Can somebody please explain the appeal of Ron Paul to me (and why his ideas are bad)

Like everybody else, I see a lot of Ron Paul signs while driving. One of my coworkers is seriously considering supporting him. What is it about his platform that appeals to people, and why do you think his ideas are not good?

(NOTE: I'm NOT a Ron Paul supporter. I'm just hoping somebody might be able to quickly summarize the matter, as I'm not particularly good at such things.)

I don't vote for or support any repubs.

He also wants to abolish Gov, public education, etc. like a true libetarian. :eyes:

:eyes:

And hearkens back to the "government is the problem" idiocy of the Reagan years. Lots of Repukes view him as the one candidate who will let them be anti-war but pro-defense.

Otherwise, he's a typical Republican, if not even worse.

sans the bloodthirsty warmongering.

There's a lot of other reasons why I think that Ron Paul and his ideas are bad, but this one issue is the easier way to separate the wheat from the chaff.

pro:

he believes in the constitution and does not buy into american globilazation and warmongering tactics.

con: he is a reagan economics fan, deregulate government out of everything, privitize education, social security, the american money system (yeah like its not private already, hello federal reserve) basically he wants to leave american in the economic hands of corporations which have done such a swell job already. Oh yeah racists love him because he does not believe in laws that give special privliges to certain groups (ie a company can fire you for anything, even if they just don't like the color of your skin)

Since his supporters(obnoxious libertarians, mostly) make my teeth ache. This is what I got from a my limited exposure:

The Good:

He wants to pull us out of Iraq and the rest of our worldwide bases. This is a plus from my perspective- we suck playing global imperial masterminds.

The Bad:

He's for deregulation, which means the corps will run wild(as if they aren't already). He's also for voodoo free market, so that will again favor mega-corps.

Basically, if he wasn't anti-imperialism, I would have trashed him in the same place I put Mittens, Ghouliani, The Actor and the latercome bible banger.

He wants every, little embryo to grace the earth with its presence, but he doesn't want the government to help provide it food, shelter, healthcare or education. Buck up, little embryo, starving to death only hurts for a little while.

He literally, seriously believes that Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, federal welfare, FEMA, OSHA, the EPA, the FDA, the IRS, the FBI, the CIA, the DHS, the Federal Reserve, the Dept. of Energy, the Dept. of Labor, and the Dept. of Education are all unconstitutional and should be abolished. He also believes that Roe v Wade was wrongly decided, as was Lawrence v. Texas (which legalized sodomy between consenting adults). Finally, he's a racist, as evidenced by some very nasty things he's written in the past:

"Indeed, it is shocking to consider the uniformity of opinion among blacks in this country. Opinion polls consistently show that only about 5% of blacks have sensible political opinions, i.e. support the free market, individual liberty, and the end of welfare and affirmative action…. Given the inefficiencies of what D.C. laughingly calls the “criminal justice system,” I think we can safely assume that 95% of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal.

If similar in-depth studies were conducted in other major cities, who doubts that similar results would be produced? We are constantly told that it is evil to be afraid of black men, but it is hardly irrational. Black men commit murders, rapes, robberies, muggings, and burglaries all out of proportion to their numbers."
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/12/26/ron-paul-95-percent-of-black-men-are-criminal/

They think that being a Ron Paul supporter makes them baaad to the bone, or somethin'.

Fucking Rove-like RRRepublicans but they think they are cool cause they oppose the war and use marijuana.

Considering the RP supporters I've encountered, I think you've got it!

I.e., Republicans who want to screw around, smoke pot and sleep in on Sundays.

It shouldn't take too long to see why his positions are no good. Here are a few of my favorites.

Ron Paul on the environment: enforcing property rights will end pollution.
Ron Paul on education: Leaving standards and funding up to individual states will allow our education system to become the envy of the modern world.
Ron Paul on consumer safety: Abolishing the FDA will ensure that no unsafe products reach consumers.
Ron Paul on health care: Eliminating regulation of the health-care industry will result in better coverage and lower premiums.
Ron Paul on racism: Dismantling the federal government will end racism.

.

I am linking it with some hesitation, but the piece and the ensuing discussion do cleanly lay out strong arguments for and against.

http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/index.php/2008/01/04/my-ron-paul-rant/

If you think that overthrowing the status quo is the first (and absolutely vital, no matter the cost) step in overthrowing imperialism and militarism, then this might be the way to go.

If you think overthrowing the status quo in this way will merely result in corporations moving in to absorb the power vacuum, and that civil liberties will be given more status on paper, but in reality will result in mass abuses, poverty, gross violations of women's rights and a wider spread of sweatshop labor, environmental damage and patriarchal and racial oppression, then this would be a stunningly bad tactic.

We've all suffered with GWB shoved up our asses for so long that even if the grin reaper himself were to be the next president it would surely be an improvement.

the homemade signs said No Taxes-vote Ron Paul. So I'd say that is the drawing card. Of course, these folks are rather short-sighted, as in order to eliminate taxes, Paul would eliminate things like Social Security and Medicare. He is also in favor of criminalizing abortion.

Screenprinting is a hobby and was a brief profession and I can spot it a mile away.

Don't buy it, gang--those are professionally designed and printed signs, every one of them.

gave way to the professionally printed ones that just say Ron Paul. The others, which were marked on pieces of boxes, had the reason-no taxes-which made me think this is why they were posted.

I hope you caught the debate last night in NH. That would explain a lot.

He's a right wing libertarian (as in the Libertarian Party), not a left wing libertarian (small l) that Kucinich, Gravel, Nader, Chomsky represent. The way I see it, how you view Ron Paul depends on where you are on the political compass. i.e., left vs. right, authoritarian vs. libertarian.

To a typical Republican, for example McCain or Giuliani, they will see him as slightly more conservative, but much too libertarian. Paul wants to end our global military domination of the world. He doesn't agree with the label of Islamo-fascist, but says that most Muslims are good people and it is the U.S. military and economic interference in the region that caused 911. So, bring it all home, all 550,000 of our troops around the world. We shouldn't be the world cop.

Ron Paul explains that the money that goes to our senseless military budget could be used for other programs such as health care or simply to allow a balance budget. We are starting to see what a $9 trillion dollar deficit is costing us by burdening future generations with our debt.

Regarding oil at $100/barrel, he explained last night that in terms of gold, oil hasn't risen at all. What has happened is that our currency was devalued tremendously and our military adventures have caused oil prices to sky rocket.

Ron Paul didn't vote for the IWR or the Patriot Act.

Regarding restoring the Constitution, privacy rights, repealing the Patriot Act, ending torture, Ron Paul has presented a bill into Congress that does that (H.R.3835).

Regarding taxes, social programs, immigration issues, Ron Paul is probably not your guy, but he raises a strong point by correctly identifying our war costs as preventing us from funding social programs. By some analyses, military spending is half of our budget, when all costs are considered such as interest on our debt, veterans benefits, etc.

Being a left wing libertarian or a libertarian socialist, Kucinich or Gravel are really my candidates, but of the top tier candidates, Edwards is the closest to that in his campaign against corporate interests. The biggest problem is really imperialism. Ron Paul is an ally in that fight.

Another way I view it is I agree with half of what Ron Paul says. And I agree with half of what Hillary Clinton says. I ask my self which half is more important. Not clear at all. One thing is clear is that the mainstream Democrats won't touch the issues that Ron Paul is right on. Only Kucinich, but he's not electable.

Next best choice is Edwards.

Here's a chart to help. Ron Paul is really in the fourth quadrant (Libertarian), but his (authoritarian) religious views like antiabortion move him up into the first quadrant.

...felt by regular Americans about the Iraq war.

appeals to the individual in you

if you don't want your tax dollars to go to the bunch of social programs that you don't benefit from, he is your man

if you don't want the government to impose any regulations on you 'for your own good' he is your man

if he was pro-iraq war, he would be leading in the republican field right now, it's hilarious that he is actually honest and would let his opposition to the iraq war sink his campaign, even though conservatives would love the rest of his positions

We have to get out of Iraq and stop our foreign entanglements or there won't be any money for education, healthcare, etc. Restoring the Constitution and The Bill of Rights is important.

When mentioning that he's anti-choice, would undermine if not outright get rid of the Dept. of Education, Soc. Security, etc., etc., his supporters don't think that Congress would allow his most outrageous concepts to happen. :crazy: Except for the true believers who write LTTEs in the local paper who actually think that his agenda is the way to go.

I see a lot of Ron Paul signs, too.