Hoping to ride the shoulders of passionate Minnesota fans Tuesday, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul packed events in the state Saturday, speaking of liberty over government and rights over entitlement.

“There is reason to be optimistic that now the people are thinking correctly….We don’t need more government,” Paul told a standing room only crowd in a Rochester high school Saturday.

Paul may have some reason to find optimism in Minnesota. His campaign has been organizing for the caucuses for months and has a structure to, as one supporter said, “storm the caucuses.”

With a still-unsettled electorate, Minnesota’s Tuesday straw poll is gaining attention from the remaining Republican candidates as they look for momentum to fight on. Paul, Romney and Santorum supporters are now streaming television ads in Minnesota and they and Newt Gingrich fans are now dialing for votes among Republican activists.

Paul’s on the ground campaigning over Saturday and Monday will be matched by Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney, who are also pitching Minnesotans for votes during their visits. Newt Gingrich has the most recently organized campaign here but his fans are still hoping the former U.S. House Speaker will stop by the next 48 hours.

I have watched Ron Paul for a very long time and one trend I see over and over is the split that emerges between people of roughly under the age of 40 and those who are older when his name is mentioned. I have no polling data to back this up, but young people seem to like Ron Paul and older people seem not to.

This is by no means uniform. I know plenty of older folks who love the good doctor and plenty of young people who do not like him, but generally the above statement holds I think. Why is this?

Fundamentally I believe it comes down to faith in the markets and whether or not one is playing for the future, or if one is clinging to the past.

Young people have much to lose in the economic quagmire we find ourselves in, namely their future. They recognize that times have changed, that the old economic regime is corrupt, and in order to get things going in any real way (not government stimulated) fundamental reforms must be implemented. Many, including myself would embrace a gold standard or a standard based on a basket of commodities. This is a radical departure from the Fed centered fiat currency regime. It would disrupt the current economic order, but a reset is needed and many young people recognize that it is vital that we head in this direction before it is too late. The economic hubris of the 20th century has come home to roost. We would like a real economy.

Older people understandably believe they have much to lose with a reality based economic system(I know this is a loaded term) such as the one Ron Paul advocates. In fairness they likely do.

If one has spent a lifetime compiling paper currency, amassing sums large and small in IRAs and retirement plans, a gold centered revolution could be pretty scary. For many people, especially those who are just now retiring, they have lived their entire lives with the understanding that the money they have saved will provide for their future. It’s a pretty reasonable assumption.

They, and even many long committed “conservatives” believe in the current system. The truth is, they like a large state. They like Social Security, and indeed many rely on it (which makes economic sense if one believes that the current New Deal based system is sustainable and they had always been told that it was.)

The baby boomers are also children of the Cold War where a massive military in the face of the Soviet threat seemed to, and arguably did, make sense. A large state is deeply engrained in the grey matter of the older generation and this is completely understandable.

However even older people must adapt when the alternative is catastrophe.

We are not yet at the point where a majority of thinking people understand the extent of the economic challenges that lay before us. My sense is that many smart older people know that there is much that is wrong, and that something must be done, but that the regime to which they have given so much of their lives can still be saved without real change. In fact many bristle at the thought. Ron Paul is an agent of change, and so they bristle at Dr. Paul.

Aside from the new economic paradigm Ron Paul introduces, something that is at least equally as scary for some is Ron Paul’s foreign policy stance. The thought that the United States should dominate the world, and that it would be dangerous for it not to, runs deep in the baby boomer generation.

For a generation that it is said to not only recognized the folly of Vietnam but brought an end to it, the boomers seem pretty keen on keeping the war machine going. The concept of the military as “big government” is lost on many baby boomer conservatives.

It doesn’t seem lost on many active duty members of the military however, who have given more to Ron Paul than to any other presidential candidate in this election cycle. But most of those active duty folks are young.

What I write here is probably moot of course. It looks like the establishment has gotten Mitt-”I don’t worry about the poor” -Romney, just as it wanted. But Ron Paul will collect enough delegates to make noise at the convention that is for sure.

Also, though the Republican establishment may feel that it has effectively put down the libertarian uprising, liberty oriented Republicans are the future if the GOP wishes to remain viable.

The libertarians are young, committed, information savvy, economically correct, and they are going to see their time in the sun like it or not.

The smartest, most innovative political thinkers on what is called the “right” aren’t in the Romeny, or Gingrich camp, they are in the Ron Paul camp. And the GOP knows it. But the party will fight this reality every step of the way. The real question is whether the Dick Cheney types would rather commit party suicide than capitulate to the New Wave. We’ll see.

Just as the Goldwater Republicans overtook the Rockefeller Republicans, the Ron Paul Republicans will take things further down the freedom path as they eclipse the Bushies.

Time may not have come today, but it is coming.

This article was originally posted at AgainstCronyCapitalism.org.

Dozens of U.S. Park Police officers in riot gear and on horseback converged before dawn Saturday on one of the nation’s last remaining Occupy sites, with police clearing the grounds of tents that they said were banned under park rules.

That move left large swaths of open space and raised questions about exactly what would remain of the encampment once the enforcement was over.

Still, police said they were not evicting the protesters. Those whose tents conformed to regulations were allowed to stay, and protesters remain able to demonstrate at the site at all hours provided they don’t camp there.

The police used barricades to cordon off sections of McPherson Square, a park under federal jurisdiction near the White House, and checked tents for mattresses and sleeping bags and sifted through piles of garbage and other belongings. Some wore yellow and white biohazard suits to guard against diseases identified at the site in recent weeks.

Police by mid-day had arrested six people, including four protesters who refused to move from beneath a statute and two others for crossing a police line.

In a profanity-laced tirade, a Memphis DJ last week used an on-air interview to berate a local Republican congressional candidate — calling her a “token negro” who is doing the bidding of “white folk.”

DJ Thaddeus Matthews called Charlotte Bergmann, who is black, “stupid.” He referred to her as a “curly-haired nigga.” When she walked out of the interview, he refused to shake her hand, saying he didn’t want to get her “whiteness” on him.

The outrage? The fury? In Memphis, you can hear the crickets.

Bergmann told FoxNews.com that, while the web video of the interview has gotten a lot of attention on blogs, local media are largely ignoring it. She said she hasn’t gotten any calls from politicians about it. “No organization has spoken out,” Bergmann said.

“The anger has been expressed throughout the nation, but not in my local … area,” she said.

As for her treatment on air, which she described as “racist” and abusive, she said it stems from the notion that black politicians should uniformly be Democrats.

Republican U.S. presidential candidate Newt Gingrich inserted himself into the long-running controversy about whether religious groups should be allowed to hold services in New York City public schools, and accused Mayor Michael Bloomberg of being “anti-religious.”

Gingrich made his comments on Friday in a speech to a coalition of religious leaders in Las Vegas ahead of Nevada’s Republican presidential caucuses on Saturday, as he tried to boost support among the state’s social conservatives.

His speech, held at Nevada’s largest non-denominational church and also webcast, was heavy on rhetoric against what the former U.S. House of Representatives speaker called “secular intellectuals.”

The Nevada caucuses mark the fifth contest in the state-by-state competition for the Republican presidential nomination to face President Barack Obama, a Democrat, in the Nov. 6 election. Polls show Gingrich far behind front-runner Mitt Romney in Nevada.

A Time magazine blogger reported Thursday that the Sierra Club, America’s oldest and most august environmental organization, accepted millions of dollars in donations from one of the nation’s biggest natural gas-drilling companies for a program lambasting coal-fired power plants as … Continue reading →

“In order to lower mortgage payments for millions of Americans, we need Congress to act,” Mr. Obama said in his weekly address. “And as anyone who has followed the news in the last six months can tell you, getting Congress to do anything these days is … Continue reading →

A couple of years ago, after the bubble crashed, my wife and I decided to buy a condo in Vegas.  There were many reasons behind that decision, but Sin City is known for delivering the unexpected.  And so, political junkie that I am, I suddenly found myself eligible to participate in an early, swing-state, caucus.  Las Vegas had taken me into virgin territory.

Being a caucus neophyte, I approached the matter gingerly.  I called the Clark County Republican Party office seeking guidance.  What happens at a caucus?  How long does it run?  What’s the procedure?  No one possessed definitive answers to these complex questions, but we were able to determine that folks in my precinct were caucusing at a nearby High School.  The doors opened at 8:00 AM, with the caucus itself slated to start at 9:00.  Anyone could speak on behalf of any candidate; each speaker would have two minutes.  Beyond that, things got a little vague.  I pre-registered on line “to avoid the crowds” of caucus day.

I arrived at Valley High School at 9:00 AM, impressed to see a sizable packed parking lot.  Perhaps these are the political activists I hear so much about, I thought.  Great to see how many of them show up early on a Saturday morning.  But for a group of activists, the lot seemed singularly inactive.  Where were the Paulistas, gesticulating wildly to emphasize that the Fed is our enemy, while Iran is not?  Where were the Romney and Gingrich surrogates deflating each other’s tires?  Where were Santorum’s nattily-dressed minions?  Where were the folks waving Perry and Bachmann signs, refusing to admit that their party was over?  Two helpful teenagers provided the answers: the caucus was on the other side of campus.  The folks parked in this lot were there for—get this—Valley High School.

I dutifully drove around the block to find the much smaller but equally pacific lot bearing two signs marked “Caucus here,” one sign for Ron Paul, and a TV truck.  I entered the school cafeteria, where a helpful volunteer directed me to the table for pre-registrants.  I surveyed the scene quickly: Fifty or so small tables, broken into groups, and perhaps two hundred people.  No politicking as far as I could tell, no speechifying, just a room full of Americans out enjoying their morning.  The young woman who checked me informed me that my precinct was convening in the gym.  I thanked her for the directions.  Then I told her that it was my first caucus, and asked her what the procedure was.  “It’s my first caucus, too,” she said.  “So I don’t know.”  I thanked her again and headed to the gym.

I found groups of people sitting either in the bleachers or in chairs on the gym floor.  Each group had a sign with a four-digit number—a precinct number, I presumed.  I found my precinct.  A gentleman with a list—the precinct captain, I guessed—checked me in.  I told him that it was my first caucus, and asked him what to expect.  “It’s my first caucus, too,” he said, “but I think that pretty soon we get to vote.”  I thanked him for the information and struck up a conversation with some of the other voters.

A man named Steve wandered by.  He wore a T-shirt with what appeared to be some sort of caucus logo and carried a clipboard, so I sensed an air of authority.  “How many voters do you have?” he asked.  “Fourteen,” said our captain, forgetting to count himself.  Steve counted out fourteen blue ballots.  “You get eight delegates and one alternate,” he said, then ran off to the next precinct.

Our captain distributed the ballots, each of which bore the names of the four remaining GOP candidates.  “Now we have to select eight delegates and an alternate,” he announced.  “Then we get to vote for President.”  “Why don’t we just see who is not interested?” suggested the man to my right.  I looked around to see if, perhaps, I might make a good delegate.  I realized that I was the youngest voter in the precinct, likely by at least a decade (I’m 48), but reasoned that I could nevertheless represent the group admirably if chosen to do so.

“I’m not sure that I want to go to Tampa during the summer,” one voter mused.  “Oh,” said our captain.  “I don’t think we’re electing delegates for the national convention.  Are we?  Does anyone know?”  “I would imagine that there’s some sort of state thing,” someone suggested.  We agreed that that sounded right.  “Does anyone know when that is?  Or where?”  “Probably around here somewhere,” someone suggested, “or maybe Carson City.”  “My vote would be Chicago,” our captain offered, but conceding that such a venue was unlikely, he set off to ask some questions.  He returned.  “Someone says they think its in Reno, but they’re not sure when,” he announced to the group.

I decided that it was time to pull up a browser on my iPhone.  Apparently, between today’s caucuses and the national convention, the Nevada Republican Party plans to hold a series of county conventions—sometime tentatively scheduled to fall between March 10 and March 17 at places to be determined—and a state convention in Reno in May.  I suggested that perhaps we were selecting delegates to the Clark County convention.  Everyone agreed that my analysis seemed plausible, but our captain went to find Steve to verify this new information.

He returned with answers.  We were tasked with selecting delegates for the county convention, to be held some time in March somewhere in Clark County.  Then we could vote for President.  “What do the delegates do?” someone asked.  “Are they bound by our votes for President?”  “Is there any relationship between our votes for President and delegate?”  “Are we supposed to support delegates who share our preferences for President?”  Our captain looked perplexed.  He set out once more in search of Steve.  He returned.  Delegates to the county conventions get to vote on delegates to the state convention, and on a platform, he announced.

“Does any of that have anything to do with our presidential votes?” someone asked.  “Well, those are distributed proportionally,” someone else answered.  We collectively deemed this answer sufficient, marked our X’s on our blue ballots, and handed them back to our captain.  He sealed them in an envelope and put check marks near those of us who had agreed to serve as delegates.  “Now what?”  someone asked.  “I think we’re done,” said our captain.  We all wandered off.

I surveyed the broader scene again, this time from my vantage point as an experienced caucus-goer and a freshly minted delegate to the Clark County Republican convention.  I was pleased to note that I was not the youngest person in the room, though everyone younger did seem to be either wearing a volunteer’s badge or providing mobility assistance to someone in need.  Very definitely not the crowd you see at Lavo, I thought.

I found myself standing next to a guy who appeared to be about my age—one of three men in the room wearing a suit.  “Are you a reporter?” he asked me.  “No,” I said.  “Just a voter.  But I do blog from time to time.”  “Same thing, these days,” he said.  “Are you a reporter?” I asked.  “Yes,” he said.  “For whom?” I asked.  “From Israel,” he said, starting to edge away from me.  “For Israel Hayom.  I cover elections all over the world.  Egypt.  Tunisia.”  I laughed.  “Very different,” he said.  “Yes,” I agreed.  “No one gets shot here.”  He nodded.  “This is a very good thing,” he said, completing his escape.

I realized that I must have wandered into some unmarked press area, because the one other obvious reporter in the room—the one with the TV truck and camera from the local NBC affiliate—was  interviewing another man in a suit.  I overheard the interviewee’s bold prediction that Romney would win Nevada and then take the nomination.  The reporter took this news in stride.  With his interview concluded he sat back down and struck a pose that seemed to say don’t bother me.  No one did.

I determined that I had learned all that I could learn, and that it was time to leave.  As I turned to go, I saw Steve, standing still behind a table.  I seized the opening.  “So I think I’m a delegate, but I’m not sure what comes next,” I said.  “Did you fill out one of these forms?” he asked, waving a form at me.  “No,” I said.  “But none of us did.  We just put check marks near the names of folks who agreed to be delegates.”  He looked concerned.  “Would you like me to fill out a form?” I offered.  “No,” he said.  “Just give me your name.”  I did.  He wrote it on a yellow post-it note.  “Would you like my e-mail address?” I asked.  “Yes,” he said.  “That would be a good idea.”  He handed me the post-it note.  I jotted down my e-mail address and handed it back.  He folded it in half and put it in his pocket.  “We’ll let you know,” he said, and ran off.

I headed back to the parking lot.  Looked my watch.  The whole thing had taken about an hour.  Grassroots democracy in action, I thought.  And no one got shot.  Gotta love it.

Anger against Congress, federal bureaucrats, lobbyists and all that is Washington has been boiling over in America’s Heartland—with good reason. The nation’s capital spews out toxic solutions to correct non-problems and never ceases to amaze with its hypocrisy. Too harsh? Here’s the proof: The Top 10 ways Washington annoys the Heartland.

1. Budgetary blues

Imagine, if you will, a major corporation trying to run itself without having a budget for three years. Its officials undoubtedly would be hauled into jail for violating Sarbanes-Oxley. Yet that is exactly what Washington is doing, as the Democratic-controlled Senate has bottled up passage of a budget for over 1,000 days—leading to endless battles over omnibus spending bills and continuing resolutions, both convenient vehicles for fiscal mischief.

2. Constitutional contempt

When the President unconstitutionally makes recess appointments with the Senate not in recess, what are the American people to think? In fact, the entire federal behemoth is based, in large part, on a total disregard for the Constitution, as the 9th and 10th Amendments—giving powers to the states—are routinely ignored.

Polls show that about 80% of Americans support photo voter identification laws. A majority of whites, blacks, Hispanics, Democrats, and Republicans support voter ID. Why do so many people want voter ID laws?

According to Richmond, Virginia, Mayor Dwight Jones, “because there is a brother in the White House.”

Here’s a secret. I’ve been following the voter ID debate for seven years. In fact, I’ve even been involved in some legislative plotting in various states to pass voter ID. And I can say with one hand on a Bible, and one hand in the air, that I’ve never once heard any voter ID proponent suggest that a “brother in the White House” has anything to do with it. This is pure, simple, racialist nonsense from the mayor of Richmond.

Of course if you’ve read my book Injustice, you’d already know that a favorite tool of those opposing voter integrity laws is pure, simple, racialist nonsense. The civil rights industry, the accidental heir to the civil rights movement, uses race to create a smokescreen for criminal wrongdoing. The stories in my book from Hale and Perry County, Alabama, are downright disgusting and disturbing.