The Revolutionary Update, Mark

(This is an email conversation between my cousin Mark Hocamp and I about the Revolutionary Presidential Candidate, Ron Paul)
12/28/07

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Newhouse.

I hope that all is well on the Dark Continent this time of year. I went to Chucktown for Christmas and had a splendid time indeed! I guess thouse of us here on the stateside need to start planning for your welcome home party. Hey by the way, what's up with Tyler? We were going to have a little get together a couple of weeks ago and I went ahead and called him to see if he was doing anything but his voice mail said he no longer operates that phone- I hope he is surviving.

Anyhow, RP doesn't necessarily want to advance an isolationist policy, he wants us to be more non-interventionist. I disgaree with you that the U.S. needs to be more focused outward these days. I think we need to be more focused on ourselves. Why are we spending tax dollars on feeding the starving kids in Africa when we neglect our own? And the money we send to Africa almost never gets to the people who need it. It ends up in the hands of war lords who are exploiting their own people for profit. The only way to cure worldwide problems is through the intervention of programs such as the one you work for. Foreign intervention fails, has always failed, and will continue to fail. The private sector can do more for those in need than bureaucrats ever could. The reason why Paul wants to pull out of the U.N. is because he feels that the U.N. has lost sight of its original purpose. The UN is meant to be an organized body present merely to stymie the possibility of WW3. The UN, as of late, has become a corrupt body that gets involved in many satellite conflicts that somehow end up profiting those who desire to get involved. Kofi Annan's sons are millionaires because they have had business interests in conflicts that the UN has indulged in. He also feels that the US has become a subservient body to the UN. If the UN feels that they need to enter a conflict, guess whose troops they send under foreign command? You got it- U.S troops. Why should we be spending money and losing our own to conflicts which will only result in some profiteer's deeper pockets?

Paul sees the inherent corruptness behind those who want to make war and he wants to stop it. He wants to make our economy stronger, not line the pockets of foreign war lords. if the UN was used for its original purpose, he may or may not have a problem with it. But for now, with the fact that we have a thousands of troops in dozens of countries, we cannot refute the fact that we are spread too thin and have made ourselves very vulnerable to attacks from the outside. Not to mention that because we have chosen to intervene in everyone else's affairs, we have essentially pissed off even moderate countries (read Turkey).

We are setting ourselves up for a fall and if we do not get our priorities straight, we will end up as the powers did during the colonial, imperialistic era - Spain, Britain, Portugal, France. These nations are still recovering from their flawed foreign policies from two centuries ago. They have a shaken national identity, mediocre economies, and militaries that have no prowess to avert full-fledged attacks.

I hope that this explanation finds you in good spirits. And hey, the offer still stands. If you need me to fedex some condoms or any other essentials to your hole in the ground, I can. Let me know.

MH




What up Mark,

Check it out, so Barry got engaged! He's gettin married next summer, so Ill be comin home for a few weeks before the second year. mark it dude.
tyler quit his job. pretty awesome. he sounds pretty stoked about the whole thing, trying to change from a 55hr/wk horse of a job to something he likes to do for a cut in pay. i guess he had to turn his phone over when he turned in the reigns.

I agree we need to stop sticking our nose in other people's problems, but how else could we institute an 'intervention of programs' without going abroad. Sure, programs like Americorps give citizens an opportunity to help the country domestically, but I feel like America needs to adopt a more diplomatic policy of foreign affairs by marketing community development programs like Peace Corps to young people.

foreign intervention has failed because there wasn't a way to channel funds to the people who could use it. with things like microcredit the barriers are removed. with programs like the peace corps and USAID, people are getting trained and learning how to run a business. if you put those together, its only a matter of time until poverty goes away.

why should people join the peace corps? same reason tyler quit his job and you're thinking about it. work sucks. work is stress, and i feel like so many people would rather be somewhere else. im not trying to gloat, only to prove a point by saying that i love my job. why? because there's no stress. i go my own pace. the peace corps is designed so that you can come out here for two years and smoke weed or you can treat it as a job and work your ass off doing what you want.

Many international programs are failing because of corruption and a slew of many other things that go wrong with big organizations. The question is, do we reinvent the wheel by reestablishing those connections between countries, or do we encourage americans to work for the government, comb through the bullshit then lead a more honest program when they get through the ranks.

the us has stayed on top in the past by constantly reinventing itself. i think the future of america won't be to focus more on ourselves, it will require us to change the way we think about business, how we spend our time. there needs to be a major focus on reducing energy expenditure and assisting developing countries. i think these are rising industries that people haven't yet wrapped their head around. imagine, my friend nick and i sell solar stills to the local government here while we train capeverdeans how to do it, we broadcast the progress of the program on youtube. thats actual reality tv. people will cream their pants to give money to this knowing their contributing to something good. i think these types of innovative green industries will reshape television and i believe americans will be the catalyst to putting a new face on diplomacy.

what about war? the soldiers of tomorrow will be equipped with language and an engineering degree. it's not about winning the war, it's about putting a roof over people's heads.

i like ron paul. I don't think he stands a chance because of the closed-mindedness of most of the country. I think this will change though, not through politics, but through the slow process of angry citizens like you and i, bringing morality to the american government and using the internet to facilitate communication between the rich and the poor.

~i love debate,
peace my brotha