A couple friends of mine encouraged me to check out Ron Paul, so I went to his website and read some of what he has there. Here are my reactions.
Racism: Paul thinks that liberty is the solution to racism, because part of liberty is free-market capitalism which rewards individual achievement and not skin color. This might work...if we were living 400 years ago. As it is, we are living in a society that has been shaped by racism, and free-market capitalism can't change 400 years of social constructs. Free market capitalism doesn't only reward individual achievement, it rewards those who have money and opportunity. It is far easier to achieve when you are handed money and opportunity. Government needs to be proactive in righting the drastic inequalities in our nation. A poor child who is a student in a poor school system will have little chance of attending college, and free-market capitalism isn't going to change that, so that person's children will also grow up poor and without opportunity, and is more likely to end up in prison.
Taxes: Ron Paul is for lower taxes. Well, that sounds good. He thinks the government wastes a lot of money. I agree. But I don't think that all people should have their taxes lowered, sorry to any rich people reading this, but I think you should pay more. America used to be that way, and it worked pretty well, our economy and society were quite healthy back in those days. I just read an article in Time magazine about Denmark. Denmark has considerably higher taxes than we do, they also have 3% unemployment, 5 weeks paid vacation, a dynamic economy, and a generous welfare state.
Immigration: Paul wants to lock down the borders, kick out all "illegal" immigrants, and make it harder for people to get here legally. The reason we have so much illegal immigration in the first place is that it's hard to get here legally. Why do people want to come here? Their lives are hard. Instead of spending so much money on wars, why don't we use some of that to better living conditions in the countries that these illegal immigrants are coming from? If the government isn't doing it, why don't we work toward it as citizens. Tomorrow, we will spend enough money to provide clean drinking water to everyone in the world. Wow. If we right some of the social injustices around the world, people would be happier staying where they're at.
Ron Paul claims he is strongly pro-life, and it seems that he is fighting abortion as much as he can, but he is opposed to any form of gun control, including measures outlawing assault weapons and handguns. If unborn lives are so important, shouldn't born lives be at least as important? How can you justify letting people carry handguns and own assault weapons when they take so many lives, both intentionally and accidentally?
Ron Paul wants us out of the United Nations. The organization may not be perfect, but that is at least partially our fault, for expecting others to follow their rules, but obeying them ourselves and instead doing whatever we feel like. Leaving the UN would give the US even less global credibility and respect. We should try to work with the UN, instead of doing things that undermine their influence.
Paul doesn't want the US to be a part of anything bigger than the US. No UN, no trade agreements, nothing. He doesn't like the WTO "imposing" regulations on us. He doesn't want the ICC to bring our soldiers to trial. I'm scared for what would happen to international relations if he was elected. Does Paul not realize that globalization has been going on for some time now, and the United States is incapable of being 100% independent? If we ignore everything the international community thinks that we should do, it won't help our trade, it will hurt it. And it certainly won't make us any safer, it will make us more liable to terrorist attacks.
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I'm glad you took the time to check him out and I enjoyed reading your thoughts. Thanks for being dedicated enough to digging deeper into things to check him out.
I can see where many of your thoughts are coming from. You make some valid points and I don't want to "debate" you through blog comments. It'd be much more fun in person!
With that said, a couple of thoughts...
There is a fundamental disconnect in thinking between people from various backgrounds. Ron Paul is a libertarian (and I think I am too). Libertarian philosophy is simple: the government is not very good at doing anything. Therefore, any time you can get the government out of things, circumstances will improve.
Can you point to almost anything that the government does well? There are a few programs that are well-run here and there, but for most things, government is the most inefficient vehicle for accomplishing something. It is a massive bureaucracy and is inherently wasteful. The reason it is wasteful is that there is no profit motive for any of the workers. It is a power struggle at the top and a freeloader struggle at the bottom. There is no incentive to conserve resources (I was thinking about this last week as I drove past the local city public works lot and admired there huge parking lot full of new trucks. In my opinion, the 4-year-old trucks they had previously were working perfectly fine. My business would have driven the old ones. However, the tax money's rolling in and it has to be spent, right?)
That idea--that it is not the government's job to take care of you, it's your job to take care of you (and it's your job to take care of your neighbor too) underpins every one of the philosophies you talked about.
Racism? The government has been oh so effective at being fair in the past (MLK, police gangs, lynchings, etc.). Of course it'll now be able to effectively promote equal treatment? In my opinion, never. All it will do is hatch a bunch of well-meaning policies that make no sense to try to promote the under-privileged to no avail. The best plan? Get the government out of things and let individual citizens work hard, prove themselves, and let those of us who don't see color fight racism ourselves. It's not the government's job, it's the citizens' jobs. And if the citizens aren't going to make something happen, the government never will.
Taxes? Get the government out of my pocket and leave me alone and look how much I'll be able to do with my own money. Sure, there are some evil, greedy rich people. There are also some evil, greedy broke people. The government can't legislate peoples' hearts. All they'll do is take more money from the productive citizens (you might disagree, but I believe wealth is created by productive people, not by evil) and put it into the hands of a bunch of greedy politicians who will fund their pet projects (most often suggested by their most influential lobbyists' agenda). Leave me alone and let me put my money where it'll do some good. I guarantee it'll go farther than the good ole' US Government can accomplish.
Gun control? Just leave me alone. There are plenty of laws on the books, let's enforce them. If somebody murders somebody? Throw them in jail. I don't care if it's with a gun, a car, a baseball bat, or a gallows. Throw them in jail.
Freedom to own guns makes sense if you're philosophically distrustful of the government. That's the philosophy upon which the U.S. was founded and it continues for many people today. What's the first thing that any despotic, tyrannical dictator does? Take away the guns from the people and make sure the military has all it needs. (See Hitler's famous quote for support.)
Sorry for the ramble, but I'll finish up.
Last thing. I was surprised how you mentioned terrorism. Perhaps you might reconsider that one? I don't think you said what you meant?
According to the 9/11 report, Bin Ladin's stated reason for attacking the U.S. was the U.S. military bases in Arab lands, especially Saudi Arabia. Maybe people would like us better if we talked to everybody, but as long as we insist on occupying the entire world with our military and controlling the world's economy, don't you think much of the hatred will continue?
Here's an interesting quote from an essay written by Paul, found at
http://www.antiwar.com/paul/?articleid=6712
"The clincher is this: the strongest motivation, according to Pape, is not religion but rather a desire "to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from the territory the terrorists view as their homeland."
"The best news is that if stopping suicide terrorism is a goal we seek, a solution is available to us. Cease the occupation of foreign lands, and the suicide missions will cease. Between 1982 and 1986, there were 41 suicide terrorist attacks in Lebanon. Once the U.S., the French, and Israel withdrew their forces from Lebanon, there were no more attacks. The reason the attacks stop, according to Pape, is that the Osama bin Ladens of the world no longer can inspire potential suicide terrorists despite their continued fanatical religious beliefs."
Anyway, good thoughts Steve. Keep thinking and challenging. I always enjoy reading what you're thinking about.
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