Lew Rockwell: Who Commissioned the US To Remake the World?

Pat Buchanan writes that...

If America wishes to lead the world, let us do it by example, as we once did, not by hectoring every nation on earth to adopt the American way, which as of now, does not seem to be working all that well for Americans.

 Jefferson had it right, "We wish not to meddle with the internal affairs of any country."

The State of the Union: Just Another Reality Show by Charles Goyette

Charles Goyette, on Lew Rockwell's #1 Libertarian websites, states that...

India and Iran have agreed to end-run the U.S.-imposed sanctions on Iran.

They will use gold to do so.

Those sanctions, which have now been agreed to by the European Union as well, will ratchet up in July. Their enforcement means that banks and financial institutions involved in oil transactions with Iran will be barred from doing any business with financial institutions in the United States and Europe.

According DEBKAfile, a news source based in Israel, Iran has taken steps to bypass American and European banks and their currency desks altogether, agreeing instead to sell its oil to India for gold. China is expected to soon agree to use gold in buying oil from Iran as well. It's a move that would leave the long-standing global dollar pricing of petroleum in tatters.

The gold-for-oil agreement means three things:

1. It hastens the unwinding of the U.S. dollar's global reserve currency status.
The rest of the world is actively developing alternatives to the U.S. dollar. Although it will mean a falling standard of living for the American people, U.S. policies and secretaries of state, like Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton, have spurred what will become a stampede away from the dollar. DEBKAfile also reports that both China and Russia have secret mechanisms already in place to pay Iran in non-dollar currencies for its oil. And only a month ago, China and Japan, the world's second- and third-largest economies, agreed to develop direct yen/yuan trading, forgoing the dollar as the reserve currency intermediary.

2. It accelerates the global monetization of gold.
Both China and India have been aggressively adding to their gold reserves. Other countries are following suit. The Keynesians, who have been in charge of American monetary policy, having destroyed the value of the dollar and enabled our ruinous debt, may actually believe that gold is a "barbarous relic." But it is clear that their opinions have little functional value in the real world. The world is turning to gold more and more as U.S. debt continues to mount. Indeed, is there a better alternative monetary unit to be found? Certainly, it's not the euro. Jim Grant of Grant's Interest Rate Observer says gold is the only answer to the question, "if not the dollar, then what?"

3. It reveals the growing global impotence of the U.S.

Long able to enforce reluctant countries to adhere in its missions and embargoes around the world, the U.S. is finding its will frustrated. Nations that once had to weigh the favor of the U.S. against their own commercial and domestic political interests are increasingly ignoring the global dictates of the U.S. State Department. In 2003, Turkey, where the prospect of a U.S. invasion of Iraq was wildly unpopular, refused even bribes to allow the U.S. to stage the invasion from its soil. Today, the threat of a U.S. or Israeli strike on Iran is meeting with growing disapproval, especially from countries like China and India rely heavily on Iranian oil.

I'm having an identity crisis...

For the past two decades, I identified myself as a Republican. I have voted Republican my entire political life. I even showed up in 2008 (holding my nose mind you) and voted for John McCain.

I was introduced to Ron Paul during the 2008 election, and for any of you who check this blog on a daily basis, you can easily see I am still a huge fan. I am drawn to a foreign policy of non-intervention, the idea that we have responsibility for our own freedom in this country, and the philosophy of fair taxation to all Americans.

During this GOP election process, I have seen a paradigm shift inside of me. I am still a huge supporter of Ron Paul. But watching how he has been treated by not only the media, but by his "fellow" party members,  my eyes have been opened.  My eyes see a GOP establishment that wants power by any means.  Power through a flip-flopping moderate such as Romney (aka, Ken doll).  Power through a lobbying, moral hypocrite and chicken hawk such as Newt (not to mention the fact that he's just plain mean). Power through a denying former lobbyist and war-monger such as Santorum (he looks like an 8 year old trying to wear his daddy's suit). The GOP is willing to run over anyone that gets in their way, including Ron Paulites and even their own base.  I don't want another hypocritical, neo-con who keeps raising the debt.  Bush was scary, scary indeed.

I'm seeing reruns of the 2000 elections:  anyone but that lying, cheating Clinton.  But as I look back, the Clinton years don't look so bad.  Taxes were high, but we could afford it. Other countries looked to us in admiration (but not in fear), debt was down, and a booming economy surrounded us. Maybe I'm having an identity crisis.  I don't know who I am any more.  Am I a Republican?  Am I a Democrat?  Maybe I'm an Independent, trying to see the good in each party, wishing to see more options to my political views.  Heck, I have more options with my cell phone coverage, than I do in the "most democratic country in the world". Maybe a word for me is "disenfranchised".  A small part, being part of a larger group, but then that large group leaves me with a message I don't agree with. I'm harkened back to that old Ronald Reagan saying..."I didn't leave the Democrat party, it left me".

Maybe the Republican party has left me.

I realize that Ron Paul will not become president. I'm a realist, and I've accepted this. But my other options for the presidential GOP nominations are deplorable.  Newt?  Romney?  Santorum?  No way to all of the above. These are the best candidates the Republican party has to offer up?

What all of this has caused me to do is take a closer look at my only other option (besides not voting, of course):  Obama.  Who is this quiet President we have? Andrew Sullivan most recently pointed out in a Newsweek article that the Right calls him a socialist, the Left says he sucks up to Wall Street, and the Independents think he's a wimp. Prior to reading Andrew's article "The Long Game",  I would have agreed with all of the above. Maybe my greatest hesitation is that I do see Obama as the "other side of the fence".

But dear GOP, what option have you left me? 

Ron Paul Highlights in 1/19/2012 Presidential Debate

SOPA and PIPA

What is it about Ron Paul?

Youth for Ron Paul