Letters to the Editor
Chris Sinnard
Published Letters: 1157 Editor's Choice: 7
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You should listen to the Joshua Frank/Scott Horton Interview...
[Read the article: Paul-mentum]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm very liberal and find his domestic economic agenda dangerous. But I'd trust him to be independent, tough, and with me when it came to the constitution and the balance of powers -- more so than Clinton and any from the GOP.
This is exactly what the radio interview and Joshua Frank's article discusses. It isn't about left/right, there is a new synthesis forming, and it based on respect for Civil Liberties, following the Constitution, and being antiwar.
http://www.scotthortonshow.com/2007/12/13/antiwar-radio-joshua-frank-3/
And read Joshua Frank's article:
Antiwar Left Should Look Beyond Democrats
The left wing of the antiwar movement has some very serious problems, mainly our inability to recognize that the antiwar sentiment in the United States is resonating far beyond the confines of the so-called "left."
We cannot step back and effectively analyze the failures of the antiwar movement without peering under the hood of John Kerry's campaign in 2004. In essence, I think the majority of the left made a huge mistake on this issue by not opposing the Democrats; the movement supported a pro-war position by not opposing Sen. Kerry, who promised to continue the occupation of Iraq. There was no pressure on Kerry to alter his position on the war. No bird-dogging protests along the campaign trail. No outrage over his flip-flopping-let's-send-more- troops-into-battle rhetoric. Silence during election season is complicity. So let's be loud.
Despite his good intentions, Dennis Kucinich also failed us four years ago as well by abandoning his antiwar platform in favor of Kerry's pro-war candidacy. There is little reason to believe ol' Dennis won't do the same thing again this year if Hillary is the nominee. It was party politics before issues. Kucinich, unfortunately, wasn't an activist but a pawn in the Democrat's game. And the antiwar movement, or at least those who supported his bid, felt the damaging tremors for months afterward. Kucinich has been running in Iowa for almost nine years and is barely pulling in 1% of the vote. So what's the point?
The backlash to the Iraq war in this country is much larger than Kucinich's fan club, yet there is no real visible "moving" movement on the ground to end it. In many ways this is our fault as we are not willing to reach out to antiwar folks across the lines. A movement will never move forward with archaic sectarian factions or unyielding adherence to entrenched political philosophies. We must overcome our unwillingness to collaborate and collectively organize.
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Ending the war in Iraq will take substantial pressure from all sides of the political spectrum. From conservative veterans to radical peaceniks. Let's embrace this new reality. The antiwar movement is larger than the left, in fact so much so that we may be at the whim of a real grassroots resistance instead of at its forefront. And if that means bringing this ugly war to a screeching halt, I'm all for it.
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http://www.antiwar.com/frank/?articleid=12047
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And here we go with the old...
[Read the article: Paul-mentum]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Ron Paul is teh racist...
You forget to call him antisemitic because he wants to stop giving Israel billions of dollars in weapons and aid.
/yawn
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The words of a racist?
[Read the article: Paul-mentum]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showpost.php?p=600834&postcount=11
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/special/forums/candidates/paul.html
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I would like to believe that if we had a freer society, it would take care of Blacks and whites and everybody equally because we're all individuals. To me, that is so important. But if we had equal justice under the law, I think it would be a big improvement. If we had probably a repeal of most of the federal laws on drugs and the unfairness on how Blacks are treated with these drugs laws, it would be a tremendous improvement.
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For instance, Blacks make up 14 percent of those who use drugs, yet 36 percent of those arrested are Blacks and it ends up that 63 percent of those who finally end up in prison are Blacks. This has to change.
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You know, over the years, I've held pretty rigid all my beliefs, but I've changed my opinion about the death penalty. For federal purposes, I no longer believe in the death penalty. I believe it has been issued unjustly. If you're rich, you get away with it; if you're poor and you're from the inner city, you're more likely to be prosecuted and convicted.
Today, with the DNA evidence, there have been too many mistakes. So I am now opposed to the federal death penalty.
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As for the Israeli lobby issue, even Israeli media admits that Ron Paul is not being antisemitic in his position.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/rosnerBlog.jhtml?itemNo=921350&contrassID=25&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=1&listSrc=Y&art=1
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And there's the "Lobby" issue. Paul did denounce, more than once, the pro-Israel lobby on Capitol Hill. He said that members of Congress have been "intimidated by the influence of AIPAC" (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee). He also said that "the assumption is that AIPAC is in control of things, and they control the votes, and they get everybody to vote against anything that would diminish the [Iraq] war".
Is this anti-Semitic? Is it biased?
I think it is the obvious price that Israel supporters are paying for being - well - influential. No, AIPAC is not responsible for the war in Iraq. But being a strong lobby comes with a price: the price of being singled out by a libertarian candidate for the Presidency.
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Is this the part where psychoanalysis comes into play? Picking apart his code words in order to show the hidden meaning that only other antisemitic racists can REALLY see (and you, of course, who obviously isn't a bigot in anyway AT ALL, only someone who accuses other people...)?