Goodbye Ron Paul.

    Ron Paul failed to become the Republican nominee for President despite having an enthusiastic group of supporters. I was never a Ron Paul supporter although some of his supporters told me how great Paul's program was for the Black community. Paul would end the Federal War on Drugs, releasing thousands of African-Americans from prison. He would end the Middle East worlds thus preventing more African-American from becoming cannon fodder for the war machine.

    Ron Paul is good for the Blacks on paper. Paul supporters accused Blacks who did not agree with their love for the Paul message of not caring about all those imprisoned Blacks. If you point out that Paul's platform would in all likelihood result in fewer educational grants for higher education, you receive ridicule for thinking about sending young Black men to college as if the only option is releasing Black men from prison or sending them to college. Those limitations are exactly the reason that Ron Paul is a fool's choice for Black people.

    In order to free Black men from prison under Ron Paul, you must accept decreased college enrollment for other Black males. There are more Black men between the ages of 18-24 in college in college than in prison.Ron Paul offers liberty at the price of education. This is simply unacceptable. Ron Paul is not the answer.

    Ron Paul is a fan of abolishing the minimum wage. Think of all those Blacks freed from prison, unable to get educational grants who will be able to gain employment in sub-minimum wage jobs. Blacks should be grateful. People who have the benefit of being employed in these low paying jobs do not really sing their praises.

    Former Jerry Falwell guru Ralph Reed, who now heads the Faith and Freedom Coalition, used the clout of his organization to include plank in the GOP platform that Rejected a minimum wage in the Marianas Islands. The Islands Have been under US control since World War II. Sweatshops on the Islands have imported Chinese women to work for pennies to produce products labeled "Made In the USA". The US planned to clean up the sweatshops. Local business men obviously objected. Because of Jack Abrahoff's involvement as a lobbyist for the businessmen who were against rainstorm raising wages, his downfall shed light on the sweatshops and the wages rose under Congressional pressure. The wages are set to raise again. Reed, acting as a shill for the Mariana's businessmen got the Island specific position in the GOP platform.

    Here in the United States, some workers were being paid below minimum at the RNC convention. Most did not give a strong endorsement of their working conditions. In the Marinas Islands and in Tampa, Florida, Rand's minimum wage plan is not a blessing.

    If you are trying to free Black men from prison because of onerous drug laws, you do not choose an option that causes you to give up gains made in other areas. You choose the win- win situation. It is well known that polls show that Americans support full legalization of marijuana. Democratic voters have sent a message to the party by voting. Pro- marijuana legalization candidate Beto O'Rourke defeated eight-term Congressman Silvestre Reyes. In Oregon, Democratic voters rejected a candidate for Attorney General Who was against medical marijuana and voted for Ellen Rosenblum, who supports medical use of marijuana.

    Ron Paul cannot get through the White voters in his party to have any impact on Blacks. Additionally, the things Blacks would have to give up to get Paul's federal drug relief are just unacceptable. Democratic candidates have picked up the mantle of ending the War On Drugs and are more likely to deliver actual results and not just rhetoric like Ron Paul.

     

     

    Comments

    The Democratic Party approach is more likely to leave us with lessened drug penalties, continued educational grants, and no retreat from minimum wage.


    Ron Paul will never be a candidate on the November ballot for President. Not this November or any November. If he was he would never be elected, if he was elected he would not do 99% of the stuff he has blustered about for 30 years.

    If he really believed in what he says he believes in, he would drop the R and become an Independent, and at least threaten to run as a 3rd Party candidate. He is the crazy uncle of the GOP, and he gives one large crazy batch of The Base a hero, he gets them out to vote, and keeps them in line, to support whatever fraudulent swindler the GOP runs for President.


    Paul the fraud's operation was in full view at the RNC convention. Realizing that they could not win the votes, Ron Paul supporters worked behind the scenes to take over state parties and delegate assignments. In order, words Ron Paul's folks are just as capable of underhanded tactics as the regular GOP folks trying to suppress minority votes. 

    Paul's delegates tried to convince other delegates that were not bound by the rules to vote for Romney, and could cast a vote for Paul. The GOP rules committee then changed the rules so that delegates were bound to vote for Romney.The Paul people responded to the action by booing during a speech by John Boehner.

    The rules committee next concluded that the elections of twenty Paul delegates were invalid.The twenty left the floor in protest. The remaining Paul delegates at the convention mounted bull- horn supported protests outside the convention. They held up a sign "it's Time To Stop ignoring Ron Paul". They were met with armed security guards. The Paul supporters numbers steadily declined over the days of the convention.

    Ron Paul declared that he would not run for re-election to concentrate on this his third run for the Presidency. Goodbye Ron Paul.

    By the way Paul's son, Rand, endorsed Romney. The response of the Ron Paul supporters was not very understanding to say the least.

    Ron Paul was not to be found during the protests. Note that when a true person with conviction, Fannie Lou Hamer, faced expulsion from a political party convention, she remained seated and faced the consequences.Ron Paul was the Invisible Man.

     


    I'm not a Ron Paul fan. I'm far to the left of Obama, that's why I have a problem with this president. Sure there's some overlap on some issues between the left and the libertarians but there's too much I disagree with to move me into the libertarian camp. Yet the way the media treats Paul is a travesty. Paul is a legitimate candidate with legitimate ideas worthy of being discussed. Bachman is a total nutcase and she's treated with respect by the media, Santorum's  right wing nonsense gets a respectful discussion. If the choice was between Paul and those two fringe candidates I'd go with Paul easily. Paul beat both of them regularly. They get news time to discuss their candidacy and he gets marginalized. The Paul supporters are right, there's a media conspiracy to invalidate Ron Paul.

    http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-august-15-2011/indecision-2012---c...

    So why should I care, I'm voting for Obama. Why should we care? Because they do it to liberals too. I read an interview with Norm Chomsky some years ago. The interviewer basically said, you're one of the leading intellectuals of the left, why don't we ever see you on the Sunday news programs? His simple answer, I never get invited. They never call me up for a comment or for my views. He went on to give an analysis of the news media as the gate keepers that decide what ideas are acceptable to be discussed among the general public. And damn it, Chomsky's, Zinn's, etc. ideas are often my ideas that the media has decided to omit from public discussion. Donahue was fired in 2003 because he would be a, "difficult public face for NBC in a time of war".

    One can't care about the marginalization by the mainstream media of the ideas of the left without also caring about the marginalization of Ron Paul. Because they spring from the same root, the decision to narrow the discussion to the status quo.


    Worse, even if you're 100% wrong about an issue like Iraq, you get invited back to explain why your pony wasn't found in all that shit. While those who were right are treated as "purity concern trolls"

    Same thing happened with the bailout and ACA negotiations.

    Also, Bob Somerby documented how 2 long-time talk show guests stopped playing the "both sides do it" card and instead put some blame directly on the GOP/conservatives. They've now been excommunicated from Sunday talk shows. Pretty horrifying.


    I would argue that Paul has had a much larger imprint in the media than Chomsky.before Paul, Pat Buchanan was on the airwaves until his most recent association with a White Supremacist host.

    I understand the sentiment, but Chomsky has been treated much more shabbily. 

     


    I agree, there's several reasons for that. One is that people like Chomsky would have the role of pundit in the MSM. So he can simply be excluded and ignored. Paul is an elected representative who won a respectable minority of votes as a presidential candidate. He can't be totally ignored so there be others means found to invalidate him. For example Paul wins more votes in a recent primary than Santorum. Santorum is invited onto some news program and is treated as a viable candidate and the questions are designed to elicit his policies and positions. Paul is invited on and is treated as a pundit and questioned about his views on the other republican candidates and their chances of winning rather than his views on policy. The unspoken message is that Paul is not a viable candidate and that his policy positions aren't part of the discussion even though he may have just proved that he is more of a viable candidate than Santorum by beating him in a primary.


    The larger issue is that the fix appeared to be in. Ron Paul and Rick Santorum worked within the GOP Primary process had yet lost elections that they won. From what I understand GOP Network aka FoxNews openly criticized Paul and gave Romney a pass. If I recall correctly, Fox News morning show was critical of British journalists and pundits who noted Romney's shortcomings. The Fox argument was that respect was required because Romney was​ could be the next President of the United States.It seems the GOP hierarchy was telegraphing that Romney was "The Chosen One"."


    Yes that was an issue. News junkies like the people here might think that was the larger issue. Many of us watch the news from the MSNBC side, CNN side, and the Faux side. But if you look at the number of viewers, the vast majority of Americans still get most of their news from ABC, CBS, and NBC. Most of us watched a lot of the constant convention coverage by MSNBC, CNN, and Faux but most people only watched what ABC, CBS, and NBC put on from 10 to 11. While ratings are down, the larger issue is still what information comes from the big three.


    I stopped watching the evening news on the big three because the program schedule did not fit my work schedule. Interestingly I will record MSNBC news shows for later viewing but I can't recall the last network news show I recorded.

    i agree the selection of views is pretty narrow.


    Quite silly. Ron Paul was never going to be President - he's an old man and he was long considered too marginal to win.

    Instead of bonding with him on policies that help, you insist you can only deal with all his ideas at once. Of course in Congress, he worked on individual policies, so it was easy to find shared ground - such as end to war on drugs - without buying into say lowered minimum wage.

    The gold standard's never coming back, so not much use fretting over it, plus or minus.

    Re: lowered minimum wage, if combined with Earned Income Credits, it would encourage small business owners to hire unskilled workers, helping the black population and keeping the same after-tax income for low wage earners.

    With black unemployment recently rising in June to an atrocious 14.4%, or a black civilian unemployment rate of 16.8% in July, you'd think there'd be concern to do something, rather than just keep insulting Ron Paul. (note however that ending our wars would also increase black unemployment). But few seem to have any solutions. Except for more math and science skills, and pointing to the dual cause of black unemployment:

    “In order to get a job, you must acquire an education and/or possess marketable skills. In our communities, we tend to lack both,” said Sharper. “Without education and/or marketable skills, it is difficult to find a job even in times of economic expansion or peaks,” she continued.

    ​Black Economic Development

    Even Mellisa Harris-Perry recognizes that the black middle class was built on government jobs, that the loss of 630,000 public sector jobs under Obama has been disastrous for blacks, and no one's promoting new government job growth.

    Blacks have fewer ins with corporate America to allow any recovery. Not because of education alone, but because a combo of education and marketable skills (and certainly distrust and racism is involved)

    While minimum wage is horrifying, minimum wage isn't eternal. With those blacks not having certified private job experience or worse, those with prison convictioins, more opportunities to get into the private sector at the bottom does translate into opportunity to climb the ladder - slowly for sure, but a chance. For those with education, who work hard, low end management positions and increased responsibility and wages are possible. 

    Cedric Muhammad gives one viewpoint of black unemployment to how blacks turn out to the polls and who they vote for. It's not 100% comforting for Obama, despite the theory that African-Americans belong to the Democratic Party.

    You might lay down the rhetoric and look for allies in those actually trying to help, whether their solutions are the best theoretical or the best possible at the moment - if more take the issue seriously, the suggestions might be improved to make decent policy.

    As for "Democratic candidates have picked up the mantle of ending the War On Drugs and are more likely to deliver actual results and not just rhetoric like Ron Paul.", that's pretty insulting - Ron Paul has proposed legislation, not just "rhetoric", and worked on these issues. Your Democrats-in-shining-armor have been pretty feeble, including Obama when he dismissed the decriminilazation movement as stoners and continued federal raids on legal state medical marijuana facilities. But you have your allegiances and you're sticking with them. Some of the others in the community however are asking the sensible questions, like "how can we get out of this hole?"


    I'll take an Attorney General who can have direct impact on drug law enforcement over Ron Paul. You cannot isolate one aspect of Ron Paul from the rest. Ayn Rand said that racism was illogical. Agreeing with that idea does not mean that I agree with her other garbage, I turn to other authorities for their views on racism. Wouldn't you argue that you cannot separate Obama's use of drones and the Lilly Ledbetter Act, the Affordable Care Act, supporting a bail out of the auto industry. Why is it you can pick opposition to things Democrats and Obama do and it is a travesty for me to do the same to Ron Paul and the GOP?

    I am not understanding your corporate employment statement. Are you suggesting that Blacks with appropriate degrees would not be hired and should settle for minimum wage jobs? Would not the college degrees supply the skill sets or the ability? Please clarify.

    Your minimum wage analysis seems somewhat jumbled. You are mixing ex-felon employment with education. Are you arguing that people should receive education to improve their position in the workplace? President Obama has taken action in this area by allowing Governors to take actions to improve the skill sets of people receiving welfare. The Democrat came through again.

    I really don't follow Cedric' s column, but I think Nate Silver's analysis which appears to be scientific rather than opinion.  Cedric completely ignores the impact of voter suppression actually enraging the electorate to coming out in droves.when you go to the Nate Silver link, look at the projected electoral college vote. A recent BET poll of Black voters found 2% of all responders supported Mitt Romney. I wouldn't use Cedric as the final answer.

     


    1) Explain what Eric Holder has done to help blacks' situation getting fair justice. Please include medical marijuana busts and lack of enforcement of the law for illegal mortgages.

    2) Ron Paul was a legislator, Ayn Rand a demagogue. Yes, you could work with Ron Paul on individual legislation. Take a look at how Congress works.

    3) I didn't claim Ron Paul an authority on racism. I said some of his positions help blacks. You're the purity troll here.

    4) Yes I can separate Lilly Ledbetter and auto bailout from Gitmo and targeted assassination. I don't criticize Obama on everything, and when I do, I give real reasons, not "nope, one apple spoils whole bunch"

    5) The black population is jumbled - those in need of education, those in need of experience, those who just need open job slots, those with arrests on their record to limit opportunity, those better equipped for military and civil service, lower black experience in the private job sector. 16.8% black civilian unemployment, and you still can't talk serious, and have to wave hands furiously with every post - too tuff, too tuff.

    6) Obama let governors do what? How's that working out? Oh, unemployment going up. Can we contemplate something that makes unemployment go down?

    7) I wouldn't bet on Cedric as being totally right either, but I don't think the black populace is in lockstep with suicide. Voter suppression weakens the black vote, but it doesn't change outrage over lack of progress. Many government jobs went away, taking away much of black opportunity. They're not coming back. So what's the new plan, and when will it show results?


    Calm down. I have given reasons for not supporting Ron Paul.I do not see abolishing the minimum wage as a viable alternative. I cited Obama's move to allow Governors to increase training for welfare recipients as a plus. You overlook these moves.

    I don't agree with Obama on medical marijuana. Electing anti War on Drug Democrats is a solution. The republicans block any move to change drug laws.Holder moved to decrease penalties for powder for crack vs powder cocaine. Just as Obama changed the ability of homosexual military members to serve openly and changed his position on Gay marriage, I see a possibility of change on drug policy.

    Holder's moves on fighting voter suppression are a major plus for me and for minority voters. Reared ( or actually read) the comments about optimism in the BET poll.You want those polled to share your feelings. They just don't.

    Obama and the Democrats have proposed jobs bills and tax breaks for the middle class.Republicans have blocked these efforts. Ron Paul was ineffective in stopping the Republicans from blocking progress.

    You  have a tendency to use name-calling and profanity when your arguments don't hold up. Ron Paul has no actual accomplish to show regarding the drug laws or Black unemployment. He does talk a good game.he was a coward when his delegates were tossed out of the convention. A Black woman from a segregated Mississippi had more backbone. 

    You still haven't explained your statement about educated Blacks not being able to get corporate jobs. Are they supposed to take sub- minimum wage jobs?


    I don't think there is any reason to go on.. I point out that Paul would cut education grants.You counter with data pointing out the need for education in the Black community. I post statistical data to respond to a column you posted by Cedric the Entertainer. You are just in the argue for argument's sake business.

    Cite an actual piece of legislation that was led by Ron Paul that actually impacted the War on Drugs, the wars,etc. if you cannot,I'll stand by my statement that Ron Paul is all hat and no cattle. Once you cite an actual thing that Paul has done, I'll come back to the conversation.

     


    I point out education *AND* experience/trust in the private market. You ignore #2. The amount of education among blacks is greater than among Hispanics, but blacks have trouble getting in the door. You praised Melissa whassername's article before, that Obama's doing fine because black:white unemployment is still 2:1, ignoring how many more blacks that means in # of unemployed.

    So if minimum wage is lowered *AND* earned income credits make up the difference, employers can take more chances hiring welfare, convict, or just poor workers, while those workers would take home the same amount of money.

    But in your head, lowering minimum wage must be bad whatever the net financial result. Just knee-jerk reasoning. (and I have no idea whether the legislation proposed had earned income credits - but you'll never discuss details anyway)

    Do I know exactly what's needed to get into "corporate" America? No, can only guess, but if gov jobs decrease, auto jobs decrease, manufacturing jobs decrease, then blacks who normally take these jobs better find some alternatives quick. I don't claim changes in the minimum wage will work - I just say it's worth evaluating among a dozen other angles. 

    And once again you act like fighting bad drug policy only matters if you've won - even though medical marijuana has gained support over the years, and it helps to keep pressure up in Congress - a lot of statewide action such as in Colorado to push medical marijuana. So now there's the new HR6134, a re-hash from 2 years ago. But only 4% of House legislation passes, so you might as well say "just give up" from your point of view.

    So it's better in your eyes for Obama to pass crappy bills, and use his executive power to intrude on privacy rather than pull back from government overreach. What are your politics, aside from cynical?

    [your "statistics" are prediction polls. we can compare them with Muhammad's prior election data after November, and try to understand why whatever happens happened. nevertheless, posting a link to polling data doeisn't equal "responding"]


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