United Liberty

On Thursday, former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson announced his candidacy for President of the United States.  Texas Congressman Ron Paul is expected to announce his candidacy at some point in the future.  That would put two libertarians campaigning for the limited libertarian vote in the GOP.  Some argue that this would be a good thing, that the two could shred the likes of Donald Trump and Sarah Palin in the primary debates.  Unfortunately, let’s face facts.  Paul didn’t perform well last time in the debates, so the only reason to expect different this time is the pathetic line up we’re looking at from the GOP this time around.

However, as things stand at the moment, I’m putting my weight behind Gary Johnson.  This isn’t a lack of respect or admiration for Ron Paul, those are as strong as ever.  However, Johnson has a few things going for him that Paul doesn’t necessarily.

It’s true that both have a record to stand on.  However, Paul as repeatedly used earmarks to send money to his home district.  Granted, he always votes against the budget after adding those earmarks, but some can easily argue that Paul knows it will pass anyways so he’s just voting against the budget on form.  He’s bringing home the pork just like so many he criticizes, at least in their eyes.  Johnson, on the other hand, vetoed over 750 pieces of legislation during his time as governor of New Mexico.

Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner has been using what I would call “scare tactics” to improve Ben Bernanke’s renomination as the head of the Federal Reserve.

From Politico:

Asked about possible market reaction to a defeat, Geithner said: “I think the markets would view that as a very troubling thing to the economy as a whole. But, as I said, I don’t think they should be uncertain. I think they should be confident because we are very confident he will be reconfirmed.”

He appears confident, as he should be, that Bernanke will get the votes needed for confirmation. But what is troubling about this is that there is a very subtle threat that the markets will react negatively if he is not confirmed.

What the American public should be concerned about is the fact that a central bank has monopoly power over money in the United States. Besides that, they are private and unaccountable to the American public. Yet we still see people arguing that they should not even be audited! Unfortunately for Geithner and the Fed-backers, they can’t threaten that the market will react negatively to what is uncovered in the Fed audit. That would just prove the audit should have occurred; the market needs correction from the intervention of the Federal Reserve.

Note: Brad Warbiany from The Liberty Papers was originally penciled in as a guest for the podcast, but some technical difficulties required a re-recording of the show.  He was missed on the final product, but we plan to have him on again in the very near future.

Jason and Brett were joined by Stephen Gordon, principal with Forward Focus Media for the re-record, as well as the original.

Together, they discuss:

As mentioned in an earlier post, Congressman Ron Paul has introduced legislation (HR 1207) to demand an audit of the Federal Reserve System. No body or institution in the world has so much power over our economy as does the Federal Reserve System. Yet, this private institution has virtually no accountability to the general public.
As of latest reporting, HR 1207 has 190 co-sponsors. This includes a fair number of Democrats. Among Alabama Congressmen, HR 1207 is co-sponsored by Congressmen Mike Rogers (3rd district), Robert Aderholt (4th district, and Spencer Bachus (6th district). Pressure

Dr. Paul, once again, outlines the real culprits of the current economic crisis, and points to the real solutions- less government, lower taxes, decreased spending, the end of devaluing the dollar.

H/T: Matt Chancey

Dr. Paul explains why the Federal Reserve needs to go and why the free market and saving money (vs. printing money) is part of the solution to the current crisis.

Ron Paul in answer to the idea that “the house is already on fire and we need to put water on it”:  “You’re correct, the house is on fire- you think we’re putting water on it. I think we’re putting kerosene on it.”

Dr. Paul discusses further developments with the disbursement of the bailout funds and the resolution supporting Israel over Palestine.

Thursday evening I posted on my Facebook profile the speech that Congressman Ron Paul gave on the House floor, opposing the auto industry bailout (the so-called “bridge loan”), along with the following comment:

“This speech on the auto bailout speaks for itself. Congressman Paul really puts it all into perspective. Were that there were more in Congress like him.”