The Jewish Libertarian Blog

Rabbinic Lessons on the 20% Freedom Threshold

rafifarber The Jewish Libertarian Blog ,

For those new to Jewish exegesis on our Bible, we call it Midrash. Rabbis way back around 200CE spanning several hundred years published their statements that spun off of wordplay on various verses. Whether these Midrashim came from existing historical traditions that the Rabbis were looking for scriptural sources to tag into memory, or whether these Midrashim are actually spin-offs drawn from a textual oddity meant to teach a lesson is a subject of open debate amongst Jews even today. We even call each other heretics over it. The conclusion doesn’t really matter all that much.

The Midrash I will quote for you now is spun off of Exodus 13:18. You’ve got to know Hebrew to understand it, but here goes: “The Children of Israel went hamushim out of Egypt.” Hamushim is generally understood as meaning “armed” as in weapons. But the root is hamesh, which means five. So the Rabbis took that word and interpreted it to mean that only one fifth of the Israelites actually left Egypt. What does five have to do with weaponry? Well, there’s five fingers on your arm (arm, armed, same connection in English). When they’re all grasping something, it’s probably a weapon, or at least something that can be used as one.

So what happened to the other 4/5ths? Simple. They died during the plague of darkness. They were too mentally enslaved to leave, and they wouldn’t have followed Moses out, so they had to be removed from the scene discreetly.

What is the point of this Midrash? Well, I’m not one to take these things literally. I read them as a layer over the text as opposed to a layer to replace it. I understand it in an encouraging way – that is, the Rabbis are telling us, don’t expect everyone to march out of slavery when given the chance. But when a nation reaches a 20% threshold, there’s enough freedom to warrant an exodus.

When reading the Torah as a younger guy, I was often flabbergasted by the Jews’ behavior under Moses in the desert. They were a bunch of whiny brats (and these were the 20% that got out mind you!) crying for Egyptian welfare (see Numbers 11:5) and always wanting to run back. How could they want such a thing?

And then I see Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum voters who I’m sure know perfectly well that their candidate is not going to come the least bit close to cutting a single dollar from the federal budget. Forget it. They know very well that there will be no change under any of them. And that’s why they’re voting for them. Because they know Ron Paul is the only one who will set them free by slashing and burning the federal government, and this they are terrified of.

I look at them and I wonder why the hell are they playing this stupid game when they know the country is on the verge of collapse. Because the only answer to saving their country is to be independent, and this they do not want. Neither did the Jews back then, neither do the Jews in America now, nor do the non Jews, human nature all. Nothing has changed.

But this is a good thing. Because just as it did then, the 20% threshold is about to be crossed. At that point, I would hope the message of the Midrash is a true one – that at 20%, God will take the rest of the R3volution into His hands and push it forward to completion.

I don’t know how this is going to happen, but it’s more and more clear to me that it’s going to. There’s too much of a perfect global storm going on here.

Another cute parellelism that just came to mind about 20%: Genesis 41:34 – Joseph advises Pharaoh to divide the land of Egypt into fifths in preparation for a 7 year famine after 7 years of explosive growth. (Sounds like a Keynesian boom/bust cycle to me!) Five districts? Arm the nation? (Five = Arm with weapons, see above) Possibly appoint armed guards over the country? Who knows exactly what Joseph is saying here, but one thing is certain.

Once Joseph was put in charge by Pharaoh to save the country with centralized power, (with the word “fifth”) Joseph takes that power and enslaves the whole country by ridiculously overcharging for food, and the whole country becomes slaves to Pharaoh. (Gen. 47:19) It starts with a fifth and a central bureaucracy.

A few hundred years later, a fifth wakes up and gets out of there. Armed.

And did I just see a poll that Ron Paul is at 20% in South Carolina?

Nice.

Romney can’t win without Ron Paul

rafifarber The Jewish Libertarian Blog ,

Call this wild speculation. I’m not sure if it’s possible, but on the off chance that Romney wins the nomination and Paul comes in second, I see this as a possibility. I wrote this originally at World of Judaica News.

After Ron Paul’s strong second place showing in New Hampshire last night, it looks like Mitt Romney is the clear front runner in the race for the Republican nomination, and that Ron Paul is Romney’s only hurdle. However, this is not just any old two-man race. This is a different thing entirely. That is because the vast majority of Ron Paul’s supporters are not Republican Party cheerleaders and partisan hacks that will go any which way so long as the party remains in power. Meaning, if Romney does win the nomination, Ron Paul’s voters will not necessarily, or even likely, support Romney in the general election against Obama. No – these people actually support a certain set of ideas: actual cuts, a federal budget that is actually balanced, an end to overseas undeclared military adventurism, sound money instead of fiat currency…and they will not vote for any candidate that would violate these policies.

In the end, on Republican National Convention day, even if Romney comes up with the requisite amount of delegates to secure the nomination, without Ron Paul’s supporters, he cannot win the presidency. All major polls point to Paul taking about 20% of the vote if he decides to run third party, which would leave Romney obviously short of victory, since those votes would mostly be taken from him.

Romney is not the only one in trouble here either. It’s the entire Republican party that cannot win without Ron Paul. The liberty movement is already a bona fide force in American politics. It has too much young energy to be overlooked. These are a new brand of voters that actually care about real issues, and they are uncompromising. No republican candidate, present or future, can win the White House without them.

So what to do?

If Mitt Romney does win the nomination, which is certainly not a done deal yet, then if he actually wants to be president, he will have to let Ron Paul run the ideological show. This could take the form of a Paul vice presidency, on the condition that Paul is guaranteed certain changes in monetary, fiscal, and foreign policy. After all, Ron Paul doesn’t really want to be president in the sense that he doesn’t really care about holding the office to satisfy his ego. What he wants are his policies in place.

It’s Mitt Romney who’s the flip flopper, meaning he’ll adopt whatever policies he has to in order to sit in the Captain’s chair. What does he care? Health insurance mandate, no to Obamacare, abortion, pro life, TARP bailouts, no TARP bailouts, whatever. He’s just Mitt Romney. He’ll do the smiling and make sure his hair is combed, and let Ron Paul tell him what to do.

Seem a stretch? Think of it this way: Mitt Romney really wants to be president. Ron Paul really doesn’t care. He just wants to change the country, but couldn’t care less about the title he holds. The man has no ego. It seems weird, but then again, it’s pretty weird that a man of pure principle like Ron Paul, who is so incorruptible that he won’t even take a Congressional pension, is actually a contender for the Republican nomination in the first place.

Could the ultimate flip-flipper be the perfect match for the ultimate unbending man of principle? Sounds like symbiosis. Talk about the odd couple, but it might just work.

Article contributed by Rafi Farber and published on World of Judaica.

Defending Ron Paul against Alan Dershowitz

rafifarber The Jewish Libertarian Blog

Alan Dershowitz wrote an op ed about something the other day. I have to be honest and say I didn’t read the whole thing. I just read the parts about Ron Paul.

I think Alan Dershowitz is a great guy. Reasoned, principled, and consistent in his views. Unfortunately though, along with almost every other Jew in America, he has a blind spot when it comes to Ron Paul.

See the original article here.

I’ll make my defense very short, since Dershowitz’s attack is surprisingly shallow for a man of his stature and knowledge. He attacks Ron Paul on two fronts and accuses him of being an anti Semite.

Front #1: Ron Paul doesn’t return money donated to his campaign by men with anti Semitic opinions. Therefore, Ron Paul is an anti Semite.

Alan – this blog does not return money donated by people who believe that in order to convert all the Jews to Jesus, we have to give them money to build houses in Samaria. In these people’s minds, they are donating to a cause that will hasten the demise of Judaism in favor of Christianity. And I take their money and I don’t return it. Does that make me an anti Semite? If a neo Nazi donates to this blog because he thinks that the more houses I build in Samaria, the more chances I have to get killed by Arabs, and I accept the money, am I a self-hating Jew?

You know what, as a matter of fact: Calling all neo Nazi’s and anti Semites! I hereby solicit your donations to Settlers of Samaria. Just drop them off with a note about how you want the nearest Arab in Samaria to shoot me with weapons I gave him through the Dershowitz-sanctioned Oslo Peace Accords.

I think I’ve killed that point. Now…

Front #2: The other point Dershowitz brings up is those stupid newsletters.

That’s all you got buddy? A twenty+ year voting record in Congress of tolerance, freedom, respect, and incorruptibility are nothing to you? One screw-up over a newsletter that he didn’t read at the time and was negligent in allowing to get published is enough to overturn decades or trust, honesty, and tolerance to all?

Man, you are tough.

Nowhere in the article does it mention a thing that Ron Paul ever said or did that was anti Semitic. Because there is nothing he ever said or did that is anti Semitic. Nothing. Zilch. Zero.

The bigger question is why does Dershowitz have to attack Ron Paul? The answer, I think, is a profound Jewish fear of loneliness.

Ron Paul wants to leave Israel alone. Really, alone. Dershowitz fears this because if Israel doesn’t have her American caretaker, she will not be able to survive. This terrifies Dershowitz. So he has to attack Ron Paul.

Alan, lay off, OK? We’ll be fine. More than that: We’ll be great, grand, fantastic. We won’t have people pushing peace plans at us that just get us all killed. You also won’t be selling as many of your Israel books because very few people will care about the Case for Israel when US tax dollars are no longer involved in this sordid affair.

Ron Paul is not an anti Semite. Any Jew that says he is, is either being careless or intentionally disingenuous.

Explain to me, Alan Dershowitz, how an anti Semite would defend Israel’s right to bomb Iraq in 1981.

To Ron Paul Supporters: Reflections from Israel on the Iowa Caucuses

rafifarber The Jewish Libertarian Blog , ,

To my dear American patriots and fellow lovers of liberty and freedom,

I’m writing this to you to give you what they call “chizuk” in Hebrew, or strengthening. Before I get on to it, Ron Paul came in third in the vote count last night, but he came in tied with Romney and Santorum for delegates to the convention, and possibly even first due to the dedication and love of our liberty soldiers in Iowa who volunteered to be delegates after the voting ended. We will know for sure in the coming days whether Ron Paul actually won the most delegates. Nonetheless, a third place showing is emotionally difficult for all of us. I will try to explain to you now why it should not be, and actually isn’t for me.

I am first and foremost a Jew. I am only an American in name in that I feel no national bond with America, though I do love the country as being one of the most spectacular to ever have existed, if not the most. And I want her to be healthy and strong and free. So I am telling you this as a Jew, not as an American, because I cannot separate my Jewish consciousness from anything I think about, as it is so integrally entwined with my psyche.

There is a Rabbinic lesson written in a book called Midrash Raba, which is basically a collection of Rabbinic exegesis on Biblical verses. Commenting on the story of Creation, the Rabbis note that redemption was preprogrammed into the universe. Redemption, meaning humanity being restored to its complete, most fully functional form. That form is freedom. The drive toward freedom is unstoppable and inevitable. This is the very first thing you have to keep in mind at all times. In pushing humanity toward freedom, you are literally partnering with God in furthering the very purpose of creation, because what you are fighting for is absolutely real and true, and nothing can change that. Nothing.

This is all nice and good, but how do we overcome a third place showing? The same way the Jewish people overcame virtually everything. You just have faith in God. And if you understand that you are doing the right and true thing, you do the absolute best you can while realizing you cannot control everything. We cannot control everything and we are not the masters of the universe. We are only subordinate partners with the True Master.

Remember, there are men who love power, and there are men who love freedom. Freedom is uncontrolled. Power is control. So if you do the best you can and understand and internalize the truth that freedom means you can’t control everything, then you inherently leave the final step to God. If you think you can control everything, you are treading into the dangerous alleys of the power mind. Your hard work and dedication and love of humanity did not go unnoticed in the heavens. Now have faith and keep going.

Going back to the Exodus from Egypt for a second, before the Israelites finally left, they were commanded to do the ultimate act of defiance against Egypt right in front of the Egyptian people. That is, tie a sheep – the Egyptian god – to a bedpost, leave it there for 4 days, then slaughter it, smear its blood all over their front doors, roast it completely whole over an open fire, eat it, and burn all the leftovers, bones and all – and only then could they get the hell out of Egypt.

That is, they had to demonstrate one act of complete freedom in defiance of the Egyptian establishment before they took the final step. And then they were out forever. Just one act of freedom, and that was enough to earn them a ticket out.

You, my friends, have demonstrated so many acts of freedom already. You deserve your freedom and you WILL win it, because unlike any other cause to get some soulless guy in the White House, your cause for freedom is the very purpose of Creation.

What you all need to do now is first, understand that you WILL win. It is programmed into the Divine fabric of the universe. Second, understand that you cannot control exactly HOW you win. If you could control it, you wouldn’t be free. In order never to be seduced by power as so many human beings are, in order to be truly free, you have to ultimately let go and have faith. You must realize you cannot control ANYTHING. The only one who can is God, the source of freedom itself.

And third, keep going full speed.

The ultimate test of our own liberty is when we are deflated and depressed, what do we do? Do we give up and say that since we couldn’t control this one event absolutely and it didn’t come out as we personally envisioned it, then we may as well give up on the whole thing? That would prove that our conception of liberty was only self-aggrandizement, only a form of power lust for absolute control.

So what are we going to do? Are we going to go home? Or are we going to take the lamb of slavery and government control where they can now arrest us without trial or charges, slaughter it, smear its blood all over our door posts and BURN the damn thing?

Not every soul will be activated. It will not happen. We WILL win, but we CANNOT know how. What we CAN know is that God is with us in our fight because it is TRUE.

We won the MOST delegates even though we didn’t come in first. And you know why? Because the people that voted with us are FREE! In Iowa, we didn’t have the most men. But we had the FREE men, and that’s why we won.

Now on to New Hampshire! God bless you all!

 

How can a settler who usurps Palestinian land be a Ron Paul supporter?

rafifarber The Jewish Libertarian Blog , ,

UPDATE: TO PEOPLE READING THIS NOW, I NOW NO LONGER AGREE WITH WHAT I WROTE HERE. SEE THE ZERO STATE SOLUTION FOR MY CURRENT POSITION. 

This was a question that came up repeatedly in several comments to the last post. It is a question that warrants a good and thorough answer. Many of the comments were so nasty I didn’t publish them. Some were just mildly hostile and I published those, but there was one comment in particular that caught my eye for asking the question honestly and respectfully. Here is the comment by a woman named Valerie:

I thank you for your support of Dr. Paul; however I do not understand your freedom message when the Palestinians are not afforded those same freedoms. Maybe I am misunderstanding your blogs? Maybe I am misunderstanding the Palestinian cause? Could you please elaborate more on your feelings toward the Palestinians. I believe in your message of freedom and support your message of freedom. I am not coming down on you, but I do believe freedom is for every man, woman and child no matter your ancestry. We are all brothers and sisters in this world as we have only one Father and that is God.

My answer, point by point:

Valerie,

You are correct when you say that everyone has freedom and should not be punished for using it, including my Arab cousins. I respect them as human beings created in God’s image just as I respect any other human being. Let me just be clear on that point first.

Now, I must start out this answer with a two axioms, those are, assumptions I rest my argument on that I assume to be true. If you don’t accept either one of these assumptions, then you obviously will not accept my conclusion. This is fine, since I don’t rely on the world’s agreement to justify my presence in Samaria, or what you call “the West Bank”. Consider this a window into my thoughts rather than an attempt to convince you that I’m right.

So here are my two assumptions:

1) The Bible, what you call the “Old Testament,” and only the “Old Testament,” is the Word of God. (“Old Testament” is actually an offensive term to me but I use it here so we both know what I’m referring to.)

2) The Jews of today are the legal descendants of the Israelites of the Bible, and are therefore the recipients of the legal covenant God made with Abraham in the Covenant Between the Parts. (See Genesis 15) In that covenant, God gave the Land of Israel to Abraham’s descendants for all eternity.

Now, with that in mind, we can continue.

Ishmael, father of the Arab nation, also Abraham’s son, was weeded out of this covenant explicitly by God. See Genesis 17:15-21. He received his own land and it is not the Land of Israel. Arabia is not mine, and I will never claim it as mine.

As a lover of freedom Valerie, I’m sure you also believe in private property rights. Private property is either property you purchased, or property that you inherited. In either case, you have the right to allow who you want in your property, and to exclude who you want as well. Israel, as defined Biblically, which includes where I currently live, is the private property of the Jewish People, as we inherited it from Abraham, who inherited it from its Creator and Owner, God. (Which I spell with an O for all the Jews reading this thinking I’m a plant.)

Before we get carried away thinking I want to expel or kill any and all Arabs living in my private property, let me say that I categorically do NOT. I have no problem with Arabs living here in my land and doing whatever they want. That is, provided that they do not hurt me, or, and this is key, provided that they do not claim that my land is actually theirs.

Let me put this into perspective for a second. Let’s say that a group of illegal Mexican immigrants claimed that Texas was actually theirs and they wanted to take it away from America. Actually, they’d have a much clearer claim to Texas than Arabs have to Israel, because your nation actually DID take Texas from the Mexicans, and fairly recently. You have no Biblical basis to have done that, though still, notice I didn’t use the word “steal”. You “conquered” Texas in an act of war and annexed it, which is legitimate. It’s what nations do when they have power.

Going back to the illegal Mexican immigrants who want Texas back, remember  they are illegal immigrants with no voting rights and no citizenship. Now they start gathering in a group with a supposed national identity. They don’t want to go back to Mexico because well, life sucks there with all the drug wars and no welfare, so instead they name themselves “Texastinians” and they want to establish an independent “Texastine”. So they start killing American Texans and demand the Federal government sit down to peace talks with them on the condition that you agree to give them all of Texastine before any negotiations even start.

Your response would probably be “Get them the hell out of my country and #$%# peace talks, Texas is mine!” And I certainly wouldn’t blame you.

So, my feelings towards the “Palestinians” are the same as your feelings towards the “Texastinian” Mexicans. There are no Texastinians, just Mexicans, just as there are no Palestinians, just Arabs.

You wish the people who call themselves Texastinians would just leave you alone, you don’t believe “Texastine” is a real sovereign nation anyway, and you’d love to just live in peace but if they keep acting like Texas is actually theirs, you want them gone and out. You’d probably kill the worst of them, meaning the leaders of the attacks against American Texans, you’d probably pay the rest of them who would accept the money to leave back to Mexico, and those that wanted to live in peace and be left alone, you’d just let them stay.

The “Palestinian” cause, Valerie, is simply the cause to get Jews out of their God-given land. They have no positive national aspirations. They never have, nor will they ever, actually produce anything. 80% of their GDP is foreign aid. They can’t even have positive national aspirations, because their nation is the larger Arab nation that spans hundreds of times bigger than the Jewish one. They have plenty of places to go if they want to. They can even stay here where I live. But NOT if they claim that my land is theirs.

The only issue we have left to touch on is the issue of citizenship and the definition of nationhood. Theoretically speaking, if confronted with the issue of “Texastinians,” the Federal government could simply give all of those illegal Mexican immigrants American citizenship to try and stop the fighting. This would probably work and would end the whole affair. You could do this because “Americanness” or the reality of being part of the American nation is simply incidental. You call yourselves the melting pot, which is great. Anyone can become a citizen and that’s it. Why can’t that be done in Israel?

Because, Valerie, God did not give Israel to “Israeli citizens.” He gave Israel to the Jews. And unlike “Americanness” which is only incidental, “Jewishness” is essential. The Israeli government can’t simply grant “Jewishness” and call the conflict over. Jews are not a religion. We are, and always have been, a distinct nation.

Just as there are no “Palestinians,” there really are no “Israelis” either. “Israeli” is just a made up term by Jews trying to shed their Jewishness in favor of a new modern national identity under a philosophy called “Zionism” that they even try to incorporate Arabs into by calling them “Israeli Arabs”. That term is absolutely ludicrous. It is a complete contradiction.

The reality is this: There are Jews in the land of Israel, and there are Arabs in the land of Israel. The Jews are the owners of the land, and the Arabs just happened to be here when the owners returned in 1948. What the Jews must do to end the conflict is make it clear that Israel is ours, both to them and the entire world. Those Arabs who are here and agree, are welcome to stay and be treated with the utmost respect and courtesy. They of course should not pay any taxes to the Jewish government, nor should they get any benefits at all. If they stay, they should be completely independent, without voting rights just as non-Americans in your country don’t have voting rights.

Those Arabs who are here and disagree that the land belongs to the Jewish People, however, must be paid to get out. Those who are here and disagree to the point of fighting me over it with weapons, they must be destroyed, just as you would kill anyone who barges into your private property with a gun.

Israel is the private property of the Jewish Nation. Without private property, there is no freedom.

You say:

I do believe freedom is for every man, woman and child no matter your ancestry. We are all brothers and sisters in this world as we have only one Father and that is God.

You are right. Freedom is for everyone just like you said Valerie, regardless of ancestry. And we are all brothers and sisters and have one Father and that is God. That one Father gave me the Land of Israel as my nation’s private property. And if you believe in freedom, you can’t do whatever you want on someone else’s private property.

Therefore, I am a freedom-lover who lives where I live. Because it’s my land given to me by God Himself, and not anyone else’s.

From Israel: Vote Ron Paul and Let My People Go!

rafifarber The Jewish Libertarian Blog , , ,

Lately I’ve been having trouble sleeping. I sit here in my living room in Karnei Shomron, Israel, on the 8th night of Chanukah, wondering what other miracles lay in store on January 3rd and in the months ahead. The name Ron Paul is constantly at my fingertips. I’ve typed it in so many times the past month it’s insane. I’m experiencing an excitement I’ve rarely ever felt, and I don’t even live in America anymore. During the last Republican debate I woke myself up at 3am Israel time to watch an 8pm EST live stream on YouTube, with no fatigue whatsoever. I’m on overdrive, and I can’t calm myself.

I’ve only recently figured out what this excitement actually is.

I first got interested in the whole freedom movement when I heard that Ron Paul wanted to end all foreign aid, including to my country, Israel. This seemed like a spectacular idea to me. I hate the idea of taking American tax payer money I don’t need. The only reason we take it, by the way, is not because we need it. It’s that we don’t want to feel alone, and Jews always feel a deep existential isolation and loneliness. “As I see them from the mountain tops, gaze on them from the heights, this is a people that dwells alone, not counted among the Nations,” says Balaam of the People of Israel in Numbers 23:9. We still feel that loneliness. So we take the money. It’s shameful, it’s theft, it’s destructive, it’s morally wrong, and it makes people hate us for tying them into a conflict they have no business trying to solve. I wanted it to end and didn’t trust any Israeli leader to give it up on his own, so I looked up more about Ron Paul.

What I found was fascinating. On the forums, I learned of people who, back in ’08, literally gave their lives short of death to this man. Some poured money into his campaign they could not afford to give, and some even lost their marriages because of their single-minded insane dedication. This shocked me. I couldn’t yet understand it, but after a few days of listening to him, it began to click.

What is it about Ron Paul that inspires such extremes? Such maddening support on the one hand, and such fear and loathing on the other? I can give the answer in one word: Soul.

The essential soul of a human being is by definition free. The idea that men are free as determined by God is a concept that is foreign to most men. This is because most men want to control others, to take away their freedom. This is usually referred to as the drive for power. The drive for power is antithetical to freedom because power means the ability to control others. There is only one legitimate thing that power can and should be used for, whether it be military, legislative, or executive power. That is, to legalize freedom.

Ron Paul doesn’t want to be President to “give” me freedom. He doesn’t own my freedom and he didn’t give it to me. The only reason Ron Paul wants to be President is to stop punishing people for using their freedom that is rightfully theirs. He wants no power. This is clear to anyone who listens to him speak.

There are two kinds of human beings. Those who want power, and those who want freedom. You can tell which one’s which very easily. Those who want freedom are straight-edged. They are consistent, principled, and you can feel their human soul when they speak to you. There’s a continuum out there of human souls somewhere in spiritual cyberspace, and when you come into contact with one of these souls, you know immediately, because souls are by definition free. You sense sincerity, realness, consistency, a free human being. If you’re a man who seeks freedom and you come into contact with a real human soul, you become instantly addicted and you swallow up anything you can get your hands on. You want to unite immediately, no matter what you disagree on. There are people in the freedom movement that don’t exactly like Israel, especially me being a “settler” and I don’t care. If they want freedom, I sense it and my human drive for individualism suddenly turns into an intense desire to unite into a collective – but a collective of free individuals. It’s a beautiful dialectic, and it doesn’t matter what we agree or disagree on, as long as we agree on freedom.

You get hooked on Ron Paul and you desperately seek more and more, any video you can find from the past, any speeches you missed, anything he said that you haven’t heard yet, even though you’ve heard it a thousand times already in different words. You can’t help yourself. The voracious hunger to be able to use your God-given freedom takes you over entirely. It’s like you suddenly realize you’re human and the Divine Image with which God created you comes alive and catches fire.

But something else happens to you. Once you get hooked on Ron Paul, you can no longer bear to listen to a man who wants power, and you become instantly disgusted when they begin to speak. Before, they were just boring. Now they’re revolting. Listening to Romney or Gingrich or Bush or Obama makes you sick and you don’t know how Ron Paul gets through those debates without getting nauseous. You see a political veneer in these politicians that’s so transparent it’s like a ghost flapping its ethereal tongue at you. You can’t bear it.

What’s so maddening about hearing Romney or Gingrich talk is that there’s someone standing there saying things, but there’s no soul in it. These are not free men. These are power men. Not that Romney or Gingrich don’t have souls. They do. They are men just like you and I. But they have practically forfeited their souls to try and attain power, to control others with spin and talking points and contradictory statements like “I want to cut the budget and expand the military!” and they’ll say it with a polished tone and a straight face, just like a soulless recording. Their humanity is so buried under the mountain of lies they have told themselves, that neither they themselves nor you can even sense their souls in the human continuum. The scene of a human body speaking but no soul communicating can drive a free man mad.

The reason that Ron Paul never goes down in the polls is that he’s not “convincing” people in the everyday sense that he’s right on whatever issue. He’s activating human souls, lighting spiritual fires one by one speaking about freedom. Once a soul gets activated, and the man realizes that he IS free no matter what people do to him or tell him, there is no turning back. The other candidates are trying to turn heads with snappy one-liners that sound cool. Slaves follow these one-liners like mobs, and follow each other from candidate to candidate. Slowly but surely, Ron Paul activates a few of the individual souls in the mob as they bob from snappy comeback to snappy comeback and he goes up in the polls.

Yet, we cannot expect every man woman and child to understand or get excited about the message of liberty. In fact, most just can’t handle it. Being truly free is as terrifying as it is electrifying. The Bible tells us this very clearly in the story of the Exodus from Egypt. When Moses finally accepts the role of deliverer from God, he was assigned to say the following to my great-grandparents the Israelites:

“Therefore say to the Israelites: I am God. I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with amazing signs. And I will take you to be My people and I will be your God, and you will know that I am the Lord who freed you from the labors of the Egyptians.” (Ex. 6:6-7)

And what was my grandparents’ response?

“And Moses told this to the people, but they didn’t listen due to lack of spirit and cruel bondage.” (6:9)

Not everyone can handle the message of freedom. It’s too frightening for some people, and some are just too enslaved. Those are the people that despise Ron Paul, the same types who rebelled against Moses in the desert and attempted to go back to Egypt. Freedom is too much for them and they can’t handle the Divine gift. They want and need someone to control them. Their souls have been too battered by slavery, taxation, and wars.

But nonetheless, God forced my stiff-necked great grandparents to leave Egypt, and as a result I’m here today, preaching freedom once again, fighting not only for America’s freedom, but for my own from America’s influence in my own region.

Vote Ron Paul and let my people go! Stop meddling here and stop trying to buy influence by giving me money. Stop trying to be the all powerful Peace Maker and let us work out the problems here on our own! If we think Iran is a threat, we can handle it and we’ll take the consequences. It’s not America’s problem and you can’t afford another war.

Now I understand why people will give everything to this man. Whenever he’s asked the question, “Would you legalize heroin?” Ron Paul answers, “I want to legalize freedom!” Little do these people understand that freedom is a thousand times more addictive than heroin.

American Jews! Wake up! Set your brothers in Israel free! We were the first nation ever to be set free by God, and we brought the concept of liberty to the world when we left Egypt over 3000 years ago. It’s about time we set the example we were chosen to set.

The writer, Rafi Farber, is a member of Jews for Ron Paul and manages the website World of Judaica. Email him at settlersofsamaria@gmail.com

How I explained my Ron Paul support to a fellow Jew

rafifarber The Jewish Libertarian Blog , ,

Use at your own risk. This is an answer I gave to a fellow Jew who was concerned about Ron Paul’s Israel stance. Not the foreign aid issue, but his calling Gaza a “concentration camp” and seeming unwillingness to help Israel if she found herself in existential danger.

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OK, I guess I’ll put in my final 10 agorot. Take it or leave it. I’ll just have bullet points, I don’t have time to adequately defend what I’m saying here. Just writing it so you can get the surface of my thought process. I’m not trying to convince you of anything. I warn you that I have a radically strong faith that is either blinding me to reality or helping me see the truth. I honestly can’t tell because if I’m blind, I’m blind. This is just what my mind is telling me based on what I’ve seen so far in my life.

1) I take it as a given that Israel will never be destroyed again. This is it, we’re here to stay, no one will destroy our sovereignty. This is an axiom, accept it or not, it’s what my beliefs are based on.

2) You’re right. Ron Paul does not want a special relationship with Israel. To that end, you’re right that if Israel were in existential danger, Ron Paul wouldn’t lift a finger on his own. I am aware of this. But if you go back to point 1), that’s irrelevant for me. And if you’re worried and don’t accept point 1, then if Congress decided to lift its finger, Ron Paul would follow. He would not interfere and discourage congress or go to war kicking and screaming. He would just let congress be because he believes in the separation of Powers religiously. Ron Paul may be a lutheran in name. But his Bible, the book he makes his life decisions on, is the Constitution.

3) Ron Paul is not a Jew. He doesn’t understand the kind of subconscious disgust and revoltion it causes in us Jews when he says we put someone in “concentration camps”. If I were Ron’s campaign manager, I would advise him to apologize for using that word, or at least vow never to use it again. If he wants to distinguish between manzanar and auschwitz, then use the word Internment Camp at least. Even if distasteful, it’s not disgusting. But to him, “concentration camp” is just a word. His grandparents weren’t murdered and burned. He doesn’t have that sensitivity, and we can’t blame him for it. He used it carelessly, and as we all know, Ron Paul is a phenomenally bad speaker.

3) I don’t want a special relationship with America. I want to be friends with them, but I don’t see any of this “special bond” nonsense. They are Esav, we are Yakov, we’re brothers but we are on different paths. Our special bond is with God, not America. Not with the White House. God doesn’t want us to have a special relationship with anyone. We are a nation that dwells alone and we are not counted among the nations. Any attempt to bow to the next Pharaoh Necho will backfire. God will take care of us from his Big Oval Office in the sky.

4) In the video you sent, watch again from 2:40 to the end. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYNLXYLM44c&feature=player_embedded#%21 He clearly says he has a “personal opinion” that he would not act on because as president he has no right to act on his own peronsal opinions. I trust Ron Paul never to violate the constitution in favor of his personal opinions. If you don’t, then don’t vote for him.

5) He is not a flip flopper on anything. Once again, he has personal opinions that contradict what he says he would do as President. Those are two different planes entirely. He’s running for President. He’s not running for Ronpaulident. He says the US should trade with Israel and be friends even though he thinks we’re doing bad things because he believes in the Jeffersonian ideal of friendship with all, entangling alliances with none. What we do is none of his “presidential” business and he says that openly. 

6) Go back and read Moshe Feiglin’s article on the Marmara. You’ll see he agrees with everything Paul says, except Feiglin doesn’t use the word “concentration camp” because Feiglin is a Jew. Gaza is our fault. We ARE the aggressors, because we’re locking them up there with nowhere to go. Just like America must come to terms with its foreign policy contributing to 9/11, we must come to terms with our own evil policies contributing to terrorism. The land is God’s. To give it to them is evil, and Gaza is OUR fault entirely. We left the land, said it isn’t ours, said it’s THEIRS, destroyed homes and ripped apart families and caused kids and parents to commit suicide in despair that they had lost their lives and incomes. And now we have the CHUTZPAH to blockade the place?! What are we mad? We are the sinners. They’re just arabs. We’ve got to pay them to get out of our land and we’ve got to move back in, or otherwise get out of this whole country and call it quits back to Galut. And the only president who wouldn’t lift a finger if we paid them all to get the hell out our country and killed whatever terrorists remained? It’s the same guy who wouldn’t lift a finger if we were in trouble either. Ron Paul.

7) I think I addressed most things here.

Good Shabbos to you all.

My Complete Guide to Bumgenius Cloth Diapers

rafifarber The Jewish Libertarian Blog ,

With disposable diapers readily available and pretty much the only diapers that people use these days, it’s might be quite daunting to try any other alternative. However, as soon as I saw a friend using them, it became clear that I would one day use them for my baby as well. You see, I’m not the type to just do whatever is most convenient or most popular, I’m the type to think things through, research, and decide what the most cost-effective methods are for running a household while taking into consideration the environment, health, and efficiency. So when my first baby was born, I immediately started her out on cloth diapers. The ones I settled on were Bumgenius. They looked nice, durable, and user-friendly. However, the system took some experimenting and getting used to, exactly like becoming a mother. Here is what my system looks like after 18 months:

 

 

Materials:
12 Bumgenius One Size Diapers (with velcro) – good from birth to potty training
Washing machine
Detergent (watch out for allergies)
Pail
Drying Line
Dish soap
Wipes (again, watch out for allergies)

Methods:

1) Insert the inserts (included with purchase) according to needs and sizing. In the first stages, use the small one. Then, switch to the large one or 2 small ones. For overnight, maybe even an extra small one.

2) Optional: line the diaper with a wipe. Basically, after using a wipe for urine (not #2), toss it in the machine with the rest of the diaper stuff and dry it. This is meant to catch BMs to allow for easy clean up as you simply toss it in the garbage. Their other purpose is in case of diaper rash, when you want to apply cream. Don’t allow the cream to get on the diaper because it doesn’t come off in the wash (you must strip them see step 7). Instead, use the liner to protect the diaper from the cream. Note that the only diaper rash my baby ever had was due to the cheap wipes I was using, many say cloth diapered babies get less rashes.

3) Diaper the baby the same way you would use a disposable.

4) After the soiling, remove the diaper and place in the pail. Place the liner wipe in the garbage. My pail is near the washing machine and toilet.

5) After collecting 10-11 (you get used to the timing and also you need to adjust according to the weather), prepare a diaper load. This involves removing any extra solids from the diapers with toilet paper, shower head (if near enough to toilet) or however you choose. With solid BMs, they just fall into the toilet easily. For nursing babies, it’s a little more effort but less smelly. Remove the inserts and place both inserts and diapers into the machine. I generally add other laundry in as well to make a fuller load. Make sure to put it on a high spin cycle.

6) Line dry the diapers, inserts, and liners in the sun weather-permitting. The sun removes stains and odors to keep your diapers white. The diaper covers dry really quickly so be ready to use the inserts that weren’t in the load to stuff the diapers for faster availability.

7) Every few months, “strip” the diapers of oils and residues to return to original absorbancy. Get out the dish soap (any will do), and make sure to get soap in all the diapers and inserts. Do this process by hand. It takes a bit of time, but it is important. Rinse out the diapers and inserts and toss in the machine.

8 ) When traveling or out of the house, always carry a plastic bag for dirty diapers. Just roll them up and toss them in, they don’t smell so bad. If you will be away from a machine for more than 2-3 days, resort to disposables.

9) Always have some disposables in your house and diaper bag in case of emergencies. You never know when it’ll rain on your drying diapers or when your baby will have an extra special day.

10) Nutrition: I find that formula and dairy products cause smellier diapers. It makes the whole system a bit more unpleasant. So, when possible stay away from them.

Sound simple enough?

Zionists: What if Ron Paul is Right about Iran?

rafifarber The Jewish Libertarian Blog , , ,

I love Israel. I love my country, and the land that God gave my family. I would fight and die for this place. I live here. I am not a peace activist. Nor am I a warmonger. I don’t believe in peace treaties with anyone whatsoever, nor do I believe in going to war under shaky pretenses.

I’m 28. Much of my high school and college career occurred during the end of Oslo and Arafat and Barak’s meeting at Camp David, and the subsequent outbreak of the brutal and bloody 2nd Intifadah murder spree. Watching every single suicide bomb on the news right after it happened, as a high school kid, drove me mad with rage against Islam and “terrorists” and Arabs. I hated them for their method of murder and killing my Jewish family. It is hard for me to describe the dehumanizing emotions I had.

The emotions were so strong that any attempt to attach “motives” to “terrorist” actions made me react impulsively and with disgust at whoever suggested that terrorists even had “motives”. I just wanted them dead and out of my country. These are classic “neocon” feelings. We’re good, they’re evil, that’s it, end of story, if you even try to explain anything you’re getting us all killed.

Now, if you identify with these feelings, let me ask you a few questions. Try to clear your head and see things from above for a second.

Were any of America’s wars since World War II necessary? What did any of them accomplish? How many people did they kill? Did America have to go into Vietnam? Why? Did they have to go into Korea? Why? Did they have to go into Iraq? Why? Did they have to prop up the House of Saud in Saudi Arabia? What about Egypt? Was involvement there necessary? Did we really have to overthrow the Iranian government in 1953 in order to install the Shah?

WHY? Why did America have to do that?

What is the point of all of this? What has it accomplished? What would the world look like today if none of this ever happened? Would September 11th have happened? Would there be a “War on Terror?”

What the hell IS the “War on Terror”? Who is “Terror”? How does the war end?

The answer to this is actually pretty simple. The standard reaction is “America did all this for her security.”

I used to believe that. But I no longer do. America is not secure. She is a nation teetering on the biggest bankruptcy in world history, and running on the fumes of borrowed Chinese money. Her citizens are poorer and more dependent on handouts that they get from a government running on borrowed Chinese money.

In the last debate on December 15, every Republican presidential candidate talked about how they were going to A) Cut the budget and B) Massively expand the military. None of them realized the apparent contradiction here. Why? Because there is no substance to any of these war hungry power driven men with no souls. They fight not because they believe in something. They fight because it gives them power. Saying they’ll cut the budget will give them power. Saying they’ll massively expand the air force and the “modernize” the navy while at the same time dealing with a $15 trillion debt, this is just mad. It’s simply mad.

I wonder now if any of them are even conscious of the words that are coming out of their pandering mouths. These smiling, grinning, nonsensical people convinced that America has to put a no fly zone over Syria now and other such EXPENSIVE nonsense that CHINA  is running out of money to FUND.

Ron Paul’s strongest point in the debate was when he asked Mitt Romney, the guy talking about cutting the budget while  massively expanding the air force, the following question:

“How are we going to do that? We don’t have any MONEY!”

For those who can see the humanity in Ron Paul, who aren’t brainwashed by fearmongerers like Bachmann who say that if he becomes president Iran will nuke the US, you could read the horror in Paul’s face. “How am I on the stage with such…people? Is there anyone behind any of these shiny veneers? Do they even realize they are not making ANY SENSE?”

Every candidate, including Obama, is drunk on power. They go to war not for security, but because, as president of the most powerful country in the world, they can’t resist playing with their toy armed forces. And they CAN’T RESIST coming over here, to Israel, and telling us exactly how to make peace with our neighbors.

What if Ron Paul is right? What if September 11 really did happen because America simply can’t mind her own business? What if none of these undeclared wars ever had to happen, and 2 million vietnamese and Iraqis were still alive today?

If you ponder that question seriously, and it flicks a light on in your head and you recognize the possibility of it for even a fraction of a second, you can do one of two things:

1) Shut that recognition down immediately and go back to thinking America has no blame in any of this

2) Allow yourself to ponder further, ultimately culminating in a sudden rush of remorse that millions had to die for this pointless nonsense and you just didn’t realize it.

Whether it’s War Making or Peace Making, America feels they have to be in it all. What if Ron Paul is right? Imagine if he were president. Would he have forced Arafat and Barak to sit down and pretend to be friends at a meeting that was destined to explode in a murderous intifadah? Would he, like Clinton, pressure Israel to invite Arafat back into Israel to “make peace” with him? Would the second Intifadah have ever broken out? Would the first one? What if America simply left us alone to handle our own issues? Would any of the death and murder that drove me into a rage in high school ever have happened?

I remember when Obama ran and said something about talking to Iran. I thought it was a really really bad idea because I was a neocon back then. But I also never trusted Obama for a second and knew he was just saying this to get power. I knew he was just as fake as the rest of them and I didn’t believe in his “change” nonsense. I saw right through it. There was no human being there. Just a political veneer.

But Ron Paul is a real person. When he speaks to you at a debate, it’s a bona fide human being talking there. Imagine if we had one of those in the White House. Do you think the Ayatollah would chill out just a bit? We could back off each other, get some perspective? The White House could back the heck off of me in Israel and leave me alone? And if we feel like Iran is a threat over here, to let us deal with it how we want to deal with it without calling him up and asking permission like a lapdog?

What the heck does Iran have to do with America? Are they going to cross the Atlantic in the aircraft carrier that they don’t have and nuke Manhattan? Are they going to use their intercontinental ballistic missiles they don’t have and bomb Washington DC?

No. What America has to do with Iran is this: America thinks it runs the world. And there’s an annoying brat in Persia that America thinks has to be put in line. But it’s really none of America’s business. Leave Iran alone. All America is doing by threatening Iran is endangering me in Israel. Let us deal with it if we have to, but stay in your own hemisphere.

Don’t you think the world would be a much less scary place if there was a HUMAN BEING in the oval office?

What if Ron Paul is right?

What if?

Europe and the entire Western economy is a Global Ponzi scheme

rafifarber The Jewish Libertarian Blog , , , ,

It hit me when I was reading an article about Italy “refinancing” its debt by selling bonds. Bonds are debt.

The definition of a Ponzi Scheme, as I’m sure we all know ever since Madoff ran away with $50 billion that never existed, is paying investors off with money from other investors.

In financial newspapers and other smart guy publications with articles written by people with $100,000 MBA’s that aren’t worth 50 cents, they’ll call it refinancing, or restructuring, or recombobulating, or whatever. Doesn’t make a difference. When a country like Italy sells bonds in order to pay off other maturing bonds, they are by definition engaging in a Ponzi Scheme. They are taking money from new investors – the buyers of the new bonds – to pay off old investors – the holders of the old bonds.

The reason the financial magazines and websites and newspapers call it “refinancing” is that they don’t want us to freak out and pull our money out of Europe by calling it what it is, because this would mean the reset button would have to pushed all the sooner.

It’s not just Europe. America pays off interest it owes to China and Japan with money that it borrows from somewhere else. It pays off old treasury bills by selling new ones. There’s no real genius to it.

Why can’t they pay off with real money? Because they’re busy using that to blow up rocks in Afghanistan and Iraq with billion dollar precision missiles.

The entire Western economy is nothing but selling bonds to pay off bonds. Paying off investors with other investors’ money. The clock stops when they can no longer attract new investors.

That’s when 1.5 quadrillion dollars in global derivatives gets wiped off the books in one shot.

Stay safe out there.