New Jersey: Crossroads of the Revolution
by Max Raskin Introduction When the Revolution came to New Jersey, there was no cause for optimism. After a series humiliating defeats in New York, how could George Washington and his troops recover? After losses in New Hampshire and Iowa, how could Ron Paul’s campaign recover? With Washington outnumbered, undersupplied, and exhausted, few expected his army to succeed. With Paul trailing in the polls, ignored by the media, and marginalized by the establishment, no one gave his Revolution a shot. But New Jersey turned out to be the Crossroads of the Revolution – with more battles fought in this state than any other, few would deny that the tide was turned here. In this Second American Revolution, Ron Paul supporters have the chance to turn the tide again in New Jersey – this time by electing Dr. Murray Sabrin to the Senate. It’s clear why many were disheartened over Paul’s defeats in Iowa and New Hampshire; there is a disconnect between who should be the president and who will be. But those attracted to the Paul’s message need not give up on the movement. If the Revolutionaries remain committed to the principles – both in education and the elections – real change will come to the country. Hoping to spur this change, there has been a move within the grassroots to support "Ron Paul Republicans." Congressman Paul has chosen Murray Sabrin to carry on his message. As a friend of Paul’s for over twenty-five years, Sabrin was proud to be the first candidate to receive this official endorsement from the Congressman:
But this endorsement alone is not enough. Paul’s supporters have a fierce individualism that will not allow them to blindly follow orders…even from Paul himself. They will want to learn about Sabrin. It will, however, take a brief search to discover that Sabrin has dedicated his entire career to freedom. Just as Paul used his position in Congress to advocate free markets and limited government Sabrin spent his career as a finance professor educating students about the same principles. Sabrin is a firm believer in the Austrian school of economics and counts Ron Paul’s intellectual mentors, Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, and Murray Rothbard, as his prime influences. Though working on parallel tracks, Sabrin and Paul have come to the same conclusions. Freedom in the market will lead to prosperity. Nonintervention and free trade with other nations will lead to lasting peace. Protection of civil liberties and the right to privacy will lead to a more secure nation. Unfortunately, the country has strayed from this path and accepted a massive welfare-warfare state – a fundamental change in policy is needed. What sorts of changes is Sabrin proposing? Platform He wants to drastically reduce the size and scope of the federal government. This will allow for massive tax cuts and an eventual abolition of the IRS and income tax. The Department of Energy and Education are bloated bureaucracies that should be scrapped (once a plank in the Republican platform). Though pro-life, Sabrin understands that the federal government has no legal authority to dictate to the states what laws they should pass. With respect to foreign policy, Sabrin wants to see a dramatic reduction in America’s military presence around the world. Bring the troops home from Japan, Germany, and South Korea and save trillions by shutting down over a hundred unnecessary bases; foreign aid is an utter failure and ought to be done away with. He is a strong opponent of the Iraq War and understands that terrorism is an idea and cannot be fought with bullets. It is not America’s role to police the world by nation-building; it is simply impossible to understand the complexities of the Middle East. What is comes down to is that Sabrin heeds the advice of the Founders – America should trade freely with all nations, but enter into entangling alliances with none. Beyond this, we cannot afford this current foreign policy. The government has been printing money and inflating the currency to finance its massive bureaucracy. America now has to borrow billions each day from foreign countries to be able to function. As a professor of finance, Sabrin understands the monetary system and how to cure our recession. Because the government caused it through its insane monetary policies, we should allow the market to correct itself. Dramatically cut spending and give people their money back. This is a platform of liberty that will be familiar to Ron Paul supporters. But no matter how attractive Sabrin’s stances, they mean nothing if he cannot win. Learning from Paul’s Mistakes Paul is not perfect. His campaign is not perfect. What has frustrated many is such an attractive message of liberty has to be delivered by real people who are human. But a campaign doesn’t need to be perfect to win; what it needs is to learn. Sabrin’s campaign has pledged just this. They are committed to learning from Paul’s mistakes. This is an appeal to the grassroots to explain why Sabrin is worth supporting: Ron Paul is too nice to debate goons like Giuliani and McCain. Instead of punchy one-liners and witty remarks, Paul uses reason and logic to try to convince the other candidates. Paul overestimates the intelligence of his opponents. Sabrin, on the other hand, is a fiery orator, who is quick to pounce whenever he gets a chance. Though not rude, he makes a more formidable debate opponent than Paul. When he ran for Governor, Sabrin point-blank told his opponents in a debate that they were merely arguing over who could manage the welfare-warfare state best…that if he wasn’t there is debate would boil down to who was the most irresponsible. Sabrin, 61, has the energy and passion to forcefully stand up to the establishment. Next, what distinguishes Sabrin’s campaign from Paul’s is that the staff has a firm understanding of New Jersey politics and knows how to get him elected. They are not planning to make a statement, but running to win. Sabrin’s people have created the framework to channel the grassroots effectively. They have a strategy that includes hiring top-guns. The campaign is being directed by Max Consulting, Inc. and Patrick Donohue. Donohue ran Pataki's fundraising operation since 1994 and has raised over 400 million for Republican candidates and causes over the past 13 years. He also ran the fundraising ops for the 2004 RNC in NYC. Sabrin is bringing the top mainstream Republican operatives into his campaign in order to win. The conditions of the race are very favorable to Sabrin. In the primary, he is facing the liberal Anne Estabrook and "compassionate conservative" Joe Pennacchio. Pennacchio, who has been unable to raise any real amounts of money, will fold soon after realizing how quickly Sabrin can raise the money he needs. With the cash to face Estabrook, Sabrin will have no problem positioning himself as the conservative in the race and winning the nomination. This is no long-shot bid – with the proper resources, Sabrin will win the primary. Going up against Democratic incumbent Frank Lautenberg would be difficult for anyone but Sabrin. Though New Jerseyans have recently said in the a poll that they are tired of Lautenberg, 84, and want some new blood, only a libertarian-minded candidate will be able to coax people into change. He outflanks Lautenberg on the left with his opposition to the war in Iraq, the PATRIOT Act, and the war on drugs. But he is able to energize the Republican base with his pro-life stance, commitment to fiscal responsibility, and opposition to eminent domain. A final improvement is with the way that Sabrin and his staff will deal with grassroots supporters. Because the Paul campaign was not expecting the level of support they received, they were not prepared to deal with the thousands of enthusiastic supporters. One of Sabrin’s closest advisers (and LRC contributor), George Ajjan, wants to reach out to the grassroots and make them an integral part of the campaign. He wants to keep them in the loop with tools like conference calls and direct communication. He doesn’t want to spend a penny producing low-quality ads when the spontaneous order of the Internet has proved more than capable of putting out emotional, hard-hitting pieces. If as Congressman, Ron Paul was able to introduce a whole generation of Americans to these beliefs, imagine what Sabrin could do as a Senator. He would have much more coverage when he goes up against Bernanke (if Helicopter Ben is around for much longer!) and Sabrin lives down the road from CNBC’s studios – he may become the voice for our movement, bringing it even more into the mainstream. I can think of no better candidate to support for Senate than Dr. Sabrin. If Ron Paul is today’s Jefferson, then Murray Sabrin is his Patrick Henry. January 24, 2008 Max Raskin [send him mail] goes to high school in New Jersey. He was a summer fellow at the Mises Institute in 2007. Copyright © 2008 LewRockwell.com |
