In South Carolina, Ron Paul picked up a coveted endorsement from Senator Tom Davis, just as he was finishing a $1.2 million money bomb and reaching 2nd place in the polls. Expect a surge for Ron Paul to start this week in South Carolina. We are waiting to see if Senator Jim DeMint, who speaks positively of Paul, will also endorse him.
We reported last week about Green Party candidate for nomination Jill Stein's Keynesian economic stimulus plan. It is, of course, more progressive than President Obama's plan, but still true to Keynesian principles none-the-less. The basic premise of Keynesian economic stimulus is that government spending increases aggregate demand, which leads to an increase in production. Dwight R. Lee, for the Library of Economics and Liberty, argues the opposite. There are many economic papers out of the Austrian school which challenge the Keynesian theory with purely economic arguments. Lee uses a little history. In the periods following the Civil War and World War II, federal government spending significantly decreased, and the country was flooded with unemployed former soldiers. Under these conditions, the Keynesian economist would urge for government spending to employ the veterans and create demand for production. However, the government cut spending and used the surpluses to pay off war debt. Rather than a slowed economy, in both cases, the economy boomed. When the production is forced to come from the free market, rather than the government, the economy grows. In the post-Civil War era, it grew almost for 28 years with only one short recession. Federal spending was under 3% of GDP, there was a surplus every year, rather than big government spending, and we had 3 of the most economically prosperous decades in American history. Perhaps this has something to do with Lee's point that government spending reduces real output. First, the government wastes $0.65 for every $1.00 collected in taxes. After that wasteful process, the average taxpayer is left with a product they didn't want or need. It was most likely chosen to satisfy a special interest group or strategic voting block. All the economic potential of that dollar was cut by 2/3rds and then turned into a product that serves very little purpose to the involuntary investor. Keynesian economics just doesn't work. No matter how you spin it, the principles are just plain wrong. Anti-establishment progressives must understand that free economy is a prosperous economy.
Candidate for the Libertarian Party nomination, Gary Johnson, discussed his platform and Ron Paul's campaign on MSNBC. It was a positive discussion of libertarianism. However, it wasn't clearly explained that Johnson is not the LP nominee–at least not yet. He has to win the nomination at the national conference in Las Vegas in May.
In other Green Party news, Jill Stein will join Kent Mesplay and Harley Mikkelson on the presidential primary ballot in Massachusetts.
It has been an up and down week for the Boston Tea Party presidential campaign. Accusations were made that presidential nominee Tiffany Briscoe falsified her resume. Party chair Darryl W. Perry demanded a response from the campaign, which came from Briscoe today. It appears that matters are all cleared up, and the party can resume working for ballot access in what it anticipates will be as many as 17 states. The Briscoe-Barrick campaign will release its platform later this month. We advise that Briscoe no longer give her campaign manager, Pierre Creveaux, so much liberty to speak or write on her behalf without oversight. Libertarian campaigns have enough of a struggle to get on ballots and have their platforms heard by the voters. In this uphill battle, they do not need to give their opponents easy opportunities to discredit them.
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