Eyes Wide Open

The South Carolina debates were barely over and within minutes the neo-con smear machine was in overdrive against candidate Ron Paul. In the interest of full disclosure I am a rock solid conservative, and while some of the things Rep. Paul says ring true to me, I do not know if I support his candidacy for Presidency yet. With that said, it was interesting to me how quickly the neo-cons tried to marginalize Ron Paul and how viciously they attacked him regarding his statements over 9/11. Personally, I didn't see anything inflammatory about his statements regarding US policy and how it has generated resentment from people in the middle east. Rep. Paul is correct about our military presence in Islamic territory. We have bases in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Afghanistan and now Iraq to name a few. Overall the US has over 700 military installations and bases in over 50 countries.

The thing that strikes me about the smears against Rep. Paul is that it is the same types of tactics the neo-cons use against their liberal opponents when they feel they need to marginalize the credibility of a candidate or position. The fact that Giuliani and others felt the need to attack Rep. Paul means that he struck a nerve, and not in the way they want the public to believe. The nerve that Rep. Paul has struck is with the conservative base of the Republican party. A base that continues to view the current crop of presidential candidates with increasing skepticism. On talk radio, the day after the debates, I heard one host call Rep. Paul "an anti-Semite". Sean Hannity tried to debate Rep. Paul on the history of the middle east, and our involvement over there, and summarily had his seat handed to him. Fox news ignored its own candidates poll that clearly showed Ron Paul winning! They later claimed that "computer geeks" sympathetic to Rep. Paul fixed the poll by voting over and over for their candidate.

The Republicans will continue to have trouble with its conservative base unless the mainstream candidates take a good look at the current platform and address some serious shortcomings. The spread of American imperialism must be halted. The American border needs to be secured and our laws concerning immigration enforced. Bring US troops home from Europe and Asia and let them be responsible both socially and financially for their own defense. We must also level the playing field for American industry by changing the tax laws to allow them to compete with foreign imports. Rep. Paul has a sterling record as a conservative, and the fact that the neo-cons are attacking him means that he is on to them. Continue the good fight Representative, our country relies on brave individuals to wake them from their slumber every so often.

Incremental Social Engineering

In 1989 I happened to be living in sunny San Diego, and it was around this time that serious discussions were going on about banning smoking across the state. A statewide ban in California was finally enacted in 1998. When I heard about this it reminded me of something my father mentioned back in '89 when the discussions had just begun. He said "They won't be satisfied with just cigarettes, you wait and see, soon they'll go after Mc Donalds and running shoes." I thought this was a preposterous statement at the time, surely our government would never go after fast food and shoes. As a young man you can sometimes forget the benefit of perspective that comes with experience. My father has always paid attention to government and politics and had seen similar things happen before.

Fast food is already under attack in the U.S. and elsewhere around the globe. In the city of Cotati in California the Council has voted to make permanent its ban on fast food restaurants. In New York, after pushing through a controversial smoking ban, Mayor Bloomberg's health department turned to fighting obesity and the restaurants that enable it. The Malaysian government has considered a ban on all fast food advertising. Prince Charles has stated publicly that Mc Donalds should be banned for promoting an unhealthy diet to children. Paul Zimmet, professor of diabetes at Monash University in Australia says that fast foods, processed snacks and sugary drinks can cause as much ill health as cigarettes, and should be taxed like tobacco and banned from schools and public institutions.

On the surface, all of this really doesn't sound like a bad idea. After all what's wrong with encouraging people to stop smoking, have a healthy diet, and exercise more often? I'll tell you what I believe is wrong with this, I call it social engineering. In a free society, it is up to the individual to choose how he or she lives their life, so long as their actions do not infringe upon someone elses freedoms. I don't smoke or drink alcohol, but I defend the rights of people who choose to engage in these activities. I have a hard time when the government tries to tell me what to eat, or not to smoke. If the government truly doesn't want people engaging in certain activities then they should make those activities illegal. The government will not make these activities illegal due to the large amount of taxes generated from their sale.

The slippery slope regarding this issue extends beyond smoking and fast food. The government has been incrementally regulating social activities and the end result will be a state that tells people what to eat, where to shop, what kind of car to drive and ultimately what to believe. We have seen this many times in history, from the Nazi's in Germany to the Communists in Russia and China. The difference in America is that no one will come out and say that they are trying to engineer a socialist state. They will just chip away at your freedoms bit by bit. And by the time the majority of Americans become wise to this agenda, it may be too late.

Restless legs syndrome?

As a young adult I personally avoided taking any medicines for fear of what they would do to my body's natural defense systems. Call me paranoid,or uninformed, but I've always had the intuition that my body could take care of itself if I treated it right and gave it what it needs. In recent years, Americans have been introduced to holistic medicine, acupuncture and other practices that show drugs aren't always the answer. I have a cousin who was somewhat rambunctious when he was a child. I overheard my parents talking about him being put on a drug to calm him down, the doctors told my uncle that he had ADHD. I'd never heard of this disease. I was curious, so I did a little research and found that some of the symptoms are inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. That sounds like every red blooded American boy to me. And doctors prescribe ritalin to children as young as 3-5 years of age! What did they prescribe before ritalin? The drug was invented in 1954 by the Ciba pharmaceutical company and didn't come into prominent use until the 1990's, after ADHD became more generally accepted within the medical and mental health communities.

Something is wrong with the way we allow big pharmaceutical companies to do business in America. Doctors are often given trips to lavish locations, on the pharmaceutical dime, in order to be inculcated about the latest new drugs. In 2000 the pharmaceutical industry spent $13.2 billion on marketing in the U.S. alone. Political contributions from the pharmaceutical industry to politicians have most certainly skewed policy in their favor. How can it be that in either Canada or Mexico, American drugs are available at a lower price?

Clever marketing campaigns can influence consumers buying decisions when it comes to any variety of product such as fast food, cars, soft drinks, and medicine. The first time I saw a commercial for a drug that can be taken for Restless Leg Syndrome, I sincerely thought that I was watching one of those Saturday Night Live parody commercials. I realize that this is a real syndrome, and I'm not trying to make light of it or offend anyone who is afflicted by it, but by simply advertising and explaining the syndrome on television some people may be influenced to believe that they might have a condition. The same way that they can be influenced to buy a cheeseburger from Mc Donalds. The fact that our elected officials are unwilling to challenge the pharmaceutical industry, and the fact that none of the major media outlets are willing to investigate them, makes me believe that something is rotten in our system. There is simply way too much money to made off of Americans, and our third-party billing system, which helps to ensure that Americans can't really pay attention to how much their prescriptions or doctor visits are costing them.