My tinfoil hat must be around here somewhere….

June 21, 2008

Guest Post by Morbo

Sometimes a political party faces a congressional district that is firmly held by the opposition party with no chance of flipping. There are two ways to react to that: recruit someone to fall on his sword and lose with dignity or allow nature to take its course and have an apparent crackpot seek the seat.

Republicans in Maryland, facing a special election last week, opted for the latter. The 4th Congressional District was formerly held by Al Wynn. Wynn stepped down after losing a primary election to Donna Edwards in February. Everyone knows Edwards will take the seat in November. No Republican has ever managed to capture more than 25 percent of the votes in the solidly Democratic area.

But Wynn’s decision to step down early forced a special election, which was held a few days ago. Edwards ran for the Democrats. The Republicans nominated a man named Peter James.

James, as The Washington Post politely put it, “brings unusual monetary views” to the race. He believes in the creation of local currencies and refuses to get a driver’s license because he fears the government collecting data on him.

Reported The Post, “James knows some of his ideas are unconventional.” He told the newspaper, “My campaign manager told me, ‘Don’t say things that make you seem too crazy.'”

He then launched into a description of how the Bible prescribed freeing all people from debt every 50 years and why a similar policy would be helpful in secular society.

Among his other beliefs: Mainstream news media have been taken over by bankers, which explains why there is not more coverage of monetary weaknesses. Labor unions, particularly those that have backed Edwards’s congressional bid, are increasingly in league with corporate interests.

The “Money as Debt” video [James makes available on his website] concludes with a suggestion that the financial system is under the control of powerful interests out to create a one-world government.

One of James’ most ardent backers is Ron Paul. (Are you surprised?) In any case, the Dr. Paul Revolutionaries failed to do much for James on Tuesday. Turnout for the special election was extremely low, with James capturing 19 percent of the vote.

James will probably run against Edwards again in November. I certainly hope so. I’m thinking that if he keeps talking, he can manage to drop below even 19 percent.

Well, other than the local currency idea, what’s so crazy?
Bono was all for debt relief on Biblical schedule, and he picked up a number of supporters in the “sane” world.
Yes, the Gov’t and others do collect info on you based on your drivers license. If you don’t want them to have it, the best you can do is not get a license and don’t drive.
Yes, many labor unions have been in league with corporate interests. Isn’t that one of the big complaints about Andy Stern and SEIU?
And the wealthy may not be literally going after a one-world government (we leave that to the Star Trek fans) but they certainly want a unified system they can exploit to get even richer.

I’m sure James is a total loon, but the samples cited are not that different than many progressive reformers and only seem loony to those benefitting from the status quo

  • Martin, would you seriously consider voting for someone who was so paranoid that he wouldn’t get a driver’s license? Even the terrorists aren’t that paranoid.

  • World government hooey aside, I found the “Money is Debt” vid interesting. It makes me want to read a general history of banking (not written by a conspiracy theorist).

    Without meaning to endorse any of Mr. James’ notions, the reaction reminds me of many made against Mr. Chomsky. The charge that a system encourages certain trends does not mean that it is an intentional conspiracy, it simply means what it says. Calls to reform the system are not equivalent to those for revolutionary class warfare or return to an illiberal past.

  • On June 21st, 2008 at 11:00 am, Danp said:
    Martin, would you seriously consider voting for someone who was so paranoid that he wouldn’t get a driver’s license? Even the terrorists aren’t that paranoid.

    I didn’t say I’d vote for him, in fact I said “I’m sure James is a total loon.” I just pointed out that the examples given aren’t so loony on their face. I know people who won’t get driver’s licenses for lots of reasons, and there are lots of people who want to stay off the grid, for whatever reasons. Factually, he is correct the government does collect info on you, and if you watch lots of CSI/L&O shows you could end up paranoid as hell about it;>

    I think terrorists are pretty paranoid, maybe they don’t expect to be around long enough for it to matter if the gov’t is collecting information.

  • Everyone should have a nice tinfoil hat, Morbo, because there really are big evil things going on. And the FISA law is one of them.

  • Martin said:
    Well, other than the local currency idea, what’s so crazy?

    I don’t know. I was just looking at my Crazy Horse Saloon silver dollars from Vegas.

  • For all those who are worried — and having “Ryan fitts” (see my post in the FISA dispute) about Obama’s refusal to support the challenger in the Georgia primary, how many Democrats supported Edwards in the primary against Wynn.

    (Remember that it was FDR’s intervention in Democratic primaries, as well as his court-packing plan, that gave the Republicans a chance to regroup in 1940 and stay alive as a party.)

  • [James] refuses to get a driver’s license because he fears the government collecting data on him. — Morbo

    He is, of course, correct on that issue. Driver’s license, birth certificate, Social Security, registering to vote… All of those are data collection points. And, if you apply for a credit card, you have to divulge even more info which, as we know, your friendly bank will share with the government at a drop of a — non-tinfoil — hat.

    The problem with James’ avoidance of being spied upon is, by itself, a red flag to the government — what does he have to hide? — and, therefore, futile.

    For all those who are worried — and having “Ryan fitts” (see my post in the FISA dispute) about Obama’s refusal to support the challenger in the Georgia primary, how many Democrats supported Edwards in the primary against Wynn. — Prup, @7

    I did 🙂 Wynn was a scumbag and had to go and edwards was just the person to replace him. Or, so my friends in Maryland told me, as did Emily’s List. I may have some issues with Emily’s List and no longer support it per se, but it’s still a good place to check out the candidates and it makes things easy.

  • The Bible also says that a lender should not charge interest. Just think how enacting that would affect nearly everything in our country and economy.

  • Hannah, @9,

    We *know* how that rule affected things.

    In the Middle Ages, Christians were forbidden to charge interest (with one exemption: the people of Lombardy were allowed to lend money, on security. When the loan wasn’t repaid in a timely manner, they were allowed to sell the security, making money on it, since they never loaned as much as the object was worth. To this day, pawnshops in Poland are called “lombards”). The result was that the Jews — who abide by the *Old* Testament, which has no injunctions against the money lenders on the one hand, but who were barred from things like owning land on the other hand — were the ones in the money-lending business. Which made them the most hated “race” in all of Europe; their different religion was but a part of it, almost a post-factum “excuse”. Remember how Shylock is depicted in The Merchant of Venice? The bloodsucker, after his pound of flesh?

    That’s what happens when the principles of one religion are imposed on a varied population.

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