A Point about Ron Paul

I’ve been wondering, as has Glen Dean over at MCB, how many of Ron Paul’s supporters understand that his other positions run completely counter to the leftist ideologues that are now in his camp.

I think most of them do.

Sure, there are still the lamebrain people who keep envisioning a Paul/Kucinich ticket… which is an obvious sign of mental deficiency, given that Kucinich is a huge statist with socialist dreams for the United States, and Paul, well, is for the abolition of the vast majority of Federal power.

But most of what I see in the Paul camp are a group of people discovering for the first time, that Libertarianism is not just “Republicans that like weed” (though I imagine there are a good number of people who call themselves libertarian who fit that description) but its a philosophy that asks the question “Would we rather live free lives that understandably involve risk, or would we rather trade our freedoms for temporary security that really can’t be guaranteed?”

I come at this from a Christian perspective, I believe. If we are forced to do “good” then what we are doing is in no way good. Am I a good person because someone comes up to me at gunpoint and makes me give 40% of my income to them to  redistribute? Am I a good person because I vote for laws to keep people from engaging in activities that are dangerous only for the people directly involved? I don’t think so. I think the only measure of determining good is being free to make choices, and doing the right thing.

Would anyone in this audience go to their neighbor, berate him for not helping the poor enough, then force him at gunpoint to give away 20-50% of his/her check every week to feed them? I doubt it.

But that’s what the government does. It legalizes stealing. A large mass that pays zero income taxes votes people into office who raise taxes exponentially on a minority of people that is so small, that they will never have a voice in what they pay. Think of it as being in a group of ten people, you being one of these, and the other nine have far less resources than you, so they determine you are going to pay for everything, and if you don’t like it, they will kill you.

That is our tax system. Its unjust. While it may be just for taxes to be progressive, it surely is not just for more than half a country to pay next to nothing, while a small percentage of the populous funds the entire system. One could argue that they do it all ready by creating companies where the masses are employed.

Also, they are coming to find out that a small government is not nearly as likely to create an empire around the world. Libertarianism is against force in any way. You don’t force people to redistribute what they’ve earned, and you don’t force people to have the same political structure as you. Libertarianism comes down to this; force is immoral. If someone is not free to make a decision, they can never become a better person.

Thoughts?