I did something today that I’ve never done before in my life. I donated money to a presidential campaign – specifically, Ron Paul’s 2008 campaign. It was a piece of cake, I feel good about it and for a moment, I was recognized world-wide for it.

Ron Paul’s campaign website provides instant feedback for those who donate to their campaign – names scroll across a graphic, showing the most recent people who have donated. I wondered if these names were real people…there were so many that I’d seen over the last few weeks since they introduced it. Well, I’ve got absolute confirmation it’s real. Within seconds of my donation, my name graced the graphic for several minutes…I liked it. It was fun, encouraging and best of all…personalized. What a great personal touch for the rather “mundane” act of giving money to a politician?

As of my donation to this writing (about ten hours), the total has gone from $539,617 to $588,448…yeah!! How about over half a million in ten days? RP supporters – you ROCK! Let’s keep it going!

If you haven’t heard, Ron Paul is shooting to raise over $12 million dollars by December 31st. If you also weren’t aware, Ron Paul recently raised over $5 million dollars for his campaign, surpassing the relatively dismal efforts of almost all the other candidates. His message is being spread by thousands of grassroots supporters in a blinding effort to raise awareness to the great things he could do for our nation. Where Ron Paul has held the title of internet superstar, the people that believe in him are insuring that it goes well beyond just that…we’re putting real dollars in the bank, and we’re hittin’ the streets making sure you’ve heard about him. We’re gonna make sure he’s the GOP candidate. We’re not just talking Ron Paul revolution, we’re walking it.

Why?

A lot of us Americans have had this uneasy feeling about the direction our country has taken. This is not a new feeling – it’s been gradually building over the course of many Presidential terms. We’ve bounced between neo-con and neo-liberal factions for a couple decades now and the “massiveness of scale” of our ever-increasing government is finally being recognized as a huge financial liability. As our national debt hovers just under $10 trillion dollars and inflation pushes our cost of living higher and higher, a lot of us are wondering how we could ever pay that down…especially if we continue to overspend, decade after decade. Many of us are growingly concerned over dependence on foreign money…concerned because it has implications that affect our nation’s sovereignty.

Bush & Congress have really screwed up our country. In so much as the Patriot Act, the military tribunals, the Real ID act, prisoner torture, the North American Union and other laws that have all but chipped our Constitutional freedoms to dust, we’re just not the same nation as we once were. I personally know an American on the “no fly list” and they’re neither a criminal or a terrorist. My friends have died because of this war. These were irrational acts of fear, perhaps acts of purpose, not determinate acts of protection.

As far as I am concerned, there’s one item in Ron Paul’s campaign that really stands out…and it’s what has inspired me to not just vote for Ron Paul, but to be one of those grassroots activists that insists he get into office. “Stop the national ID card.” Sure, I support the idea of limited government, ending the IRS, getting out of Iraq now, international non-intervention, stopping deficit spending – but the whole Real ID national drivers license is a really bad thing for America. My blood boils when I think about having to accept a microchipped driver’s license in 2009. If we’re to be a free nation, we cannot allow government to track our every move through RFID tracking chips found in our driver’s licenses. I tell you now – that IS what the Real ID will do. Ron Paul’s committed to stopping it…Hillary, Obama, Giuliani…pretty sure they’re for it.

If any of this concerns you, well, there’s finally something you can do about it.

[flv]https://old.jeffwhiteside.com/video/ronpaul_ourpower.flv[/flv]

Help Ron Paul help US…donate today. It’s fun, you’ll be famous for a moment and you’ll be participating in what could be the most important fight for freedom ever waged in America. Even if it’s $25…with Paul’s frugality, he’ll make that go a long way.

If you haven’t joined your local Meetup group & you want to make a real difference for America…get started today!

As I often do, I was checking out gold and silver prices and the general strength of the US dollar when I discovered something that shocked me. The Canadian dollar has surpassed the value of the US dollar for the first time, that I am aware of, in over 30 years. (Update: Since November 25th, 1976) Right now, a single US dollar is worth about 98 cents Canadian. Every Canadian can start doing the happy dance – they can actually come to the US and have better purchasing power than they do at home.

This is a perfect example that shows the declining US economy and reveals the direct result of inflation. You absolutely need to know about this because this means that anything holding value in US dollars, such as your stocks, bonds and savings accounts, are actually LOSING value a lot more rapidly than you might think. This also means that your savings will be able to purchase less as time goes on…stay tuned and I’ll show you how you can stop this.

Historical currency charts for at least the last ten years show this is indeed a rare moment and that the value of US currency, when compared to the Canadian dollar, has fallen by over 50 percent in the last 10 years. Take note of the slight dip shortly after 9/11, a short burst upward and then a rapid decline thereafter.

If we look at just the last five years, roughly the time frame that we’ve been creating tons of new money to fight the Iraq war, we see a steady decline of the US dollar’s value. Think they’re intertwined? You betcha. This is the direct result of inflation, which is what happens when we create new money with nothing of value to back it. Take note of the downward trend, since October of 2002, from $1.60 per US dollar all the way to actually being less valuable than the Canadian dollar. That’s a 60% loss of value!!!

Just to bring this rapid decline into the “how quickly it’s happening” perspective, I’ll show you just the last year. We see about a 15 percent drop in value just since October of last year. If this trend continues, we’ll be in some dire straits in no-time.

And just in case that’s not enough for you, you can see that over the last 30 days, we’ve declined another six percent. Six percent in 30 days???? Ouch…that kind of hurts. Well, maybe not me…but I feel the pain of all you believers out there that have their life savings dumped into the US dollar. Boy, am I glad that I never reconverted my Canadian money back to US dollars from my last trip. I’ve made almost a buck because of this!

Pretty depressing, huh? I think so. I remember the days when I could go to Canada and get some fantastic deals because the US dollar was so much stronger than the Canadian dollar. Those days have been dwindling to an end…and the end is now here.

If this isn’t your wakeup call to get out of the US dollar, I don’t know what will be. If you think all your stocks, bonds and savings accounts are making you money – you better think again. You’re losing to the inflation tax. Trends for the stock & housing markets look just as dismal as of late – yes, the US economy is crashing. If things keep going this way, there’s going to be a lot of sad people out there.

I’m not too worried myself, and for all I care, the trend can continue. You see, over the past several years, I have been transitioning over 90% of my savings into real money. What is real money, you ask? It’s the lore of yesteryear…gold and silver. Ayyyyyyyyeeee mateeee! And I’m not talking about paper silver & gold, as in the stuff traded on the commodities market…I’m talking actual gold & silver. I’ve been doing very well too…when investing in precious metals, a failing US economy, inflation and declining dollar values actually benefit me. Shown graphically, here’s what gold has been doing over the last seven years:

I have particularly enjoyed being in the silver market as I believe it’s greatly undervalued and has an opportunity to explode to levels we haven’t seen since the 80’s. With reports of paper-based silver commodity trading outweighing actual supply by more than two thirds, Wall-Streeters are trading something that doesn’t actually exist! From cursory knowledge of “supply and demand” (you remember that don’t you?), physical silver a prime place to be if those paper silver owners ever actually want to take possession of said silver. The last seven years of silver’s value show a steadily rising trend, just as we saw with the gold trends.

So, if that’s not enough to convince you to bail on the US dollar, I don’t know what will. Admittedly, by doing so, we would nearly insure the collapse of the US dollar. The way I see it, it’s the inevitable result of failed monetary system consisting of a privatized central banking system called the Federal Reserve and decades of financial policy that give no regard to wise fiscal management. We need to do away with the Federal Reserve anyhow…so I really see it as a means to an end. Sure, it’s gonna suck…but if you start planning now, you *might* just escape while there’s time.

In light of my hypocrisy, I’m gonna go a little nutz with the videos here. I particularly liked these videos as they’re an excellent introduction to Ron Paul’s views and political strategies.

Now, for a moment, I want you to pretend that there are no political affiliations and also pretend that you don’t have to vote for the media anointed idiots, such as Hillary, Giuliani, and Obama. For just a second, let’s pretend that the most pressing issues facing our country are not a woman’s right to choose, the death penalty, and faux religious affiliation. Let’s look at this coming election from the big picture.

Where are we at? If you’re paying attention, you might have noticed that a National ID card, designed to track our every move, is being shoved down our throats in 2009. We’re being lead into a surveillance-laden police state, hell bent on destroying our civil liberties and freedom, all in the name of perceived (not actual) safety. We’re fighting a war, ultimately for oil, at an astronomical cost that can neither be maintained nor actually provide us a modicum of national safety. Our financial outlook is bleak with nearly 9 TRILLION dollars of debt and rampant inflation that destroys the middle class and poor’s purchasing power. We have an illegal IRS system that literally destroys people’s lives, all to support a massive government machine, that garners anywhere from 30 to 60 percent of our incomes, month in, month out. Our dismal educational system suffers from continual cutbacks as we shuffle our dollars towards failed foreign policies, petroleum superiority and policing the world in a failed effort to make the world “safe” for Democracy. We’re in a pretty bad way…but there’s hope for America…Ron Paul is running for President in 2008.

With the primaries just around the corner, time is running short for Ron Paul’s ever-growing base of patriots and lovers of liberty to fight like hell with their grass-roots campaigns to get you, the average American, to open up their eyes and see things how they are. With all the political “enemies of the state” that want to continue trodding down this path of reckless abandon and financial ruin, there’s never been a more important time to think outside the party lines and base our decision, not on has-been Republican/Democrat ideologies, but rather what is most important for our nation.

So, with that said, I present you with the core views of the beloved Ron Paul. Remember, forget everything you thought you knew about politics and let the man talk to you with a common sense that is all together foreign in this day and age.

First, we have Dr. Ron Paul discussing the success of his internet media campaign, quite possibly the first time an election has utilized the tools of the web, on a large scale, as a primary means of reaching out to the American people:

[flv]https://old.jeffwhiteside.com/video/youchoose08_internet.flv[/flv]

Next up, a two-fold view on the American economy, representing Dr. Paul’s critical foundation towards financial stability and preserving the (currently falling) value of the American dollar. The first shows his views on American fiscal policy and the second, relating to what we can all get behind – the abolishment of the IRS. If you’re wondering how on earth we can abolish IRS, you need to understand the difference between direct taxation and indirect taxation. Our country can actually survive on indirect taxation alone – that’s how taxation in America began and there was never an intention of going to an direct taxation system, such as the IRS like we have today. Watch the late Aaron Russo’s America: From Freedom to Fascism for more information about this.

[flv]https://old.jeffwhiteside.com/video/youchoose08_monetarypolicy.flv[/flv]

[flv]https://old.jeffwhiteside.com/video/youchoose08_irs.flv[/flv]

As the only physician that’s running for President, Dr. Paul has some refreshing views on how to handle our failing, corporate-run healthcare system. The gamut of healthcare is not just between socialized medicine or privatized, for-profit corporate-moguls who’s interest is reaping every dollar they can out of American wallets.

[flv]https://old.jeffwhiteside.com/video/youchoose08_healthcare.flv[/flv]

Then there’s the billions of dollars that we waste, every year, on failed entitlement systems. You need to wake up and realize that you are not ENTITLED to anything other than life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. With those freedoms alone, we will take care of our own because we LOVE and because we can afford it, not because a government insists on robbing Peter to pay Paul. If everyone has a lower level of taxation and we follow Dr. Paul’s healthcare plans, we’ll be able to provide for our own. He wouldn’t strip programs for the disabled and other critical programs – but the abuse of our current entitlement systems are a huge financial burden for the poor and middle class.

[flv]https://old.jeffwhiteside.com/video/youchoose08_entitlements.flv[/flv]

Then, of course, there my hot-button topic…the erosion of American freedom and the battle we’re waging RIGHT NOW to preserve our civil liberties. It seems that Dr. Paul is the only candidate wise enough to see the importance of civil liberty and certainly the only one that makes freedom the core of their campaign.

[flv]https://old.jeffwhiteside.com/video/youchoose08_civilliberties.flv[/flv]

And you can’t go without discussing gun rights. Gun rights were never established so we could “pop a cap in your ass” or wage gun-battles in America’s schools. Just because there are violators of law (which there always are and always will be, people), doesn’t mean we should disarm the American people. Frankly, if more people had guns, there would be LESS crime…we can’t rely on police that are MINUTES away to protect us from threats that are happening NOW. Not just that, but a disarmed people opens the door to a totalitarian government with nothing to stop them from throwing any man, woman or child into political prisons, or much worse, the hijacking of what was once a great country for the purpose of wielding great power.

[flv]https://old.jeffwhiteside.com/video/youchoose08_gunrights.flv[/flv]

So, there you have it. A Ron Paul video extravaganza! Break free of the political mind-prison that is being constructed for you on the television and other media outlets. Consider out future, for a change…consider your freedom of choice. Reach deep down and find the patriot within you…stand up and fight for liberty. America may never be free again if we don’t fight for it.

If you’ve spent any time on my blog, you’re probably aware of my anti-TV attitude. I’m a little disappointed in myself – I think I’ve found myself giving in to the YouTube kool-aid. Online video is hard to resist once they hook ya’…I can’t even tell you how many YouTube junkies are out there…but I know it’s a LOT. I feel like such a hypocrite. Hell, my blog is plastered with videos…admittedly, a lot of words, too…but still, I’m up to probably somewhere around 20 videos.

It’s times like this that I try to remember why I stopped watching TV in the first place back in 1997. 1) I wanted to explore it as a social experiment. 2) I hate advertising. 3) I found my quality of life and interests improved when not spending so much time watching TV. 4) Television wasn’t that good, anyways.

OK, then I compare those same reasons to YouTube and this is what I came up with. 1) YouTube is an interesting social experiment. 2) Not near as much advertising, but it’s still present. 3) I’ve enjoyed hearing & seeing “people” talk/teach/complain/etc and, in a way, it contributes to my quality of life 4) I’ve found a ton of kewl videos & if I don’t like it, I press the “Back” button and it’s gone.  (I do banish all thee who think dumb is the kewlest thing.  It is NOT kewl to be dumb.)  So, as you can see, I’ve managed to justify every single point. I’m wondering if I’m a hypocrite – to denounce television, yet to watch *television* on YouTube (albeit directed and on-topic) seems a little contradictory.

I don’t really have a problem with motion video – I’ve watched enough movies & documentaries to prove that. My issue is more with the ever increasing level of manipulation that a viewer subjects themselves to. With television, people are presented a “mainstream” that has nearly become the bar to which we live our lives. It’s authority over the average American has taken on unprecedented proportions – it’s almost as if they accept it as reality. When in fact, it is not.

I really don’t get this feeling from YouTube. It’s television clips, sure…but it’s also Vlogs (video blogs), DIY videos, educational videos, amazing video and many other things. Real stuff. You can dive in and really direct your viewing towards specific interests or just click through the vast array of video interconnectedness…and with the size of it, there is a substantial amount to choose from. I don’t feel like there’s some great big hand guiding my thoughts with the bombardment of many common ideas and zippy video editing. It’s just different than TV.

So, I think I’ll keep posting videos to my blog – ’cause hey, I like ’em. And if I’m a hypocrite, that’s fine. I know enough to veer away from becoming a total YouTube junkie, so you can’t accuse me of that. I’ve also promised myself that I will continue to do text only blog entries as there should be moderation in all things. So, them’s the breaks with me, TV & online video.