Party Membership does’t always mean Party Corruption

In high school we learned about Democrats and Republicans in civics class. I identified with the Republicans, until Reagan got into office and Republicans started pushing government backed morality… How does the ‘smaller government’ party justify injecting themselves into people’s private lives? Any hypocritical way they can…

Do I want the Democrats using my money to fund social programs for people who would rather be on the dole than working? No fracking way.

The Green Party is too idealogical to be practical, and the Libertarians think that trimming back the government to the barest bones and letting the free market rule, despite a hundred years of history of large companies turning evil when not heavily policed, is the best policy. I’m not against small government, but I am practical enough to realize that population densities in this country are too high to exist without some governmental presence.

For the record I despise the ‘Bushies’, and all the other Republicans that think that party loyalty is more important than upholding the ideals of the constitution. (For the record, I also despise Democrats that do so as well.) But there is one Republican candidate for President that is reviving my high school nostalgia for the republical party as an ideal: Ron Paul

Hid voting record is consistently in-line with the ideals set out in the Constitution, and he speaks what he knows to be true and doesn’t back down just to save a little face. Watch this interview. He is given the chance, several times, to back away from statements that he made, that were accurate but not ‘party line’, and he stands firm. There are NO other Republican candidates willing to do that. (As for the Democrats, just watch any interview where Mrs. Clinton dodges questions about her vote on the Iraq war…)

The two best candidates in the race so far are Mike Gravel (D) and Ron Paul (R). If there is any real karmic justice in the Universe they will each win their respective primaries and then no matter who wins we’ll have a decent American and Human Being in the Oval Office. (My gods, I bet that room will take a five pound bag of sage to properly cleanse…)

-Chris Knight

It’s always funny until someone gets their identity stolen…

“The Answer is NOT always C” by Jeff Rosenberg on CollegeHumor
Dear Michael,

Every year I attempt to boost my students final grades by giving them this relatively simple exam consisting of 100 True/False questions from only 3 chapters of material. For the past 20 years that I have taught Intro Communications 101 at this institution I have never once seen someone score below a 65 on this exam. Consequently, your score of a zero is the first in history and ultimately brought the entire class average down a whole 8 points.

There were two possible answer choices: A True and B False. You chose C for all 100 questions in an obvious attempt to get lucky with a least a quarter of the answers. Its as if you didnt look at a single question. Unfortunately, this brings your final grade in this class to failing. See you next year

May God have mercy on your soul.

Sincerely,
Professor William Turner

P.S. If all else fails, go with B from now on.
B is the new C

It’s a funny story, and if you follow the link above there is a picture of the scantron form. The story has a sad undercurrent though… Many colleges use the student’s Social Security Number as their student ID. This means that Michael Benson was not only exposed to public humiliation, he may also be exposed to increased risk of identity theft as well. At least with his understanding of simple concepts like true/false tests he isn’t likely to get far in life, so his identity may not be worth stealing.

-Chris

What Republican meant before they added the misleading ‘conservative’ tag…

runbmd: Ron Paul AKA “Dr. No”

Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul has never voted to raise taxes or Congressional pay. He has always voted against USA PATRIOT Act, The Military Commissions Act, and the Iraq War. Former Treasury Secretary William Simon said Paul is “one of the exceptions to the Gang of 535” on Capitol Hill. He earned his nickname, Dr. No, for voting against any bill that he believes violates the Constitution.

In a USNews.com article, Paul explained why he why he never votes for legislation that expands government power, funds federal spending, or reduces privacy: “I interpret through the eyes of the Constitution. If we dont have direct authorization, I dont vote for it, even if there are good intentions.”

In 2006, the Washington Post wrote: “He says, if his fellow Republicans are very desperate, he may allow himself to be talked into changing a no vote to present. ”

Ron Paul has listed his “Freedom Principles” on his website:

  • Rights belong to individuals, not groups.
  • Property should be owned by people, not government.
  • All voluntary associations should be permissible — economic and social.
  • The governments monetary role is to maintain the integrity of the monetary unit, not participate in fraud.
  • Government exists to protect liberty, not to redistribute wealth or to grant special privileges.
  • The lives and actions of people are their own responsibility, not the governments.

This is what I thought it meant ot be a Republican back in civics class in high school. Before Reagan and Bush (I would say the first, but they both screw it up pretty good) spoiled the meaning of the word…

-Chris Knight

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