How is Ron Paul like a Chevy Commercial?

Topher Morrison
PurpleSerf.com

Poll averages since November 2010 for the 2012 GOP
presidential nomination.
Image Source: RealClearPolitics.com

He's like a rock, ohh like a rock!  Dependable, long lasting and hard working a true and tested 2012 Ron Paul at a poll near you!  Maybe Bob Seger could endorse Ron Paul, I can just see the campaign ad now...


          Throughout the campaign, much like his career, Ron Paul has been the consistent conservative; like his policies his support has remained unwavering.  With the exception of two candidates whom were essentially dead-on-arrival, Ron Paul has had the lowest poll swings among all the candidates.  The GOP presidential nomination has resembled the stock market more than it has a traditional campaign.  Just look at those coasters, it could make an Imagineer blush!


          There have been lots of hares in this race from Rick Perry's meteoric rise and crash to Herman Cain's sharp ascension, but Ron Paul's slow and steady pace may indeed win him the race.  While a massive swing into the positive would of course be welcomed by the Ron Paul campaign and his ardent Paulistas, it may be better to save his growing war chest for Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida.


          The Drudge Report linked "New Polls Show: Romney Ahead in First Four States", but the article also mentioned something not widely accepted, the fact that it looks as though Ron Paul is beating not only Newt Gingrich, but Rick Perry as well.  Moreover, as Bachmann's summer star continues to fade Rick Santorum and John Huntsman look more than ever, irrelevant.  Once all three have finally sung their last song all attention will undoubtedly be on three others: Cain, Romney and Perry, but Ron Paul will evidently be in 3rd regardless of who is paying attention.  

Occupy Phoenix: Guy Fawkes, Flat Tax & Black Walnut

Topher Morrison
PurpleSerf.com


The mainstream and alternative media have been responding to the Occupy Wall Street movement like a poltical Rorschach test; at Occupy Phoenix we saw why.  Purple Serf was on the scene trying to figure out what ethos is truly driving the Occupy Wall Street movement, what should be referred to more appropriately as Occupy "Insert Your City Here", not as catchy I guess.

Values Voters and Ron Paul

Jack Kerwick, PH.D.
The New American
October 12th, 2011

*EDITORS NOTE*

I have uncharacteristically included the last portion of the article.  It best drives at the ambivalence of social conservatives to libertarianism.  If these conservatives emancipate themselves from a pointless culture war and the destructive war on terror a real restoration of our republic may be close at hand.


On the News: Ron Paul wins Values Voters Straw Poll, Leaves Cain in the Dust

"...Finally, that Paul appealed to the majority of “values voters” participating in their “summit’s” straw poll just might be due to the growing recognition that his ideas are not only constitutional, but they are as well Christian. The importance of this insight can’t be overstated. 

The Santorums and Bennetts of our generation have long promoted the idea that the federal government must be enlisted in the service of “Judeo-Christian” morality. They may very well believe this. However, in appealing to “values voters” — the vast majority of whom are Christians — Paul invites his supporters to revisit a feature of their tradition, an idea rooted in the teaching of Christ to which the rise of the dominance of our federal government and the utopian politics with which this has been coupled have all but blinded them.        

This is the idea that the realms of politics and religion — “Caesar” and God, or as Augustine put it, “the City of Man” and “the City of God” — though they may and often do overlap, are nevertheless mutually distinct. Those who would conflate the two aren’t just fools; they are blasphemers. With those few simple words — “Give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” — Jesus opened an unbridgeable chasm between Christianity, on the one hand, and utopian politics on the other. Indeed, from the apostle Paul to Augustine and throughout even the medieval period, for the duration of their pre-modern history, Christians knew this well. However, the emergence of centralized governments and the unprecedented power over which they acquired a monopoly forced this old Christian concept to the periphery. 

Perhaps Paul’s victory at the Values Voters Summit signals its resurrection."


Read this article in its entirety at TheNewAmerican.com.

GOPs New Love Affair, Herman Cain and VAT Taxes

Topher Morrison
PurpleSerf.com

There is a floating faction in the GOP which can't seem to settle on one candidate.  First into the spotlight was Michelle Bachmann and her Tea Party legitimacy.  Then it was Rick Perry who in classic Texan fashion came out of the gate guns a blazin' only to be holstered just as fast.  Begrudgingly the conservative undecideds have returned to Mitt Romney who wears his experience in Massachusetts like a scarlet letter.  In every case with a challenger to this ostensible nominee their loss of appeal is someone else's gain, Herman Cain is the latest example.  But is Cain destined for a similar fate once the restless side of the GOP takes a closer look at him?


          He is a straight talker.  You feel like you know where he stands and if he doesn't know he'll tell you.  But aside from the esoteric who is Herman Cain?  What would his first 100 days look like?  Well in the words of Herman Cain himself, "Lets Get Real."


UPDATE: American Research Group says Cain is #1 in South Carolina



          No stranger to business (or admittedly to ignorance in world affairs) and evidently adept at communicating his goals, Cain has succinctly articulated his platform; 9-9-9.  He advocates flat taxes of 9% on net business profits, 9% personal income tax allowing only for charitable donation deductions and a 9% national sales tax.  The 9-9-9 plan includes a transitional stage where the "the Fair Tax would ultimately replace individual and corporate income taxes."  Why there is a need for a transition is not clear, however, Cain claims that "amidst a backdrop of the economic boom created by the Phase 1 Enhanced Plan, I will begin the process of educating the American people on the benefits of continuing the next step to the Fair Tax."  Whether America will be ready for the lesson is another question entirely.   


          There are some interesting opinions on this strategy of transition.  Considering Congress' short attention span who's to say that some "crisis" won't arise (they do so often in Washington these days) and stymies any transition from Cain's tripartite taxation system into a true flat and fair tax.  How many crises do you think would arise should the United States carve out not only the IRS, but the galaxy of ancillary organizations from Deloitte & Touche to Turbo Tax?  Who's to say we wouldn't be stuck with the whole shebang?


          The Wall Street Journal calls "Cain's tax mutiny" a "political killer."  They admit the plan is deficit neutral and would bring into government coffers as much as the current tax system, that it would eliminate double taxation on savings and investment, eliminate loopholes that have allowed companies like Google and General Electric to pay next to zero income tax.  Cain's plan admittedly would also reduce the distortions created by compliance (and avoidance), would substantially increase our global competitiveness, and would allow the U.S. economy to tap into a deep worldwide reservoir of foreign direct investment; in other words "if Americans want more jobs, this plan would produce them in a hurry" according to the WSJ.  However, there is a dark side to Herman Cain's plan.


          Americans have been snookered before, according to the WSJ:


          "the current income tax was introduced in 1913 with a top rate of 7% amid promises
           that it would never exceed 10%.  By 1918 the tope rate was 77%."


Because his plan does not first eliminate the 16th Amendment, which created the national income tax, America seduced by the intoxicating prospect of flat and fair taxes and rapid growth will in reality be made vulnerable to newer more demagogic style tax politics akin to those in Europe. 


          "Consumption tax rates usually started at less than 10%, but in much of euroland 'the
           rates have nearly doubled and now are close to 20%,' according to a study by the
           Cato Institute's Dan Mitchell.  Because a sales tax would raise hug sums with small
           increases in the rate, we would see regular campaigns like 'a penny to fight poverty,'
           or 'one-cent for universal health care' that would be politically tough to defeat."


Moreover, Josh Barro of the National Review points out that the 9% business tax needs either some fine tuning or at least clarification as it seems to be in essence a "lightly modified VAT" which doesn't exactly "equalize the treatment of corporate debt and equity."


          If you don't buy that the European track record will apply here, a head Senatorial tax advisor pointed out to PurpleSerf today the abysmal situation in California.  The politically blue state is very much in the red even though it has both sales and state income taxes which exceed corresponding rates in most of the lower 48!  "That is a staggering double whammy!" he continued "...unless the income tax is completely abolished an additional tax system like a VAT is and should be a non-starter."   


          The issue of federal taxation is of growing importance not only when it comes to reducing the debt, simplifying our lives, but who is ultimately being paid and how much control Washington should wield over the country's wealth.  Herman Cain's time with the Federal Reserve of Kansas City has been a concern for many paleo-conservatives, libertarians and constitutionalists.  The group WeAreChange.org recently followed Herman Cain in Iowa (gets interesting at 6:50):

          Evidently Herman Cain is for a sound money system and from this interview apparently one based on gold, which brings him within the orbit of Ron Paul yet there is little publicity on this point.  However, much in the same vein as his 9-9-9 plan there needs to be another transition period from fiat currency to sound money so don't expect him to end the Federal Reserve any time soon.  He offers a compelling reason not to: "the guiding economic principles is... measurements must be dependable" if we were to eliminate the Fed "there would be chaos."  

           He advocates that Congress should start doing its job by vetting Federal Reserve appointees more closely and narrowing their prerogatives.  In response to Thomas Jefferson's words lamenting the prospect of a central bank Mr. Cain claimed we now live in a "global economy and a global financial system."  The exact point at which a private central bank was required for this new world order rather than the democratically elected Congress of the United States he did not elaborate.   

          I wonder if Mr. Cain has thought about how the global system would react to him undercutting their tax rates and reintroducing a gold standard to a world based on fiat.  Talk about chaos!  For all the transitions Herman Cain advocates one has to wonder when or will the rubber ever meet the road.  With no public record to point to, lets get real, it's anyones guess. 

UPDATE: Ron Paul's Revolution Super PAC has their own incendiary compare and contrast.

When Rick Perry Drops Out...

Brent Budowski

The Hill

September 26th, 2011

When Rick Perry drops out: Ron Paul could be second place, Republicans enter the Wild West.

          I wrote in August that Rick Perry will self- destruct within 30 days. His prospects for the presidency were as phony as the fantasy of a two-person race was false. Perry is a phony conservative who is not conservative. He is a pay-for-play politician who gobbled up Obama stimulus like a hound dog eating a bone, and created oceans of new government jobs in Texas while his big donors mysteriously received big government contracts. The Texas deficit ballooned and the Texas jobless rate doubled on Rick Perry's watch.



I will not speculate about the reasons for Rick Perry' s strange, weird and incoherent debate performance. Major new negative stories about Perry will soon emerge in the media. Trust me. Perry will drop out long before the year ends. If he dropped out today Ron Paul could well be in second place. Will pundits say it is a two-man race between Romney and Paul?

Read the rest of The Hill's blog post.