November 6, 2012: A Reason Not To Lose Hope

I hate to be the bearer of foreboding and disillusioning news to anyone who has been swept away by the claim that the American economy is back on the road to recovery, but there are a great number of signs that we have only just begun our descent into economic depression. Unemployment has now reached 9.4%, and the price of gold is fast approaching $1,000 per ounce. Rates for U.S. Treasuries have skyrocketed as Congress floods the market with an avalanche of new debt in order to keep their racket in operation for another year. The Fed is printing money at a staggering pace in order to buy up those I.O.U.’s from Congress. And Congress has once again agreed to fund (by borrowing, of course) two pointless, extravagantly expensive, and completely un-winnable wars.

These are not signs that would lead one to believe that we are headed down the road to prosperity. Blowing up people and our money in Iraq and Afghanistan (or North Korea and Iran, for that matter) will not make our economy better off. Printing money in order to buy I.O.U.’s from the most indebted group of politicians in the history of the world will not make our economy better off. Giving our money to insolvent bankers will not make our economy better off. Putting American taxpayers on the hook to pay trillions of dollars worth of new government debt will not make our economy better off. And it sure as hell won’t make our economy better off to have the federal government in the business of manufacturing cars or making home loans.

What is really needed in order for the economy to improve is simply for the meddlers, politicians and money magicians in Washington and New York to leave us and the money supply alone. They need to stop spending money they don’t have, stop printing money out of thin air to finance their schemes, and stop wasting our money trying to blow up and dominate two of the poorest countries in the world. Unfortunately, given what we know about the nature of politicians in a democracy, (i.e., their tendency to rob as much as they can for themselves before leaving office), we can rest assured that they will manage to do precisely the opposite of what is truly needed and sink us further into debt and economic depression.

Economics in One Lesso... Hazlitt, Henry Best Price: $2.43 Buy New $7.43 (as of 12:35 UTC - Details)

Despite all these signs that we are in for a long and hard economic depression, there still exists a reason for great optimism about America’s political and economic future. You won’t find this cause for hope in any newspaper article or television program, however. And you will be hard-pressed to find this cause for hope even in libertarian circles, because libertarians (Austrian libertarians, at least) actually understand economics [pdf], and are thus well aware of the laundry list of extremely ominous signs planted all over the global economy today.

So, in case you have not yet stumbled upon anything in the news recently that makes your imagination soar and your spine straighten, allow me to direct your attention to this webpage. Hard indeed would have to be the heart of the libertarian who could gaze upon such a sight and remain unmoved! The election of 2012 is still three and a half years in the future, and yet the grassroots movement to take back our God-given liberties is already in motion!

If you are one of the hard-hearted libertarians, however, or if you fail to see the importance of pieces of electioneering paraphernalia for a very far-off election, permit me to explain their importance. In the first place, these stickers tell the world that we are fed up with socialization schemes, aggressive wars, and dirty central banking. They tell the world that we are fed up with both the warmongering, crony-capitalist neocons of yesterday’s administration, and the warmongering, save-the-world-from-itself socialists of today’s administration. In other words, they send a shot over the bow of the Republican party saying that we’re tired of half-literate messianic crusaders and senile ex-playboys pretending to stand for liberty — and they simultaneously send a shot over the bow of the Democratic Party saying "it’s only been three months, and we’re already sick of your Sovietization schemes and perpetual war policies."

They are also important and magnificent precisely because they have come out so many years before the next presidential election. We have years to buy these stickers and other paraphernalia and plaster this country with a message of liberty, hope and the name of Dr. Ron Paul. The Republican party as a whole, on the other hand, will not start to publicly unveil its own line-toeing kooks and criminals for years. What other would-be Republican candidate could muster that kind of support this far in advance of the election? Can you imagine, for example, a grassroots-level movement to plaster this country with "Tancredo for President in 2012" stickers three years before the election? (Incidentally, if you do find such a group, I would advise keeping 100 yards away from its members at all times). As for the Democrats, we can be sure that "Abraham Delano Messiah Obama" will be running once again in 2012, but by that time he and his policies should have done an excellent job of discrediting themselves by bankrupting the government, destroying the dollar, and continuing to kill American soldiers in the third world.

I am certainly not meaning to imply that the road that lies before us will be an easy one. There can be little doubt that economy will continue to deteriorate as the government continues to meddle and print money, and continues to expand at the expense of our liberties and wealth. In addition, the unholy political-media alliance that fought against Dr. Paul last year with every last resource at its disposal should be expected to do the same in three year’s time. All that means, however, is that we need to steel our resolve and foster our hope still more for the fight in 2012.

So, buy these stickers, steel your resolve, and never give up the fight for your freedom.