Posted on 01/15/2012 11:28:12 PM PST by Republican Wildcat
Lyndon LaRouche was a prolific writer who developed a cult-like following and eight times, between 1976 and 2004, sought the presidency, seven times for the Democratic ticket. He wrote and spoke often about the economy and spun wild conspiracy theories. For example, he said Queen Elizabeth was a drug dealer. The Nation’s Bob Dreyfuss, a LaRouche acolyte who dedicated his first book to his former boss and had it published by LaRouche’s publisher, argued in it that Bernard Lewis, perhaps the most influential living historian of the Middle East, was a nefarious force behind Ayatollah Khomeini and Iran’s Islamic Revolution.
LaRouche achieved a particularly loyal following among college students. He anchored enough of his writing in fact that the 30 percent or so that was pure bunk became, for the gullible or willingly blind, believable. His writings adhered to the idea that falsehoods spoken with conviction and precision became credible. Like Ron Paul, he certainly was consistent in his willingness to believe the worst motivations of government officials or his opponents. While LaRouche reached the pinnacle of his influence in the pre-internet age, he managed to spread his conspiracies not only through teaching classes, but also through myriad pamphlets, leaflets, and newspapers. LaRouche is still around, of course, but a conviction for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and tax code violations has undercut his credibility among the young and disaffected enough so that he has returned to purely marginal status.
Into the vacuum left by LaRouche came Ron Paul. Without doubt, some of what Paul says makes sense. Americans are concerned with tremendous government waste and the intrusion of nanny-state governance into our daily lives. But, on foreign policy and defense, Paul supplements his isolationism with the same mold of conspiracy as LaRouche. Many of “the Bush lied, Americans died, Cheney led a secret cabal” conspiracies which Paul’s followers—if not Dr. Paul himself—seize upon have their origins with LaRouche acolytes like Dreyfuss or former Pentagon official and congressional candidate Karen Kwiatkowski, who seemingly hopped from the LaRouche bandwagon to Paul’s. Paul may not publish so many newsletters any more—with good reason—but his followers have certainly taken full advantage of cyberspace to connect imaginary dots and weave creative conspiracies that put the old LaRouchites and even Maxine Waters to shame.
The Iowa Caucus results suggest Paul has peaked. Good conspiracies never die, however. Paul has become the Lyndon LaRouche of the 21st century, an increasingly marginal figure with a disproportionately poisonous and vocal following, one which will never win elections, but will satisfy itself by spinning wild conspiracy theories and trolling comments pages on internet news sites for decades to come.
The fraud is the author believes politicians are not nefarious. The conspiracy theories may have the details wrong, but how come most pols end up getting rich, and we end up with less freedom, no matter who is in office? Paul is on to something, but he is a hack, just like the rest. The difference is, he says only he is pure, and all the rest are hacks. He inspires messianic devotion because he claims all the rest are devils. They are, but so is he. Well, maybe not devils, but they all seem to allow a creeping totalitarianism to come closer and closer. Maybe they’re stupid, or maybe they don’t care, or maybe they’re evil or corrupt. I don’t know- but they all do it.
>> Given that we haven’t managed to actually win a war since 1945 <<
I beg your pardon?
The Korean War is still going on. We fought to a deadlock in 1953, but as ridiculous as it might seem, it’s still too early to say we didn’t win.
But more to the point, we really did win in Vietnam, thanks above all to Nixon’s ferocious bombing campaign in January 1973. The North Vietnamese capitulated. But then came Watergate, and the Dhimmi-controlled Congress abandoned our allies. We didn’t lose the war. We simply left the battlefield in the wake of victory.
Then we certainly won the Cold War, with the Berlin Wall’s fall in 1989 and the dissolution of the CCCP in 1991. Just ask the Poles and the Czechs and the Hungarians who won the Cold War.
We also won the Gulf War in 1991. Just ask the Kuwaitis, whose freedom from Iraqi tyranny still is a fact of life today.
Closer to the present, we won the Second Gulf War, even though it was a “long, hard slog” that lasted from 2003 until 2011. Unfortunately, Obama’s premature withdrawal puts our victory in jeopardy. Still, it’s simply wrong to say we didn’t win.
Can we win the on-going war against radical Islam? Sure, if the American people elect a GOP POTUS and a GOP Congress in 2012. But if the “Lyndron LaPaul” supporters drain off so many votes that TOTUS again is elected POTUS, the outlook is decidely bleak.
Paul is a racist Jew hating 9/11 truther who called our troops war criminals .
Your rant Is pure Crap !
Front page news? Hardly. But the anti-Ron Paul scream-team never misses an opportunity to get themselves worked up into a lather.
I’m hoping for some really over the top comments on this thread. So please. Don’t hold back. Tell us how you REALLY feel.
Is Ron Paul the New Lyndon LaRouche?
Yes, with Pat Paulsen icing on the cake.
LaRouche accused QE II. His girlfriend or wife had left him for a Brit.
You Paul bots love the term neocon .
You 9/11 truthers /hatred of Jews and Israel
Is bizarre.
You follow a nutter who is being used by team Obam to
Smear the GOP .
You follow a 9/11 truther !
A man who supports Iran and hates Israel !
A man who trashed Reagan !
The theme is funny, but the photoshop need some work.
Thanks for posting it.
LaRouche. I first ran into his people in the early 80s. They were giving away copies of his Fusion Energy Foundation magazine, “Fusion.” There were a number of reputable nuclear physics people onboard.
It was an interesting magazine. Somehow I stupidly gave them my contact information and they started hounding me for money. The guy on the phone would go into a non-stop rant on something or other. The idea was, if you give me money, I’ll stop talking. I would let the guy talk forever and then say, no, not able to give you any money today.
They were hard to shake off, but they eventually went away.
I think you can do better. I’ve seen FR threads where Ron Paul was compared to stalin, pol pot, or hitler. You’re only calling him a 9/11 truther, a hater of Israel and someone who trashed Reagan.
Gosh, next thing you know we’ll have anti- Ron Paul threads where he’ll be called a moderate.
“Yeah, a little sloppy I confess, but hey: it’s Ron Paul. LOL”
I am a supporter of the Paul faction, but I have to admit that some of the anti-Paul photoshop work is excellent and very funny.
Please keep at it.
LaRouche promoted himseld as a pro national defense socialist. Paul is a limited government isolationist. Complete opposites.
And the more I hear about him and from him, the more I think the charges of antisemitism, racism, trutherism etc. are serious distortions of his viewpoints which are being pumped up by the old establishment.
Yes, Paul does have a lot of looney supporters.
You're a leftist nutjob, I have something for you in my criticisms of America, my lending credence to Truthers, and my attacks on Israel and the military. You're a right-wing nutter: reduce the enforcement side of government, get rid of the CIA and other spy agencies, and send America into isolationism. Paul's new campaign slogan: I've Got Something For Every Nutter Out There.
Many people don't realize thats the key element to his platform. He's basically a neo-anarchist; his critiques have included being against jailing drug criminals and the use of police forces to ensure the safety of our streets . ..
Oh, and he never in a million years would he really want to be the executive of anything. He's the quintessinal blowhard legislator with nothing on his belt to point to, and no interest in "enforcement".
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