The Long March of Paul Craig Roberts

(9AM EST – promoted by Nightprowlkitty)

He was 30 years ago one of the ideological firebrands of the Reagan Administration.  As its Assistant Treasury Secretary, was the actual author of the Reagan Administration’s centerpiece Kemp-Roth tax bill, and was also the author of the book The Supply-Side Revolution.  

But in a party that often gives them lip service and then the bus, he made the mistake of actually taking seriously his libertarian principles of civil liberties at home and anti-intervention abroad.  Thus in the Bush years he began to move away from the Republican Party leadership, including many of his former colleagues.

It is often the case that such prodigals return to their home base when their party is out of power, with the self-chosen mission of “restoring” it.  Not Roberts, however.  His critique has only intensified, and moved beyond a denunciation of individual politicians and policies to a harsh turn against conservativism politically and conservatives as a group.

In a new column up at antiwar.com, Roberts responds to today’s wave of FBI raids against antiwar activists, and passes up the chance for the partisan shot at Obama and Holder (which would have been well-deserved) to point the finger directly at the conservative movement, its leaders and base:

As this initial FBI foray is a softening up move to get the public accustomed to the idea that the real terrorists are their fellow citizens here at home, Kelly will get off this time.  But next time the FBI will find emails on his computer from a “terrorist group” set up by the CIA that will incriminate him. Under the practices put in place by the Bush and Obama regimes, and approved by corrupt federal judges, protesters who have been compromised by fake terrorist groups can be declared “enemy combatants” and sent off to Egypt, Poland, or some other corrupt American puppet state – Canada perhaps – to be tortured until confession is forthcoming that antiwar protesters and, indeed, every critic of the US government, are on Osama bin Laden’s payroll.

Almost every Republican and conservative and, indeed, the majority of Americans will fall for this, only to find, later, that it is subversive to complain that their Social Security was cut in the interest of the war against Iran or some other demonized entity, or that they couldn’t have a Medicare operation because the wars in Central Asia and South America required the money.

Americans are the most gullible people who ever existed. They tend to support the government instead of the Constitution,  and almost every Republican and conservative regards civil liberty as a coddling device that encourages criminals and terrorists.

http://original.antiwar.com/ro…

The Long March of Paul Craig Roberts continues.

In his conclusion, this once archetypal establishment figure takes on the heated tones of the edgier sections of the blogosphere:

As another Nazi leader Herman Goering said, “The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. Tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peace-makers for lack of patriotism and for exposing the country to danger.”

This is precisely what the Bush and Obama regimes have done. America, as people of my generation knew it, no longer exists.

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It appears the targets of the Holder Raids were primarily members of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.  (I’m not sure which one, there are two of those these days.)

From Twin Cities Indymedia, nice discussion in the comments:

http://twincities.indymedia.or…

13 comments

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  1. …that these raids were made just 8 days before the big coalition march on Washington!

    First they came for the……….

    I wasn’t a…………….

    So I didn’t…………..

    Then they came for the……….

    Then they came for the……….

    Then they came for the……….

    Then they came for me  

    • Edger on September 25, 2010 at 21:23

    Another War in the Works

    America Is Led and Informed by Liars

    Paul Craig Roberts, September 29, 2009

    Does anyone remember all the lies that they were told by President Bush and the “mainstream media” about the grave threat to America from weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? These lies were repeated endlessly in the print and TV media despite the reports from the weapons inspectors, who had been sent to Iraq, that no such weapons existed.

    The weapons inspectors did an honest job in Iraq and told the truth, but the mainstream media did not emphasize their findings. Instead, the media served as a Ministry of Propaganda, beating the war drums for the US government.

    Now the whole process is repeating itself. This time the target is Iran.

    As there is no real case against Iran, Obama took a script from Bush’s playbook and fabricated one.

    First the facts: As a signatory to the non-proliferation treaty, Iran’s nuclear facilities are open to inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which carefully monitors Iran’s nuclear energy program to make certain that no material is diverted to nuclear weapons.

    The IAEA has monitored Iran’s nuclear energy program and has announced repeatedly that it has found no diversion of nuclear material to a weapons program. All 16 US intelligence agencies have affirmed and reaffirmed that Iran abandoned interest in nuclear weapons years ago.

    In keeping with the safeguard agreement that the IAEA be informed before an enrichment facility comes online, Iran informed the IAEA on September 21 that it had a new nuclear facility under construction. By informing the IAEA, Iran fulfilled its obligations under the safeguards agreement. The IAEA will inspect the facility and monitor the nuclear material produced to make sure it is not diverted to a weapons program.

    Despite these unequivocal facts, Obama announced on September 25 that Iran has been caught with a “secret nuclear facility” with which to produce a bomb that would threaten the world.

    [snip]

    As there is no legal basis for action against Iran, the Obama regime is creating another hoax, like the non-existent “Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.” The hoax is that a facility, reported to the IAEA by Iran, is a secret facility for making nuclear weapons.

    Just as the factual reports from the weapons inspectors in Iraq were ignored by the Bush Regime, the factual reports from the IAEA are ignored by the Obama Regime.

    Like the Bush Regime, the Middle East policy of the Obama Regime is based in lies and deception.

    Who is the worst enemy of the American people, Iran or the government in Washington and the media whores who serve it?

  2. Love the guy although he still supports the mainstream capitalist economy.

    Not what I would call liberal or progressive, but a very respectable libertarian with a social conscience.

  3. … as with Bruce Fein, come to trust and respect his integrity even though he comes what is nominally the other side of the aisle.

    • Xanthe on September 27, 2010 at 01:13

    Thanks – I’ll be following up on researching and reading more –

    Now my left eye is twitching as well.

    • banger on September 27, 2010 at 16:51

    Keep your head down shuffle in line do as you are told. That is our future–I’m serious that’s the world we live in and there is no counterforce other than nature herself. We are now enslaved and they can, gradually, do what ever the fuck they want with each and every one of us. That has been the goal of the oligarchy and now they are close to achieving the droit de seigneur moment which shouldn’t be too far off.

    Sadly, only the right grasps this–the left noodles along talking about “policy” and so on when the only policy that I see is the move to our total enslavement. But at least it’s what the people want–S & M and B & D are indeed the signs of the time.  

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