New Op-Ed from Ron Paul: "Restore America by getting government under control"

Ron Paul has a new article out, this time published at the DesMoines Register.  Contrary to what some have claimed about the liberty movement being on the fringe even among young people, Dr. Paul notes the enthusiastic reactions he recieves from college students when advocating limited government:

Rising generations know that America's current course cannot be sustained, and they are ready to change direction. When I speak on college campuses across the country, the topic that consistently gets the loudest applause is stopping our system of endlessly printing money out of thin air by ending the Federal Reserve and returning to sound money.

Agreeing with the president that the "time for change is now," Dr. Paul details what true change would look like -- change which makes a lasting difference, not the farcical variety we've been getting from both parties for years:

True change will object to any unbalanced budget, instead of merely trimming around the edges.

Liberty Roundup

Six articles I'd recommend for an interesting read:

1. "Health Savings Accounts Are the Answer."  Acknowledging that there is a problem with the health care system, this post on the Civil Society Trust blog argues that it is not a problem government can fix.  The source of the problem?  "Our present system of medical spending and reimbursement is an unholy 'mashup' of two concepts that need to remain separate:  health care and health insurance."  Read more here.
2. "Freedom -- the First Casualty," by Tom Eddlem.  Writing for the Antiwar League, Eddlem contends that "Freedom has become the first casualty in war. Freedom is always the first casualty in war."   He goes on to detail our loss of freedom, constitutional amendment by amendment.  Find those details here (and share them with your "constitutionalist" warhawk friends).
3. "The Paulpocaplypse," by Brian Doherty.  After publishing an inane hit piece on Ron Paul a couple days ago, Reason to some extent redeems itself with this article, which notes:  "Signs like the CPAC vote of a significant number of politically active youngsters believing in Ron Paul are indeed a sign of an apocalypse of sorts for the world that most politicians and pundits know. If Ron Paul is right, then everything they know is wrong."  So true.   More here.

Republican Revisionism

Since George W. exited the White House, many Republicans have slowly but surely attempted to rehabilitate the image of their pathetically unconservative party, writes Howard Rich at NetRightNation.  Having the GOP in power, they argue, wasn't "'all that bad' -- and certainly not as bad as the socialist hordes who have ostensibly pushed America to the brink of financial ruin over the last year." 

Indeed, the GOP has attempted to co-opt the fervor of the tea partiers, despite having engaged in exactly the same big government practices which both groups now loudly decry (I'm presently at CPAC, where Mike Pence just said that "Republicans in Congress are back in the fight and they're back in the fight on the right!"  Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it with a GOP majority.  It's easy to be principled when you're the underdog). 

Sadly, their attempts sometimes seem to succeed as tea party protesters quickly forget that the very GOP now courting them was just a few years ago using control of all three branches of the government to...well, to make the government more invasive and overgrown than ever.  As Rich concludes:

Was Bush a better steward of your tax dollars than Obama?

Yes – but that’s the problem. Getting mugged worse the second time around doesn’t absolve the first thief of his culpability.

And the first thief is very guilty indeed.  Republican revisionism and cozying up to those newly angry with the government is to be expected and will frequently be successful.  But in the liberty movement, at least, let's maintain memories more than two years long.  (Hat tip to Adam Bitely.)

Secessionism ≠ Racism

"[S]lander is often used in political debate and is often effective, and it has certainly been effective in preventing any rational discussion about nullification and secession in today’s United States."

Read the full text here.