Burton S. Blumert
Lew Rockwell.com
Sunday, December 30, 2007
When the NY Times called Ron Paul a "Nazi," in a smear typical of the newspaper that printed press releases for Josef Stalin, LRC blew the whistle, and mobilizing the Ron Paul movement, forced the newspaper to retract. Has that ever happened before? When Tim Russert on Meet the Press slammed Ron in a nasty attack-interview, we helped get the truth out, and made sure Tim and NBC heard about our concerns. When Glen Beck said that Ron Paul supporters were potential "domestic terrorists," LRC helped make sure his sponsors knew our outrage. Next thing you knew, Glenn was hosting Ron for an hour interview that was, by Beckian standards, pretty darn fair. This is the 21st century, and 18th-century technology like newspapers, and 20th-century technology like television, better get used to the Internet. LRC and the Ron Paul Revolution are holding them all to account. Indeed, LRC has more readers than at any time in our eight-year history. We have greater influence than ever before. Yet we are in danger of being put out of business.
The trouble began almost a year ago. LRC had become Ron Paul Central, and the lawyers urgently told us to cut down drastically on the amount and favorability of our Ron Paul coverage, since we were allied with the tax-exempt Center for Libertarian Studies. So we did the only thing possible: We seceded from CLS. We knew that when donors lost tax-exemption for their gifts, it would endanger the future of LRC. But frankly, this worry had to come second to the essential role LRC was called to play in the most exciting, hopeful movement in our lifetimes. After all, it was Lew who was asked to announce Ron’s decision to the world in LRC, and we knew then that this would be THE great opportunity for libertarian ideas.
Like you, we love and admire Ron Paul. I chaired his 1988 run for the presidency; Lew has been his friend for more than 30 years, and was his congressional chief of staff before starting the Mises Institute. When Ron wanted someone to introduce his new books on foreign policy and economics to the world, Lew was his choice.
Of course, the Ron Paul Revolution has exceeded even our hopes. Ron has done more to spread the ideas of peace, liberty, and hard money than anyone ever. Combine that with 1) his personal integrity, principles, and obvious honesty and goodness; 2) the magnificent potential of the internet, including LRC; 3) the lives and work of great libertarian intellectuals like Murray Rothbard; 4) the war crimes and economic disasters of Cheney-Bush-Greenspan; and 5) the masses of young people and other Americans desperate for a change, and: Wow!
All we have worked for all our lives, is coming true before our eyes. Yet this could also be our last, best hope against the empire, the Fed, and the neocons. Were we to sit back? Ignore? Be apathetic? Never. The stakes are too high.
I am so proud of Lew and the role LRC has played in our movement. Since 1999, we’ve taught millions of young people in this country and around the world about the ideals of personal liberty, free markets, peace, private property, and the gold standard. Ron once named LRC the "Top Freedom Site on the Web." It’s his home page on his own computer. And the Ron Paul Revolutionaries feel the same. LRC has long been the most trafficked libertarian site. But we’re growing really fast now. Just last month, we had more than 1.8 million visits!
A Houston consultant, looking at Google Analytics and all the readership-rating sites, tells us that LRC is among the top 10 political sites in the world. Indeed, we are virtually tied with such sites as the huge and viciously anti-Paul "Daily Kos," which has employees upon employees. At LRC it’s Lew’s nights and weekends, and a bleary-eyed Webmaster. Lew really needs an assistant or two. We must do more advertising and outreach on the Web. It’s Lew’s dream to be able to assign libertarian investigative reporters, to expose the opposition, and sponsor large Internet publishing projects on our ideas and a Ron Paul Administration. There is demand for an LRC magazine as well. But forget all that. Right now I just want to keep the wolf from the door. Most important, we cannot let Ron and our ideas down. We have to stand with Ron, no matter what the smears and attacks. It has fallen upon LRC to rebut the hate brigade. And its venom increases minute by minute.
Why? Ron has lit an unprecedented prairie fire for liberty, with his peaceful revolution (and don’t you love the highlighting of the word "love" in revolution?). We must do our part. It is up to us to teach the Austrian economics upheld by Ron, and the real truths of American history – about Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt, and the rest.
I have never been so optimistic in my life. Ron has rocked the Fed, the military-industrial complex, the spenders, the taxers, the neocons, every bad guy in our national life. And when I meet a young person on fire about Ron and our ideas, I know that chances are, Lew has played a role in his or her development.
As I indicated above, the attacks mount. David Horowitz calls us "Islamofascist." David Frum says Lew is "unpatriotic." Newt Gingrich denounced him for criticizing FDR (the neocons’ favorite after Lincoln). And Bill Kristol’s father Irving – the so-called godfather of neoconservatism – once warned Lew against starting the Mises Institute. Imagine what he’d say about LRC!
But as you might expect, Lew has a track record of not obeying neocon orders. Indeed, we were anti-neocon before it was cool. And did you know, by the way, that we helped make "neocon" a well-known pejorative term? Though they adopted the name for themselves, the neocons now call anyone else’s use of it "bigotry"! Sure, fellas.
Gosh, I’d hate to see these birds toasting each other at LRC’s funeral. But they’ll do it unless you help. And look, LRC is Internet Central for the Ron Paul Revolution. Our blog is checked many times a day by me and everyone else following Ron (and even looked at by the Man himself). We are growing and growing in readership. It’s inconceivable that we should go out of business while our outreach and influence are increasing at such an amazing pace. If we can stay in existence, there is no telling where we will be in one, three, six months, and how much more good we’ll be able to do.
Look, I am careful not to ask you for money too often. But I really need your help now for LRC to keep going and growing; indeed, I need your help for us to stay in existence, even though your contribution will NOT be tax-deductible. For libertarianism, for peace, for freedom, for the Ron Paul movement, LRC is indispensable. And the thought of putting another smirk on the face of Horowitz or Gingrich is sickening.
Sure, I’m biased, but I think LewRockwell.com is indispensable. This is our time. This is our moment. Please help us keep the cause of freedom growing on freedom’s medium, the Internet. We can win. But we can’t play our central role if we are off the air. In this, the great crisis and opportunity of the new century, LRC’s voice must not be stilled. You can help make sure it isn’t.Printed from: http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/december2007/301207_times.htm"
