Ready for the “‘Looney Bin’
In the Jan. 4 issue of the Dallas Voice, Dale Carpenter wrote a column headlined “GOP field as bad as we’ve ever had.”
While I agree with that original statement, I take exception to the thoughts and positions that followed regarding one presidential candidate, Ron Paul. Mr. Carpenter would give the reader the idea that Ron’s positions are “looney” as he described them and would “entail a massive disruption of life in the United States as we know it.”
So let’s address these two concerns.
Looney? Is it now considered “looney” to follow the Constitution as it was written? Is it also “looney” to require the Congress to take control of the coining of money (as dictated in the Constitution) vs. hand it over to a private banking institution (the Federal Reserve), allowing them to print money on demand and “out of thin air?”
Is it “looney” to call our troops back from hundreds of military bases in countries where there has been no conflict for 40 to 50 years (Korea, Japan, etc.), thereby saving Americans hundreds of billions of dollars each year in overseas spending?
Is it “looney” to turn education back over to the states as the Consitution dictates? Is it also “looney” to encourage Americans to become more self-reliant, physically and fiscally, from government as the Consitution encouraged?
I’m trying to figure out what Mr. Carpenter’s operational definition of “looney” is, for at this point I am in total agreement with Ron Paul and should probably be committed.
Regarding programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and even student loans, Ron has said again and again (for those who take the time to do some actual research) that all of these programs would have a “transition period.”
Knowing how entrenched most Americans are in these entitlement systems, some of them would take an entire generation to transition, Ron acknowledges.
However, the simple truth is we cannot afford their continuance, and young people already know they will never see the benefits of these programs when they reach their retirement.
And regarding student loans this is the same Ron Paul who wishes to offer tax credits to college students so that the monies they earn while working their way through college become tax exempt, so that they in turn do not have to take out loans and therefore can graduate on better financial footing. Two of his medical doctor sons did so successfully yes, from “medical school,” as did their dad, Ron, from Duke University’s School of Medicine decades ago.
Regarding the second concern of “massive disruption,” is it not apparent that given our current financial condition and direction, as well as the devaluing of the dollar, that these programs all face “crash scenarios” in the future anyway?
Ron’s position of transition before collapse seems all the more “sane” and even compassionate given these conditions.
If we continue to live beyond our means, extend ourselves in needless overseas conflicts, fund welfare programs to an ever-increasing population and print money that is not backed by any hard measure of currency, my friends, the hand writing is on the proverbial wall.
The “massive disruption” that Mr. Carpenter spoke of will happen overnight, but not because Ron Paul was elected president, Instead, it will be because Ron Paul was NOT elected president and we as a nation continued to deceive ourselves, ignoring the old saying that “a fool is someone who keeps doing the same thing over and over yet expects different results.”
In closing, to think that John McCain would eliminate “Don’t ask, don’t tell” (as Mr. Carpenter suggested) is quite interesting, given an even casual YouTube search on John McCain and gay issues.
Ron has already said he believes that being gay is not a matter of choice, given his training as a physician.
Again, is this the man you are calling “looney?”
Maybe more of you would like to join me at the upcoming “Looney Bin,” but I have a feeling there will be a long line waiting to get in.
Jeff McKissack
Dallas
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This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition January 11, 2008