The Pink Flamingo :: People Are Starting to Discover Ron Paul’s Nazi Friends

People are finally starting to take notice of Ron Paul’s interesting group of friends. Like Oricus said in the debates he comes across as a very rational person. But – he has some very irrational friends, and has embraced some very irrational theories and fringe ideas such as the North American Union, etc.

From Flap

“…Either they have lots of time on their hands or somebody is paying this group to harass the GOP. My guess it is a left wing group who is funding these internet spammers to create dissension among the GOP. As it has been rumored the GOP actually helps fund Ralph Nader and Green Party efforts to disrupt the Democrats.

The notiariety these folks have obtained highlights the failure of the national party primary system. The small states of Iowa and New Hampshire have for decades had a disproportionate say in who the Presidential nominees will be. Look for a national primary system to be developed by the parties in time for the 2012 election.

Now, as for Ron Paul.

Please……. a fringe candidate whose fundraising effort should draw Federal Election Commission scrutiny….”

Ruffini and the Ron Paul Nation

“…Though not exhaustive, I did go through the last 200 names. A whopping 83% of donors were men, 14.5% were women, and 2.5% I couldn’t determine from the name. Readers should comb through this list to confirm these numbers….”

Ruffini references Ron Paul Graphics
And – as Ruffini has shown, many of the donors are in the west.

A NOT SO MINI RANT
Ruffini notes that this is very much a western movement. That makes quite a bit of sense to me. For nearly a decade I have been watching this western libertarian (for want of a better name) movement grow. I think I was there at the beginning, when one of the primary organizers and movers and shakers, at that time a very loyal Republican, addressed a meeting I attended. I don’t remember if it was GOP or DAR. I do remember it was at the Tinnie Silver Dollar (It was GOP). The individuals in question were very upset with the Clinton Administration because of perceived government conspiracies to take their BLM grazing land.

Now coming from The East, I can’t generate much sympathy for a rancher leasing BLM land (very cheap) to expand their ranches. Fact is, (and I will probably be murdered in my sleep for this) having come from a dairy family, I think the whole idea of even raising cattle in the arid west is absurd.   My grandfather never had a government hand-out for his dairy and he had the largest independent dairy in the state of Florida from 1950 or so until 1985.

Getting back to my story, there is a specific rancher here in Lincoln County who felt the Clintons were coming to take his extensive BLM grazing rights away from him, and then sent the National Park Service to confiscate his ranch to turn it into a UNISCO operated national park. There was a lobbyist out of Alamogordo who was so vicious he terrorized the Halls of Congress. (He has since gone on to his great reward – which ever direction it is).   This rancher connected with some of the more radical elements in the north west, then some of the radical elements of the mid-west. They linked up with an evolving libertarian mind-set and the likes of Ron Paul. And thus a movement was born.

I’ve been on their email list since the beginning. A few years ago I noticed the whole group was becoming more and more radical. They were also stepping into the anti-immigration mine-field. In fact, one of the reasons I began blogging was to see if I could discover what was going on with them, and if indeed, they were up to the things I feared, find others of like mind who could stop them.

I have this feeling that Ron Paul and his movement are the outward expression of this increasingly radicalizing of the libertarian west. Part of it is fear of change and growth. I’ve been in Lincoln County for nearly a decade now, 2008 will be my 3rd Presidential election here. People are moving into the west as fast as the horseless carriage and Conestoga moving van can park. They see a way of life that is dying. The easiest way to fight against change is to greatly magnify the latent anti-Hispanic bias that exists throughout the southwest within certain social classes. This is perfectly exemplified in the magnificent film, Giant, in the romance between the heir of the powerful ranch and a young Hispanic nurse.

Coming from Texas, Ron Paul knows just how to tap into that latent racism. He’s also been in the vanguard of promoting some of the more peculiar and extreme radical conspiracy theories. During the Clinton years, conservatives allowed themselves to be assimilated into these radical conspiracy theories to the point where reason has given way to hate. Biased and unbalanced media wonks now call the shots. Their ever increasing hatred of the left has helped create this climate of cruelty and viciousness. I think the only real answer is a Giuliani Presidency where these extremes of right and left have been neutered.

Huff Post:Thomas B. Edsall

“Through no fault of his own, Rep. Ron Paul's anti-globalist, anti-government campaign for the Republican presidential nomination has become a magnet in neo-Nazi networks, pulling in activists and supporters from the fringe white nationalist community where anti-Semitism, anti-black and anti-immigrant views are commonplace.

In some cases, these internet-based activists acknowledge that even though the Paul campaign does not have a racist or anti-Semitic agenda, it can serve as a vehicle to find sympathizers and to recruit new loyalists drawn to the Republican congressman's opposition to international trade agreements, federal police authority and to the income tax.

Such web-based organizations as Stormfront (motto: "White Pride, World Wide"), Vanguard News Network ("No Jews. Just Right.") and the Nationalist Coalition ("working to create the relationships that will lay the foundation for the White community that is necessary to our survival") have become sources of support for Paul's bid for the Republican nomination, and in some cases have set up separate Ron Paul discussion groups.

The Paul campaign dismissed the pro-Paul activities among these groups. "We don't know who these people are," said Jesse Benton, Paul's communications director. Their support has "nothing to do with Ron Paul, and what he stands for....His message of freedom, peace and prosperity - that's why people support him."

Paul has not made racist or anti-Semitic appeals to the controversial organizations and their members. Instead, their support is based on Paul's libertarian opposition to government generally, including the IRS and the powers granted to the federal government under the Patriot Act - views that are shared by many on the conservative fringe of the spectrum….”