Zen and the Art of /.*/

(Salutations and closing omitted)

I would like to take the opportunity during this (relative) lull before the next session to share with you a few of my thoughts and concerns.

As I’m sure you’re aware–and as more and more people are becoming increasingly aware–we, as a state and as a republic, are in dire straits. One could go on endlessly listing all of the seemingly-intractable problems we are facing. The combination and synchronization of these endless problems would appear to be catastrophic.

The Fed Under Fire

When Ron Paul’s bill to audit the Federal Reserve (HR 1207) began to accumulate more and more co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle, I was somewhat skeptical, thinking that most co-sponsors were merely signing on to look supportive of Washington’s nebulous notions of “accountability” and “transparency.”

Hyperinflation Nation

Not terribly well done, but a pretty good, short (30-minute) documentary that explains some of the basics and includes a nice collection of clips of some of the champions of economic truth.

In this statement, delivered by Ron Paul on February 13, 2008 to the United States House of Representatives, Dr. Paul proposes three actions the government should take to allow individuals to use private competing currencies:

1. eliminate legal tender laws,
2. eliminate laws that prohibit the operation of private mints, and
3. eliminate capital gains and sales taxes on gold and silver coins.

Faithfully executing these three actions would have wonderful, seemingly miraculous effects. So many of the myriad other problems that we constantly worry about, argue about, and fight to rectify would steadily melt away.

For years now (has it really been years, already?) I have been trying to share with folks the principled ideas of one soft-spoken congressman from Texas. Without fail, these attempts are met with contempt, disgust, unfounded skepticism, and insult. People unfamiliar with Ron Paul, his policies, his principles, or his record were astoundingly quick to apply to him labels such as kook, unelectable, fringe, extremist, and a score of other derisive epithets.