Video URL (less than two minutes): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8DpKKSmaa8 Friends, I recommend taking a look at this video. Ron is not politically correct, as most of us would define that term. There are several things he says -- eg. about 'policing our borders' -- that might encourage some of you to dismiss him altogether as a xenophobe. I would have done so myself not that long ago. And I still disagree with many of his views, but I've learned to listen to him, and people 'like him', in a different way. For one thing, we are listening to a spokesman within a different culture. He's in Texas, talking to conservative audiences, conservative even for Republicans. Naturally he will refer to images that are well-known and visceral for the audience, in making his points. It his points themselves however, abstracted from their expression, that are his real 'message'. What he's really talking about is economics. And in economic terms, what he says makes sense. Consider these definitions... thefreedictionary.com mercantilism Noun 1. an economic system (Europe in 18th C) to increase a nation's wealth by government regulation of all of the nation's commercial interests 2. transactions (sales and purchases) having the objective of supplying commodities (goods and services) I would say that definition 1 was written by a capitalist, and 2 by a mercantilist. Arrighi talks about the differences between capitalism and mercantilism. With capitalism, the purpose of an economy is to fuel a cycle of accumulation for those who are providing the financing. With mercantilism the goal is to have a sound national economy. Certainly that requires regulation, and even some protectionism, which can also be seen as self-sufficiency. But that leaves lots of room for trade and market economics. Indeed it is only under regulation that a market (non-monopolist, non-exploitive) economy can exist. When our capitalist wrote definition 1, and he said 'regulation of all', the truth is that the rules applied to 'all', but he phrased it to imply a 'command economy'. Ain't necessarily so. In any case, I see Ron Paul as putting forward a mercantilist model for the US economy, as being a better path for the nation than continuing our role as an important cog within global capitalism, and its globalist institutions. What other candidate has the courage, or the scale of vision, to actually articulate an alternative economic model?...to actually take on global capitalism as part of his platform? This is not a campaign pitch for Ron, and I don't believe in elections in any case. But I think it's important to recognize good sense, rare as it is in politics, and not let cultural differences get in the way. If they do, that too is xenophobia. rkm -- -------------------------------------------------------- Posting archives: http://cyberjournal.org/show_archives/ Escaping the Matrix website: http://escapingthematrix.org/ cyberjournal website: http://cyberjournal.org Community Democracy Framework: http://cyberjournal.org/DemocracyFramework.html Subscribe cyberjournal list: •••@••.••• (send blank message) cyberjournal blog (join in): http://cyberjournal-rkm.blogspot.com/ Moderator: •••@••.••• (comments welcome)
