www.metafilter.com/66234/Ron-Paul-Spam
Mon, 29 Oct 2007 18:49:59 +0000 Message-ID: <0> From: "free koichi" To: Subject: Ron Paul Eliminates The IRS! BVhhqfH Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 17:02:36 +0000 MIME-Version: 10 Content-Type: text/plain;
There was a broad range of values and outlooks of the framers of the constitution, which is why it took so long. One of the silliest things people think is that they all agreed with each other, etc.
As EarBucket and TPS point out, there are plenty of examples of the humanness of his supporters. He will raise over $3 million today, breaking Kerry's internet single-day fundraising record.
I didn't think it fit so neatly onto a one-dimensional graph. Oh, it is a one-dimensional graph, but it's just a circle. Immediately next to the far-right libertarians are the anarchists, who are far-left. Anarcho-syndicalists are from another dimension, however.
At this point, whether he wins or loses the nomination, the damage has been done. If he wins, the old guard will stay away from the polls. If he loses (far more likely), then the Paulites will stay away from the polls.
Hell, even the Loose Change guys are easier to deal with than the damn Libertarians in jackboots. No, seriously, I saw a Ron Paul meet-up where half the organizers were wearing jackboots. I mean, I know they're fashionable and everything, but come on now, at least get proper pontoon pants if you are going to do that.
It'd be almost gratifying to be a peon slave to the (whatever) if only to know that someone somewhere has their shit that together. Not to say vastly powerful, rich groups aren't plugging away at their thing, but mostly it winds up all being a clusterfuck (to misquote Bucky Fuller). I'd feel like Elwood P Dowd - Paul: "They've taken over the federal reserve, UN troops are poised on the borders of the US to take over with black helicopters to put into internment camps everyone who can't be mind controlled and they've banned Christianity!" Paul: "Good heavens, man, Haven't you any righteous indignation?"
The Republicans get to hammer the Democrats about the war. At this point I'm nearly a single issue voter: end the war - in all its forms - and use the money to put the USA back together again. But would someone please tell me why a Republican has made it onto my list of candidates to consider? Not only through campaign posturing, but through concrete action in the House and Senate?
Seriously, the people doing the fundraising will either get high paying jobs to do this for other underdog candidates, or they will end up getting nailed for breaking campaign finance laws.
For that to happen, Paul would have to run as a third-party candidate, and I doubt that'll happen. If and when he loses the primary, he'll endorse somebody else. Some of his supporters will go home and forget to vote, but most of them will probably pick the next-least-repugnant candidate. Whether the next-least-repugnant candidate for most Ron Paul supporters happens to be a Democrat or Republican is the real question, though.
It's more of a Howard Dean effect, where the Internet makes it look like he has all sorts of momentum that really isn't there. It's hard to say how much it hurts them since the really fervent Ron Paul supporters were just going to vote for Zombie Ayn Rand anyway.
Though I still think he's far more divisive than Howard Dean. At least Dean was, and is, an actual Democrat (chairman of the democratic convention, for crying out loud). Ron Paul is a crypto-libertarian masquerading as a Republican for cheap political cred. I guess saying that he'll "fracture" the party, as I did, is probably the wrong thing. It's not like he's pulling support from the existing party supporters. He's pulling in all of the anti-establishment (, and Zombie Ayn Rand) loons. Also, he's flat out said that he won't endorse anyone who doesn't share the same views; not that his super independent "freedom compound" dwelling supporters would let him tell them who to vote for, or anything (you know, principals and all that). He is, however, introducing a huge amount of idealogical confusion (lots of noise) into the mix which is going to seriously cramp the Republican neocon ability to snow the masses. The party is going to be in serious disarray for the '08 presidential campaign.
Not saying they are going to lose, but they will have a very hard time convincing their base to vote for any of the top few candidates who might go through. the Neo-con/Fundy vote is going to be split and partial absent.
anti-torture than the leading Democrats should tell you all you need to know. The one thing I hope Democrats will learn from Paul's money bomb is that principled stands against the war, against torture, and for the transparency of government can reap big rewards. Until they wake up and realize that, I'm going to happily support the crazy. I'll put up with some unhinged positions in exchange for ending the criminal foreign wars and the rotten, corrupt war on drugs. I'll endure blather about the gold standard for someone who will rescue the Constitution from the shredder and can restore the nation's reputation abroad.
It certainly wouldn't be nearly the disaster of the last x years, thatsferdamnsure. Best thing about RP is that he'd very likely claw back all the excess Presidential powers that have been slipped into your system these past four years especially, and the past thirty-odd years generally. Meanwhile the H&S would prevent him from doing anything too destructive to the rest of the nation.
He's a caricature of an asshole right-winger who's a Libertarian only when it doesn't interfere with being a Christian Conservative (and vice-versa), and it makes me goddamn sick to see normally rational people go "Oh, he's against the war? A government with Ron Paul at the head would be a disaster, and he and his need to be discredited and exposed at every turn.
writes "He's a caricature of an asshole right-winger who's a Libertarian only when it doesn't interfere with being a Christian Conservative (and vice-versa), and it makes me goddamn sick to see normally rational people go 'Oh, he's against the war? Maybe, just maybe, someone else has a political position that's grounded but happens to disagree with yours.
Which means that, if he's not a racist, he's such an incompetent moron that he can't even keep the publication that bears his name (and which was renamed from the "Ron Paul Political Report" to the "Ron Paul Survival Report" to appeal to the racist, right-wing militia crowd in the 90's) from publishing racist trash. Furthermore, when the issue came up when he was running for the House in '94 as part of the realignment, he failed to recall this phantom ghostwriter; this spectral employee only came into being with Ron Paul's recent surge of popularity. Incidentally, if you lurk around the Stormfront boards for a while, you won't find anyone there claiming he supports their cause.
org ron paul" Maybe, just maybe, someone else has a political position that's grounded but happens to disagree with yours. Substantially better than it would be if the FDA were abolished, all illegal immigrants were expelled, and the country was put back on the gold standard. That the current system has problems it not an argument in favor of batshit insanity.
I see Ron Paul supporters constantly referring to "the staffer" who ghost wrote those racist statements for him and was subsequently fired but I've never seen his name, or indeed any indication that he is a real person.
I'm just wondering, Pope, why it matters so much to you. It's like some right winger making it his mission to stamp out the Kucinich campaign - doesn't that sound a bit silly. If Ron Paul supporters are nuts, his detractors are even moreso.
You mean other than the support of libertarianism, which seeks to kill off any program that supports the poor, women or minorities, vastly strengthening the already very powerful hold white men have on the country? Sure, some libertarians don't have those views with that end, but that doesn't make the end any less real.
I'm just wondering, Pope, why it matters so much to you. Did I not already explain this, or are you the sort of arguer who insi...
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