Here in Colorado, it’s especially difficult to escape the vitriol and mudslinging of Campaign 2010. The closely watched Senatorial race between Democrat Michael Bennett and Republican Ken Buck has attracted a torrent of out-of-state money, and it sometimes seems as though all of it, a reported $750,000 a day, is being used to finance the attack ads that have come to dominate the local airwaves. Elsewhere in the country, it’s the same unpretty story — no doubt in part because Democratic candidates would rather not talk about, much less defend, President Obama’s heavy-handed initiatives. Thus, in the last few days alone do we find one Republican smeared with the charge of rape, and another, Rand Paul, accused of having tied up a woman 30 years ago and commanding her to worship a false idol. If you’ve been following the news, you know we didn’t make this up. Even the President got into the slimy, suppurating spirit of things recently, accusing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce of taking foreign money to back right-leaning candidates. But even the New York Times wasn’t buying it — nor, apparently, was anyone else — and it now appears the mainstream news media is simply going to let the issue die before their Anointed One makes even more of a fool of himself.
And yet, putting aside all of this toxic sludge, we find ourselves positively excited about the possibility there’s a revolution brewing and that actual political change could occur as a result of the election. Yes, we know, it doesn’t much matter whether the country elects Republicans or Democrats — the long-term results will always be roughly the same. But when we talk about revolution, it has less to do with changes in the political make-up of the House and Senate than with vastly larger changes taking shape in the hearts and minds of the electorate. For one, if conservative candidates romp, as seems likely, the mainstream news media (MSM) will have to face up to the reasons. Remember, it wasn’t long ago that they were soft-peddling Obama’s line that he simply had not communicated his ideas with sufficient clarity. And before that, they carried his water with the argument that many Americans were not ready to accept a black president. Baloney. Now they may have to acknowledge a simpler truth — that Obama’s ideas are repugnant to most voters. Also likely to go down in flames is the untested notion that Tea Partiers are a bunch of right-wing racists.
‘Abolish the Fed’
If change is indeed in the air, one of the most intriguing possibilities we’ve heard so far is a plan from Gary North to do away with Federal Reserve. Although we’ve had our differences with Gary in the past on the issue of inflation vs. deflation, we have no problem deferring to him where the Fed is concerned. He is an expert’s expert on the subject, and in arguing to abolish the central bank, his heart is in the right place. Here is a link to his essay, which is too detailed and subtly nuanced for us to do it justice here. Suffice it to say, North has come up with a brilliant incentive that could mobilize voters on the issue. His plan would require the Treasury to sell all of the gold held by the U.S. Government to its true owners, the American people, at a price of $42.22 an ounce. Dare we suggest that, as the issue gathers steam and plays out in the press, voters might actually come to understand why it is in their best interest to dissolve the Federal Reserve System? Actually, even now, more than a few Tea Party-ers undoubtedly realize that the Fed exists, as North puts it, to defend the interests of a cartel of large banks. Exactly how the central bank does this is obscured by myriad layers of deliberate obfuscation, including Fed-speak by Bernanke and his predecessors, but also and most crucially by a news media too stupid and lazy to investigate and present the facts. Let the newsrooms beware: the lynch mob is just as angry with those who report the news as with those who make it. If the news media continue to play dumb even as more and more voters come to understand and believe that the Fed does indeed steal from the poor to support the rich, revolution’s first fusillade in November is going to turn into cannon and mortar fire in the months and years ahead.
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Also, the 80% of average American’s, their largest investment is their home. It is a win win situation, short term, to bring back confidence in the housing sector. What we do not need right now is “Hoover” type policies to further erode American confidence in the housing sector.