American Libertarian

Ron Paul Surging

2012-01-16T22:39:00.003-08:00

Recent polls out ofSouth Carolina show distinct trends emerging as campaigning picks up in thefinal week before the critical South Carolina Primary on January 21. SouthCarolina, as always, will be a pivotal state in the nomination process. Therace promises to deliver on the hype as recent polls are hinting at anever-tightening gap between perennial frontrunner, Mitt Romney and CongressmanRon Paul.

A new AmericanResearch Group Poll released 1/12 highlights a very interesting aspect of theSouth Carolina race. Poll numbers indicate Libertarian-leaning Republicancandidate, Ron Paul is surging among likely Republican Primary-goers. He retainsan eleven-point increase in support since AMG released an identical SC GOPnomination poll on 1/5 in which Paul received only 9% of the support amongRepublicans.

Once again, as wasthe case in both New Hampshire and Iowa, Ron Paul held the highest level ofsupport among Independent voters at 29%, slightly ahead of Rick Santorum’s 27%showing. This niche of voters is often forgotten media-types in presidential nominationprocess, however, Independents play an increasingly important role in politicsas Americans have begun to leave the two-party system in favor of ideologicallyconsistent candidates who value ideas rather than party rhetoric.

In the mainstream,Paul is seen as a fringe candidate whose views are out of step with establishmentRepublican ideology. However, as history tells us, elections are not won byacquiring the votes of a small group of ardent supporters; they are won bycandidates who consistently appeal to individuals across party lines withsupport from Republicans, Democrats and Independents alike.

Ron Paul,statistically speaking, is the only candidate who has a real shot at topplingPresident Barack Obama in the 2012 elections due to his widespread supportamong inherently different politicalgroups including mainstream liberals and conservatives.

This recent data, coupled with modest contractionsin the support of Paul’s most notable competitors, will result in a hotlycontested South Carolina Primary that will ultimately be decided in the lastfew hours of campaigning in which the candidates will make their final appealto the SC electorate.

PPP: Romney Continues Florida Dominance; Paul Doubles Support

2012-01-16T22:39:00.001-08:00

In a fresh Public Policy Poll oflikely Republican Primary-goers, Mitt Romney continues to expand his lead inthe early primary state, Florida. The poll indicates Romney maintains 41% ofthe support of Republican voters, a stark increase from the previous PPP pollconducted in mid-November in which Romney held a meager 17%. Romney’s closestcompetitor, Newt Gingrich held a strong 26% of the vote, down from 47% in PPP’sNovember poll. Rick Santorum and Ron Paul held 11% and 10% respectively, astatistical tie for third place.

Romney continues to grow hissupport despite attacks by rivals Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry in a recentSouth Carolina debate, citing Romney’s experience at investment firm, BainCapital in which Romney is accused of engaging in “vulture capitalism”- adevious act in which investment firms streamline struggling companies andpursue solvency in the face of bankruptcy as a result of problematic businesspractices.

Romney defended his tenure at Bain,referencing free-market capitalist principles in which Republicans havehistorically supported.

All eyes are now on South Carolinawhere experts many speculate that the candidate who ends up winning thePalmetto State will inevitably go on to win Florida and capture the Republicannomination. This comes as great news for the Ron Paul campaign, which isexperiencing an incredible surge in recent polls out of South Carolina that nowhave the Congressman at 20% by some measures, putting him in strong contentionfor a victory in the ever-important southern state.

The Federal Reserve? Huh?

2012-01-16T22:38:00.005-08:00

TheFederal Reserve: Huh?

For those of you whostill may be a little confused about what exactly the Federal Reserve is, thisarticle is intended to clear up any misconceptions you may garner and hopefullymove you towards a better understanding of Fed policy.

TheFederal Reserve is the central bank of the United States. Congress created theFed in 1913 under Woodrow Wilson to provide a safer, more flexible and morestable monetary and financial system that had been under attack in years priordue to perceived market inefficiencies.

Currently, as described on the Fed’s very ownwebsite, the Federal Reserve has four stated goals. These include:

· Conductingthe nation's monetary policy by influencing money and credit conditions in theeconomy in pursuit of full employment and stable prices.

· Supervisingand regulating banks and other important financial institutions to ensure thesafety and soundness of the nation's banking and financial system and toprotect the credit rights of consumers.

· Maintainingthe stability of the financial system and containing systemic risk that mayarise in financial markets.

· Providingcertain financial services to the U.S. government, U.S. financial institutions,and foreign official institutions, and playing a major role in operating andoverseeing the nation's payments systems.

Essentially the Fed hasthree tools to work with when dealing with monetary policy. The Fed canmanipulate short-term interest rates, set the discount rate, and buy/sellTreasury Bonds. These tools ultimately affect the total amount of money incirculation, and as a result, inflation is often a very real side effect of Fedintervention in economic and monetary policy.

Inflation is theleading topic of discussion in mainstream politics with respect to the FederalReserve’s involvement in the global economy. Critics often pose the idea thatthe free-market would do a much better job at regulating the economy andefficiently allocating its scarce resources.

Politicians such asRepublican presidential contender, Ron Paul, have called for strongerregulation and transparency when dealing with the Federal Reserve. Paul arguesthat the Fed makes decisions that often serve special interests with cheaploans and easy credit, rather than the American people for whom it was designedto serve.

Jon Huntsman? No Thanks!

2012-01-16T22:38:00.003-08:00

Yet another establishment-typeGOP hopeful has, figuratively-speaking, thrown in the towel on a sputtering presidentialcampaign that just never seemed to catch on. This time it is Jon Huntsman isexiting the race. This news should not come as much of a shock, as the Huntsmancampaign never managed to gain much traction in the prior months leading up tohis seemingly inevitable withdrawal from the contest.

However, justshortly after officially declaring his departure from the GOP political arena,if not only temporary, Huntsman formally endorsed a once reviled opponent inGov. Mitt Romney.

This is not in andof itself a significant political move by any stretch.

To the untrainedeye, this may seem like a potentially valuable endorsement by a relatively well-respectedformer governor. Still, the Huntsman support is unlikely to offer much of aboost to the Romney campaign as it focuses much of its time and energy in apredominantly socially conservative state. A state, mind you, in whichHuntsman’s poultry numbers have been largely within the MoE of zero percent.Therefore, any votes that Romney may receive because of Huntsman’s departurewill ultimately have a relatively marginal effect on Romney’s final numbers inthe Palmetto State.

Fact: JonHuntsman’s run for president was insignificant and completely irrelevant.

Fact: JonHuntsman’s endorsement of Mitt Romney will offer no substantive boost toRomney’s support in S.C and beyond.

Ron Paul: A Visionary

2012-01-16T22:38:00.001-08:00

Over the courseof our current election cycle, the GOP has seen a pool of candidates who, forthe most part, have each surged in national polls at one time or another.Subsequently, after close scrutiny, each supposed frontrunner, or “flavor ofthe month”, has descended sharply back to reality. First, it was MichelleBachmann back in August following her win at the Iowa Straw Poll, and then cameRick Perry, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich and most recently the neo-conservativewar-hawk Rick Santorum.

Some would saythe Republican Party is too fickle-minded.

However, this perceivedinability to choose a nominee is not so much a problem with the Republicanelectorate, but rather a strong protest against the typical, establishment cookie-cuttercandidates who represent big-government politics, and offer no real,substantive alternative to Barack Obama for the small government-orientedindividual. This has resulted in a much-divided electorate, without a clearcandidate moving forward.

The twoconstants in the race for the nomination have been Gov. Mitt Romney andCongressman Ron Paul. Romney has seen his poll numbers essentially stagnate ataround the twenty-five percent mark throughout his lackluster campaign despitecountless endorsements from GOP kingpins and hefty donations from Goldman Sachs. Many speculate this is due to the general dislike of Romney among manyconservative groups who see Romney as a career politician, and one who wouldsay or do anything necessary to win an election despite his own deep-rootedideological discrepancies with basic GOP principles.

CongressmanPaul’s crusade has been the beneficiary of relatively slow, but steady growththroughout the nomination process that has recently propelled him into thetop-tier nationally, with a good shot at capturing a second place finish in NewHampshire’s primary. All of this coming without any support in the mainstreammedia, who have condemned Paul as an unelectable, fringe candidate that nosensible American would every consider voting for notwithstanding Paul’sconstitutional brand of politics.

Despite therelentless attacks and slanderous insinuations made toward Paul, theCongressman has been able to overcome any-and-all obstacles that have stoodbetween him and the White House. He exposed Gingrich as the progressive,hypocrite he rightfully is by meticulously picking apart the Speaker’s questionablepolitical endeavors; highlighting a commercial Gingrich appeared in with NancyPelosi, pushing for stricter climate-change legislation. Next up, Senator RickSantorum, who coming out of a close second place finish in Iowa experienced amomentary surge in his national campaign. Nevertheless, Ron Paul, through aseries of truth-exposing TV ads and strong debate performances, was able tothoroughly dismantle the Santorum campaign, almost before it even began.

Now here we arethe night before the New Hampshire primary with a nomination seemingly up forgrabs. The big question on everyone’s mind is, “who can beat Obama”?

Well, when youtake a close look at the current Republican hopefuls, it is apparent only oneRepublican candidate professes a message of liberty and freedom that can appealto both Republicans, Independents and Democrats alike. Only one candidate hasheld true to his conservative convictions. Only one candidate believes that therole of the Federal Government is not to run our lives, but rather preserve ourlives and our liberty. Only one candidate has stood up against endless,unconstitutional wars that result in perpetual bloodshed on both sides of theconflict. That person is Ron Paul.

Although someindividuals may not see eye-to-eye with Paul on every single issue, his strongbelief that each and every American has the right to their life, liberty and thefruits of their labor has people believing again that the land of the free andhome of the brave isn’t just some stale motto, but rather something muchgreater. As President Thomas Jeffersononce said, “Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. They are the onlysure reliance for the preservation of our liberty”.

Even if Paul isunable to capture the Republican nomination, his courageous campaign has been eyeopening for millions of Americans who now yearn for the end of the dismantlingof our sacred, liberty-protecting Constitution, and a return to the principlesthat once made America great.