Ron Paul

About

Ron Paul sought the US Republican Party nomination for US president in 2008 and 2012.

Paul's 2012 candidacy inspired a particularly dogged flavor of followership; their low-key but repetitive and oblivious favoring of Paul inspired the term "Paulbot" to describe them.

Opinions About

• Woozle

Notes

Jeffrey Witthauer commented (links added):

Ron Paul is an inherently irrational man. For instance, Ron Paul disbelieves evolution, thinks global warming is a hoax, and has established himself as a strong, fundamentalist Christian just like the rest of the Republicans (understand the important word there is "fundamentalist", not Christian.)

So, we've established he's irrational. Next, he's a bigot who's against personal rights. He's blatantly stated that there is no such thing as a separation of church and state. So he's anti-constitution. He's stated that he disagrees with the Civil Rights Amendment. He's rabidly pro-life. And he supported DOMA. Now this is Ron Paul, who's entire schtick is being a libertarian in Republican clothing. But it's clear he only wants smaller government for people like him: straight white Christian men.

Finally, there's his specific plans. Ending the Fed is irresponsible and shows a lack of understanding of economics. That's the big one. Now it's tricky, because on the face it looks good. Unlike most politicians, Ron Paul isn't ignoring the danger of our spiraling debt or the potential devaluation of the dollar. However his solution is bunkum, it just doesn't work. We left the gold standard for a reason, because inflation is actually key to a healthy economy. And while the federal reserve has too much power, it also is what allows things like interstate commerce, and different banks to accept checks and payments from each other. What's needed is a REFORM of the Federal Reserve, not a gutting of it (which is a major problem with most Republicans. They would rather eliminate programs with problems rather than fix them, even if these programs contain vital components).

So while Ron Paul is clearly a better choice than most of the other Republicans (at least the lunatics, like Bachmann and Perry), he's still a nut. Ron Paul supporters get along by emphasizing how he's different than Republicans. Sadly, they've failed to recognize that he's also different from reality.

Follow-up questions:

• How is inflation important for a healthy economy? (I've seen this claim before.)
• Why is ending the Federal Reserve irresponsible? (Same...)

Links

Reference

• Wikipedia
• Conservapedia
• dKosopedia
• SourceWatch
• OnTheIssues

Official

• ronpaul.com: official homepage
• Ron Paul 2012: official campaign web site
• Ron Paul 2008: previous official campaign site; now redirect to ronpaul.com
• OnTheIssues: summaries of Paul's positions on a large number of areas

Related

• 2011/07/12 [L..T] headline::Rep. Ron Paul Slams Debt Ceiling with Grassroots Campaign

to file

• 2007-10-20 (opinion) What Would a Ron Paul Presidency Really Be Like?: Starting by presuming that the nation would go broke due to the lack of tax law enforcement, the author concludes: "The Nation fractures into local ad hoc governments and is overrun with foreign squatters. Many areas of the former US have been claimed by militant Islamics who institute Sharia law. The federal government has no power and is merely a figurehead institute. Ron Paul proclaims that this what the founding fathers envisioned and his job is done." Well, obviously we had a government before income tax, and it didn't regularly "go broke"...
• 2007-10-18 (news) Establishment Media Finally Admits Ron Paul Is Top Tier Candidate; Could Win Nomination "Ron Paul has mandate for equal time during Fox News debate" by Marty Eels
  • partial reprint (saving this link in case main article goes away)
• 2007-07-27 (article) Ron Paul: In for the Long Haul by Scott Sutton: details about the progress of Paul's campaign
• 2007-07-13 (news) Ron Paul: U.S. In "Great Danger" Of Staged Gulf Of Tonkin Style Provocation: "Congressman & presidential candidate warns of economic collapse precipitated by bombing of Iran"

Video

• 2007-12-19 Ron Paul Owns Neil Cavuto: "Ron Paul is side swiped with a question of campaign donations. Ron Paul hits back." The accusation is that Paul's campaign received $500 from a white supremacist and he doesn't intend to return it; Paul replies, well, why give it back to him? I'll spend it on better causes than he would.
• 2007-12-18 Ron Paul on Glenn Beck - Complete Interview: Glenn Beck interviews Ron Paul (~40 minutes)

official

From the Ron Paul 2008 campaign:

• 2007-07-31:
  • You Choose '08 Spotlight: Ron Paul on the IRS
  • You Choose '08 Spotlight: Ron Paul on the Second Amendment: argues that citizen empowerment, in the form of firearms, could have prevented the 9/11 airplanes from being taken over
  • You Choose '08 Spotlight: Ron Paul on Entitlements: argues for "free-market" medical care, and against socialized medicine
  • You Choose '08 Spotlight: Ron Paul on Healthcare: argues for the Medical Savings Account, which is apparently also supported by Bush (but how will this work if we do away with income taxes, as he also proposes?)
• 2007-05-30 Ron Paul is Bill Maher's New Hero