Political Strip Clubs

While hurricane Issac is decimating Louisiana with more than 25 inches of rain, Hurricane Mitt has made landfall in Florida, flooding and washing away every last bit of hope for positivity in a political campaign run by those with the most bribes – er – campaign donations.

Hurricane Isaac and Hurricane Mitt have a lot in common. They both come out of nowhere during a certain season, completely unwanted and largely devastating. They are both swirling tempests of force, changing directions unexpectedly and forcing people from their homes.

I’ll only make two comments about the Republican National Convention in Florida. The first is that visiting Republicans apparently have a penchant for strip clubs. This CNN story claims that strip clubs in cities that host the Republican convention become overrun – the average Republican will spend $150 at a strip club during the convention, while a Democrat will spend around $50 during their own convention. I think it makes complete sense that people involved in politics are the same people who enjoy seedy strip clubs. The exercise of political power is not unlike rubbing sweaty breasts into your face for money.

Let me explain. Strippers will come out on stage or go in the backroom with a visiting sleazebag and do almost anything, as long as the dollar bills continue to get shoved into their panties. They will dance, be provocative, and appeal to people’s base instincts, leaving them in a zombie-like trance where all common sense flies out the window and they fork over their cash like it’s on fire. At the end of the day, the customer has gotten nothing to show for the experience except for an empty wallet and some cigarette-scented clothes. The stripper, on the other hand, gets a handful of tax-free cash and never sees the guy again.

Are you seeing the connection yet?

The second thing I’ll say about the convention is that Ron Paul was completely cheated. He was not allowed to speak (unless he endorsed Romney) and the delegates were all changed to rig the vote for Romney. It’s a no-rules, anything-goes circle jerk with the guy wearing magic underwear in the middle.

By the way, where are all these Mitt Romney supporters? I haven’t seen so much as a bumper sticker or a lawn sign or a whisper in the dark alley. Ron Paul, people, it seems, are everywhere. I see Ron Paul bumper stickers. Lawn signs. Stickers on lampposts. T-shirts. Hats. Anything that fits the words “Ron Paul,” I have seen. Why did those most passionate about a candidate lose to those who don’t seem at all passionate about issues?

If I believed in voting, the death of the Ron Paul campaign may have hit me a lot harder. Instead, I just shrug and chalk it up under one word, which is one of the world’s great evils, and that’s simply:

“Statism.”

In any case, let’s just do the only thing we can do to both political parties: Ignore it. Turn your back. Don’t patronize the political strip clubs.

Also, in regards to the real hurricane, let’s hope the levee system holds in New Orleans, Louisiana. $14 billion was spent to repair it. Yes, that’s the actual figure. $14 billion. In comparison, only 4% of that, or $525 million (through July) was spent on hurricane Mitt. It’s not all about the donations, though. It’s the backroom deals that would really blow you away.

Bitcoin on the High Seas

Meanwhile, in the world of bitcoin, an estimated 490,000 BTC have been stolen by the founder of the Bitcoin Savings and Trust, known only as “pirateat40.” At the current bitcoin price of just under $11 per coin, that’s about $5.4 MILLION. That’s big. As you might have noticed, that’s more money than Mitt Romney has raised in his campaign. That’s a giant ship loaded down with riches that just got attacked and boarded by, well, a pirate.

It was a ponzi scheme. Investors were promised high returns on their bitcoin deposits. The ease and anonymity with which bitcoin can be moved around the world is a double-edged sword – one that this particular pirate has slashed quite a few people with. No one knows who he is or where the bitcoins are.

So a word of advice if you own bitcoins: keep them offline. Use encryption software to backup your digital wallet. For help, I recommend using the community forums by clicking here. It’s too early to trust any third party exchange with a large amount of bitcoins. However, the fact that it was so easy for pirateat40 to disappear rich without a trace is also a testament to the value of bitcoin: a store of wealth that can be moved instantly anywhere on the globe that has an internet connection, and virtually anonymously. Think of the invention of the gun. Hunting and defending oneself became 100 times easier. 

The dangers of the wild seemed smaller and tamer with such portable defense. It cut down hunting time significantly and gave people more time for other tasks. It also meant that someone else could shoot you.

Nick Foley
The Basic Liberty Letter
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