There's something happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear

Larry LaBorde
May 25, 2007

I suppose I should start off by apologizing to Buffalo Springfield for borrowing a line from an old song of theirs. Reading and watching the news gives me the clear impression that there is a growing dissatisfaction with things here in the good old US of A. Sunday's AOL poll dances around the issues but clearly points out a problem with dissatisfied citizens.

Congressman Ron Paul has raised several questions that John Q. Public finds interesting. All of a sudden someone is making comments out loud that several of us have been making in private. A Fox news poll showed that he clearly won the debate; however, he is now being pushed aside by the mainstream media. I suppose he deviated from the approved answers and now he has to go. Quite frankly, I think there is a chance that he may not live long enough to be elected as he is working on the wrong "talking points" from the official demopublican party line. It will be interesting if the mainstream press can marginalize him or if his campaign will be strong enough from a grassroots level to survive. Congressman Paul offers the only alternative option from the tax and spend (and then spend some more) candidates already out there. He alone stands above them all in principle and adherence to the ideals that founded this country. He is the only chance to vote for true liberty for our constitutional republic in this next election.

Gasoline just soared above $3.00/gallon this past week end. At Shadow Government Statistics, www.shadowstats.com, Mr. Williams reports that M3 growth is almost 13% with the liquidity taps wide open. Inflation calculated by governmental pre-Clinton methods is double the now "official" figures. The real inflation number (including fuel, food and housing) is probably closer to 10%. Real unemployment including chronically unemployed and under employed is well over 10% and probably much higher.

At www.myhodges.home.att.net the Grandfather report states that the government has captured 57% of the economy leaving only 43% of the economy for the private sector. Guess who is pulling the wagon? We have fewer horses pulling a bigger wagon. Some feel the solution is to flog the horses harder. A government somewhere around 15% of the economy seems about right to me.

I am currently re-reading T. Harry William's masterful biography on Huey P. Long. In the depths of the great depression he was concerned about the disappearing middle class. The rich were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer. The concentration of wealth in the top 1% of the population was at an all time high. He recommended liquidating all wealth over $5 million dollars and incomes over 300 times the average wage. His "share the wealth" program was accused of being socialist but he strongly denied the charge. He claimed that it was going to save capitalism from serfdom. Of course, they killed Long. With today's outlandish CEO salaries, his claims resonate a bit in the current economy. It is only because the CEOs pack the compensation committee with directors that are no longer majority shareholders that they are able to capture such large profits from the shareholders. (It's not their money.) And you have to wonder what exactly does Goldman Sachs do that makes its top men so powerful that they keep ending up heading up the U.S. treasury department.

But there is much for concern among the citizens. Homeland Security can't seem to secure our borders but they can strip search Grandma at the airport. The National Guard is no longer under control of the local governors. The local police are becoming militarized (more Barney and less Andy). The democrats are now in charge of congress and nothing has changed. Perpetual war for perpetual peace is the new mantra in the Middle East. There is the loss of civil rights through patriot act I and II (do I hear III?). Manufacturing jobs are still leaving the country at an alarming rate. Negative savings rates and maxed out visa cards. And finally just too much month at the end of the money!

Why do I air this laundry list of problems? Because there is a general discontent building in this country and the general population is not quite sure why they are not happy but it is growing. The general population can be distracted for only so long. I have faith that the average man is not a fool. There is a growing feeling that things are not well and that maybe, just maybe we have been lied to by our own government. Maybe Ron Paul is the right man in the right place for MEANINGFUL change. But it is not radical change. He is proposing that we simply rein in our government back to its original constitutional form.

How did we ever go so far astray? Maybe we just need someone to lead us home before some dictator leads us off in the wrong direction.