Thread: Ron Paul doesn't remember what he wrote in his newletters?

Originally Posted by Bill Huffman

Fiscally conservative Democrat beliefs are not that far off from Ron Paul are they? For example, I think we spend way too much on our military. We should stop trying to be the policeman for the whole world. I like Ron Paul's views on that better than Obama's. As another example, for all the money we wasted in Iraq we could have funded every American's medical expenses for years, probably. Okay maybe the last only supported Ron Paul's ideas half way. Which I guess supports both of our points. :-D

Who would be a fiscal conservative and a social liberal, though? That's the problem with the libertarian platform. It satisfies very few.

On foreign policy, I think Paul is pretty accurate in his understanding of foreign affairs, especially with the notion of blowback.

On economic policy, I think he's out of his mind. Austrian economics are bunk, IMO, and he endorses that school of thought fully.

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Originally Posted by StefanM

Who would be a fiscal conservative and a social liberal, though? That's the problem with the libertarian platform. It satisfies very few.

While by no means a majority, I think there's a growing undercurrent of people in the U.S. who would prefer less government in both the fiscal and social spheres. But the major parties don't nominate many candidates who hold such views, and the media ignores other candidates, which ensures they can't compete.

On foreign policy, I think Paul is pretty accurate in his understanding of foreign affairs, especially with the notion of blowback.

Agreed.

On economic policy, I think he's out of his mind. Austrian economics are bunk, IMO, and he endorses that school of thought fully.

Well, when Keynesianism isn't working and mainstream economics is useless not only as a predictive science but often even to explain things after the fact, why shouldn't someone take another look at the Austrians? And note that different Austrian economics say somewhat different things. You may not agree with von Mises, but find Röpke makes more sense, for example.

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Originally Posted by SteveFoerster

While by no means a majority, I think there's a growing undercurrent of people in the U.S. who would prefer less government in both the fiscal and social spheres. But the major parties don't nominate many candidates who hold such views, and the media ignores other candidates, which ensures they can't compete.

This may be true, especially about the media. I do wonder, however, how many people really want to make the cuts necessary for a libertarian-style approach. It's easy to get behind things like cutting welfare, etc. if you don't receive those benefits, but when people start losing things that directly affect them, I think we are likely to find fewer supporters.

Well, when Keynesianism isn't working and mainstream economics is useless not only as a predictive science but often even to explain things after the fact, why shouldn't someone take another look at the Austrians? And note that different Austrian economics say somewhat different things. You may not agree with von Mises, but find Röpke makes more sense, for example.

A fair point. Paul's presentation of it is overly simplistic, though, and at least the version of Austrian economics he seems to espouse is questionable, IMO.

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Originally Posted by StefanM

This may be true, especially about the media. I do wonder, however, how many people really want to make the cuts necessary for a libertarian-style approach. It's easy to get behind things like cutting welfare, etc. if you don't receive those benefits, but when people start losing things that directly affect them, I think we are likely to find fewer supporters.

That's true. I think there are a hell of a lot of people who want government to be smaller. At least one survey (I forget the specifics, so I expect people to take this with a grain of salt) said that 22% of Americans were in the libertarian quadrant, meaning wanting less government in both fiscal and social areas. But there's a difference between wanting less and wanting none, and I expect the percent of people who want the latter is very small.

Originally Posted by Bill Huffman

Fiscally conservative Democrat beliefs are not that far off from Ron Paul are they? For example, I think we spend way too much on our military. We should stop trying to be the policeman for the whole world. I like Ron Paul's views on that better than Obama's. As another example, for all the money we wasted in Iraq we could have funded every American's medical expenses for years, probably. Okay maybe the last only supported Ron Paul's ideas half way. Which I guess supports both of our points. :-D

What brother Huffman said! Ditto.

Abner