Ron Paul

Ron Paul
Beginning Score: 300

Score History:


10/31/07: Fred, Chris Jeffords & Dave decide on a small punishment (-4 Points) for Paul's stance on the Federal Reserve (or rather, possibly, his lack of a better alternative). This matter is not necessarily closed, by the way (he might redeem himself or even cause more damage...)



NEW SCORE = 296



1/12/07: Though it probably doesn't matter much, since we're coming up on mass-candidate-dropout time, I figured I'd point out some of the unresolved problems I have with Ron Paul:

1. I must be insane, because I can't seem to get a hold of any good argument for going back onto the gold standard (especially the kind of gold standard that we would/could probably revert to), and yet there are countless Ron Paul fans who think it's a great idea. The best and most readable argument against it that I've come across is right here.

2. The anti-Federal Reserve sentiment is basically the same thing: He wants to abolish the Fed because it is the evil manipulator, and a gold standard would solve the problem without the Federal Reserve, supposedly. What's annoying, though, is that people rally against the Federal Reserve because they don't understand economics... If there is a good argument against the Fed, Ron Paul doesn't know it, and neither do I.

3. Ron Paul acts like a big free trader, which is good, but he's against ideas that would lead us in that direction because, I assume, they're politically unpopular. Exhibit A: The supposed Nafta Superhighway. Technically it's a big effin' road that would run through the country. The easiest answer to Paul's criticism is this, I think: Would he be against it if it was a privately funded construction project? Of course not - you can't tell people they can't buy land and build stuff (even roads) on it. Paul's problem is that it represents a "loss of sovereignty." I find that to be a little juvenile, mostly because - really - who the hell loses political power if we happen to have a large, essentially private (or multi-governmentally-owned) road running from some point to another? If you think you've got an argument against the "Nafta Superhighway," you're missing something. (Unless you actually do believe that terrorists will suddenly blow us up if we have wider highways...)

4. He's been accused of being a major racist, or at least allowing someone to use his name to promote racist beliefs... Reading some samples of the newsletters, though, it seems pretty clear Ron Paul himself did not contribute to the writings - which means that he is instead, at the least, a victim of some elaborate, multi-year racist-hoax. I'm not sure if I believe that, though. Either way, it has little to do with economics... Figured I'd point it out (Curtsy to Chris Jeffords).

5. He's incredibly anti-immigration. I honestly can't understand how someone with his "education" (he claims to be a student of the Austrians) doesn't see how diverting many, many more resources to preventing illegal immigration is not only useless and nearly unnecessary, but inefficiently puts the power of deciding which immigrant is "useful" to our society in the hands of the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT... Depending on who we want to keep out of our country, shouldn't we at least give some weight to the fact that illegal immigration is implicitly endorsed by our economy itself?


So here's some arbitrary scoring (which I wasn't going to do, but then I figured it'd be nice to have a "numerical record" after the primaries are over):

1. -4 points for the gold standard thing (If he's an Austrian, he must also have selective, temporary amnesia - ask for details.).

2. We already scored him on the Fed thing (-4 points).

3. Nafta Superhighway: -4 points for choosing politics over proper economics, though that's a pretty common mistake...

4. No comment, except that I actually think Ron Paul might not really be a racist... I'm sympathetic...

5. I took away eight points from Mitt Romney for a lesser offense, technically; I would take more, but I feel I'm being a little too harsh on Ron Paul - I'll do the same: -8 Points for, again, choosing politics over economics in immigration.

So that's -16 points, total. Anyone care enough about Ron Paul at this point to disagree?

(Don't worry, Ron Paul supporter(s): I'll finalize my distaste for all the other soon-to-drop-out candidates soon enough. It's just that Ron Paul's been on my mind a lot recently, since every freakin' blog I read won't stop talking about him...)




NEW SCORE = 280




[...Waiting for more...]