Anybody with a lick of sense realizes there's no difference anymore
between the Democrats and Republicans. Both preach big dictatorial government
to the people, and they do so relentlessly. Thus many Americans now realize
that we need to open up the process and offer a small government vision as a
third choice.
The question is how do we bring about such a goal. Many hurdles to a
third-party exist, and many objections among conservatives to even begin such
an attempt exist. What follows will provide some answers to those objections
and outline a dramatic plan that will not only defeat Obama's socialist
agenda in 2012, but also save America in the coming decades from Republican
socialism.
Restoring the Republic
It is assumed that Ron Paul will run again for the Republican nomination
in 2012. But could this maverick freedom advocate actually take the GOP
nomination away from one of the establishment luminaries such as Romney,
Gingrich, Huckabee, or Palin? Common sense tells us, no. But that doesn't
mean he shouldn't try, for in the effort to do so the message of freedom at
least gets a hearing.
But once Paul sees that he is going to be denied the nomination (along
about February or March of 2012), he then needs to set his sights higher than
just being a hard-money spokesman running Don Quixote-style campaigns to
purge the Fed from the country. As important as this goal is, it's going to
require many decades to achieve anything substantive regarding such
abolishment. Are Americans ready to adopt a totally free-market banking
system, which is what would be required if we eliminated the Fed? Certainly
not this decade or next. Maybe in 50 years.
There is a bigger, better crusade for Ron Paul to lead, however. It could
be implemented NOW, rather than in 50 years. And it wouldn't diminish his
effort to expose the Fed and eventually phase it out.
Ron Paul needs to think "Independent Crusade" in the manner of
Ross Perot in 1992, which would get him into the National TV Presidential
Debates. The importance of this is that it puts Congressman Paul in front of
70 million voters on the major networks. Getting into the Republican
nomination debates in primary season (as he did in 2008) only puts him in
front of 10 million voters on the cable stations. Running as a Republican nominee
is small potatoes. The big prize is the fall Presidential Debates. But only
an Independent run can bring this about because Paul is not going to get into
those debates as the GOP nominee.
There's also another reason why the "Presidential Debates" are so
important. In the Republican nomination debates, the moderators can ostracize
a candidate by asking him only a few superficial questions and then ignoring
him in favor of statist favorites such as Romney or Gingrich. This is what
they did to Paul in 2008. But in the fall Presidential Debates there has to
be equal time given to all candidates. Thus the moderator cannot ignore the
freedom candidate in favor of the establishment favorites.
For Ron Paul to create a successful Independent run, he will need to find
a promising conservative (let's call him "Jefferson Thomas") to
team with as his VP candidate and do what Ross Perot and James Stockdale did
in 1992. It goes without saying that Jefferson Thomas must be a man with
gravitas and big league political experience, which unfortunately Stockdale
was not. Perot managed to get on the ballot in almost all the states in less
than six months at a cost of about $25-$30 million. A ticket of Ron Paul and
Jefferson Thomas could do the same thing. Paul has already demonstrated that
he has that kind of money-raising capability.
Thus our goal must now be to find Jefferson Thomas, or to have him find
us. He will have to possess a genuine respect for the Founders' vision. And
he will have to be a strong social conservative, but one who wishes to
promote traditional values in society through the churches and schools rather
than legislative mandates.
By employing less radical language for some of Ron Paul's 2008 positions,
a formidable ticket could be formed. In today's atmosphere of severe
recession, ruinous foreign wars, Washington socialism run amok, and Tea Party
revolts, such a ticket could garner the necessary 15% in the polls to gain
entrance into the National TV Presidential Debates and give the freedom
movement a podium in front of 70 million American voters.
A Ron Paul / Jefferson Thomas Independent run would electrify the country.
It would sweep into the TV Presidential Debates in the same fashion that Ross
Perot did in 1992. Today's crisis times would guarantee it. And what's most
important is that this time, the Paul / Thomas ticket would be talking true
free-enterprise and foreign policy sanity. Not to take anything away from
Perot; he was a great American hero and a wonderful tribute to the country.
But he did not advocate "limited government." He basically accepted
the monstrous welfare-statism of the two major parties. Ron Paul and
Jefferson Thomas would not do this; thus their message would be truly
salvational. Imagine them running on the following four Pillars of Reform:
Pillar # 1: A 10% equal-rate income tax across the board as replacement
for our progressive tax rate structure, which would restore equal rights
under the law to the system. With elimination of all special privileges,
exemptions, and breaks, the tax base would be large enough for a simple 10%
rate to be revenue neutral. But most importantly such a tax would stifle the
"infinite demand" for government services that results from
exempting 50% of the nation's voters as our present progressive system does.
When voters pay zero taxes for their services, their demand for those
services is infinite. This is a cardinal law of economics, and it is the
primary source of the relentless government growth that is bankrupting our
nation today.
A 10% equal-rate tax will stifle this relentless growth. Voters will no
longer want all the pork and privileges if they have to pay for them
proportionally out of their own pockets. They will begin demanding a steady
reduction of government. They will begin demanding that the 10% rate be
lowered to 8%, 7%, 5%, and eventually replaced with across-the-board tariffs
and a small national sales tax. Voila! The horrid income tax and IRS could be
ended in a decade or two simply by eliminating "progressive rates."
Pillar #2: Mandating by law that the Federal Reserve increase the money
supply annually at the same rate as the growth of goods and services --
approximately 4%. This would reduce price inflation to zero every year and
end the horrible destruction of our currency and savings until we can
convince Americans to end the Fed and restore gold. Milton Friedman suggested
this years ago. It has its own flaws and thus is not a permanent solution,
but it will stifle price inflation and buy time for us to educate America
about vital monetary truths.
Enactment of these first two pillars of tax and monetary reform will bring
hundreds of billions of dollars of investment capital back to America and
millions of jobs back from overseas. It will create an explosion of economic
productivity. It will restore our country's manufacturing power and our
people's freedom because it will end the government's ability to expand
through confiscatory taxation and currency debasement.
Pillar #3: Radical immigration reform that encompasses a genuine crackdown
on illegals and the total abandonment of any kind of amnesty. We don't need
massive deportation schemes to bring this about. An effective immigration
reform would entail mandating English as the country's official language,
ending anchor baby policies, as well as chain migration and all welfare perks
for illegals, along with persistent prosecution of all employers who hire
illegals. In other words, remove the honey pots from our backyard, and the
fire ants will stop invading us. The illegals will stay home.
Pillar #4: Ending the Mideast wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and returning
to a mind-our-own-business foreign policy, which means we maintain a powerful
military, but stop trying to be the policeman for the world. Carry a big
stick, but walk softly would be the advice of the Founders. America does not
need 820 military bases in 135 countries around the globe. We are bankrupting
the nation both morally and financially with such imperial hubris.
Imagine Ron Paul and Jefferson Thomas giving 30 minute lectures regarding
these Pillars in prime time TV the night before each of their debates as
Perot did so effectively in 1992 with his lectures on the coming debt crisis.
Such an ideological challenge would shake up the corrupt Demopublican
establishment in a very big way. In my opinion it would launch a profound
paradigm shift in American politics.
Would a Paul-Thomas ticket be able to get 38% of the vote and win in a
three-man race? Probably not; but what's important is that freedom would now
have a powerful voice in national politics. This would lay the groundwork for
Jefferson Thomas running again in 2016 as head of a new party and vision for
America -- a small government vision of freedom and sanity. That new party is
already formed. It is called the Conservative
American Party, and it could be officially registered in all states and
sufficiently promoted to the American people by 2016 if Ron Paul and
Jefferson Thomas endorsed it. Paul would be 80 years old by then, but he
would become the elder statesman, the symbolic head of the party.
Unlike today's conventional third-parties that get only 1% of the vote,
this would be a REAL third-party that achieves parity with the Democrats and
Republicans and then replaces the Republicans as they replaced the Whigs in
the 1850s.
Naysayers on the Right
The naysayers on the right will protest that such a campaign would split
the Republican Party vote and assure Obama's re-election, which is
intolerable. This is a false fear that is stultifying the freedom movement.
Here's why. If a Paul / Thomas Independent ticket loses and Obama wins as a
result of the GOP support being split, his socialist agenda can still be
stopped because Republican conservatives will pick up a considerable number
of seats in the House and Senate in 2012 -- adding to their sizeable gains in
the recent 2010 elections. This will create gridlock and force Obama to come
into the center and govern no differently than a Romney or Gingrich.
So what do we lose in 2012 by splitting the Republican vote? Nothing. What
we gain, however, is the means to dramatically explain to America what is
really happening. Our message of freedom gains access to 70 million voters!
The Demopublican monopoly of ideas is broken! A genuine third choice is
offered. This has never been done in the entire 48-year history of the
Presidential debates.
What's important to grasp is that the country is finally ready to
establish a conservative / libertarian era of government. The past 80 years
of Marxist-Keynesian ideology has created the ruination that is driving the
people to this realization. All that is necessary now is for a courageous
leader to enter the scene and crystallize such a realization with a Ross
Perot style campaign in 2012.
The path would then be open for a Jefferson Thomas win in 2016 on a
Conservative American Party ticket, which would be genuinely revolutionary in
a way that the ossified Republican Party can never be. The restoration of the
republic could begin. The Four Pillars of Reform mentioned above could be
implemented.
Would Ron Paul be willing to give up his House seat to run an Independent
race? Hopefully so. At this time, we need him more in the National TV
Presidential Debates than we do in Congress. He is no longer just a
Representative from south Texas caught up in exposing the criminality of the
Fed. He is the leader of freedom's hope in America. This entails different
responsibilities and larger ambitions. The freedom movement needs to be
sensationalized, which requires a leader who is articulately schooled in its
ideological fundamentals. Ron Paul is the one who history has ordained as
that political leader.
Many prominent intellectuals, talk show hosts, and activists, would
support a Ron Paul / Jefferson Thomas ticket such as: Patrick Buchanan, G.
Edward Griffin, Edwin Vieira, Judge Andrew Napolitano, Alex Jones, Chuck
Baldwin, Peter Brimelow, Thomas Sowell, Paul Craig Roberts, John Stossel,
Walter Williams, Bill Bonner, Sheriff Richard Mack, Stewart Rhodes, Rick
Santelli, David Koch, Peter Schiff, John McManus, Peter Lillback, Ted Baehr,
and thousands of other prominent men and women in positions of leadership in
the business, media, entertainment, religious, and literary arenas.
The latest Gallup Poll indicates that 58% of the American people feel that
the Democratic and Republican Parties are doing such a terrible job that a
third-party is needed. The time for such a revolution is now. As Shakespeare
said, "There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood,
leads on to fortune; omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in
shallows and in miseries."
America desperately needs a small-government vision in its political
arena. And the best way to bring such a vision about is to launch it with an
Independent run by Ron Paul and Jefferson Thomas in 2012, to be followed by
the official formation of the Conservative American Party for 2016 with
Jefferson Thomas as its candidate for President.
To learn more about the Conservative American Party, see The
Conservative Revolution: Why We Must Form a Third Political Party to Win It.
This book explains in great detail the Four Pillars of Reform.
Also a new documentary, inspired by The Conservative Revolution, is now in
production by filmmaker, James Jaeger. The feature-length film entitled,
SPOiLER - How a Third Political Party Could Win, features Pat Buchanan, Edwin
Vieira, G. Edward Griffin, John McManus, Peter Lillback, and others. A 3½
minute trailer is available at the official SPOiLER website at www.SpoilerUSA.org.
Conservatives and libertarians of America need to put their thinking caps
on. Just as David O. Selznick conducted a nationwide search in the late 1930s
to find his Scarlett O'Hara for Gone With The Wind, we need to find our
Jefferson Thomas to team with Ron Paul for an Independent campaign in 2012
and then assume leadership of the freedom movement for 2016. Just as Hollywood
needed Vivien Leigh, America now needs Jefferson Thomas to come forth.