Zaphod for President

Our buddy Karl Whitney has opened a real can of worms by pointing me over to this article on Firedoglake.

A more important point, though, that’s overlooked in all this is that Ron Paul has made a career out of transmitting extremist beliefs, particularly far-right conspiracy theories about a looming “New World Order,” into the mainstream of public discourse by reframing and repackaging them for wider consumption, mostly by studiously avoiding the more noxious and often racist elements of those beliefs. Along the way, he has built a long record of appearing before and lending the credibility of his office to a whole array of truly noxious organizations, and has a loyal following built in no small part on members of those groups.

I would like to address Nelwert’s points one by one, however, before we can address the meat-and-potatoes of his argument, we must first discuss the alleged existence of a conspiratorial “New World Order”. This is quite a big topic, and so, I will break this down into a series of posts. Let me begin by laying some groundwork on the topic.

What is the New World Order?
Depending on the context, “New World Order” can refer to a few different things:

• A system of world government, whereby individual nation-states are no longer necessary

• A global oligarchy of bankers, politicians, statesman, aristocracy, law enforcement and others who are engineering world events

• An ancient society which has directed the development of human civilization since the dawn of time

• A form of globalization whereby corporations, rather than government, hold authority over civilians

• A secret cabal of five Jewish bankers, who secretly run the world from the basement of a small Brooklyn deli located a few blocks south of Coney Island

Is the New World Order real?
Let me defer that question to our 41st President; George H.W. Bush.

Points to ponder:
As a slogan, “New World Order” has developed a vague meaning, and has been applied to nearly everything from the music industry to the poisons injected into our food supplies.

Since the dawn of civilization, mankind has organized itself into societies. These societies have always been directed by leaders- despots, presidents, a council of elders, shamans, what have you. Some anti-NWO activists can be described as anarchists, and advocate the removal of all government. However, most anti-NWO activists are happy to organize within self-governed republics, and accept the notion that government (albeit a preferably small government) is a necessity.

Like any religion, the anti-NWO movement has attracted an endless army of lunatics who disregard all facts in favor of pushing their own agenda.

Despite all the silliness and disinformation, there are several core issues at the heart of the the anti-NWO movement that are extremely valid and relevant. For example:

• liberty
• human rights
• transparency in government
• the role of government
• taxation without representation
• fiat currency systems
• criminal justice reform
• corruption
• control of mass media
• education v. propaganda
• abuse of technology

A brief tour of the New World Order:
Allow me to illustrate these concepts with a few specific examples from my own life.

The role of Government
My parents divorced when I was very young. Later, when I was about 10, my dad sued my mother for custody of me. My fate was not decided by my own wishes, nor any agreement among my family- a county court judge decided where I would live.

Transparency
When I was about 13, I fell in love with “UFOs” and the “area 51″ conspiracy. Like most UFO nuts, I subscribed to the theory that there was some immense conspiracy by our Federal Government to hide the existence of intelligent aliens. A few years later I discovered that there was indeed a conspiracy at “area 51″, however, it was not nearly as exciting as I had hoped; the feds were hiding toxic waste, not aliens. Today I remain agnostic, but extremely skeptical, that aliens crash-landed there.

Education v. Propaganda
I attended Pre-K through 2nd grade at a montessori school. I attended 3rd through 7th grade at a variety of Chicago-suburb public schools. I attended 8th through 11th at Long Island public schools. I received my A.S. and B.S. at the State University of New York. Having encountered a variety of different systems, I can say without question that public education is a scam. And I say this as a college-educated adult, not angst-ridden teen. I highly suggest reading Democracy And Education by John Dewey, and expect I will have more to say about this topic later.

Criminal Justice Reform
Once I started attending college, it seemed only natural that I start smoking marijuana on a regular basis. As I progressed through the pot-head culture of Long Island, I was simply amazed by the popularity of this “mostly harmless” little plant. The kids smoked it. Our parents smoked it. Our grandparents smoked it. The cops smoked it. Simply stated: our present-day drug laws violate the basic “of the people, for the people, by the people” ethos of America. Or perhaps we Americans just really like being criminals. Who knows?

Taxation Without Representation
I recently bought a house. Well, actually, I convinced a bank to buy one for me. I borrowed $277,000 at 7.37% over 30 years fixed. According to this program, I will pay $411,000 in interest, and after 30 years, should have a house worth about $1,000,000 USD. Sounds like a smart move, eh? Well, adjust that $1M by 3.5% per year for inflation, and I am left paying $688,000 for a house worth $355,870 in 2007 dollars.

It gets worse.

You might think the bank loaned me money it had collected from interest on other mortgages. This is not the case. Rather, my bank deposited somewhere in the neighborhood of $13,000 into a central bank, and created this debt with a few keystroked in a computer. They will earn $688,000 on a $13,000 investment over 30 years. If I don’t pay them, they will send a sheriff with a gun to chase me away, and then find someone else who will.

It gets worse. However, if this entire business of banking sounds confusing and bizarre to you, this cartoon might help explain things in layman’s terms a bit better than I can.

Conclusion
There are many claims made by anti-NWO activists that are crazy, unfounded, illogical and unfair. However, there are also some very real issues; issues that affect us all, and the way in which we live our lives.

Ron Paul is the first candidate I’ve advocated since Bob Bowman. As you can see, I favor the wackos, the underdogs, and the conspiracy theorists, and I care not for party affiliation. Bowman lost his race (by about 11%), and many people are convinced Ron Paul will too. However, as I’ve said before, and will say again: Ron Paul’s got my vote, even if I have to write it in myself (unless of course a better candidate appears on the scene).

For better or for worse, Ron Paul will be eternally linked to the conspiracy theorists through the Google-cracy of the modern Internet. The question now becomes: can mainstream American voters find the genuine truth within the “truth movement”, or will Paul be forever branded as the present-day Lyndon LaRouche (or more aptly, another Ross Perot)?

Let us attack these topics with a mutual interest in truth. Which specific criticism should be addressed first? Which of these issues is most interesting to you?

Hungry for more?

• No Bull$#it Politics
• Election 08
• Videos
• Environmentalism
• Philosophy
• Drugs