Yesterday was the New York City Lexington Ave Street Fair. The Manhattan Libertarian Party had a booth setup to distribute libertarian information, promote our candidates, and perform the normal operation politically homeless things like asking people to take the World’s Smallest Political Quiz and argue with those passing by about using force to get your way. Nothing out of the ordinary occurred.

• I was told by an Iranian Jew that we (non-Muslims) need to actively attack Muslims because otherwise they will take over the world. When I said you can’t generalize like that and you can’t hold the son responsible for the father’s doings he agreed but then went on to tell me that when you look at their society, them collectively, you can and must.
• A French tourist became very interested in what we were advocating. It was obvious he was no in agreement with the more extreme aspects of government removal from our lives but he was courteous. He said we would be considered very very radical in France and “libertarians” in France would be more along the line of small government Republicans.
• One older gentleman got hostel with Isaiah Matos for being against the war in Iraq. “They are keeping us safe!” “I hope you don’t get elected!”
• A young man from NJ who had never heard of the libertarian movement nor even Ron Paul became very interested in what we were doing. I explained the LP, the Ron Paul Revolution, the FSP, wasted vote fallacies, etc.
• A current US soldier who was a Ron Paul supporter. He confirmed that Paul does indeed have a large following in the military.
• Just before I left I got into a 20-30 minute argument with a woman. After eventually stating I was against all coercive measures used by those who call themselves government including all forms of taxation she went nuts. She refused to let me finish a thought and would say she didn’t want to talk any further but would. She claimed all I wanted was to not pay taxes. Insinuating that I wanted to leech off others. When I said: “No, I don’t want to be forced to pay for services I don’t want by the threat of violence.” She asked how is government violent. Isaiah quickly pointed out the war but when I tried to show her what happens when I refuse to pay taxes she acted dumb. “I don’t know what happens when you don’t pay property taxes. I rent.” When I went to continue she said she was leaving… but didn’t. Eventually she told us to just leave if we don’t like it. I asked her whether Washington, Jefferson and the other Founders should have just left. She tells us that they fought the revolution only because they were not represented in taxation and that they had setup a democracy so if 51% of the people want something the other 49% are screwed. That’s just how it is. The former being entirely simplistic and the latter being outright wrong I tried to tell her to read Common Sense and other works by Paine and that we had a constitutional democratic republic, not a democracy. She told me I didn’t know what I was talking about. She at one point noticed our support for gun ownership. After I explained to her that gun prohibition is about as effective as drug prohibition and that at worst the data is inconclusive and at best shows that higher gun ownership by non-criminals leads to less crime such as in Florida in the late 80’s early 90’s she scoffed saying she had lived in Florida so she knew better then I did and when she said she’d have to look it all up she refused to accept any sources. She also wasn’t very receptive to XYZs gun advocacy. She even brought up the so very stereotyped: “What about the roads?” She again refused to let me tell her about private communities and roads which exist now.

So I left flustered. Worse then arguing with people who won’t accept truths is when they won’t even let you provide them.

Since we had so many people manning the booth I decided to just hand out pamphlets to people walking by. I noticed many were drawn to the tax cut pamphlet.

Far better then when Ron Paul was on This Week.

“If we do (attack) it is going to be a disaster,” the Congressman told the Alex Jones show this Thursday.

“I was astounded to see on one of the networks the other day that the debate was not are we going to attack? but are we going to attack before or after the election?” Paul continued.

The Congressman recently voiced his concern over House Congressional Resolution 362 which he has dubbed a ‘Virtual Iran War Resolution’.

“If that comes up it is demanding that the President put on an absolute blockade of the entire country of Iran, and punish any country or any business group around the world if they trade with Iran.” Paul told listeners.

Experts have predicted gas will rise to $6 per gallon if the resolution passes, Paul believes that may happen anyway just by anticipation.

“The frightening thing is they say they are taking no options off the table, even nuclear first strike.” The Congressman stated.

Paul believes from talking with his contacts in and around Congress that a strike on Iran has already been green lighted.

“That is my sense because the Democratic leadership in the House are proposing no resistance whatsoever, we saw this when a supplemental bill came up and the President asked for $107 billion for the war, the Democrat leadership gave them $162 billion.

It is still totally bewildering to me when I see men and women in the Congress that I know and like doing this just to get along. Most of them will say “I agree with you on all you say but the Iranians are bad people and they might attack us some day… I hear members of Congress saying ‘if we could only nuke them’.”

Really is sureal.

http://www.fortbendnow.com/…

In the face of $4 per gallon gasoline and predictions the price will rise to $7 by the end of summer, Congressman Ron Paul (R-Lake Jackson) is calling on Congress to explore how the weakened value of the dollar may be contributing to the rise in oil prices.

Paul, whose 14th Congressional District of Texas includes part of the Katy area and much of Cinco Ranch, said he wants Congress to hold hearings on the relationship between the falling value of the dollar and the recent rise of oil prices.

As ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Paul sent a letter earlier this week to Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services committee, asking for the hearings.

“The price of oil is currently among the most pressing issues to American workers,” Paul said. “Congress should be examining all factors contributing to the high cost of oil, and monetary policy is one of the key factors in the run-up in price.”

Paul’s letter pointed out that the price of oil in dollars has risen 39 percent this year. Oil in Euros has only risen 30 percent, resulting in degraded purchasing power of the dollar of at least 80 cents of the increased price of a gallon of gas.

“Neither the Federal Reserve nor the Treasury Department have been willing to take responsibility for the dollar’s slide over the past several years, while American consumers have been forced to pay continually higher prices for gasoline, heating oil and numerous other imported products upon which Americans depend,” Paul noted in his letter. “American consumers cannot afford to allow continued lax Congressional oversight of the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department’s duties as stewards of the dollar, especially since the dollar is a major factor in the skyrocketing price of oil.”

Besides himself, 16 other Members of Congress signed on to the letter, including ranking member of the House Committee on Financial Services Spencer Bachus, and Chairman of the Republican Study Committee, Rep. Jeb Hensarling.

Hopefully DownsizeDC will get something going on this. If anything this could be an educational tool for those who would be participating. The more congress critters who understand economics, even a little bit, the better.

Gabor Steingart reports from the Spiegel’s Washington DC bureau:

Humiliation for Mr. Dollar: Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the United States Federal Reserve Bank, faces a general investigation by the International Monetary Fund. Just one more example of the Fed losing its power.

The United States Federal Reserve Bank, or Fed, seems as much a part of America as Coca-Cola or Pizza Hut. But at least one difference has become apparent in recent days. While the pizza chain and soft-drink maker are likely to expand their scope of influence in the age of globalization, the US central bank is finding that its power is shrinking.

[snip parts explaining the doom and gloom of the current financial situation]

Under its bylaws, the IMF is charged with the supervision of the international monetary system. Roughly two-thirds of IMF members — but never the United States — have already endured this painful procedure.

For seven years, US President George W. Bush refused to allow the IMF to conduct its assessment. Even now, he has only given the IMF board his consent under one important condition. The review can begin in Bush’s last year in office, but it may not be completed until he has left the White House. This is bad news for the Fed chairman.

When the final report on the risks of the US financial system is released in 2010 — and it is likely to cause a stir internationally — only one of the people in positions of responsiblity today will still be in office: Ben Bernanke.

<sarcasm>Poor Ben.</sarcasm>  Reaction to the this article can be found on The Age (an Australian news website).  Liberty Maven discusses the dilemma in which the IMF puts Ron Paul supporters:

We are against the IMF and federal style regulation over markets at all levels, yet we painfully yearn for more transparency from the Federal Reserve. If we aren’t yearning for more transparency from the Fed we are advocating abolishing it outright.

So the question is then, do we support the IMF investigating the hated Federal Reserve because it conveniently supports our anti-Fed sentiments? Or are we truly and purely against the IMF and it’s authority to perform such investigations?