A friend sent me this essay and, while I wouldn’t necessarily vote for Ron Paul, I have to say that this pretty much sums up my feelings about the political scene in our country in 2008. I don’t know who Larken Rose is, never heard of him, but here is what he has to say:

Sarah Palin Is No Messiah

Sorry to burst the bubble of hopelessly optimistic conservatives,
but Sarah Palin is not the Messiah. If several dozen alleged
“limited government” conservatives could take over both houses of
Congress in 1994, and accomplish exactly JACK SQUAT, why on earth
would you expect one person, running for a mainly symbolic office,
to reign in the federal leviathan? (Try looking up all the things
the 1994 “conservative” Republicans promised to do, and see if they
did them.)

Yeah, she sometimes says stuff that sounds like she’s for limited
government (in between parroting the standard Bush administration
war-mongering, and supporting the heinously destructive, immoral
“war on drugs”), but so what? When are those of you who like
“limited government” going to stop falling for Republican
establishment bullpoop?

John McCain is both a war-mongering fascist and an economic
socialist–the worst of both worlds. (The media bizarrely calls
that being a “moderate.”) And he was chosen by the Republican
party, NOT the American people, and not even by the Republican
voters. Did any of you conservatives notice that your party offered
you a half dozen left-wing collectivists to “choose” from? They put
up half dozen Nixon clones, and then asked you to “choose” which
not-at-all-conservative identical twin you’d like.

And when LOTS of you said, “Actually, we like Ron Paul, because we
actually want less government,” the Republican party told you, in
no uncertain terms, “Tough luck!” They maligned, marginalized,
demonized, and censored Dr. Paul every chance they had. Anything
resembling libertarianism, or even Constitutionalism, was
constantly condemned as extremist, impractical and unreasonable, if
not fringe lunacy.
But now, suddenly, out of nowhere, the Republican control freak
club pulls Sarah Palin out of a hat, and says, “Look,
conservatives, here’s one you’ll like!” Don’t you know when you’re
being played? Do you really think that party that foisted upon you
John McCain–that devout enemy of the First, Second, Ninth and
Tenth Amendments (among others)–suddenly believes in the
Constitution? Do you think selecting Palin actually means the
successors to the Bush regime are going to voluntary give up some
of their power?

Everything either face of the ONE ruling class does is a show, and
nothing more. It is all designed to sell you a lie, and every time
you vote Republican or Democratic, you prove what good salesmen the
federal propagandists are–while also proving how gullible you are.
And Sarah Palin, with her pretty face and almost sane rhetoric, is
going to dupe you again. Do you really think Mr. Nationalist
Socialist McCain, or his handlers, would choose as running mate
anyone who would in any way undermine the totalitarian agenda of
the Republican establishment? Even if she wanted to, do you really
think there is the slightest chance that Palin will ever be given
the chance to reduce the federal monster, or even slow down its
growth? (If she actually believed in “limited government,” would
she be portraying John McCain as the Second Coming?)

You, the American people, gave the Republican party both houses of
Congress, and then the White House. So what were all their
“conservative” accomplishments? What “limited government” type
stuff did they do with that power? Well, they drastically INCREASED
federal spending, shredded the First, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth
Amendments, and created the biggest federal bureaucracy in history–
which is really saying something. And you’re going to vote for them
AGAIN, aren’t you?

Now, every time I point out what a bunch of crooks and liars one
party consists of, lots of people accuse me of supporting the other
party. The elitist communists that wear the label “Democrat” are no
more for the “little guy” than Joseph Stalin was. They are neither
better nor worse than the Republican tyrants, because they are the
SAME THING. They say very slightly different things, and then do
the SAME things, every time: take more of your money, control more
of your life, and cause more problems so they have an excuse for
giving themselves more power. And every time you vote for either
one, you are sending this message, loud and clear, to the American
tyrants: “Yes, I AM dumb enough to keep falling for the same old
lies and tricks, so keep right on betraying and oppressing me, and
I’ll keep right on supporting you!”

If you vote Republican, you deserve to be lied to, silenced,
tortured, robbed, terrorized, defrauded, spied on, and controlled.
Of course, if you vote Democrat, you also deserve all of that.
However, some of us are a little tired of being lied to, silenced,
tortured, robbed, terrorized, defrauded, spied on, and controlled,
just because YOU keep falling for the same old tyrant propaganda
and lies. So stop it!

Larken Rose

http://www.larkenrose.com