and discriminates against whites, is no better than the other way around. And when this prejudice, bias and racism is perpetrated by government (or a Wall Street firm acting under pressure from government), it's even more disgraceful.
Obama campaigned as a man who would end racism. He made it clear that race should no longer matter. But the opposite is true- under President Obama it matters more than ever. Under President Obama it's fine to help people based on the color of their skin- as long as he chooses the color. It's back of the bus time again- only this time it's millions of small business owners who happened to be born white that get to ride in the back. Obama is telling small business owners who don't happen to have the right color skin to pound sand.
We are not in a recession. We are in a depression. The worst since 1929- and getting worse every day. Everyone is in trouble. We are all in it together. We will all need to get out of it together too. But Obama cares nothing about small business- even though small business has created virtually every job in the USA since the Reagan economic miracle. No wonder there are no new jobs in this supposed recovery- only small business can lead us out of this mess. Jobs come from small business, not big government, big unions, or big business.
Yet Obama's policies do nothing but punish small business with higher taxes, bigger penalties, more onerous rules and regulations. Small businesses continue to go out of business at a record pace. The expiration of the Bush income tax cuts will result in the biggest tax increase in history on small business. Add on universal healthcare taxes, cap & trade taxes, medicare tax increases for the wealthy, health surcharges for the wealthy, a raise in the FICA cap, a VAT tax, a raise in capital gains taxes, and the latest proposed tax- a Afghanistan war tax on the wealthy. It all adds up to Socialism…and a CATASTROPHE for small business owners.
Yet Obama's only bone thrown to small business is forcing Goldman Sachs to give away $500 million to small businesses owned only by minorities, serving only minority neighborhoods, and with money doled out only by Obama's friends (and campaign contributors) at community activist organizations like ACORN. According to Obama, the rest of us just don't count. Get used to the new reality of America under Obama- where everything is based on race and the redistribution of income. And two wrongs obviously do make a right.
Wayne Allyn Root was the 2008 Libertarian Vice Presidential candidate. His new book is entitled, “The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gambling & Tax Cuts.” For more of Wayne's views, commentaries, or to watch his many national media appearances, please visit his web site at: www.ROOTforAmerica.com<http://www.ROOTforAmerica.com>.
I know….believe me I know. Except that the Republicans wouldn't talk about getting out of Afghanistan. So this is a step in the right direction.
Dear Mike and All,
Oh Noooooooo!!!!! Now poor Wayne is in deeper hot water yet as far as I am concerned!!
First, as I recall one of the results of the bailout boondoggle (started in 2008 by a Republican president) was the ability of investment houses to become banks so they could take advantage of the taxpayer funded largess showered upon banks. Banks have been forced by the Equal Opportunity folks for at least the last 30 years to make gobs of money available to "disadvantaged" minority communities. So Goldman Sachs is just catching up!
Secondly, since when have big corporations NOT given with one hand to take with the other?... regardless of the color of the politicians in charge. To ascribe this incident to color is stretching it, even more than ascribing it to personal activism!
Now for the clincher! "Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gambling & Tax Cuts." You all know I am religious. But, given this is Wayne's *political* slogan, I am only OK with the Guns, Gambling & Tax Cuts part. I am even willing to overlook the self promotion in the Gambling part.
I fully admit I am wallowing in what is "bad" in my view, without offering substitute "good." And promise this will be my last negative post on Wayne (for a while), who overall, is a pretty good upstanding citizen.
Regards,
Marcy
So true Marcy….on all counts. You correctly identify his weak points for sure.