Ron Paul -- the same guy that was burned up by having a holiday for Martin Luther King Jr. -- declared in his New Hampshire second place finish speech that he wants to restore freedom to America. This sounds great until we realize that the kind of freedom on offer only appeals to those who profit from rising inequality.
During his recent visit to Osawatomie, Kan., President Obama outlined a populist vision for combating inequality sharply at odds with a plutocratic one.
Plutocrats have faith in the so-called engineers of economic growth -- the entrepreneurial class. But we're not talking the Mom and Pop small business entrepreneurs that have been run off Main Street by big corporate chain stores. We're talking big businesses that have hundreds, even thousands, of employees and make millions, even billions, of dollars around the globe.
Plutocrats want you to have faith in big businesses generating enough wealth for everyone. They want you to trust that wealth will trickle down from top to bottom, and that this will reduce inequality by creating more haves and fewer have-nots. They also want you to help them and their lobbyists socially engineer the best environment for big businesses to operate in America. This includes allowing them to buy cheaper labor overseas, stock their shelves with products made in China, to bust up unions serving the interests of American workers, and to unite citizens who want to make it easier for corporations and super PACs to buy political candidates and elections.
To prime the pumps for corporate growth, plutocrats want you to make sure that the right rules and regulations favoring big business are in place -- even if this means possibly getting screwed if the wealth doesn't trickle down, getting fired or being underpaid because your labor is too expensive, or losing your benefits and bargaining rights because your union has been run out of town. Most importantly, they want you to help them get big government out of the way of big business so that hard-working Americans have no one to fight for their square deal.
Populists have always been concerned with the little guy, the weak, the disabled, the bullied, the vulnerable, the poor, the tired, and the huddled masses. This helps explain why populists have historically opposed chattel slavery, Jim Crow, and voter disenfranchisement, and why they have supported child labor laws, union organizing, unemployment insurance, social security, health care, and anti-discrimination laws. And it now explains why they reject the faith that plutocrats have placed in big businesses to deliver America from unfair inequality.
You have been asked to trust that the advantages afforded big businesses -- by socially engineering favorable regulations, tax codes, and a weak federal government -- will trickle down from Wall Street to Main Street. But the reluctance of bailed out banks to lend money, and big businesses to hire Americans and pay them a decent wage, shows that such trust would be foolhardy.
Why trust a vision of how to address inequality, and get America back on the right track, that has brought the federal government, state and local governments, and ordinary American households to the brink of financial ruin?
At the root of what divides plutocrats and populists over how to address inequality is a timeless American value. Both parties champion the value of freedom. Their common commitment to freedom unites them as red-blooded Americans. It explains why they pledge allegiance to the same flag and stand united to honor their returning soldiers and ones lost to war. But plutocrats and populists have very different philosophical understandings of freedom, which have different law and public policy implications.
Plutocrats have been exclusively preoccupied with promoting and protecting the freedom of big businesses to be left alone to generate wealth. They have championed deregulation, tax cuts for the wealthy, and bank bails out to promote plutocratic freedom.
Populists have insisted upon securing the necessary preconditions for individual freedom -- security, shelter, work, health, education, and nutrition. And they have championed policies that target substantive inequalities in these areas.
Freedom has long been a value for which Americans have been willing to draw blood -- from slavery, to the world wars, the civil rights movement, and the War on Terror. Americans have demonstrated their unwavering resolve to fight for freedom. The current war on inequality must also be fought in the name of freedom, but not in the plutocratic sense. It must tap into the populist vision of freedom, which embodies a more robust commitment to this timeless American value and which has much deeper roots in American history.
During his last days, Martin Luther King Jr. directed America's stride toward the city of freedom by calling upon the people to demand that the power of government be used to address inequality, unemployment, and the powerlessness of everyday people whose cherished liberties were not being protected.
Ron Paul and Martin Luther King Jr. would agree about the importance of restoring freedom to America. However, if we are burned up not by the MLK Day holiday but by the social engineering to advance the freedom of a select few, King's vision of freedom is clearly the way forward.
Follow Derrick Darby on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@Derrick_Darby
Richard (RJ) Eskow: Today's Visionary: An Illustrated Guide to Dr. King's 21st Century Insights
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Furthermore Mr. Darby hasn't a clue about Dr. Paul's positions, since he doesn't believe in group rights only in individual rights and the fact that deregulating things like licenses for hair cutting, taxis along with the repeal of the drug war would benefit more poor people than any socialist wet-dream of giving everyone an equal income. Not to mention ending the FED which does exactly what he claims "Plutocrats like Paul" want, bail out and protect big businesses and banks. The FED prints money which hurts the poor who are the most susceptible to devaluation of the dollar because they can't afford it, and gives huge sums to banks here and abroad. This is action and Cantillon effects are the major reason for the shrinking of the middle class, and the increasing poverty. Guess what fuels the printing? Wars and huge government deficits. All of this means that Ron is the true populist here, he's against giving his buddies special favors, like Obama did with Solyndra among others.
So get a clue, learn something about history, economics and monetary policy, and Paul's positions.
We have a destructive policy, allowing foreign interest to rule our country by putting money into our system.
We need many more auditors to follow the trail of money. Also, the courts should be increased to handle the cases.
While you people are lying, cheating and advertising to bring down Obama, you are killing the country, we may never recover.
“With the election behind us, our country turns hopeful eyes to the future. I have a few hopes of my own. I congratulate our first African-American president-elect. Martin Luther King, Jr. certainly would be proud to see this day. We are stronger for embracing diversity, and I am hopeful that we can continue working through the tensions and wrongs of the past and become a more just and colorblind society. I hope this new administration will help bring us together, and not further divide us. I have always found that freedom is the best way to break down barriers. A free society emphasizes the importance of individuals, and not because they are part of a certain group. That’s the only way equal justice can be achieved.†-Ron Paul, 11/9/08
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGDisyWkIBM
obviously, mlkii was inspirational, optimistic and had very legitimate reasons behind his work; but politically, having your cake and eating it are mutually exclusive.
you cannot have true freedom without a degree of inequality. now calm down, this does not refer to inequality based on race, creed or gender. you can definitely respect human rights across the board in a free market, but to strive for every person to be equal is ludicrous. we have different jobs, locations, education levels, personal habits and belief structures that make equality tough if not impossible without using force to limit our personal freedoms and steal our property. doing that is a slight to everything both doctors stood/stand for.
I can not understand how these politicians can think that people will not get tire and take action rather than starve.
and many of those affected will have no idea what is actually happening and be convinced by peers and promises from those who have made the system that has continued to fail them.
if the country does not select the financial direction proposed by ron paul, even if none of his other good ideas are put to use; what is left of the paper wealth will collapse; more will join the confused, affected masses; and the majority will turn to darker solutions than a civilized society might endorse.
What do you think Dr. Paul feels about corporations getting special breaks to get ahead? Why does he oppose the FED? Why does he oppose non legislative federal regulations? Those are the tools used to OPPRESS the little guy and the small business.
It would be different if you had actually READ something and used EVIDENCE to support your positions, but you can't do THAT now can you? There IS no evidence and YOU KNOW IT, otherwise you would cite it instead of stooping to ad hominem attacks and straw man arguments.
It's for this reason we have languished for so long. Continuing to look for and be nourished by the governments teat has been the downfall of many an ethnic group of people.
After a while, your hooked on WIC, hooked on TANF, hooked on DES, moving from one government created stimulus job after another. It's a lifestyle or bondage, your choice of words.
I count on God for my sustenance, not the government.
I am voting for Ron Paul,.
You cannot seriously believe that.
i take issue with other things you said as well. standards/guidance/restrictions are set by the people who pay, not the government. governments are the sloppiest businesses in the world, because they disregard the income/expense portion of running themselves and they are always looking to expand at the worst possible times.
and the two things that come to your mind do not serve your argument. the system we currently have is obviously what you wish for, and just as obviously it doesn't seem to work fluidly. and as far as the "too good a deal" scenario, what is this "federal answer to every problem" if not an overqualified applicant for the saying?
and fnally, yes, white supremistists like to spout garbage just like you or me. and why should you or i care? are they really going to indoctrinate you or your kids? not without infiltrating the government, they aren't.
That is just another myth created by the statist media, and the state-controlled education monopoly.
Railroad barons from the 1800s? The result of government subsidies, not of a free market.
You want to see what a free market looks like? It's called Hong Kong. Can you name 10 large Hong Kong corporations? Me neither.