I am proudly liberal. I am not an economic libertarian or social conservative.
With that, I heard Ron Paul interviewed on National Public Radio yesterday. Of course like any politician, he was playing to his audience. On NPR, he’s talking about ending the war in Iraq and not, say, overturning Roe v. Wade. But with what I heard him say, he sure makes a lot of sense. I’d take him over George Bush any day. Of course, I’d take anybody over George Bush.
When it comes to the war on the drugs (he’s against it) and U.S. foreign policy (on Georgia: “Who cares who started it?” “Why are our troops there in the first place?”), I like him. And unlike too many of his supporters (those that read and comment on this blog excepted, of course), he doesn’t sound like the crackpot he probably is.
Ron Paul often makes lots of sense.
-He’s against the war on drugs. -He’s in favor of tax simplification.
-He thinks its criminal for the government to steal our money by printing more of it (inflation). -He’s for overturning Roe vs Wade because its bad law. If you aren’t in favor of what the Constitution says, you have the option of passing an amendment. But since abortion isn’t mentioned in the constitution it is a states issue.
He has more than his fair share a crazy supporters but he also has a lot of reasonable ones. Sadly most people don’t know where he stands on most issues because most people don’t take the time to listen.
Also, the Ron Paul Girl on youtube is cool too.
Hmmm, I’m pro-abortion (I like saying that more than pro-choice) and I don’t think Roe v. Wade makes constitutional sense.
And I would love tax simplification if it made rich people (you know, at least the McCain definition of $5 million or more a year) pay much more.
But I think Paul’s macro-economic policies would be an unmitigated disaster. Thieves or not, I would never swap what we got for some gold standard and the economic cycles of the 18th Century.
To paraphrase Chris Rock, “Like the ghetto was so nice before the Federal Reserve Board!” And sometimes printing money just means more money.
All that said, unlike most politicians, I think Ron Paul is more right than wrong. …and so is the Ron Paul Girl.
And more right than wrong is probably better than what we will get from the professional political class that pulls the strings now.
As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, I have some strong libertarian leanings, but I would be on the left side of that movement. Essentially, I would accept the lable liberal or left-libertarian (to hardcore right libertarians, I’m just another member of the non-communist left). Watching Ron Paul debate the empty suits…err, the other Republican candidates, was really quite inspiring. I thought to myself, “wow, no one says that kind of stuff in a U.S. political debate!”
Paul’s devotion to hardcore Austrian economics isn’t really my cup of tea, but he also doesn’t favor dismantling the welfare state immediately (see his book “Revolution.” He does think the welfare state has led to a culture of dependence, and I am more sympathetic to his claims than I would have been in the past. His stance on the drug war is great (get the feds away from this and good things might happen), and his non-interventionist views on foreign policy may be just what the doctor ordered (ooh, sorry for the pun) after the Iraq debacle. Since I live in blue state IL, I’ve actually considered writing him in on th ballot, primarily to fuck w/ the establishment.
Indeed, I’m ever so glad they have flattened out the business cycle.