[JINXR]

Here's a conversation with a guy at work who is literally scared that there are legal citizens out there with guns. And is especially scared knowing our boss and others like me conceal carry just about everywhere we go. He also really likes the idea of social healthcare and doesn't mind losing our rights so that the government can "protect" us. An anti-gun, socialist, if you will. However, I have not once called him names or even implied that his ideas are crazy or un-American. I do my best to be nice to this guy, but sometimes it's hard...

Ron Paul recently won a straw poll here in Benton County, so I emailed the link to him as he's always criticizing RP. Here's the response I got....

All I can say is, good luck to him...he is a little crazy though. Just think, get rid of the IRS? Ok, fine, lay off over 90,000 people that work for the IRS...great idea Mr. President. That's just one of his crazy ideas. Pull out of Iraq immediately, great idea Mr. President, we'll lose all credibility in the world (more than we already have) if we do such a thing. I mean seriously, think about the things he says in today's world and you would think the same thing as the rest of the Republican party...this guy is freakin' crazy.

Ron Paul is Crazy? No, he's just honest and nobody wants to hear it.

This is crazy....

Double taxing and triple taxing our heavily depreciated income...
Hey Mitt, here is a better tax cut « The Political Inquirer

Letting our own brothers and sisters die and get hurt in an unjust, unnecessary war and killing innocent citizens...
...no reason for a link here

Letting our country fall into a $9.2 trillion debt that is exponentially increasing (44% of that is owed to foreigners)...
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

If you include unfunded Medicaid, Social Security, and other promises, the debt is actually at $59.1 trillion...
United States public debt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Spending $500,000 a minute for the war...
Think Progress » $500,000:

and I could go on and on here.

Those things are crazy. Dr. Paul's solutions might sound whacky, as we've become complacent to these things and consider them normal, but in reality, his ideas are very good and would greatly help this country out. Everyone's talking about "change," but coming from everybody but RP, it's just a political buzz word they say to get elected. But like every other election, nothing will actually change for the good. Just the same shit with a different president.

As far as the IRS workers go, there's actually around 115,000 of them. Do you think those IRS workers care when 150,000 Americans are laid off every year? At least if the IRS workers are laid off, the economy will be getting a lot better as there will be a lot more money going around, creating more jobs for them. Besides, there's no way the government would fire all of them cold turkey without any settlement or compensation.

Besides the obvious fact that everybody's income would jump up about 25%, here's some other reasons why it doesn't bother me...

1) Releasing these workers means that the government no longer needs to pay their salaries.
2) The money saved from what would have been spent on the salaries stays in general revenue.
3) More funds in general revenue, if we hold our government accountable, means that it will help the gov't pay off our debt or the taxes can be cut.
4a) Assuming taxes are cut, the money stays in the economy.
4b) Assuming debt is paid off, that means the government saves more money by not having to pay the interest on that debt, which means they need less revenue the next year so that taxes can be cut; the money goes back into the economy, and the tax cuts on top of that leave more money in the economy.
5) That additional money in the economy creates jobs.
6) Guess who is sitting on their couch ready to fill those new jobs: the old IRS employees!

If you need a good example of what happens when there is an influx of unemployed workers, look at the post WWII era when about 15 million GIs came home. The economy readily absorbed those government workers.

As far as the war goes, of all people, I was surprised to hear that from you. The war was a mistake. We were misled and lied to in order to build support. Staying in there is only making things worse. All of our allies have pulled out almost all their soldiers, if they haven't pulled out 100%. There's a lot of news reporting that the "surge" is working, but that's not accurate. During the first 6 months of the surge, violence reached an all time high. It wasn't until late August when a cease fire was declared by the largest Shiite militia, the Mahdi Army, after 50 Muslim pilgrims were slaughtered. Problem is, he only called for a 6 month cease-fire. So lets wait and see what happens here in about a month.

NPR: Military Officials Disagree on Impact of Surge
AlterNet: War on Iraq: The Real Story Behind the Falling Casualty Rate in Iraq

Either way, we were in the same situation 33 years ago, and we pulled out. Now, we have good ties with Vietnam and the communist didn't chase us home as the war mongers claimed they would. Just as the terrorists won't follow our troops home this time around.

The rest of the world doesn't want us there, so how would we lose credibility? In my opinion, pulling out now is the only way we can save face and restore our credibility.

We'll just have to agree to disagree. You might be just as crazy, anyone can spin the numbers and facts anyway they want them.

You're a funny guy.

If all he can do is insults, then he obviously doesn't have any ground to stand on. Sad that some people are so damn close minded. I used to half way believe in the same democrats that he is gung ho for, but after hearing RP's message, it really opened my eyes and changed my views. Maybe he'll do the same one of these days.

I do have to brag a little bit and say that I didn't let my temper get to me and didn't go back hand his ass