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Ralph Benko, author of
The Websters’ Dictionary: How to use the Web to transform the world (a free and complete eBook version may be downloaded), combines the best qualities of geek (fascination with technology, reads Wired Magazine and Technology Review) and wonk (immersion in the policy/advocacy process, reads Politico and The Washington Examiner) with the ability to help normal people harness both. In October 2010, he was awarded the “Trophée du choix des Internauts” (“The People’s Choice”) in the World e-Democracy Awards 2010 from the World e-Gov Forum, Paris, France, chosen by world vote from among “the 10 who are changing the world of Politics and the Internet” as nominated by PoliticsOnline.com. (See photo, by Laura Kuhn, above, of the awards ceremony at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.)
He is a senior advisor to the American Principles Project and principal of Capital City Partners, LLC of Washington DC, a respected public affairs firm. Benko was called upon by the U.S. Treasury Department to testify before the U.S. Gold Commission on the constitutional history of American monetary policy, founded the Prosperity Caucus gathering of supply-side and free-market economists; served on detail as a deputy general counsel to the President’s Commission on Privatization and on White House agency staff under President Reagan; and holds a B.A. from Amherst College and a J.D. from Boston University Law School and is admitted to the bar of the State of New York. He has served twice as judge for the Templeton Freedom Awards at the Atlas Foundation for the Innovative New Media.
He is a member of the Tea Party Patriots and is self-described as a populist conservative Republican (although some of his best friends are liberal Democrats) and speaks frequently on populism, on human dignity, and on effective Web design, development, and management practices.
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Ralph Benko (May 30, 2012)
The 2012 presidential election is shaping up to include an argument over opportunity versus equality. The American economy has been stagnant for a decade. Income for... more
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Ralph Benko (May 23, 2012)
All of his former rivals now unite behind the GOP’s presumptive nominee, Gov. Mitt Romney. Conservatives and most libertarians are joining together in opposition to the now... more
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Ralph Benko (May 16, 2012)
Would you happily sign an IOU for $126,000 to allow Barack Obama to keep his Big Spender status going? In some ways, that’s the bottom line on how people are going to vote... more
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Ralph Benko (May 02, 2012)
May 1, International Workers Day, has been designated by the left for the “first General Strike in American History:” A Day Without the 99%. No Work—No School—No... more
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Ralph Benko (Apr 26, 2012)
“Don’t confuse me with the facts. I’ve got a closed mind.” These words were famously uttered by Rep. Earl Landgrebe (R-IN), a Nixon partisan to the bitter end, at the... more
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Ralph Benko (Apr 18, 2012)
An earlier column, “Homo Politicus,” offered an explanation of why Washington does not learn from experience. (Recap: Washington elites rarely operate from observed... more
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Ralph Benko (Apr 11, 2012)
Why is Rep. Barney Frank rounding up his liberal legislative militia to oppose the Sound Dollar Act of 2012? This is a bill recently introduced by Rep. Kevin Brady, top... more
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Ralph Benko (Mar 28, 2012)
Mitt Romney is the favorite to win the Republican nomination for president. If nominated, the campaign against Obama may well hinge on the dramatically different views on... more
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Ralph Benko (Mar 21, 2012)
“The only threat to our freedom is the concentration of power. Congress is using its unfettered ability to generate debt for its own benefit at the expense of the American... more
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Ralph Benko (Mar 07, 2012)
Kelantan Islamic Gold Dinar
In a noteworthy essay in the Financial Times entitled “West needs to go back to capitalist basics”, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad forthrightly observes... more
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Ralph Benko (Feb 29, 2012)
On a recent episode of the Glenn Beck Show, Beck had an exchange, summarized here, with presidential candidate Rick Santorum.
“I think you’ve got to put... more
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Ralph Benko (Feb 22, 2012)
"The gold standard is a modern, digital, information-sharing, global operating standard. Moreover, it is a stable, networking, efficient, price transmission system in the... more
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Ralph Benko (Feb 15, 2012)
Who stands in opposition to “the [central] bank of the United States, public debt, a navy, a standing army, American manufacturing, federally funded improvement of the... more
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Ralph Benko (Feb 09, 2012)
243,000 new jobs? This is more than respectable. No unseemly disparagement by Republicans welcome, nor victory lap by Democrats. A pox on both their... more
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Ralph Benko (Feb 01, 2012)
Newt Gingrich is the Tom Sawyer in the 2012 presidential narrative. There are legitimate reasons to support Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum (as there are to support... more
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Ralph Benko (Jan 29, 2012)
Saul Alinsky, author of Rules for Radicals, was one of the 20th Century’s most iconic provocateurs. “Alinskyite” has become a banal epithet on the Right. Many conservative... more
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Ralph Benko (Jan 28, 2012)
One of Newt Gingrich’s rivals just before the South Carolina primary criticized him for his claim of having created millions of jobs, saying “Congressmen taking... more
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Ralph Benko (Jan 11, 2012)
The game of Political Musical Chairs seems to be propelling Jon Huntsman toward outperforming expectations in New Hampshire. The Wall Street Journal’s rhapsody that his... more
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Ralph Benko (Jan 05, 2012)
Happy New Year! Consider Keynes’s last words: “I should have drunk more champagne.” To avert similar rue when our own lives end let us pop an extra cork to celebrate a world... more
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Ralph Benko (Jan 04, 2012)
Last week, passing nearly uncelebrated, occurred the 20th anniversary of the formal dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. There is much to celebrate about... more