I'm not saying that what we accomplished with Ron Paul was worthless, quite to the contrary, but the question is - what do we do now, beyond 2008? I'm not going to blame anybody for voting, it's a personal choice; but, after dozens of pages of
debating to the contrary, I am gradually coming to the conclusion that more can be accomplished by working outside the rigged political game than within it!
An
Anarcho-Capitalist bumper sticker will get even more attention than a Ron Paul one (people are used to seeing names they don't care about), and you wouldn't have to change it after every election! A registry of a million "vote resisters" is no less powerful than a million votes for any politician, and no politician is perfect, not even Ron Paul. Pro-liberty politicians may come and go, and the powers that be can sabotage them if they ever become a threat, but ideas... Ideas are bulletproof!
It's probably true that most Ron Paul supporters first saw him on televised debates, which he could participate in as a 10-term U.S. congressman from the neo-con party, but Ron Paul is one man and he has his limitations, especially considering his age. It was a perfect storm for using the MSM to spread the message of liberty - though Ron Paul's message is watered down quite a bit compared to his 1988 Libertarian Party platform, and the current LP platform is watered down even further. And, while I'm willing to believe that his own intentions were most noble, the MSM and the mainstream political apparatus used Ron Paul as a
Judas goat to pull us in! We've spent millions of dollars on MSM ads, we boosted turnout at the neo-con party primaries, and we even got a blimp encouraging people to use NSA's younger brother (Google) to research our idol! And what did all this working within the system get us? It benefited the system, not ourselves!
If directed outside the system instead, all the enthusiasm that the Ron Paul has generated could have done a lot more good. Instead of sucking up to the MSM, our own media venues could be established. Instead of handing out fliers promoting Ron Paul's personal character over Rudy McRomney's, we could have been handing out more substantive educational materials instead. If you understand the
Non-Aggression Principle then it doesn't really matter whether you understand Social Security privatization or the situation on the ground in Iraq!
And I'm not just saying that the system is rigged because voting machines are unverifiable, or lack of rank-based voting that encourages a duopoly, or because the MSM is biased - I'm questioning the very foundation of the political system itself! What's the difference between a "democracy" and a government that gains its power from the "
Divine Right of Kings" or "
Mandate of Heaven" - those too impose limits on what the government can get away with. Democracy is a little less bloody (until it
votes to go to war), but what gives the majority the "divine right" to rule a minority?
The system exists on the backs of fools and cowards, and fools and cowards are in majority - always have been, and always will be. You can fight to death to force them to change, or you can unchain yourself from them and lead by example - I prefer the latter!
