RoR: Forum

Post 20

Friday, January 18 - 2:45pm

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Ron Paul has, like Aristotle and Thomas Jefferson had by holding slaves, his own problems. But, like Aristotle and Thomas Jefferson, his positives outweigh his negatives.

For a quarter of a century, every elected president has worked to advance this country more and more toward statist collectivism (though some, like GHW Bush, did it much more slowly than others, like GW Bush, did). Rand said that the overriding political issue was individualism vs. statism.

Ron Paul, warts and all, has been more of a champion of individualism than any other candidate -- with the possible exception of Fred Thompson.

Let's see a comparison of highly-relevant voting records and settle this issue once and for all.

Ed

Post 21

Friday, January 18 - 2:45pm

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Mr. Pilotte, go here, read it all, and follow the links.

I admit, "scumbag" was a completely inappropriate term to use against Lew Rockwell for expressing the views linked to in that entry.

However, my dilemma was that the more accurate term that I had in mind would have risked my blog being banned by the host site.

Post 22

Friday, January 18 - 2:49pm

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Ed, I've just added more links to and citations of statements and views of Ron Paul in my lengthy blog post on the topic.

I believe the material posted below the cover photograph might prove enlightening about whether he is a true champion of individual rights -- or, rather, of what one clever critic has labeled "Confederalism."

Post 23

Friday, January 18 - 2:54pm

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None of the other Republican candidates take a suicidal anti-US interests approach to foreign policy. None of the other Republican candidates to my knowledge has used racially charged paranoid conspiracy theory literature to raise funds for their political careers. Ron Paul warts and all, has a moral obligation to clear at least these circumstances of the newsletters he used to make money for his political career. He also has a moral obligation to return the campaign contributions given to him by racist organizations. He has the opportunity here to explain himself, make amends, call out who the ghostwriter is and if he still has regular contact with him then he can cease his association with him, and we can move on (but that still leaves us with a suicidal foreign policy stance of isolationism) to date Ron Paul has not demonstrated the scruples he claims he has. I think we have an obligation to judge others, fairly of course, and let the judged respond, and ultimately let the marketplace of ideas decide.

Post 24

Friday, January 18 - 7:16pm

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LOL, "Ann Coulter."   I'm surprised you didn't through a few "neo-cons" into your one liner, Steve.

It's amusing to see all of this "disappointment" and "sadness" from Paul's supporters.    Some counter arguments would be nice, but I won't hold my breath.

Geesh, the heat gets turned up a little bit, and poof!  "Support" turns into grumbling, off hand comparisons.

Bidinotto's blog is pure gold, but clearly a lead balloon to some. I think it's important to identify motives when confronted with something so hostile a cherished value. What are Robert's motives? Are they simply to malign a candidate for the sake of misalignment? What would he gain by this? Does any of this have merit, etc?

Instead of defensive, knee-jerk "blurts," how about some real thought?

Post 25

Saturday, January 19 - 1:53pm

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Robert,

I was hoping for a side-by-side comparison of all of the Republican candidates' voting records for the top-20 most-important issues facing our nation. I didn't get that kind of helpful insight from you increasing the number of hyper-links in your blog article. So I went online to try to find such a thing without success. If anyone can help, please do.

Here are the places I've visited. There may be a Republican voting record comparison somewhere within them -- but I failed to note such a thing from a cursory examination of them:

http://www.ontheissues.org/TX/Ron_Paul.htm
[supposedly has info of every Congress member on every issue]

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/p000583/
[The Washington Post's Votes Database]

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ron_Paul
[something called "Congresspedia"]

http://www.vote-smart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=BC031929
[Project Vote Smart]

http://www.opencongress.org/people/show/400311_ronald_paul
["Open Congress" by Sunlight Foundation and PPF (Participatory Politics Foundation?)]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Ron_Paul
[a Wiki on Paul's Political Positions]

Ed

Post 26

Saturday, January 19 - 2:16pm

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When I went here there was a Java link to a window of comparison for Bush and Kerry (2004). The comparison covered the following 8 issues (curiously, Foreign Affairs showed up at the end -- rather than alphabetically) ...

Abortion
Civil Liberties
Economy
Education
Energy/Resources
Health Coverage
National Security
Foreign Affairs

Is there anyone aware of a similar side-by-side comparison involving Ron Paul?

Ed

Post 27

Saturday, January 19 - 2:30pm

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There's a political quiz here which matches your answers to the candidates. My answers matched me up with the following candidatorial hierarchy ...

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