Cory Robin, “Ron Paul has two problems…” (via zeitvox)
Also read this,
Even people, no, especially people who focus on Paul’s position on the drug war should think about the perils of his federalism. There are 2 million people in prison in this country. At most 10 percent of them are in federal prisons; the rest are in state and local prisons. If Paul ended the drug war, maybe 1/2 of those in federal prison would be released. Definitely a step, but it has to be weighed against his radical embrace of whatever it is that states and local governments do.
Paul is a distinctively American type of libertarian: one that doesn’t have a critique of the state so much as a critique of the federal government. That’s a very different kettle of fish. I think libertarianism is problematic enough—in that it ignores the whole realm of social domination (or thinks that realm is entirely dependent upon or a function of the existence of the state or thinks that it can be remedied by the persuasive and individual actions of a few good souls)—but a states-rights-based libertarianism is a social disaster.
So that’s his problem.
Our problem—and again by “our” I mean a left that’s social democratic (or welfare state liberal or economically progressive or whatever the hell you want to call it) and anti-imperial—is that we don’t really have a vigorous national spokesperson for the issues of war and peace, an end to empire, a challenge to Israel, and so forth, that Paul has in fact been articulating. The source of Paul’s positions on these issues are not the same as ours (again more reason not to give him our support). But he is talking about these issues, often in surprisingly blunt and challenging terms. Would that we had someone on our side who could make the case against an American empire, or American supremacy, in such a pungent way.
Great read.
Underreported Stories of 2011
Yesterday, Current started a series of the 5 Underreported Stories of 2011. The first one was about child homelessness rates in the U.S.
Today’s story is how the U.S. military is propagating pro-U.S propaganda around the world through deceptive social media tactics.
the U.S. military awarded a $2.76 million contract to Ntrepid, a California corporation, to develop software that will create fake personas (sock puppets) to try to influence dialogue among online denizens while propagating American propaganda (though after the Guardian’s article published, military officials told them these fake personas will not be on Twitter or Facebook).
Click through to read the rest of the entry, as well as links to other publications who covered this. Unless you’re a military agent trolling social networks. Then you can just skip this post.
Dream Jobs: “a military agent trolling social networks.” Let’s face it, the trolling you’re doing right now is probably nothing like the trolling you could do with military hardware. Is your disdain for the military-industrial complex greater than your love for trolling, and the potential to earn a living wage with full benefits? [Please don’t answer this question.]
