Ron Paul put together a series of very powerful arguments in his book The Revolution: A Manifesto.
His intellectualism is a breath of fresh air when compared to the populist, illogical sound-bite rhetoric of Obama supporters.If you haven’t read the book yet, please buy it immediately and read it. It’s only 173 pages, and can be read in a single sitting.
Now, before I go and dump on Ron Paul, I must say that I agree with him 99.9% of the time. We really, really did ourselves a disservice by electing Obama when Ron Paul was ready and willing to take the helm.
Okay, having said that, I will now dump on Ron Paul. Two things.
First, the same issue that came up in the presidential debates. In his book, Dr. Paul writes, in reference to the 500,000 Iraqi children who died as a result of sanctions:
“If Americans lost that many of their family members, friends, and fellow citizens, would they not seek to hunt down the perpetrators, and be unsatisfied until they were apprehended?”
Dr. Paul seems rather sympathetic. One might wonder if he was not planning a presidential pardon for any and all terrorists of Arabic descent.
No, I do not believe that was Dr. Paul’s intention. I believe his intention was to emphasize the risk we run when we are, to use his word, “hyper-interventionist”.
The problem is, he blamed the victim in doing so. He also sounded like a wimp. If Ron Paul believes that we shouldn’t intervene because intervening exposes us to blowback, then by the same logic we should not have intervened in Hitler’s plans to exterminate the Jews.
The fact is, we should intervene when we are morally obligated to do so, regardless of how many terrorists they send our way. And we should refrain from intervening when it is morally right to do so (99.9% of the time).
Either way, the fact that terrorists may come to the US and kill us should not be part of the equation. To base our decisions on that fear, instead of basing them solely on our moral obligations, is cowardice.
The second issue I have with Ron Paul is his undue concern for how the rest of the views us.
The rest of the world is astonished at this refusal to speak frankly about the reality of our situation. – page 15
Such nonsense … makes the rest of the world wonder about our sanity. – page 24
The concern for world opinion is especially odd considering Dr. Paul’s (correct) opposition to the UN, the WTO and other international central planning organizations.
We should act according to our own principles, regardless what the world thinks of us. I’m sure much of Europe thinks we should have higher taxes and more welfare state institutions. To hell with them and their socialism.
Long live individual freedom.
