So the presidential campaign is shaping up as a contest between a Democrat who says we had a free market from 2001 through 2008 and a Republican who . . . agrees—he says “[w]e are only inches away from ceasing to be a free market economy.” You can’t cease to be something you never were.

Thus Barack Obama claims and Mitt Romneyimplicitly concedes that the free market 1) has existed and 2) therefore presumably created the housing and financial debacle. This bodes ill for advocates of liberty and voluntary exchange.

Notice what will happen if this framing is widely accepted: Genuinely freed markets won’t make the list of feasible options. That will leave us with mere variations on a statist theme, namely, corporatism. How will voters choose among them? Most of those who abhor “socialism” (however they define it) will rally round Republican corporatism because of the pro-market rhetoric, while most who abhor the cruel “free market” (“Look at the hardship it created!”) will rush to Democratic corporatism because of its anti-market rhetoric.

And the winner will be: Corporatism. (That is, the use of government force primarily to benefit the well-connected business elite.) The loser? The people, who would benefit from freedom and freed markets—markets void of privileges and arbitrary decrees. That’s what maximizes consumer and worker bargaining power and enhances general living standards.

CONTINUED at Reason. Written by Sheldon Richman.

UPDATE: RAND PAUL IS ATTENDING. STORY HERE.

Romney, Gingrich, Santorum to be keynote speakers but Paul absent.

Despite winning the event’s annual straw poll for the last two years running, Ron Paul has seemingly been excluded from this year’s CPAC conference, with Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich announced as keynote speakers but Paul appearing nowhere on the roster.

The exclusion of Paul is likely a maneuver by GOP insiders to re-align CPAC, the biggest annual conservative confab, with the Republican establishment and prevent an embarrassing straw poll defeat for likely presidential pick Mitt Romney, who Paul beat in 2010 and 2011.

According to the CPAC website, fellow presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum will all address the event scheduled to take place Feb. 8-11 in Washington, but Ron Paul will be absent.

“Although a combination of factors might be at play, including Paul’s focus on the Maine caucuses, a changing of the guard at the top of CPAC’s management team is likely behind Paul’s exclusion,” notes Stephen Woodward.

Indeed, the selection of former chairman of the Florida Republican Party Al Cardenas to lead CPAC has brought with it a decidedly neoconservative flavor to the 2012 event.

Besides Romney and Gingrich, the likes of Ann Coulter, John Bolton, Sen. Mitch McConnell, Herman Cain and Rick Perry will all speak at the conference.

During a post CPAC 2011 interview, American Conservative Union (ACU) chief Cardenas put Ron Paul supporters on notice by warning them that they would not be invited to the 2012 event if they failed to act with “civility” after previous speakers Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld were booed by Paul activists.

The change in direction seemingly stems from a revolt, characterized by Politico as a “conservative civil war,” that preceded last year’s conference fueled by concerns expressed by establishment Republicans that the conference was turning “libertarian”.

Former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who boycotted the 2010 and 2011 conferences because of the attendance of Ron Paul and his supporters, is set to return to speak at the 2012 event.

CPAC’s move to marginalize true conservatives like Ron Paul also stems from concerns that the rival Values Voter Summit is gaining more prominence within establishment Republican circles.

Paul has won the CPAC straw poll for the past two years running and has spoke at the last three conferences.

Following his victory last year, Fox News erroneously reported that Paul had been booed by the audience when his win was announced. In reality, Fox played footage from the previous year’s event when Mitt Romney supporters had loudly booed the result and Paul supporters had been absent due to a Campaign for Liberty meeting running late.

Although Ron Paul supporters have presumably been uninvited because they booed Cheney and Rumsfeld, Romney fans who booed Paul will be in attendance at CPAC 2012, highlighting the hypocrisy behind Paul’s exclusion.

*********************

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News.

Source: Prison Planet.

Florida’s delegates to the Republican National Convention are getting snubbed in their own house, after the national GOP decided Wednesday to ramp up penalties on the state for holding an early primary in violation of party rules.

Though Florida is hosting the party’s national convention in Tampa later this year, a Republican National Committee panel voted unanimously to give the state’s representatives second-class access to the whole affair.

Under the resolution, the national party will make sure Florida’s delegates have poor seating and poor hotel options — as in, hotels that are not close to the Tampa Bay Times Forum, the convention venue. According to an RNC official, the delegates will also be limited in the number of guest passes they can hand out.

The Rules Committee voted for the sanctions Wednesday, and the RNC official said no further action is needed to carry out the punishment.

“They will be penalized with reduced guest passes, reduced priority seating on the floor and hotels further away,” the official told Fox News.

A Florida Republican official claimed the national party still has to take one more step to finalize the penalties, but suggested there would be no hard feelings going into November. The official said the state party will “do nothing but (commit) ourselves to making sure that a Republican wins the state of Florida.”

The latest penalties would come on top of the hit the Sunshine State already took to its delegate count.

The state is expected to lose half its 99 delegates as a result of its decision to hold the Republican presidential primary on Jan. 31.

Under RNC rules, Florida was not supposed to hold what’s known as a “winner-take-all” primary before April. That’s a primary in which all the state’s delegates are awarded to the winner, as opposed to one in which the delegates are awarded proportionally.

The very beginning of the 2012 primary calendar is also supposed to be reserved for Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. Florida’s decision to get in on the early primary action follows a similar move in 2008, and a similar punishment by the RNC.

Leonard Curry, chairman of the Florida GOP, said in a statement that he’s hoping to move forward despite the new penalties.

“I understand why today’s vote took place and we will continue to work to protect Florida Republicans’ interest at the national convention,” Curry said. “With today’s action, I hope that all Republicans can move together, unified and committed to the most important goal we have — the election of a Republican president in 2012.”

When the state party first announced the date in September, Curry said the early vote “properly reflects the importance Florida will play on the national stage.”

A true swing state, Florida, with its 29 delegates to the Electoral College, is considered essential to win the general election. Barack Obama won the state in 2008.

Source: Fox News.

*Written by Rob Rimes.

If Ron Paul wasn’t in the 2012 election, nearly every libertarian and true constitutional conservative would be supporting Gary Johnson. In fact, I think Gary Johnson has a very bright future and, in elections after this current one, will be a force to be reckoned with. This just isn’t Gary’s year and he had to of known that going into this election. Considering that Ron Paul simply owns the libertarian vote, Johnson had to have been prepared to be overshadowed by his like-minded competitor. Now whether or not he could have eclipsed Ron Paul as the libertarians’ choice doesn’t really matter at this point, what matters is that this guy is a great candidate and unfortunately, he has been treated like shit by the Republican Party and the mainstream media.

Johnson was excluded from nearly every debate, except for three, if my memory serves me correctly. His exclusion was due to the fact that he wasn’t polling high enough or so that’s what the media and the GOP claim. The truth is, more often than not, Gary Johnson was left off of these polls and therefore, didn’t even have the ability to get any poll support to even earn a spot in these debates. Then again, Mike Huckabee and Michele Bachmann were both invited to debates when they weren’t even officially on the ticket. Hell, Huckabee was fucking invited even after he declared that he was not running!

Now Johnson wasn’t alone in this mistreatment. Another candidate, Congressman Thaddeus McCotter from Michigan, was also faced with a similar situation and he didn’t even get included in any of the debates. McCotter was out of the race as quickly as he was in and most people still have never heard of the guy. At least Johnson got a little bit more respect than that. Being a two term Governor holds some weight I guess.

Due to the fact that the Republicans wouldn’t take him seriously and that he had no way to gain any traction in the shadow of the giant elephant, Gary Johnson dropped that party like a bad habit and signed on to the Libertarian Party. This is actually something I knew about a few months before it was official. One source of mine clued me in on the fact that Gary Johnson was not going to run on the Republican ticket in any of the states that have a “sore loser” law. I was also informed that Johnson’s campaign manager was going to be traveling to Las Vegas on December 10th, which was the date of a major Libertarian Party board meeting regarding the 2012 election. Even before that, as far back as July of last year, a close friend and political insider told me that there was a plan in place with the Libertarian Party to be ready to go gangbusters if they were able to snag Gary Johnson or even Ron Paul. That’s all water under the bridge now however.

In any event, Gary Johnson is now a third party candidate and he honestly has the potential to make as much of an impact as Ross Perot did twenty years ago. Because of that, many people feel like Gary Johnson is going to take votes away from the Republican candidate and will, in effect, secure Obama’s re-election as Ross Perot supposedly took enough votes away from Bush The First, allowing Bill Clinton to win the presidency. Frankly, I think when Republicans blame Ross Perot for George Bush’s loss, it is a cop out. If Bush was the favorite candidate, Bush would have won. Then again, the game of politics is full of excuses.

Realistically though, could Gary Johnson cost the Republicans the election? Fuck yes he could and for good reason. You see, Gary Johnson represents the core beliefs of libertarians and real constitutional conservatives and he is probably the most prolific third party candidate in recent memory. If Ron Paul does not get the Republican nomination, then all those Paulites are going to be jumping on the Gary Johnson train. From the standpoint of the Libertarian Party, this is the greatest thing that could ever happen. In fact, in a country where third parties are never taken seriously, America’s largest third party might have just enough steam to take a giant leap forward and shake up the two party system in a way that might actually change things! One can only hope.

Does this guarantee that Barack Obama will get re-elected? No, not really but if the Republicans don’t have a strong enough candidate to take on the onslaught from both fronts, expect that candidate to get eaten alive. Besides, who says that Johnson will just take votes away from Republicans? Libertarians and Republicans aren’t exactly made from the same mold. In fact, the libertarian stance probably has just as much in common with Democrats as they do Republicans: depending upon the issue. If there are enough angry liberals still pissed off about the ongoing wars and the growing police state, you can bet that they’d vote for Johnson over Obama, who has done nothing but lie about these things since taking office. Hell, maybe the Blue Republicans, a group of Democrats who registered Republican to vote for Ron Paul, might jump on the Johnson train and help push this pro-liberty candidate over the top.

In the same way that Ron Paul attracts the youth vote, Gary Johnson, a man with almost the same message, might be able to tap into that as well. That is, if Ron Paul is out of the picture. Hell, I don’t think that it would be much of a shock for Gary Johnson to be able to tap into the liberal youth vote either, as many of them must be sick of Obama’s bullshit. You’d like to think so, right? Point is, Johnson could cost Obama the election just as easily as he could Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich or anyone else that isn’t Ron Paul.

Now if Ron Paul were to win, the best thing Gary Johnson could do for liberty and to ensure the best possible future for this country, based off of our choices, would be to bow out of the race and endorse Dr. Paul. Hell, the Libertarian Party should look beyond party politics and endorse Paul too. Now I know that that might not be the best business decision but what kind of message would that send? A rival political party believing in a candidate so much that they endorsed him and didn’t put up a guy against him would actually boost the Libertarian Party in the long run. Not only would they earn the respect of libertarian-minded individuals but they would show that they are the one party above the shit show and that they are willing to put what’s best for the country over what’s best for the party. Hell, I’d blast that information out every chance that I got and my words are read by over a hundred-thousand people a month.

If Ron Paul does not get the nomination, then my vote will go to Gary Johnson. If you are a Paul supporter, the best thing you could do would be to vote for Johnson as well. Fuck the Republican Party. They no longer represent what they once did. In fact, the Republican Party has become a second party fueled by progressivism. If on election day, the choice is between the progressive from the left, the progressive from the right or a real pro-Constitution candidate, why would you not vote for Gary Johnson? Who cares if he is a third party candidate? Third party candidates can win if we vote for them. Stop letting these people that say “third parties can’t win” dictate to you how you should vote. They are the same idiots that call Ron Paul “unelectable”. If you believe their nonsense, they are right.

Truth be told, I’d rather there be no political parties and candidates just running as individuals. That’s wishful thinking I know but if the element of party politics was eliminated, people wouldn’t vote for some useless asshole just because he is wearing their colors. They would vote for the best person to do the job and not just settle on the lesser of two evils. The system is fucked; I know that’s trendy to say but it is true. It’s time to pick the best guy and ignore the party lines. The Blue Republicans were smart enough to jump over to the GOP to support Paul and Johnson was smart enough to jump over to the Libertarian Party when his own party wasn’t giving him a fair shake.

In the end, if given the proper platform and respect, Gary Johnson could not only hurt the Republicans, he could hurt the Democrats. To be frank, I don’t want to hear any crying from the right-wingers if this guy comes to the dance fully loaded and rips apart the GOP from the seams. Hell, I hope he fucking does. So if it comes down to Gary Johnson against two progressives, which just may happen, how could you vote for anyone else?

*Written by Rob Rimes.

Like a classical masterpiece, we are currently riding on a massive crescendo towards a major climax that will be as epic as a tsunami wave smashing against a rocky shore. We are now less than a week away from the Iowa caucuses and shit is heating up so fast that bruised egos are clawing and scratching and those who actually represent truth, logic and reason are being torn apart by their rivals and even the media, who apparently doesn’t support their message of liberty. The savages, monsters and lying bastards have rolled up their sleeves, sharpened their claws and are ready to stop at nothing to force these caucuses to go their way, even if it means eating their own. The Republican Party has turned into ravenous cannibals hellbent on devouring anyone and anything that stands in the way of their golden child’s rise to power.

Since before this election even began, the mainstream media – especially Fox News, has pounded over our head how important the Iowa caucuses are. We’ve been told that the candidate who wins in Iowa will most likely win the primaries and go on to claim the Republican nomination for president. We’ve been told that the winner is immediately the front runner and that anyone else that finishes behind this person, might as well throw the towel in because the uphill battle to recover would be incredibly hard. The last two people that have become presidents, Bush II and Obama, both won Iowa. In fact, they both won Iowa and lost New Hampshire, which is considered to be the second biggest win a candidate could get in the primaries. Essentially, Iowa is where it’s at and we all know that.. or do we?

It’s funny how things change when the one guy that the Republican Party and the mainstream media loathes is now the front runner in that state, just before this pivotal event. The media and the other candidates are out to destroy Ron Paul. Being a Paul supporter, I have been very aware and watchful of all the smears that have been brought forth in numerous attempts to discredit the man and truthfully, these failed attempts just make Paul’s campaign stronger as his support magnifies under the blatant lies told by these establishment cockpuppets. However, never has Ron Paul’s opposition been so vehemently malicious towards him. Why are they coming at him harder than ever? Well, they are scared fucking shitless that this man could actually win this thing! That’s right, Ron Paul, as things stand right now, could win the Republican nomination and go on to face Barack Obama for the American throne.

Why are these Republican and conservative pundits shitting their breeches over this man’s success and not championing him in like all the other flavors of the week? Well, it is quite obvious that Dr. Paul does not represent the agenda of the Republican Party, at least not the modern Republican Party. What Ron Paul represents is the Constitution. All these other candidates also claim to represent the Constitution but based off of the things that they say, these candidates are either liars or they have no idea what the Constitution actually says. Maybe they just interpret it in their own way. Maybe being a constitutionalist is like being a Christian in that there are now all of these different denominations because no one can agree on how the words of this sacred document should be translated. Michele Bachmann, the Tea Party princess, is always putting the Constitution on a pedestal but when it comes down to really following it, she is quick to disregard it in order to fulfill the bullshit GOP agenda of putting a stranglehold on individual rights and going to war with distant nations without congressional discussion and approval. This is just a small example and she is not the only hypocrite here.

If Ron Paul wins the election, the Republican Party can no longer get away with the bullshit that they do now. Sure there will always be the vile progressive neocon sect trying to “modernize” the party and forcibly change the rhetoric and ideals of the GOP, such as Newt Gingrich. However, Ron Paul will show us all that there is a much better way of doing things whether it is economic or dealing with our current plethora of foreign entanglements. If Ron Paul can do the things he is promising to do, when they work, the critics and the know-it-all assholes will look like the clueless dolts that they actually are. The fear-mongering will have been proven to be just second-rate scare tactics used to control the public into supporting these pointless wars as well as giving up their liberty for a false sense of ineffective security.

Professional entertainers like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and others of their ilk will be left with egg on their face and this scares the shit out of them. They have spent the last four-to-five years attacking Ron Paul and true libertarian ideals while pimping out candidates that will only perpetuate the current nightmare. Truth be told, when liberals are running the country, the ratings for Rush, Hannity and Fox News go through the roof. In essence, Obama puts a ton of money in these people’s pockets. While they bitch about the guy, they are making serious fucking bank. When the GOP runs shit, their listeners drop off. Am I saying that they are working towards another agenda that isn’t really focused on ousting Obama? That’s for you to decide but when their big business is driven by the bottom line at the end of the day, one has to seriously wonder. Besides, these people have never really proven to have all that much integrity or loyalty to anything.

Now the only thing they can even pin on Ron Paul, which isn’t working by the way, is this whole racist newsletter “scandal”. First of all, the letter was written over twenty years ago and it wasn’t written by Ron Paul. I understand the fact that people are concerned because it was published and apparently Ron Paul wasn’t aware of it being in his newsletter until after the fact but c’mon, is this really all you can throw at the guy? Everyone else in this race for the GOP nomination has espoused some form of bigotry, except for Gary Johnson and Jon Huntsman. Shit, every time any of these assholes start bashing illegal aliens or start talking about wiping muslims off of the face of the Earth, they are showing their true colors. The people trying to crucify Ron Paul on this ancient obscure finding are the same hypocritical assholes who defended Herman Cain’s magician of a penis after over a dozen women came forward with sexual harassment allegations. Which scandal is really worse? Hell, which scandal is more plausible? Shit, Rick Santorum is a self-hating closet homosexual but no one seems to be blasting him for that! Then again no one cares because he has about as much chance at winning this race as Justin Bieber has at winning a tough man competition.

I’m really just sick at how much the media is attacking this man. They have gone as far as to say that if Ron Paul wins the Iowa caucuses that it doesn’t count. Instead, they say that you need to look at who got second place or third because they are the true front runners. What the fuck? Really? So now, after we’ve been told repeatedly that the Iowa winner would most likely win the nomination, it suddenly doesn’t matter where Ron Paul finishes. The guy currently leading in most polls in Iowa is still being called “unelectable”, even though he is a 12 term congressman and garnering the most support from the masses. This guy who’s got, by far, the most passionate supporters, one of the strongest campaigns and the ability to raise millions on a whim is still unelectable. Any victory he may have is just brushed aside like it is some sort of bullshit fluke. This is fucking madness!

The real bullshit is that these pundits, journalists and shit-eating talking heads are doing everything they can to sway this election. They are trying their damnedest to convince YOU that Ron Paul just can’t win. Well, in 1976 everyone said that Jimmy Carter couldn’t win the nomination for the Democratic Party and he did. He then went on to beat Gerald Ford and become president. In 1980 they said that Reagan couldn’t beat the first Bush in the primaries. Reagan did and then he went on to beat Jimmy Carter and become president. In 1992 Bill Clinton was polling at around one percent against all the other candidates in the Democratic Party. When the smoke cleared, Bill Clinton won the nomination and then went on the defeat President Bush, who was heavily favored to win. Many say that Clinton beat Bush because of Ross Perot’s involvement in the race but fuck that, he still won and defied the odds. History has often times favored the unelectable underdog, especially in United States presidential elections. History has also proven time and time again that more often than not, most of these pundits are full of shit. As of right now, the odds for Ron Paul are looking better and better and this is why the monsters have come out.

Don’t be influenced by these assholes. Follow your heart and make your decision based off of who best represents your principles and your beliefs. Don’t throw your vote away on someone else because these establishment jackturds are trying to convince you that Paul can’t win. Well, technically they are right if people continue to swallow their bullshit and don’t vote for Paul. Now if you truly want Ron Paul to win but you cast your vote for someone else because you are afraid that these pundits are right, then you have just thrown away your voice and deserve whatever tyrant you helped put in power.

The best thing that you can do is to turn off your television and your radio and to form your opinion yourself. When so much time is focused on bashing a man who is about to achieve what we have always been told is an epic feat, you have to know that something is fundamentally wrong with the people who are pulling no punches in an attempt to suddenly convince you otherwise. The fact that Newt Gingrich basically said that he would vote for Obama over Paul should show you how demented that sack of shit is. Whatever happened to that mantra “anyone but Obama!”? I guess you’re supposed to throw it out the window when that “anyone” is the only guy left that is telling the truth.

 *Written by Cody Bennett.

I’ve learned more about history in the four years after I graduated high school than I learned in all my twelve years of public education. I have no formal education outside of high school except for independent research that I’ve done out of curiosity and skepticism. The result is that I am better informed and more knowledgeable about a wider range of subjects than most college graduates. Not to sound my own horn, but toot, toot.

Anyway, my schooling experience was one of repressed curiosity and compulsory indoctrination—a constant struggle of trying to discover an identity and a creative voice in an environment that encouraged neither. I’m sure most people remember the angst and the awkwardness.

Well, I graduated in 2007. High school is four years behind me, and it’s probably a considerable amount of years behind all of you. It’s difficult to even maintain any sort of concern for the conditions we managed to escape, much less try to do anything about them. Except, right now as you read this there are millions of American teenagers putting up with the same system.

Standing up for the pledge…make sure to put your hand over your heart. Remain standing for the national anthem… Now for the morning announcements…for lunch we’ll be having flavorless slop…blah, blah, blah.

The toes tapping on linoleum floors. Pencils sliding across paper. The smell of dry-erase markers. The ringing of the bell at the beginning and end of every period. The same methodical march to-and-fro, day in, day out.

Oh, yes, and don’t forget to do your homework. It would be a shame if you didn’t do your homework.

The system we have now is archaic. It was designed for a different time. We keep trying to patch it up, to push it one more mile, to standardize just a little more. But it is unworkable. We are trying to give a tune up to a vehicle with blown head-gaskets. The approach modern progressives are taking toward education is one founded not upon reason, but insanity. The conservative approach isn’t much different. George W. Bush was responsible for the No Child Left Behind Act, which expanded standardized education on a national basis.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. If someone is overdosing, you don’t give him more drugs, because that’s insane. Correct this problem, and the rest of America’s problems will be solved consequentially. By creating freedom and more choices in the realm of education, we can improve the economy, the environment, and our own individual lives. The answer is to get rid of standard-based, pass-fail regulations. The answer is to not look to the state for your education. The answer is self-education. It’s done wonders for me.

Look: here is some history that I learned all by myself.

Until the middle of the 19^th Century, education was mostly localized and available only to the wealthy. However, rapid westward expansion, hoards of immigrants, and the Industrial Revolution began to make it apparent that the nation needed some sort of model for educating the children being born into this brave new world.

Horace Mann, in the 1840’s, began a campaign for what were called “common schools”. These schools would teach children basic skills such as reading, writing and math. Our grade schools today still carry similarities to the common schools of which Mann was so fond.

By 1851, Massachusetts passed legislation including compulsory attendance and standardize teacher certification tests. Within twenty years, 7.6 million kids were enrolled in common schools and the number of teachers in the nation had risen to 125,000. Less than a decade later, the number was up to 340,000.

The first Department of Education was established in 1867 after the National Teacher’s Association lobbied congress to establish a presidential cabinet office dedicated to national education concerns. The very next year the department was demoted to an office, becoming just a small bureau in the Department of the Interior.

With this kind of expansion going on, public schools turned into education factories, taking on the same functionality of the newly industrialized nation. To sum it up, kids were being taught in a merely intellectual manner based on the principles of the Enlightenment, but under a model that resembled the changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution. The principles of the Enlightenment, which tout liberty, reason and individual responsibility, would be in direct contrast with the pragmatic, collectivist, rank-in-file attitude of industrialization.

This is how America’s schools, nearly overnight, became authoritarian institutes requiring the standardized, compulsory education of all citizens. In other words, you don’t have a choice in the matter, because the federal government knows what is best for you. Since the beginning of the 20^th Century, our federal government has expanded public education to the point of crisis. And even though we’ve made advancements in the classroom as far as technology and curriculum, we still use the same sort of classroom model as we did over a century ago. All education reform that has had any major effect on the nation has always been in the direction of more standardized testing and more centralized political control of our schools. Yet, the system is still failing.

One reason I believe the system is failing is because the people who design the legislation aren’t the people in the classrooms. But the biggest reason it is failing is because we are using an out-dated model that doesn’t mix well with our fast-paced, information based culture.

Those are the problems. Here are the solutions.

Abolish the Department of Education. This is not a radical idea. It was a Republican Party policy for many years.

This can be done by local community activism, and hounding our representatives to actually put this issue on the table again. In Florida, a campaign for the federal deregulation of public schools, repeal of the No Child Left Behind Act, and an exemption from the Sunshine State Standards should be embarked upon. With those shackles released, I propose school vouchers in order to create competition between schools.

Check this: instead of what district you live in determining where you go to school and who gets the funding, parents will be given vouchers for the net-cost-per-year it takes to put a student through school. The parents can then choose their children’s school. If a school could operate under the cost of the voucher, the balance would roll over into the next year for that family. With the roll over money from the vouchers, parents could create a college fund for their children.

If adopted by the entire State of Florida, this model could eventually decentralize education for the entire nation. It would simultaneously create competition among the states for everything from colleges to pre-schools. The states with flawed models would ultimately fail, and through common sense they would adopt the models that succeed.

There is one thing that must be understood. My model doesn’t say anything about what standards schools should teach, nor do I mean to suggest any. For me, a teacher is merely someone who bestows knowledge upon others. I am a teacher. You probably are, too. We educate, and are educated every day. The truth, though, is that everyone is responsible for his own education at some point. If we want to change the way we educate the country, we have to change our attitudes. As individuals, we must take hold of our own minds and make our own decisions based on our own judgment. That is the capacity of an educated mind.

We must teach our children to do the same.

*Written by Rob Rimes.

Here we go again, another critique if you will on another primary debate for the GOP candidates who want to go head-to-head with Obama in 2012. This debate was the first to include, now front-runner, Texas Governor Rick Perry. He is a vile douchebag that I wrote about in ”American Psycho: The Ballad of Rick Perry“. This was also the first debate to not include Tim Pawlenty, as he dropped out of the race like a defeated little bitch even though he was voted third place after the last debate. As with all the other debates besides the first, Gary Johnson was nowhere to be found, which is fucking sacrilege. Thaddeus McCotter, another GOP candidate was also left out. He’s a guy I’d like to hear more from, even though his record is somewhat questionable. Then again, it’s nowhere near as bad as the records of the mainstream media’s handpicked golden boys.

The lineup this round consisted of my favorite candidate Ron Paul, the only one that matters; there were others as well however. The media’s new chosen golden boy Rick Perry was ready to duke it out with their original golden boy Mitt Romney. Awesome business man and non-politician Herman Cain was on stage, as was the lord of fire Newt Gingrich and supermom Michele Bachmann. Oh yeah, some how Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman were invited too.

This debate was the first one to air on MSNBC as it was hosted by NBC and Politico. While those two organizations try to pass of as impartial and non-partisan, they are very liberal organizations. This is not a bad thing at all however. The contrast between the philosophies of the panel of moderators and the candidates should make for some entertaining television and give us a fresh perspective in this long drawn-out election cycle or so one would think.

Now I haven’t seen the tally of who had the most time but as a viewer, it felt that Perry and Romney got about half of the total debate time allotted to them and their banter against each other. I asked several other people and they also felt that this was the Perry-Romney Supershow Variety Hour. Because of this, most of the debate was lame. However, let me sum the shit up for you.

The night of course started with Emperor Rick Perry bragging about his record and how awesome he is as Texas’ dictator. Most of what he said about himself was bullshit but nobody cares because nobody checks facts anymore (here is a link for you though). Note to self: if I ever run for president I have to tell everyone I used to be a T-Rex; they’ll never know and I’ll be a fucking shoe in! Anyway, Perry lies and Romney stares at him like he wants a lick of the Perry Tootsie Pop. There’s too much good hair on the screen at one time. Mitt’s hair looks better on this night though.

So immediately the debate swings over to Mitt Romney, as the golden boys have to get the jump on the competition. He says a bunch of unimportant unmemorable shit which causes Perry to snap back and diss Mittens. It’s a golden boy shit show right off the bat! Perry disses on Mitt for his bad public sector record compared to his “great” private sector record. Mitt throws a low blow.. ba-jing! Perry and Romney go into a zing war! Shit! It’s like watching the douches smack each other with their wangs! With the country falling apart, these guys are giving us a bad reality show style squabble instead of giving us mind-blowing solutions to our peril. Whatever, the public loves them and they’re so handsome!

After the fight between the two middle school girls, our attention is directed towards Rick Santorum. How is this shitcock maroon still in this goddamned race? I think he’s only on the stage because he got lost on his way to the racquetball courts. Santorum is synonymous for slapping around blue balls. I didn’t really hear what he had to say, I’m assuming it had something to do with Jesus, war and water sports.

Herman Cain then gets the spotlight and introduces us to his 999 Plan (read about it here). I like the overall idea of the plan and it is light-years ahead of what most of these douches on the stage are peddling. I’ll critique it in-depth at a later date. Cain, who is always ready to give us a solution, attacks taxes and outshines Santorum, Perry and Romney right out the gate.

The panelists then cut over to Jon Huntsman for the first time and he goes on to tell us that we need to fix the weak broken core. I’m not sure if he is referring to America or his campaign. He also states that Utah was the number one job creator, not Texas or Massachusetts. Huntsman makes it known that Perry and Romney are both high on their own fumes and not as effective as they and the media think they are. Then again, Huntsman is about as effective as a tampon in a gunshot wound. Well, at least Huntsman gave a big shout out to free markets, not that I believe he will fight for true capitalism, he’ll most likely take a massive dump on it. However, being the ambassador to China may have taught him how capitalism works because that country has got their shit together like Legos and Gorilla Glue.

Michele gets the mic and instead of spitting a dope freestyle, she just rambles off her Tea Party talking points about Obamacare eating children and killing jobs or something like that. I’m not sure why this Canadian lady is up there. She then proceeds to remind us, for the umpteenth time in only her third debate, that she has had more children in her home than all the primary schools in Saskatchewan. She came off as bat-shit crazy in her first debate, came off really well in her second debate where she battled it out with Tim Pawlenty, but in this debate she is already back to living up to that creepy image of her from that infamous Newsweek cover. I don’t want to be a dickhole and call her a dingbat but she makes it really fucking hard.

Ron Paul finally gets the attention of Brian Williams and his cronies on the panel. Unlike Huntsman, Dr. Paul drops some knowledge on free markets and truly means what he says. He defends his stance on deregulation and doesn’t falter when Brian Williams presses him on his stance regarding the privatization of everything. Ron Paul with elegance and prose educates the panelists and other presidential candidates but of course his expertise and insight fall on deaf ears.

The moderators then point out that Newt Gingrich wrote the introduction to Rick Perry’s book. Of course the MSNBC stooges are trying to start fires and stir the pot for some Republican Party infighting. Newt takes a shot at Perry but doesn’t jab too hard as he uses his time to point out Obama’s blatant use of class warfare.

They return to Golden Boy 2 and ask Romney a question. Luckily for us viewers, there are technical difficulties. The gist of this exchange is an attempt by the moderators on the panel to drag the Romneycare skeletons out of the closet. To dodge this bullet and divert the attention off of himself, Romney promises to offer waivers for any state that wants to opt out of Obamacare. Um.. dude.. why don’t you just murder that bill instead? Repeal the fuck out of it, that’s what you said you would do before. Is he flip-flopping or stumbling through his thoughts?

The health care debate rolls over towards Golden Boy 1 Rick Perry but he dodges bullets like the Ghost Twins from the second ‘Matrix’ movie. Question: Why are so many people in Texas without health care. A: I had to buy some suits and hair gel. Huntsman jumps in the mix, says some unimportant shit and is obviously wearing John Boehner’s skin as he is orange as fuck under those hot stage lights. Bachmann jumps in to pat herself on the back and surprisingly doesn’t mention one of her 1,274 kids.

The debate continues and continues and not a lot of important shit happens or is said. Overall, this is the least memorable of all the debates thus far, even with it being Perry’s debut. So what’s that say about Perry? Also, being in the den of liberals isn’t as exciting as it should be. Ah well, we’re only halfway here.

The most memorable part of the night besides Ron Paul being the only real people’s candidate up there was Newt Gingrich going off on the moderators for their attempts to divide the candidates and create drama. Everything else is really just filler and redundant rhetoric used to trigger cheap pops from the crowd.

Rick Perry did attack Ron Paul at a point and talked of how Paul was pro-Reagan and then anti-Republican back in the 1980′s. Ron Paul defending himself well and pointed out that he supported Reagan in ’76 and ’80 but by ’88 had grown tired of the “politics as usual” of the spend-crazy Reagan Administration and so he left the party to run for president under the banner of the Libertarian Party. This issue is about the only “dirt” anyone can dig up on Ron Paul and it isn’t even dirt. It certainly isn’t as fucking bad as Rick Perry working on Al Gore’s political campaign in ’88!

After Perry’s pot-stirring bullshit with Ron Paul, he was confronted with the fact that George W. Bush’s minions Karl Rove and Dick Cheney have been bashing him to the media. Perry just looks uncomfortable and can’t really formulate a real defense. Between the long pauses and lack of real answers on most issues, Perry looks incredibly weak in this debate. I severely dislike the guy but if he’s such a great candidate why can’t he present himself better? I was disappointed in his performance but at the same time grateful because he did horrible. Then again, after the debate, the media is still pimping him out!

One of the big subjects of the debate was Social Security. The best solution to the problem was brought up by Herman Cain who said that we should adopt the Chilean model. Essentially, that would involve privatizing it. Read more on the Chilean model here.

Rick Perry is finally confronted with the fact that he tried to force vaccinations on girls going into the sixth grade. Ron Paul throws some shit in Perry’s lap, which was refreshing. Attacking other candidates is not Ron Paul’s style but when Rick Perry is a dirty evil son of a bitch, Dr. Paul did the right thing. Bachmann also jumped on Perry and said that what he did was a violation of parental rights. Then she spun that into education reform and I got confused.

Back on topic, Rick Perry tried to defend his Hitler-esque program. His explanation was lame, pointless and did nothing to assure people that he wasn’t a douchebag.. well, except for the mainstream media who still sip his semen cider. One thing Perry forgot to mention however is that the drug company Merck was a huge contributor to his campaigns.

The next big topic to come up is Homeland Security and the TSA. Newt Gingrich informs us that people want to kill us and that we have to have DHS and the TSA. Ron Paul makes a case for privatizing the TSA, he also used his time to rightfully bash FEMA. Jon Huntsman wants a more efficient Department of Homeland Security.

Rick Perry is then challenged on his ability to manage education in this country, as his state has the worst graduation rates in the country. As with everything he is challenged with, Perry doesn’t have a good solid answer. I’m beginning to wonder if his long dramatic pauses are an attempt to collect his thoughts, an attempt to fashion a lie or a way to waste time in order to not really answer the questions. I bet it’s a combination of the three. Everyone else up there is pretty much in favor of school choice.

MSNBC then dusts off their latino reporter for the segment on immigration. Rick Perry, a guy whose record proves he couldn’t care less about border security, calls for more border agents. He also calls for Predator drones. Dude, their are already fucking Predator drones on YOUR state’s border! Are you that fucking dense? Or do you really not pay that much attention? Why did no one call him out on this blatant fucking oversight?!

Mitt Romney wants a super fence on the border and promises no amnesty whatsoever. Newt educates the audience and the moderators on why Reagan went with amnesty and immigration reform. Rick Santorum wants to lock the border down and after that he’d be willing to have discussions about immigration. So, no discussions until we close off those we would have the discussions with. Michele Bachmann believes this magic fence would save us from drug cartels. Is it tall enough to stop helicopters and catapults? All these people need to watch the immigration episode of ‘Penn & Teller’s Bullshit’. At least Herman Cain believes that immigration issues should be handled at the state level and that the federal government should have no control over state’s decisions to combat the problem.

Ron Paul is the only candidate to drop any real knowledge when he goes on to explain how the fence is stupid and that it could potentially be used to keep us in as opposed to keeping people out. He also breaks down the real problems which are the drug war and the welfare system. I wrote about these issues and how they relate to immigration in “Conservatives & Aliens“.

Hey, where’s the latino guy?! Oh, the immigration segment is over. Well played MSNBC.

Romney goes on to explain how he will prevent us from going into a recession. Apparently he is unaware that we are already in a recession. That’s understandable I guess, we’ve only been in it for 3 years. He then attacks Obama for his lack of leadership in an effort to run out time and avoid answering the Tea Party themed question. Mittens is no constitutional conservative.

When Rick Perry is asked if he thinks that Bush II was too quick to launch military intervention. He then dodges the Bush question to give Obama props on his military prowess! He also gives props to the Navy SEALs. Perry actually says “propes” instead of “props” because he is a backwoods fuck that is trying to be cool and fit in with the kids. Stop trying douche-sandwich! You’re whack as fuck and no one likes your DJ!

Tea Party darling Michele Bachmann claims that the U.S. military has been responsible for maintaining global order. WTF?! Is this dingbat rubbing angeldust on her gums again? She does not represent the Tea Party if she believes this and if the majority of the Tea Party also believes this, then the Tea Party is a bunch of frauds. Bachmann wants to reign in a global police state apparently. “Yay!” for military interventionism! She is against Libya but still cool with being the global police. It’s all interventionism and none of it is any of our business. Well, except what was made our business because of previous interventionism and military meddling.

Oh yeah, more Rick Santorum! Why is he still in this damn race? Once again, where the hell is Gary Johnson?! And why isn’t McCotter here as well?

These conservatives are now on the subject of science, something most of them don’t understand. They just look at it as another “religion” in competition with Christianity. Huntsman says we can’t run from science, we need to embrace it. Um.. no duh! He says we must do what must be done to win voters. Okay, so is he asking to abandon religion? Perry believes that the science on climate change isn’t “settled”. Bachmann points out that an agenda is being put out in front of real science, which is true but it is also not a reason to completely disregard it. It is still based more in facts and reality than any faith-based belief system.

Newt Gingrich then wins a few points from me when he says that if he were president he would immediately fire Ben Bernanke and audit the Federal Reserve. Man, Ron Paul is starting to rub off on some people. As I’ve stated many times over, I have never liked Newt Gingrich and still don’t support most of his policies but he is winning me over (especially over Perry, Romney, Bachmann, Hunstsman and Santorum). Paul and Cain are the only two I put ahead of him right now.. well, and Gary Johnson too but where the fuck is he again? Romney then jumps on the bandwagon and says he’d fire Bernanke too. Whatever dude, stop pandering.

The panel then basically gives the rest of the time to the two golden boys. Perry goes on a tangent about the evils of killing children and how the greatest crime against humanity is “heinous crimes against our citizens”. Yeah dude, what exactly were your attempts at forced inoculation? Are you absolved of the crime because you only had intent and didn’t do the crime? So the Texas legislators that prevented you from implementing your Nazi health program also washed your hands of any wrongdoing? What if they didn’t stop you, would you still be a stand up guy?

Ron Paul gets one more brief moment to speak and he uses his last minute or so to explain that there is nowhere in the Constitution that gives the federal government the power to force us all into a welfare state. He vows to fight it and end the tyranny of the welfare system. Let’s do this! The debate then officially ends at 9:49 PM EST, eleven minutes early.

Overall, this debate pretty much sucked. It was better than that horrible CNN one where John King assaulted us with his throat noises but it was a lot weaker than what I had hoped for. Perry just isn’t a good speaker and I can’t put a finger on why everyone loves him. Well, Hitler got into power somehow so I guess it isn’t too farfetched to believe that this needle stabbing Nazi doesn’t have a real chance. Romney did nothing but he out-shined Perry, Santorum and Huntsman were piss breaks and Bachmann was frantically whittling little race cars for her 2,549 kids between questions. Ron Paul is the only one that had me fist-pumping although Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich also had some very high points.

Without further ado, here’s my letter grade ranking system.

Grading Scale:
Grade A-: Ron Paul
Grade B+: Herman Cain
Grade B: Newt Gingrich
Grade C: Mitt Romney
Grade D: Michele Bachmann
Grade D-: John Hunstsman
Grade D-: Rick Perry
Grade F: Rick Santorum
Grade I: Gary Johnson
Grade I: Thaddeus McCotter

*Written by Rob Rimes.

Here we are, we’re right at the deadline of August 2nd for all this debt debate bullshit and still there hasn’t been any compromise. The reality of the situation is that our elected leaders have failed us: immensely. It’s not about who is right or wrong between Democrats and Republicans, it is about the fact that we shouldn’t even be in this fucking mess. I could point fingers all day but right now, I’m just pointing one big fat finger at Washington, D.C.

Barack Obama has proven once again, surprise surprise, that he is not a leader and that he has no clue what the hell he is doing. To all you progressive and socialist cockturds whining about that, go eat a dick. John Boehner is a failure as the leader of the House of Representatives. Harry Reid is just an ass clown, which has been his modus operandi since he was old enough to make his own booger wall. Nancy Pelosi is still parading around like Skeletor gone batshit crazy from smoking duck feathers. Plus, Mitch McConnell still scares everyone. In retrospect, none of them have a real plan and nothing that any of them have proposed ends the Beltway Suits’ spending bonanza. Hell, the GOP’s solution for balancing the budget creates even more spending (read it for yourself here).

Washington is playing its typical game of doublespeak and doublethink. They are all full of shit and the only ones with practical solutions aren’t in a position to do anything about it. I’m of course referring to the father and son duo with the surname Paul. There are many Tea Party candidates who do get it as well but the GOP leadership is completely oblivious to the cold hard reality that the sane people are trying to implement. This has only solidified my worst fears about the Republicans taking back the House. At the end of the day, the two parties are just one huge big government party that just happens to have two wings.

All the conservatives, and even some libertarians out there, wanted to give the Republicans one more shot. Well, one more shot is just more of the same ol’ bullshit and if you cannot see the forest for the trees at this point, you need to check your ass. While weasily fucksacks like John McCain throw hateful insults at the Tea Party contingent, that sort of neoconnish establishment RINO bullshit is why the Republican Party is at war with itself. Where the Democrats primarily stay unified through thick and then, certain Republicans who would serve the other party better are creating rifts on their own side of the coin.

There are those who want to be in D.C. for the right fucking reasons, albeit very few. Then there are those that know nothing else apart from trying to hold onto their jobs, their benefits and their status as American royalty. The John McCains and John Boehners out there are not working to fix the problem, they are only working on short-term solutions that will eventually cause more long-term chaos. Fuck all that noise.

Now don’t get my words twisted here, I am not pimping out the Tea Party as our saviors but at least a big number of them understand what must be done. I am of course excluding the wolves in sheep’s clothing from my own state: Senator Marco Rubio and Congressman Allen West (among others). The Tea Party’s problem is that they have been absorbed by the Republican Party and most of them are done fighting the fight. Most of them were just in it to spark the midterm Republican revolution of 2010. Hell, where I sit, the “extreme” Tea Party just isn’t extreme enough. Adopting Palin, Bachmann, Cain and all these other “fiscal” conservatives that are a part of the Republican Party isn’t going to solve anything. The only Republicans worth their weight in gold at the moment are Ron Paul, Rand Paul and Justin Amash. Truthfully, I wish they’d jump off the sinking ship and align their awesomeness with another party because the one they’re a part of doesn’t represent their views anymore.

No matter what happens between now and the few days left before the deadline doesn’t even really matter long-term. It will be no time before we are in this same boat again dealing with this exact same issue. Even if we had a Republican president, we would still be stuck with this Washington culture of spending. Bush fucked us in the ass hard and guys like McCain would’ve fucked us even harder. Hell, Romney, Gingrich, Perry, Pawlenty, Santorum and all the establishment shitcocks would operate with the same blueprints, it is in their blood. I don’t see Palin or Bachmann being able to move away from these bad habits either. Herman Cain could possibly go in the right direction but he is unproven and who knows how he would react under the pressure. Personally, I like the guy and believe he’d do better than most but at the end of the day, a lot of his policies and ideas aren’t in line with true fiscal responsibility.

Out of the presidential candidates, Ron Paul and Gary Johnson are the best choices to give us the leadership we need. I’d pick Paul over Johnson but I would take either over anyone else you could ever put on the ballot.

The real problem is the two party system. This system has created these issues and until a real viable third party arises, we will be playing this game forever. There are no grey areas in politics anymore; it’s either black or it’s white. Unfortunately, it has become a two party system by design and the parties that are more in line with what we need, such as the Libertarian Party and the Constitution Party, just can’t get the recognition they need on a national level. Someone like Ron Paul walking away from the madness and infighting of the failing GOP could help the movement towards a new political dawn in this country, especially with the attention he is getting this election cycle.

I understand those who say they are still Republicans because it is the party that most closely resembles and represents what they believe. Well, on a personal level, I’ve gotten to the point where I just can’t accept that anymore. Why settle on the better of two evils? Why not back the party that truly encompasses your ideals? Believing that the Republican Party is going to somehow revert back to Goldwater, or even Reagan, era policy is foolhardy. It just isn’t going to happen. If the results of the 2010 midterm elections didn’t spell it out for you, apparently nothing will. Fuck all this “benefit of the doubt” bullshit. We’re obviously well out of time for that.

These debt talks are disgusting to watch. I’m sick of the television pundits and bloggers trying to justify either side of the battle: fuck’m all. All our leaders are doing is pointing fingers at each other in an attempt to size up their dicks and stroke their own feces-covered egos. I say that we should just let this motherfucker go into default, impeach all these bastards and then sue them for damages. However, we don’t live in a perfect world, the debt issue is proof of that, and none of these assholes will accept any sort of accountability anyway. It is always the other guy; it is always us versus them. Well, right now it is US, the American people, against these fucktard douchenuts who can’t even balance a goddamned budget between hundreds of people.

You know what, do what you like. Just don’t come bitching when your party can’t get their shit together. I’m tired of Republicans claiming they’ve got the right message when they can’t even find their own identity as a party. This is why I am not a Republican because fuck man, I don’t know what the hell they even are anymore. Republicans are fucking confusing! They’re either libertarians pretending they’re conservatives, conservatives pretending they’re libertarians or they’re minions of Fox News wearing whatever hat best fits their Party’s agenda that week. I’m none of those things, so I just don’t fit in that mix. I’ve got no personal beef with y’all but don’t expect me to play along when we’re talking on the issues. And if you’re one of those idiots backing Trump, you can drown in a barrel of hippo cum for all I care.

At the end of the day, we need fucking leadership and we aren’t going to get it from a party that can’t even organize its thoughts. The end is nigh my friends and you’re either on the sinking GOP ship or you’re sucking the socialist cock of the Democratic Party. But wait! There are other choices! It’s just time to promote and back those choices and to get off of the one way train to Hell. As the old dude said at the end of ‘The Last Crusade’ when Indiana Jones was searching for the Holy Grail, “You must choose.. but choose wisely.”

My Two Cents: Whether she hurts or helps, is for you to decide. However, this dude is biased as fuck. End Two Cents.

My Two Cents: This is awesome! End Two Cents.

GOP Rep. Steve Buyer erupted after acting Speaker Laura Richardson (D) initially refused to recognize him. Her actions came despite not one member objecting, leading him to say “this is why the American people have thrown you out of power!”. After finally being recognized, he uses his time to lambaste her decision to use the power of the gavel.