The Antiwar, Anti-Abortion, Anti-Drug-Enforcement -Administration, Anti-Medicare... of Dr. Ron Paul

Dictatorship is a difficult thing to posit in the US, for several reasons. First of all, because of what in past I have called the “Microsoft Certified Engineer Ditch Digging Conspiracy.”

That is, some of the wackier conspiracy theories assume that if some tyrant took over the US, he would have all the MSCEs out digging ditches. Because tyrants really love ditches, or something. But if you think about it for even a moment, most of what a tyrant would want already exists. He would instead want everything to continue running normally. It would give him the most power and wealth, compared to about anything else, including ditch digging.

Second, if you look at those who are in power today, what would they get from tyranny that they don’t already have, legally, through normal means? Only fools with bizarre ideologies want to ruin what works, say with socialized medicine. I have been posting a picture of Hillary Clinton daydreaming of making the US “a paradise like Zimbabwe”. Truly wacky people who still think that socialism is better, even after 85 years of it proving it isn’t, in any way.

Third, a dictator would want to be President, but while there are times that the presidency is powerful, a lot of the time, it is fairly rote and weak. The tyrant would not be interested in that part, but ironically, that is the important part. A President can only get so far solving crisis after crisis; eventually he has to do the paperwork.

Now, as far as disaster goes, things can get a little silly. This is because, going way back, most Presidents have wanted sweeping powers in time of emergency. Even Eisenhower made plans to be a complete dictator if things went to heck.

Since then, about every President has said “me too”, about emergency powers, “plus a little bit more”, which is just their ego talking. Practically speaking, however, even a really bad disaster, like Katrina, just doesn’t rise to the national martial law with the President in charge standard.

It would have to be a whopper. But then, even a powerful executive would still have to face some facts. First of all, that the government and economy could no longer support a LOT of the federal government. So it has to be closed down, at least temporarily. A major disaster would also probably kill a bunch of government employees, as well.

Much of the rest of the government would have to go into a standby mode, just trying to get themselves reorganized so they could function again, for several months.

The bottom line is that, even though he might want to be Big Brother, he would be so busy that he wouldn’t have the time to sit up on his throne and chug-a-lug goblets of wine to go with his roast turkey legs.

You mention Zimbabwe but forget the lesson it is teaching today.

Also you don’t really believe that it is Bush running things do you?

We Must look to our constitution. The men that wrote it personally knew power run amuck. They had bled and wagered all in an heroic attempt to make true freedom possible. There is a reason those who serve Must give an oath to uphold the United States constitution; because our founders understood human nature and the nature of power. And they gave us freedom.

That is an important thing.

Take a look at Zimbabwe. Take a look at power gone mad. They will destroy themselves to keep it.

I would suggest that the biggest danger is not from those who seek power, but from those who seek power for its own sake, yet incompetently or inefficiently wield it.

For example, Ronald Reagan was an incredibly powerful President, and yet used his power generally so wisely that it did not feel oppressive or burdensome, compared to that weak fool of malaise, Jimmy Carter. George Washington himself terribly violated the US Constitution in violently suppressing the Whiskey Rebellion, yet none think of him as power mad.

Hillary Clinton, a fanatic, would be terrible even as a dog catcher, because she disregards reality for her fantasy world of socialism. Her reign would be madness, like having an insane person in charge of things. She is far more likely to become a dictator because she knows no self-restraint before her lust for an imaginary reality. Her mind is not on her job, but on what she craves.

It would be nightmarish not because of her having great power, but because she would use it incompetently and inefficiently. As dogcatcher, she would not catch dogs, she would try to “raise the awareness” of dogs, of how important is was to not be strays. And she would want a lot more money to do it with.

When I look at George W. Bush, I do not see just a snapshot of someone with power. His plans, from the beginning of his Presidency, or even before, reflect a desire to influence the world for the next hundred years. To protect American power and influence, and to neutralize the short, medium and long term threats to our security.

And from what he has done, unless the clock can be turned back, by his actions he may have saved the lives of millions, or tens of millions, of Americans, and countless lives overseas.

And though he is powerful, he has used that power wisely, with tremendous competence that out maneuvered the craftiest of foreign leaders, and efficiency, using only the slightest fraction of the power and force available to him.

Certainly, the potential has always been there for him to abuse power. But it is doubtful that that situation has ever not been the case, even under George Washington.

Freedom isn’t static, it is dynamic. By that I mean that what you can do with a freedom is always tempered by time and place—that absolutes don’t exist. If you want to test your freedom, you do so at your own peril, and had better calculate your risk of doing so. Hoping that your fellow citizen, your judge, or your political leaders will protect you is asking to be disappointed.

To put it bluntly, I use the example of the “t-shirt test”:

From 1941 to 1945, walking around with a t-shirt that says “I Like Hitler”. In the 1950s, a t-shirt that says “Communism Is Better”. Perhaps today, “I’m A Pedophile And Proud”.

In all three cases, it is your RIGHT, your FREEDOM to wear such a shirt. But that freedom will not protect you, and will get you no sympathy if you get whupped for wearing that shirt in public.

But the same rule applies in the other direction. Since at least Eisenhower, the US President could declare martial law and be what amounts to a dictator. BUT NONE HAVE DONE SO.

Because unless the average man on the street thought that he needed that power, only a tiny number would support it. And without a huge army of bureaucrats, military, etc., even the President of the US is just a man.

When conspiracy theorists fear we are becoming a dictatorship, even they realize that there are not enough of any group that would support it for it to survive, so they usually posit that the evil dictator President would have to import foreign mercenaries to impose his will on the people.

“UN shock troops”, or some other hilarity like that. Except that unlike in fourth world countries, we would beat them to death here if they tried to molest our children, having little toleration for such nonsense.

But then, as I said before, it comes full circle with the Microsoft Certified Engineer ditch diggers. A US President already has tremendous power, even if the US is what the people think of as a free nation. By declaring himself to be a dictator, he really doesn’t get much out of the deal, except maybe to avoid term limits. But after two terms in office, most of them are more than willing to retire, being utterly pooped.

Declaring himself dictator would double or triple the amount of effort he would have to put in just to keep the power he has already. Power he doesn’t need to use.

Only a fanatic, like Hillary, has any real chance of screwing things up, just because she lives in a mental fantasy land. But she is so incapable she wouldn’t even make a decent dictator. She gets off on the idea of having power, but like her husband, once she gets it, she has no idea what to do with it.

Her little health care cabal was a joke. She thought that somehow it would be created and voted on and would become law, just by her waving her magic wand. Guess again.

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