HELP ME
FUCK
So what did it? What pushed me over the edge? It was this.
Ron Paul furious over indefinite detention act
With the approval from the Oval Office the only thing keeping a terrifying law that will allow for the indefinite detention and torture of Americans from passing, presidential hopeful Ron Paul has finally unleashed on the legislation.
Although President Barack Obama had originally insisted that he would veto the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin revealed recently that the bill in its current wording was drafted after the current administration asked for changes.
Already making its way through the House and Senate, the Act in its current wording will allow for Americans suspected of any “belligerent” act to be detained in Guantanamo Bay-style military prisons indefinitely for any alleged crimes without trial. With it now being revealed that the president put forth suggestions to draft the latest version of the legislation, Levin told the press Monday night, "I just can't imagine that the president would veto this bill.”
"I very strongly believe this should satisfy the administration and hope it will,” added Levin.
Outside of the independent media, opposition to NDAA has remained almost nonexistent, with the mainstream neglecting to discuss the colossal implications the bill would have if it is signed into law. Speaking to radio host Alex Jones on Tuesday, however, Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul finally became one of the first main figures to attack the act.
“This is a giant step – this should be the biggest news going right now – literally legalizing martial law,” said Paul. The congressman from Texas also appeared flabbergasted that the bill managed to escape discussion in any of the recent GOP debates, despite its provisions being detrimental to the US Constitution and the freedom of every man, woman and child in America.
“This is big,” continued Paul, adding “This step where they can literally arrest American citizens and put them away without trial….is arrogant and bold and dangerous.”
The bill could be on the desk of Barack Obama as early as Wednesday of this week.
Congressman Paul has been continuously critical of the Obama administration as of late, and although his fellow candidates for the GOP nomination have been equally as opt to attack the president, Paul has largely been the only one to tackle the sacrifice of civil liberties that Obama and the Republican Party frontrunners seem unconcerned with.
“Today it seems too easy that our government and our congresses are so willing to give up our liberties for our security,” Paul said during a presidential debate earlier this election season. “I have a personal belief that you never have to give up liberty for security. You can still provide security without sacrificing our Bill of Rights.”
Paul has also condemned the Patriot Act for crushing the freedoms of Americans, while top-tier candidate and former-House Speaker Newt Gingrich has insisted on finding a “balancing act between our individual liberties and security.”
This provision in the NDAA has been pushed to my #1 issue. While the few liberals who are actually aware of it are anxiously waiting to see what Obama does, Paul goes on the radio and denounces it in the strongest language one could hope for. What do the other candidates have to say about it? Nothing. No one else has even mentioned it. And Obama's silence speaks louder than all of them. Throw me a fucking bone here guys. If only one candidate agrees with me on the only damn issues I care about, what else am I supposed to do?
I have a confession to make. I'm a libertarian. No, not that kind of libertarian. I'm a leftist libertarian.
That lower right quadrant is what most of us think of when someone says "libertarian." They're the anti-authoritarian capitalists like Ron Paul. Authoritarian left is home for the communists and Stalinists. Authoritarian right is home for religious extremists, fascists, and America's "two" major parties. The lower left is where anarchists and socialists reside. I'm pretty sure I'm in there somewhere. If you are anywhere south of that horizontal line, I am going to respect you. Simple. I respect the fuck out of anarchists. My love for freedom is a whimper, when it's held up next to theirs. And as much as we like to laugh at Ron Paul, it's important to remember that he loves freedom too. We simply disagree on the means to achieve it. (I personally don't think capitalism is compatible with freedom at all, but that's a whole other post).
I haven't caught very many Republican debates, but during the few I've watched, I always caught myself with a big fucking grin on my face whenever Ron Paul was allowed to speak. He's an idiot in many ways, and his supporters are fucking unbearable, but his feet are on planet earth. He's the one logically consistent person in a room full of fools and hypocrites.
And Dennis Kucinich seriously considered him as a running mate. Bet you didn't know they're actually really good friends.
Ron Paul is a lot of things, but he doesn't wrap flags around maimed and murdered children, and call it patriotism. At least he speaks out against fascist legislation like the Patriot Act and the NDAA. You can't say the same things about any other major candidate in the United States, especially Barack Obama. But don't worry about me. I'm not turning into one of his zombies. At best, Ron Paul is only a step in the right direction. If Dennis Kucinich or Bernie Sanders were running, I would support them over Paul in a heartbeat. I'm simply swallowing my pride and taking what I can get. I'm meeting the other side halfway. And I'm only open to meeting anti-authoritarians halfway. I'm not going to do the same with Obama or traditional Republicans, because I don't compromise with child murderers and fascists.
I'm sure as hell going to root for him, but I honestly don't know if I could vote for Ron Paul. Luckily, reality will prevent me from ever having to face that conundrum. The GOP is never going to pick him. It doesn't matter how much of a majority he might get in the primaries. Ron Paul would refuse to be the GOP's water cooler, and that's just unacceptable.
No, I'm still going to vote for a leftist third party. I was thinking either Green or Socialist, but then I heard about Rocky Anderson this morning. The former mayor of Salt Lake City just launched a presidential campaign running on the new "Justice Party" ticket. Amy Goodman interviewed him this morning. He's opposes war. He stands for things like environmental sanity, economic justice, and war criminals going to jail. You know, the things I thought the Democratic Party stood for when I voted for them. Maybe not as "radical" as some of the things I've been warming up to in recent months, but the guy has some amount of experience governing. I'd like to see what he can do, and I'm going to be following him.
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