I saw Ron Paul interviewed on the PBS Jim Lehrer show a few days ago. I'd been seeing his name around Gather so I was glad he was on.
I thought he was a very exciting speaker. I LOVED his foreign policy (basically ... get out of everywhere). He's basically a good old fashioned Libertarian. That's also where I have trouble with him personally - since I'm very Democrat and think there are things that government should do (and can do well).
His view on health care seemed oddly old fashioned to me. He said he liked the old fashioned model of the church hospitals. Church hospitals are still around. I don't think their pricing model will ever go back to the past. Things have all gone corporate, especially hospitals - and that will not reverse no matter what - no way no how. Our next President has to be able to work with what we have now.
For abortion he wanted it to become a State issue. Since poor people won't be able to travel to the States that will end up allowing it, it will make abortion a thing only the rich enough can afford, and that might be unconstitutional. And he said that abortions are allowed up to one minute before birth in American - that's NOT how the compromise of Roe VS Wade works, at all! That was just wacky. Or he may have just misspoke because he can't be so dumb about something like that.
He didn't talk about global warming that I remember. I wonder what the Libertarian solution to that is.
Anyway. It was nice to hear a politician speak who CAN speak, and who didn't put me to sleep.
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Comments: 21
Or so they say.
If he did misspeak then he is not a good speaker. Thus, he can't speak. If he spoke correctly, then he's wacked. lol
After all, to quote you:
'politics is "the art of the possible".
Or so they say.'
Paul is simply a Federalist, he wants the government to be concerned only with issues delegated to them by the Constitution. Your global warming question is a Libertarian non issue, its not the governments area to deal with. The abortion issue is properly dealt with by the states, if its so popular then the states will approve of it with or without restrictions.
I support virtually all of his domestic issues, have problems with some of his foreign policy ones tho EXCEPT for getting us out of the UN.
This means the Federal Government's job is facilitate interstate commerce, defend the nation from attack, secure the borders, coin and issue the money, and not much else.
That coin and issue the money part is a big one; that job was given to the Congress by the Framers for very good reason. the Federal Reserve is unconstitutional, and can be found near the root of nearly every major problem we deal with in this country today.
Everything else should be in the hands of state and local governments.
For a good idea about the free market/libertarian (Ron Paul's) ideas about environmentalism, check out Bob Murphy's "The Politically Incorrect guide to Capitalism," which is an excellent all around book.
Here's a brief, but good overall description of how health care could be fixed without having to resort to handing ownership of our bodies and responsibility for our health over to politicians and bureaucrats: Four-step health care solution (Prof. Hermann Hoppe)
Guys like Ron Paul don't have much of a chance in our system, but the deserve one. Go out an vote for him if you can. If only to tell other Republicans and Democrats that it won't be "business as usual" this time.
Go Ron!