| | Ed, I agree that Ron Paul's politics are most libertarian, which means most compatible with individual rights and liberty. Dr. Paul is tops on economic issues, because he is the only candidate who has studied and understands the economics of von Mises, Rothbard, and Hayek. This is why only Paul supports a gold standard, as the cure for our destructive fiat money system; this is why Dr. Paul advocates repealing the vast burden of state programs and taxes, since he understands why free market processes would enrich all Americans, especially including those at the margins of society. And of course, only Dr, Paul advocates returning to a sane and ethical foreign policy of Don't Tread on Me and We'll Mind Our Own Business. In fact, Ron Paul is the only candidate in either party who grasps the inexorable connection between the BIG STATE and Wielding a Big State Stick abroad. He's the only candidate who is willing to state out loud that our foreign policy actually threatens the lives and rights of Americans from foreign blowback. He's the only one who is willing to state publically that US foreign adventuring is sending Americans into bankruptcy.
In contrast, Fred Thompson sneers at Dr. Paul's thoughtful and clear advocacy of a return to a gold standard and bristles at the thought of ending aggressive military adventures abroad.
Finally, it is sad to read Robert Bidinotto's attacks on Ron Paul, which employ a blatant double standard. Robert takes great offense at border-line racial comments made under Paul's name in his Congressional newsletter 20 years ago. Robert insists that all ahould recoil in disgust and outrage from such commentary that signals (supposedly) imperfect appreciation for the implications of individualism.
But I see no expression of outrage on this site by Robert concerning the record of his favorite, Rudy Giuliani, whom Robert has characterized as (paraphrasing) representing many of the best virtues of Americans. Of course, one can set aside Giuliani's far from admirable record as Mayor, (favoring, as I seem to recall, gun control and other nanny-state interventions) on the grounds that none of the other "respectable" Republican cadidates is ideal, and so one must choose. But one ought to recall the event that launched Giuliani's political career: his thuggery as US attorney in New York, in which he wrecked the career of an innocent man and brilliant financier, Mike Miliken, whom he dragged into court on trumped up charges based on vaporous and indefineable "technicalities". Miliken served several years behind bars and paid a fine to the federal governemnt of $500 million dollars, all for the purpose of advancing Giuliani's "career".
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