Our Elections... And Theirs

Shekhar Gupta, editor-in-chief of The Indian Express, has cheered the recently held elections in four states - while simultaneously cocking-a-snook at all those who want to "throw out the system." Gupta also praises the "wisdom of the voter." One brief quote:

This is a free country, so you have the right to question and attack the “system”. But the problem is, our civil society, media, intellectual and ideological discourse are all still thin and shallow. They have a long way to go before they can match the depth and maturity of our voting classes.

Actually, this is NOT a free country. This is a socialist tyranny - and only professed socialist parties are allowed into the electoral fray. The wisdom of the voter is forgotten immediately after the elections - and that is why we have "dry days" in every state (except Goa). These dry days are inevitably on pay days - based on the assumption that the voter is so stupid he will drink away his entire paycheck as soon as he receives it. Of course, the only people hurt are the poorest - the daily wage-earners - who have to fork out more for their daily tipple on dry days; this, while the State Police make hay.


Similarly, the total prohibition of ganja-charas is nothing but tyranny, based on the assumption that the voter is stupid and cannot choose his high intelligently. Again, the cops make hay.


Is this a "free country" as Shekhar Gupta insists? Try and open a beer bar in Nude Elly - and you will find out. And is this a "democratic" country? Has Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi been "elected by the people"?


In any case, these state assembly elections will alter nothing: the Trinamool is socialist; the AIADMK is the same old story; Kerala will remain as it always was; and ditto for Assam. There have been umpteen socialist countries where elections have been regularly held - but there was no freedom. That is, the market was never free. True freedom means nothing other than a Free Market.


Now, over to the USSA - where Ron Paul has just announced his candidacy for the 2012 presidential elections, on a Republican party ticket. Do watch the video below in full - and observe his take on drugs, on money and the US Fed, and on foreign policy and war. This is the sort of LIBERTARIAN candidate we in India need - but it is illegal here. 

Talking about reforms in India, Shekhar Gupta writes: "Of course, the “system” develops aberrations but correctives must come from within it, not from outside ... " 


Ron Paul is from within the US system. In our country, he would be barred from contesting. This is stark reality. TYRANNY!


How can there be Liberty if libertarians are not allowed to form political parties and campaign?


Gupta waxes eloquent on the wisdom of our "voting classes" - but we ought to look at our poverty-stricken masses as desperate people, looking for change, looking for a government that does the right things. Or, at least, does not do the wrong things. 


In this context, Principles come to the fore. 


Ron Paul's speech is heavily loaded with such principles. He categorically states, on drugs, the each of us is the Proprietor of his own body. He asserts that Americans want a "strong president" - and he insists that the strongest president is he who uses his powers to "restrain the government": cut down taxation, cut down spending, cut down interventionism - including that in foreign affairs. Of course, Ron Paul is the author of End the Fed. His speech above is heavily loaded with the word "revolution." Indeed, that was the title of his earlier book: The Revolution - A Manifesto.


In this noteworthy that Ron Paul's battle for "sound money" is achieving rapid success. I was extremely pleased to find this news report on "sound money legislation" that is being proposed in South Carolina. The question being asked is:

What do you think about gold and silver coins being proposed as South Carolina tender?

Do take the poll at the end of the article - and note the astonishing fact that over 95 percent of respondents are for hard money - and for ending the US Fed. Much of this is thanks to Ron Paul and the Ludwig von Mises Institute, with whom he is closely associated.


India is suffering from severe inflation. We, too, need "sound money." But do we have any such candidate in the fray? We do not, because ours is a socialist tyranny. On all key issues, all the parties agree. They want to maintain the status quo. We have a particular kind of choice - a "Hobson's Choice" - of throwing out one gang of rascals while installing another. And do note what Ron Paul says about inflation; and how he defines it in the manner that Austrian economists do. 


I conclude with some words from Ludwig von Mises, written in 1944, when the "re-construction" of war-ravaged Europe was being discussed, and America was expected to take the lead in making this happen. Mises argued that, in order to re-construct the post-war world:

America must give something much more essential than money and credit; it must provide an ideology. It must revive the idea of economic freedom, private initiative, and individual enterprise. After the war, this nation will enjoy all over the world an unprecedented moral prestige. If America stands for economic freedom, no country will be able to withdraw from this influence. The great ideological conflict between totalitarianism and individualism will be decided in this country, and all other peoples will follow the example set by America.... The freedom mankind needs most in our day is freedom from utopian superstitions.... Economic prosperity is not so much a material problem; it is, first of all, an intellectual, spiritual, and moral problem.

So, for 2012, I am going to holler for Ron Paul - and I urge you all to do so too. He is indeed the BEST CANDIDATE - and the best candidate deserves all the support we can give. 


Let Ron Paul become President of the United States of America and export his ideology - libertarianism. Then, the whole world will change - for the better.