Thursday, July 19, 2007
Ron Paul and small rant
The above video may not interest everyone (it kinda should I suppose), but I'm posting it here because I found it interesting. It's a video from Youtube that shows the presidential candidate Ron Paul, speaking to the folks at Google. It's a good video in that it seems a little informal, and you really get a sense for what Dr. Paul believes in (yes, he's a Doctor too).
I have to say, my feelings for him as candidate really ran the gamut... At times I thought "Yeah! Right ON!" then at other times I thought "There's NO WAY you'll be able to do that even if it is the right thing to do". It think Dr. Paul may fall into the same category as Ralph Nader... His ideas are extreme enough, that I don't think the average voter will understand and more importantly I don't think the Big Corporations will let him get away with it. I'm a conspiracy theorist in the sense that I don't believe the Pres is the actual person who runs the country. Corporations do. That won't keep me from voting this time, but I think it's all a show.
So the video is long (A little over an hour) but if you want to hear a person with a fresh point of view, and not the same old "tell em what they want to hear" then watch the video.
OH... and does anyone else think it's kinda both "weird" and "Cool" that a corporation can have a private meeting with a presidential candidate?
IF any Ron Paul supporters find this post (and I think they will), please explain one thing...
Ron talks of dismembering a lot of Government organisations. Some he has "high on his list" and some he doesn't really mind so much (I can understand that part)... But, what I want to know is how or what would be the first step in dismembering a large Gov. Agency? He talks of "phasing them out" yet, I'm not sure exactly how one would phase out say, the IRS? Can someone explain that in the comments?
And now for my small rant (seems like there should be a word like "rint" for that):
I just got my Verizon Bill, and they over-charged me. I renewed my year long contract for DSL and they charged me as if it expired. Grrr. Another Customer Service call to make (though, Verizon is usually pretty good - fingers crossed).
AND...
I got my letter today from one of the big Credit Bureau from when I ran my credit report and found they made a mistake on my birthday. It was a pretty easy process to correct. BUT... I just got my confirmation letter, and guess what... They spelled my name wrong. Grr. Yet another customer service call to make.
Done with my rints :)
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5 comments:
Hi Cyan, To answer your question regarding how he would start to dismantle, He actually has mentioned this a few times in interviews of late. He said at first he would legalize competition for services that these agencies offer. Like the Post Office, for instance. He said he would legalize competition for first class mail. Then companies like Fed Ex, DGL, UPS, etc can compete with the P.O. and we all benefit from the resulting lower prices. Most likely the P.O would simply fold to the competition or succeed enough to mitigate the need for taxation to support it.
As to how to "phase out" the IRS, that one is easy: You tell them to go home. The hard part there is cutting enough of everything else, and doing something about the interest payments on the debt, so that the revenue from the IRS is no longer necessary.
I think Ron acknowledges that the IRS goes home last, though.
To use one example, take the Department of Education. In 1980 it was in the Republican platform that the DoE should be abolished. Reagan ran on that platform, but it never got done. But you could take whatever portions of the Department the Congress wasn't willing to let go of immediately [say, the student loan program] and transfer it to Commerce or Treasury, while gutting the rest of the department.
Well you would start phasing out the IRS by cutting spending and income taxes. The goverment does NOT get the majority of its revenue from income taxes. Remember when you pay income taxes your employer matches your contribution. They tax buisness profits. Their is capital gains taxes ( although theese are really income taxes too ). The fed taxes gasoline. They get royalties and lease moneys on properties they own. Their is all kinds of tarrifs for raising revenue. Their is a death tax. And everytime you use a goverment service you will pay fees. Drug companies pay millions to the FDA to get drugs approved. Communication companies pays millions to the FCC to use parts of the EMS. It goes on and on and on. If the goverment just cut spending to 2000 levels we could get rid of the IRS now because we could fund the whole goverment without it.
Income taxes are no different than the Mafia protection racket. Pay your taxes and the goverment will give you "protection". Dont pay and they will take your propery. If you refuse police with guns will come arrest you and take it forcibly. Just a nice way for the goverment to let you know that it owns your stuff not you.
Thanks all you Anon's :)
I knew it wouldn't take long for you to find this post.
I understood the fist comment about legalizing competition, with the exmaple of the post office. To me, that makes sense.
The second comment does not make sense (no offense), you can't just tell people to "go home".
The third response, It sounds like you are saying to simply transfer the agency to another agency. I don't think that's what Ron Paul has in mind. I'm looking for how Ron plans to close these agencies down, not individual opinions.
The last response, though I agree with a lot of what you say, it also sounds like this is your personal opinion and not Ron's.
I've thought some more about Ron's idea's since posting this and I find them scary. I think there needs to be a middle of the road position. Ron wishes to cut a lot of Gov. Agencies. I think there are a lot of Gov. Agencies that do a lot of good for the people. I would hate to see them cut. On the other hand there are a LOT of agencies that are over spending and just plain abusing the system. Those are the ones that need to be fixed or eliminated. I'm not so sure it's "the government" that needs to be eliminated, but rather they need to be held accountable, along with the individuals who run them.
disclaimer: My opinions may change tomorrow :)
And Thanks again to the Anon's for trying to answer my questions! I appreciate it.
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