Damon Root on Fox's Freedom Watch With Judge Andrew Napolitano, 11/10/2009

[ellery92]

this helped me with my paper. thank you

[RatkoUSA]

FDR would have made a great Nazi.

[chris72sax]

The problem is not the corporations, it's the power the politicians wield that are outside the narrow powers enumerated in the Constitution. Further regulating business plays right into their hands.

[beachmom561]

whauck buys into the class warfare and jealousy that the liberals need people to buy into in order to gain power.

Keynesian economics has been proven to be a failure in economies and in keeping freedoms over and over.

[bertly71]

Nanny state taking over our lives.

[fomastephanovitch]

If there were more people like me there would be no need for a state, what's your problem?

[Mastikator]

A constitution doesn't have any legitimate authority over anyone who didn't agree to it. If I do not say I agree to follow your laws then you have no more right to impose them on me than I have to impose my whims on you. Rule of arbitrary law is not justifiable.

It's all coercion and force dressed up in pretty words. It's barbarism and chaos.

[TheAustrian08]

No one forces you to stay in the country if you didn't agree to it's laws? You want Anarchy? Somalia's pretty fucking warm this time of year....

[Mastikator]

Why should I be kicked out of my home just because I doesn't want to obey your whims?

[furyofbongos]

Great question!! The constitution is absolutely a pact with the devil because it legitimizes the initiation of the use of force (IUF).

IUF is is fundamentally immoral and can do nothing other that create chaos and destruction. This chaos and destruction is exactly what we are seeing with the "business cycle" of boom and bust -- a pure creation of government with its sanctioned legalized right to IUF.

[furyofbongos]

To minarchists: How much more evidence that a piece of paper cannot and does not preserve freedom do you need?

[whauck]

Of course the corporations want to spread doubt and fear and misinformation. They don't have any ideas other than greed and power, so they try to manipulate the idiots among us. Re-writing history. "Free-market" to the right wing means letting corporations do anything they want, including monopoly. They want to remove us the people from our government. Beware facisst like Freedom Watch, which is funded by the oil companies.

[XCritonX]

You sound like a communist plant. Right wing and left wing are two sides of the same socialist bird.

You talk about corporations like they are sentient entities. They are run by people. When the government gets overly powerful then some of these people join with the politicians to control us.

Freedom Watch is about protecting our freedoms, controlling the size of government and putting the power back into the hands of the people. Free markets means that you control the fruits of your labor.

[whauck]

Last time I checked the Constitution, the government is We the People, not We the Corporations.

How can I be free when the corporate lobbyists like Freedom Watch write the laws?

How is it a free market when the Corporations get special tax breaks and Subsidies, put into law in the middle of the night?

I am for true free markets. The trouble is, when the corporations control the government, it's not free. It's more like a facsist system.

[cheesechoker]

Freedom Watch does not support bailouts, nor subsidies nor special tax breaks for corporations. Perhaps you should get your facts straight.

[XCritonX]

Corporate control of the government stems from the overwhelming size, power, and responsibility WE have given to the government. This power attracts corruption. Freedom Watch constantly promotes limited government policies that put the power back into our hands.

You really need an economics lesson. Companies by nature do not pay taxes. They can only collect taxes from clients, employees and share holders. Any tax break they get goes into the pocket of one of these groups.

[whauck]

With due respect, we haven't given power to the government. We've given the power to the corporations. They have first amendments rights with a $Billion pocket book.

The founding fathers were very leery of corporations and there were restrictions. A corporation had to serve a "public good".

Gradually, corporations have obtained more and more power to the extent that we've almost lost our country.

If We the People don't wake up, pretty soon we will have lost our country.

[XCritonX]

Unfortunately most people would rather vote for free money than freedom. Then they blame corporations instead of themselves for voting in big government politicians for 200 years.

Corporations are a useful way to organize people to accomplish some tasks. Corporations grow, break up and then disappear. If they dont have a big, powerful government to corrupt than we can easily sink them in a night by not buying their products. With out big government we have nothing to fear from corporations.

[whauck]

Your logic escapes me. Do you work for Freedom Watch?

Do you know who funds Freedom Watch? Do you know who is on the board of Freedom Watch. Are these average Americans?

Do you know if they get any funding from the oil companies?

Of course, the oil companies don't have any power. We could "easily sink them in a night by not buying their products".

Yeah, right.

[XCritonX]

I am well aware that logic escapes you.

I do not work for freedom watch. I am however an entrepreneur who understands the markets, economics, and freedom. Each day I stake my reputation, fortune and honor on my ability to serve my clients, pay my suppliers and motivate my employees. Average Americans are not on the board of anything, average people go to work, come home and crack open a beer and watch tv. Entrepreneurs and business owners make the economy work, provide jobs, and sit on boards.

[whauck]

You're responding to a post that you (or someone) deleted. LOL.

Someone didn't want me to question who was on the board of Freedom Watch. LOL

Did you study economics? Do you think Keynesian economics doesn't work?

Where on the Laffer curve would you say we are? Do you think we should cut taxes more and go further down the curve?

Do you think Reagan's trickle down economics has worked?

[IVoteNone]

When are libertarians going to give up their nostalgic appreciation for the constitution and realize government can not be constrained?

[tiecuando]

Probably never.

[shDwfthSUN]

Yeah, and when will we ever have a perfect, anarchistic society? Never.

We can still positively affect our lives through change in government, so why not at least try? It's better than doing nothing as our freedoms are stripped away. Look up the Downsize DC agenda and how it plans on curbing the growth of government, and tell me that we cannot at least succeed in making some of it a reality. Common sense ideas like the Read the Bills and One Subject at a Time acts can profoundly help our cause.

[shDwfthSUN]

These days you couldn't create an archistic society if you founded your own COUNTRY, let alone a little area within any other. That's because no matter what, even if you managed to find a place where you could be left alone for long enough to prosper, you would instantly be taken advantage of by a larger power. If you have any ideas of how to overcome this problem I'd like to hear them.

[shDwfthSUN]

Would you care to expand on that? Like how we would attain these weapons? And by that I mean, how we could ever raise enough money by ourselves or get someone rich enough to buy them for us? Or how even if we did get them, we would not get bombed OURSELVES once word got out to the rest of the world?

[shDwfthSUN]

Ok now you're trolling. I suspected as such with the last one but this confirms it. i gotta admit though, it made me laugh, so thanks.

[caltrop69]

I just undid all the negatives in this thread.

You're both very welcome.

[XCritonX]

Not only would you be taken over by another power, you would be beset with constant infighting. No governmental system, including anarchy can solve our problems.

[fluff125]

I think this was the saying, correct me if I'm wrong.

If you charge to much, you're guilty of ripping off customers,

If you charge to little you're guilty of engaging in reckless competition that destroys jobs,

If you charge the same as everyone else you're guilty of collusion.

[Masturbating4America]

FDR sucks cocks in hell

[Prometheusforliberty]

These men are delusional. However they are right about FDR

[CountArtha]

Price too high? Or price too low?

Now, which charge did they make?

Well, they weren't loath to charging both

With Public Good at stake!

[CountArtha]

It should be noted that FDR's presidency was part of a larger global trend of nation-states turning to authoritarianism during the 1930s.

[averagejoe040]

Lincoln said "The Constitution is not a suicide pact".

Lincoln did what was necessary to defend the Union in time of war.

Apparently this is beyond Napolitano's understanding.

FDR was another thing altogether.

If FDR was never president what a better country this would be. He did so much damage.

[strapt313]

"Lincoln did what was necessary to defend the Union in time of war."

i recall bush saying that too. not about the union but about "freedom". and then he went and tortured and bombed and killed a lot of people. and why was the union worth defending in the first place? that's right, to centralize power to the federal government and take it away from the states. and it only took 16 presidents to undo what our forefathers did. napolitano is right on. lincoln was a tyrant.

[thomaserossi]

Just remember that Time Magazine cover proudly proclaim Obama as the next FDR.

[donotswallow]

"...and even let the Japanese bomb a defenseless Pearl Harbor."

Uh, what?

[abirch300]

Yeah. Research it. He totally knew they were planning to ban pearl harbor.

[caltrop69]

I have Researched it...Tenuous evidence, at best.

I'm not married to the idea that FDR didn't know about Pearl Harbor, or anything, since i despise him...

I just think it's a silly conspiracy to engage in, this late in the game.

The modern equivalent would probably be the "Birther" movement, involving Obama.

Do we REALLY need some paranoid theory to prove that either of these individuals is a Statist?

[Masturbating4America]

It's true, look it up.

[caltrop69]

Yeah...Seems the old myth is still alive and well.

I'm a little disappointed that Napolitano seems to believe it.

[Guest655321]

Love the criticism, but these guys are really swooning over that piece of paper that clearly, by their own admission, doesn't do a damn thing to protect poeple's freedom.

[lordthawkeye]

It didn't work because government didn't obey it as they swore to and the people didn't slap them for it like they were supposed to.

[Guest655321]

If we started over with a new (or went back to the old) piece of paper, that would never happened all over again, would it?

[lordthawkeye]

It might have a better shot in this day and age because information is so much more freely available. Attempts to undermine the constitution would be noticed much more quickly and it would be easier for people to learn about what to look for.

[NoEoAoRo]

Not everyone in Fox News supported Bush. Judge Napolitano certainly didn't. Reason TV never supported Bush.

[abarzilai664]

Look through the archives of Reason magazine and you'll see plenty of criticism of George W. Bush.

[Zakdayak]

I agree with you Sage. 14 thumbs down here we come!