I would hope that to be money that was honestly earned. Dishonest money has a tendency to do very bad things.

You should be able to spend as much money as you want to support your view, and so should everyone else.

10 to 20% may indeed be generous.

I actually have a trauma-free life and am well within my right mind. I was at the first Tea Party meeting in my county. Had you seen how vilified those who shared our values were by the Florida Republican Party, you would understand. The then Republican governor of Florida now is running on the Democrat side and was central to getting John McLame the win in Florida when a loss would have been the end for a Republican unworthy of the name.

That governor's crony went to the point of "excommunicating" my county's elected representative from the Republican Party of Florida. Six months later, that governor's crony then in charge of the Florida Republican Party resigned in disgrace for numerous corruption violations.

The so-called conservative current governor of Florida has done everything possible to support the state university system, while I work for a private university. In fact, one of the state Republican senators made a cronyism deal worth of Orren Boyle to get Florida Polytechnic Institute built on his otherwise not very valuable land. I work at Florida Institute of Technology. Do you not think that they will eventually get confused?

Then there are the repeated attacks from within the Republican Party against its own Tea Party base by John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, etc. on the national level.

One must remember that President Reagan was an anomaly. He was reviled by Ford, Dole, Bush the elder (Remember Voodoo economics!). I was 2 months too young to vote for Reagan in 1984. Consequently I have not had any presidential candidate that I wanted to vote for in a general election that had any credible chance of winning, and I am 47 years old. The two congressmen that I share the most common views with are Justin Amash (MI) and Mike Lee (UT), both of whom who have been ganged up on with lots of national Republican Party money to unseat them.

I have lots of trust for many people in this forum and for this nation's military and veterans. I have no trust for anyone involved in the political process.

Others have remarked about the apparent lack of return on investment. Without those who provide the forum putting forth this forum, there would be no forum. Paying the small yearly fee is acknowledging the value that the forum's contributors have made. You have the heart of a producer; now it is time to act like one. You have certainly gotten some value out of this forum.

I agree... it's foolish, but marketers (campaign directors) know to appeal to the lowest common denominator, and sometimes that's just plain ignorance. As long as you have a presidential candidate running on the promise of "fixing" the economy, the results (or lack thereof) will and should be tied to his policies.

And I sympathize with your business-centric view of what drives our economic engine, but have to part ways to this extent: it is business activity, indeed, that determines the amount of steam in the economic locomotive, but it's the administration's regulatory policies that determine how much fuel we are able to throw in the firebox.

They may not deserve all the credit, but when their policies consistently and demonstrably choke off commerce, they definitely deserve the blame.

I am not defeated. I have detoured to a different path to success.

The Constitution was perfectly clear. The judges, presidents, and congressmen who see the Constitution as a "living, breathing" document have intentionally obscured the meaning of the document. You are right when you say that "all 10 of the Bill of Rights are violated seemingly at will by governmental agencies". There are no holes in the Constitution that men who wish to destroy the Constitution have not created. It is the men who are the problem, not the Constitution itself.

My mind is not numb. This is not a battle that I can win. I choose my battles. I do so rarely, and only when it is in my interest. As for the US, it is time to consider renouncing my citizenship.

It is indeed easy for the looters and moochers to block "dangerous" proposals. They have bought enough people off now. I suggest you check your premise as to whether America is worth saving. A couple of weeks ago, I calculated and posted the "share" of the debt that I as a 1%er am expected to pay: $6 million. I will do well to earn that in my lifetime. I call that slavery, and I reject it.

10 to 20%... I suppose I should thank you for the generous appraisal... at least that's 10 to 20% better than zero.

I had an old rescue dog once that had been so badly abused that it literally took us the rest of his life to get him to trust, to understand and believe that we loved him. I wonder what happened to you, jbrenner... I'm no psychologist, but it had to be something much more traumatic than Obamanomics.

I can live with that blame. I do educate not only in my areas of expertise, but on topics that are of interest to Gulchers. I can not make the blankouts learn. They refuse to learn. I teach at a university level because I do not have the patience for those who would not willing choose to trade value for value. The government school system is not for me. I have done my share of "street preaching" Gulch values and will continue to do so, but that does guarantee anyone will listen.

Just don't try to buy any ad time to promote it... that would require the expenditure of "evil" money.

(My God... where am I, and what have they done with Galt's Gulch?!?)

The act of spending money may not be speech, CircuitGuy, but it does make it possible for one to buy speech, or certainly MORE of it. Is speech to be regulated now, too? Speech is free, but only in certain amounts? For me to limit your speech (yours personally) because you might influence someone toward an idea that I disagree with should offend you... plus it's allowing the ends to justify the means.

By the way, at various times and in numerous places throughout in the Colonial 1600s, printing presses were not only rare, they were illegal. No amount of money could buy the freedom that government today wants to restrict.

When we start down this road, it makes us no better than those who think they know better, and should make all the decisions for all of us.

I saw that, and can appreciate the rather novel approach to raising revenue, but other than making it one-click-easy to show support for another member's comment, I'm not sure I see the return on the investment, no matter how small. As you might have guessed by now, I'm not about "easy."

I did... and I enjoyed them, although I expected more, as always seems to be the case when a novel, especially one of such weight, moves to the big screen. But I'll still gladly pay to see ASIII.

But that 's the point. There is no such thing as "american DNA " as you are using the term. People perform in large part to the Declaration of Independence, some of the rights protected under the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. It is a fact that our rule of law is being ignored.

All worthy arguments and attributes, you say, but you won't join the effort to educate? Then the blame lies with you, not with the solution. You should know that... and stop blaming the world for your cynicism. And I would respectfully ask that you examine your tacit approval and support of anyone who actively seeks to PREVENT a solution. They are neither a friend to you, nor to the nation.

Two answers, two responses:

You "seem" to agree that term limits would bring about a sea change in DC, but I would have hoped for a bit more engagement. It's as if you've numbed your mind, and thought now takes more energy than you can muster.

As for the list of states, thank you... you have in one single post demonstrated to all the fear-mongers how easy it would be to block any "dangerous" proposal that might come out of a COS.

The one good thing about FDR: We have nothing to fear except fear itself.

Who says that I am doing nothing? In addition to educating future Galts, I am developing MUCH cheaper 3D printers for the biomedical and metals industries that will not be revealed until it becomes profitable to do so. I am preparing for the return of the mind.

Ah, fear... there it is again, clouding reason and causing otherwise good men to make bad decisions. Thanks for the clarification... at first read, I thought you were making a reference to the end of the world, or some such catastrophic nonsense.

I can understand a momentary loss of drive... but to stay defeated simply isn't in the American DNA. I see no nobility in doing nothing.

Rim; I'll continue to 'trumpet the critical importance,... on the possibilities inherent in an Article V remedy' INCLUDING all of the ""dangers.""