Tag: US Congress

Ron Paul feted in raucous farewell rally

Ron Paul On Warrantless Surveillance

A recent column by former Congressman Ron Paul called for an end to warrantless mass surveillance and a return of the 4th Amendment to American life.

As Paul pointed out, there is no terrorist exception in the 4th Amendment. Either probable cause exists to surveil someone, in which case warrantless surveillance wouldn’t be needed, or it does not.

We couldn’t agree more. Terrorism is no excuse to suspend the Constitution just as the alleged, but basically fictional, “Red Menace” was no excuse 100 years ago.

A View on the Budget Compromise

I had to let out a hearty laugh recently when I saw that the House of Representative passed the budget compromise measure.

Especially when so many of my political friends were jumping for joy that bipartisanship is not on life support after all in Washington, D.C.

Forgive me for not blowing out my knee while jumping for joy.

Instead, I laughed because the budget compromise is just another prime example of a bill that was passed but never truly read.

A Vote for the Libertarian Party

As political deadlock continues in Washington and the two major political parties in the country continue to play ‘gotcha’ politics that do nothing to address the needs of the nation, the Libertarian Party becomes an attractive alternative to the Democrats and Republicans.

The following is an op-ed from an American in his early 30’s who has serious concerns about the political atmosphere in the country and what this means for the future.

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Ladies and Gentlemen, Please join me in welcoming the band formerly known as the G.O.P.

After this week, they go by a new nickname, “The Band-Aids.” They released a new hit this week called, “A Very Wasteful Band-Aid.”

The No Debt Limit Congress

When is a debt limit not a debt limit? When it’s in Congress.

You have to give those 535 people we send to Washington every couple of years to run the federal government credit. They find more creative ways every year not to do their job.

The latest is a debt limit that is not a limit because it will be suspended until May 18th while the Treasury continues borrowing to pay the nation’s immediate bills.

When we (as a nation) reach May 18th, we will have exceeded the statutory $16.4 trillion national debt limit without having a big Democrat/Republican showdown over fiscal policy. Actually, we reached the $16.4 trillion debt limit in the last days of 2012. The Treasury has been juggling the books since then to make it seem like we didn’t.

Getting Economic Growth Back on Track

Economic growth continues in Asia while it stagnates in America. Even though Singapore and Hong Kong have the heavy hand of government involved in infrastructure planning, their private sector continues to boom.

I cast my ballot early because I had to be in Hong Kong and Singapore when Americans voted for president of the United States on Nov. 6. I’ve been following the election closely, but I was struck by how closely everyone in Asia paid attention, also. It seems to those in Asia that we have lost our way.

I didn’t have to look far beyond my hotel window to see the expanse of cranes erecting new buildings, too many to count, across each country.