I absolutely hate Libertarians, worse than Commies or RepublikKKans

but Ron Paul does strike a cord when he talks about changing American foreign policy.

:-)

on a women's rights.

How can one be against government interference in one's life if it unacceptable for a women to control her own body. I believe Ron Paul is such a person. In my view, this makes him an unacceptable candidate.

Perhaps Ron Paul is just using the big L to distance himself from the Republican label.

July 31, 2005

Grover Norquist's Communist obsession

Grover Norquist, the head of Americans for Tax Reform, has a disturbing obsession with Communist metaphors and tactics. According to David Brock, Norquist keeps a portrait of Lenin and frequently quotes Lenin's saying "Probe with bayonets, looking for weaknesses." And in a New Yorker profile this week, Norquist compares his efforts to take over the country via democratic means with a Communist-style revolution -- maybe the comment is supposed to be sarcastic, but I find it disturbing:

talked about how to build a broad coalition. "If you want the votes of people who are good on guns, good on taxes, and good on faith issues, that is a very small intersection of voters," he said. "But if you say, Give me the votes of anybody who agrees with you on any of these issues, that's a much bigger section of the population." To illustrate what he meant, Norquist drew three intersecting circles over a piece of paper. In the first one he wrote "guns," in the second he wrote "taxes," in the third he wrote "faith." There was a small area where the circles intersected. "With that group, you can take over the country, starting with the airports and the radio stations," he said. "But with all of the three circles that's sixty percent of the population, and you can win politically."
-------------snip--------------------
<http://www.brendan-nyhan.com/blog/2005/07/grover_norquist.html>

I'm sure if he's got a portrait of Lenin, he's also got a big poster of Hitler on the ceiling above his bed.:evilgrin:

He sounded very reasonable and to my surprise, was libertarian. She made a comment that it was a bad sign when a libertarian would sound so leftish (that's not exactly what she said, but it meant the same).

Paul would count a right libertarian.

Not members of the Libertarian Party itself, of course (which is a strange little world unto itself) but philosophical libertarians. At least most of them have read Locke, even if it is a highly selective reading. At least they have some respect for the ideals of the enlightenment and ideas generally. Religious fundamentalists do not.

As for commies, I'm an ex-commie myself. I respect my former comrades, even if they are engaged in a political project that is quixotic and quirky.

obycom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Thu Jun-07-07 11:18 AM
Original message
The wisdom of Ron Paul

“If you have ever been robbed by a black teen-aged male, you know how unbelievably-fleet-footed they can be.” (Victoria Advocate, 5/24/96)

“Politically sensible blacks are outnumbered as decent people... Given the inefficiencies of what DC laughingly calls the criminal justice system, I think we can safely assume that 95 percent of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal.” (Victoria Advocate, 5/24/96)

"We don't think a child of 13 should be held responsible as a man of 23. That's true for most people, but black males age 13 who have been raised on the streets and who have joined criminal gangs are as big, strong, tough, scary and culpable as any adult and should be treated as such." (Victoria Advocate, 5/24/96)

“Opinion polls consistently show that only about 5 percent of blacks have sensible political opinions, i.e. support the free market, individual liberty and the end of welfare and affirmative action.” (Victoria Advocate, 5/24/96)

“The Criminals who terrorize our cities - in riots and on every non-riot day - are not exclusively young black males, but they largely are.” (Victoria Advocate, 8/7/96)

“There is no such thing as a hate crime.” (Ron Paul: Political Action Report, 1/15/92)

A “free market provides for the poor...” (MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, 10/24/88 on why he is against government assistance)

"Is bailing out people that chose to live on the coastline a proper function of the federal government?” he asks. “Why do people in Arizona have to be robbed in order to support the people on the coast?" (Washington Post, 7/9/06) (Paul voted against assistance to Katrina and Rita victims, even though some of his district is on the Texas coast.)

“I am opposed to any form of government health insurance as I am opposed to the taxes, regulations, licensing requirements, and monopolistic practices, which keep health costs higher than their true market value.” (CNN Presidential Questionnaire, 1988)

As for Social Security, "we didn't have it until 1935," Paul says. "I mean, do you read stories about how many people were laying in the streets and dying and didn't have medical treatment? …Prices were low and the country was productive and families took care of themselves and churches built hospitals and there was no starvation." (Washington Post, 7/9/06)

“Something must be done to phase out the government’s involvement in Social Security. Pension and annuity plans should be the concern of the people, not the government. Political control of these things will lead only to bankruptcy and misery for retired persons.” (CNN Presidential Questionnaire, 1988M)

“Immigrants can spread diseases for which we may have no immunity. There is also the question of crime and culture. Many immigrants come from countries with different legal structures and are not willing to behave in the way we expect American citizens to behave.” (Ron Paul Political Report, 3/15/92)

"The right of secession should be ingrained in a free society. There is nothing sacred about large units of government. And there is nothing wrong with loosely banding together small units of government. With the disintegration of the Soviet Union, we too should consider it." From his newsletter in the early to mid 90s--sorry I don't have an exact date.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=1061584

for all these candidates...but a voting record speak volumes.