Democratic Presidential candidate Mike Gravel to run for Libertarian nomination
I predicted a Ron Paul/Mike Gravel Libertarian ticket a while ago. It just might happen - He’d certainly get my vote if I were a delegate…
The fact is, the Democratic Party today is no longer the party of FDR. It is a party that continues to sustain war, the military-industrial complex and imperialism — all of which I find anathema to my views.
By and large, I have been repeatedly marginalized in both national debates and in media exposure by the Democratic leadership, which works in tandem with the corporate interests that control what we read and hear in the media.
I look forward to advancing my presidential candidacy within the Libertarian Party, which is considerably closer to my values, my foreign policy views and my domestic views.
Hat Tip to ichibanjohnjon for the link!
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PHIL…you are a …marooooon…. you display utter..I can not grasp for words……the vacuousness….of your ideology….the cosmology…
booooogles…the ……cranium….
Comment by infinndel — Wed, Mar 26th, 2008 @ 9:57 pm
Gravel: “the Democratic Party today is no longer the party of FDR. It is a party that continues to sustain war, the military-industrial complex and imperialism”
Soooo true. The military industrial complex benefited handsomely under Bill Clinton — plenty of weapons consumption over the former Yugoslavia, and lots of new weapons contracts to Democrat voting districts. And now, the war industry is supporting… HILLARY CLINTON!
Yes, they liked the free ride so much the first time ’round, that they now want 4-more-years of Bill. Truly amazing how gullible those American people are. Healthcare for everyone? Yeah right.
Comment by Kristian — Wed, Mar 26th, 2008 @ 10:15 pm
…you are a …marooooon….
touche!
Comment by Phil — Wed, Mar 26th, 2008 @ 10:17 pm
Maroon? How dare you call Phil a brownish-red colour?
Btw, was that a #800000, #B03060 or #C32148?
Comment by Nobody — Wed, Mar 26th, 2008 @ 10:22 pm
Nice to see Phil fighting back against infinndel again…you will fail
Comment by infinndel — Wed, Mar 26th, 2008 @ 11:21 pm
Goo Libs!!
Comment by weewee — Wed, Mar 26th, 2008 @ 11:27 pm
#2- Kristian “And now, the war industry is supporting… HILLARY CLINTON!”
Yeah but that’s only because she arrived in Tuzla, Bosnia under sniper fire and had to run straight for her car without a greeting ceremony.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbdI87Nm2R0
Comment by Punter — Wed, Mar 26th, 2008 @ 11:53 pm
Punter …why is it,all of a sudden, our ideologies are in sync…astonishing!
Comment by infinndel — Thu, Mar 27th, 2008 @ 12:02 am
My God, what have I done?????
Comment by Punter — Thu, Mar 27th, 2008 @ 12:04 am
I don’t get why any educated person would have a good thing to say about Ron Paul. He’s against everything any decent human being would stand for. And yet Teh Internets love him because he looks like a libertarian.
But a viable 3rd, 4th, 5th party, direct popular votes, “no” votes? Yeah, far past time for that.
Comment by Cyberg00se — Thu, Mar 27th, 2008 @ 12:10 am
Phils gone left on us. So sad.
Comment by winter “Yea, Proton Power, now in remission” — Thu, Mar 27th, 2008 @ 3:04 am
Whatever name, the 1* comment makes me roll with laughters :)))))))))
Comment by x — Thu, Mar 27th, 2008 @ 10:52 am
“He’d certainly get my vote if I were a delegate…” - Phil
Yeah, and if you were a millionaire, you would give all your money to the starving. And if you were blind you would learn to listen and not be bitter and if you were vice president of Nokia you would change things around there… Another empty, vacuous statement. In actuality, this post is just as vapid as the cartoon bunny and trying to divert attention from the “troubles” at this blog to a “real racist’s” blog entries.
Already from comment one this turned into a flame toilet, something we have come to expect here. I know, because I have been just as guilty as anyone for contributing to it.
I still come around here expecting something… But something has gone seriously wrong. And it’s not just the settlement of the lawsuit and the capitulation of so-called “freedom of speech” by our self-proclaimed Libertarian host.
It’s that the topics and posts have become an echo chamber. Rarely, if ever, are new subjects breached that would give both outsiders and other more Finland-experienced people a new view.
Finland — and we — can’t be this empty, dull and vacuous, can we?
Comment by Dave the Revelator — Thu, Mar 27th, 2008 @ 11:22 am
Cyberg00se: “I don’t get why any educated person would have a good thing to say about Ron Paul. He’s against everything any decent human being would stand for.”
I don’t think so, but one must realize that Ron Paul is a hard-right-Libertarian, who wants to downsize the federal government and all the abuses that come with it. He’d rather distribute income to low-earners via Negative Income Tax / Basic Income — preferably at the state level — rather than create or expand some destined-to-fail government program.
Conversely, Mike Gravel is a centrist with somewhat more trust in the federal government. A national VAT tax is probably what makes most sense for America and western countries. It could replace most other forms of taxation, and help eliminate the aristocracy that progressive income taxation has created.
To make the all-encompassing VAT work, a percentage of the proceeds would need to be distributed as a Tax Credit against purchases or as Basic Income to those who don’t earn enough to benefit from the credit. Of course Food, Medicine and Clothing should be taxed at near 0%. Taxation based on consumption is really the most sensible way of doing things.
Comment by Kristian — Thu, Mar 27th, 2008 @ 1:51 pm
Misogyny and Racism - we’ll just skip over those lovely Ron Paul attributes. The internet is stupid.
Comment by Cyberg00se — Thu, Mar 27th, 2008 @ 2:29 pm
Have fun on the gold standard!
Comment by Cyberg00se — Thu, Mar 27th, 2008 @ 2:29 pm
#14….kristian….VAT TAX MY ASS!!….You know you would catch blowback from infinndel,because of your preposterous steal by tax scheme,that you propose for U.S.of-KKK-A.(TM Rev.Jeremiah Wright).
Every time I have invaded Funland,the big issue for me as a tourist,was the absurd high VAT tax in Finland….GOOD GRIEF!!
And the hastle to reclaim VAT,when you leave Funland is just another,
of many,hastles for travelers to endure in Finland…
Ron Paul is a CRACKPOT,racist,anti-semitic,usefull idiot leader of
nincompoops!..Mike Gravel is in la-la land.
Comment by infinndel — Thu, Mar 27th, 2008 @ 2:38 pm
Misogyny??? I haven’t heard that one
Can’t seem to find anything by googling. Can you point me to it?
And the ‘racism…’ Yes, I’ve read all about it. Uh huh.
I’ll admit that I don’t share some of his personal views on social issues. I’m more of a centrist than a right-winger, in terms of my view on life. Perhaps I’m closer to Gravel in that regard. But which candidate represents 100% of your views? —IMO, either of these two are better than any of the others.
In any case, I’m very satisfied that RP keeps his personal views of his politics—which he seems to have done so far. Unless you know something that I don’t?
Comment by Kristian — Thu, Mar 27th, 2008 @ 2:47 pm
infinndel: “Every time I have invaded Funland,the big issue for me as a tourist,was the absurd high VAT tax in Finland”
Just be glad you don’t live in Finland—then you’d have absurdly high VAT tax AND absurdly high-income tax AND absurdly high indirect taxes (government monopolies, cartels, dubious anti-EU car registration tax schemes). Be thankful that it’s just a quick visit for you.
Get rid of your income tax in the US, and boost individual savings of the middle and lower-middle classes already. Geez! —same goes for Finland.
Comment by Kristian — Thu, Mar 27th, 2008 @ 3:06 pm
“Rarely, if ever, are new subjects breached that would give both outsiders and other more Finland-experienced people a new view.” - Dave the Revelator
I’d have to agree on this. I lurked here every day for a year, and still not really gaining anything new or special about Finland. I see an occasional news item time to time, and even then some of the blog post don’t discuss the relationship of Finland to other countries.
With all respects, I know this blog is about Phil, an “American living in Finland” and all, but try to post more about Finland. Pictures, places, people, events…
Just trying to provide some feedback. I get enough of this whole election drama at home.
Comment by Jay — Thu, Mar 27th, 2008 @ 4:18 pm
well here is some thing you can have a crack at. lol BOSTON - This could make for one odd family reunion: Barack Obama is a distant cousin of Brad Pitt, and Hillary Rodham Clinton is related to Pitt’s girlfriend, Angelina Jolie.
Researchers at the New England Historic Genealogical Society found some remarkable family connections for the three presidential candidates — Democratic rivals Obama and Clinton, and Republican John McCain.
Clinton, who is of French-Canadian descent on her mother’s side, is also a distant cousin of singers Madonna, Celine Dion and Alanis Morissette. Obama, the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya, can call six U.S. presidents, including George W. Bush, his cousins. McCain is a sixth cousin of first lady Laura Bush.
“You’d think with all that singing talent in the family she’d be able to carry a tune,” Clinton’s senior adviser Philippe Reines said. “But now it makes much more sense how she snagged a Grammy.”
Clinton won for best spoken word Grammy in 1997 for “It Takes a Village.” Obama also won a Grammy in that category this year for the audio version of his book, “The Audacity Of Hope: Thoughts On Reclaiming The American Dream.”
Genealogist Christopher Child said that while the candidates often focus on pointing out differences between them, their ancestry shows they are more alike than they think.
“It shows that lots of different people can be related, people you wouldn’t necessarily expect,” Child said.
Obama has a prolific presidential lineage that features Democrats and Republicans. His distant cousins include President George W. Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harry S. Truman and James Madison. Other Obama cousins include Vice President Dick Cheney, British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill and Civil War General Robert E. Lee.
Obama often jokes about his cousin Cheney at campaign appearances.
“His kinships are across the political spectrum,” Child said.
Child has spent the last three years tracing the candidates’ genealogy, along with senior research scholar Gary Boyd Roberts, author of the 1989 book, “Ancestors of American Presidents.”
Clinton’s distant cousins include beatnik author Jack Kerouac and Camilla Parker-Bowles, wife of Prince Charles of England.
McCain’s ancestry was more difficult to trace because records on his relatives were not as complete as records for the families of Obama and Clinton, Child said.
Obama and President Bush are 10th cousins, once removed, linked by Samuel Hinkley of Cape Cod, who died in 1662.
Pitt and Obama are ninth cousins, linked by Edwin Hickman, who died in Virginia in 1769. Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, declined to comment on the senator’s ancestry.
Clinton and Jolie are ninth cousins, twice removed, both related to Jean Cusson who died in St. Sulpice, Quebec, in 1718.
The New England Historic Genealogical Society, founded in 1845, is the oldest and largest nonprofit genealogical organization in the country.
Comment by Daniel — Thu, Mar 27th, 2008 @ 6:59 pm
#21…Gigantic conspiracy theory!
Comment by infinndel — Thu, Mar 27th, 2008 @ 7:21 pm
The military-industrial complex may have liked the Democrats’ Clinton, but he was excoriated by Republicans for shrinking the military. Meanwhile, George Bush spends a trillion dollars of public money on an unnecessary war. Who do you think they like better, after all?
Corporations and corporate power are a huge problem in this country, but that doesn’t mean that everyone with only a marginal voice was deliberately railroaded by corporations. Some people are just nutjobs. Paul can go sit in a corner with Chomsky and there they can grumble about how the man is keeping them down.
Comment by Nate — Thu, Mar 27th, 2008 @ 11:06 pm
“George Bush spends a trillion dollars of public money on an unnecessary war.”
Ah, the I want to go back to what the USA did before 9/11?
Well…and that pre 9/11 policy worked so well….
And that european war called WW2 was so unnecessary.
And that Yugo war was so unnecessary.
Comment by winter “Yea, Proton Power, now in remission” — Fri, Mar 28th, 2008 @ 1:50 am
#23 Nate,
You wish Ron Paul to just sit in a corner, while you state that corporations are a huge problem in USA. How do you combine those two statements? Doesn’t John Perkins, The Economic Hit Man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTbdnNgqfs8&feature=related
show quite convincingly that Ron Paul was the only presidential candidate who proposed to bring that problem to an end?
Comment by Mara — Fri, Mar 28th, 2008 @ 12:32 pm
http://freedomroadproject.blogspot.com/2008/03/mike-gravel-power-to-peoplegive-peace.html
Comment by P — Sat, Mar 29th, 2008 @ 9:49 am
Much more interesting elections.
Comment by Hank W. — Sat, Mar 29th, 2008 @ 1:23 pm
@15,
so it’s OK for a politician to have a platform with war and torture as major planks (feel free to name a serious contender for the US presidency who is actually opposed to the Iraq war and/or torture), but talking trash about minorities is too much for you?
Comment by prince of dorkness — Tue, Apr 1st, 2008 @ 3:14 pm