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URL: http://www.collegian.com/index.php/article/2012/02/debunking_the_myths_of_ron_paul
Current Date: Wed, 23 May 2012 12:28:24 -0600
Debunking the myths of Ron Paul
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Texas Congressman Ron Paul continues his bid for the presidency, despite an uphill battle against both the media and his own political party. The mainstream media and press, by both design and necessity, have developed the art of vetting candidates into events that appear to be debates. But instead, they serve as one-liner contests of candidates regurgitating talking points on totally different issues.
At one point in American history, candidates would all answer the same question so voters could get an idea of substantive differences between candidates. Eventually the perceived differences between candidates of parties became so minimal, the TV networks adopted a debate format more like “The Dating Game” than anything formally political.
As a result, politicians became less substantive, culminating in the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore who were, in essence, the same person politically as Rage Against the Machine –– so wonderfully highlighted in their video for Testify.
But Ron Paul refuses to be shoehorned into the mold of a just-add-water politician. When someone in the press, Neil Cavuto and Dylan Ratigan excluded, speaks of Dr. Paul, it’s typically riddled with criticisms of contextual extractions of his complicated policies.
The press continues to misidentify his foreign policy as “isolationist,” while the appropriate term is “non-interventionist.” The difference is highlighted with two examples: Switzerland is non-interventionist, North Korea is isolationist.
The difference is primarily how a nation handles its trade and military power. Dr. Paul has advocated making peace with enemies overseas by making them trade partners.
Instead of sanctions, he prefers to move forward in finding a business relationship with all nations and, in the words of Thomas Jefferson, tangling alliances with none. This seems, in our current climate of non-education, like a revolutionary idea sprung forth from the distant past — it’s not.
Instead of moving toward war with China in the 1970s, Nixon opened the doors to trade. China is now our biggest trade partner and debtor by an ever-widening margin, and the primary reason they’ve become a threat is our continued devaluation of that debt, which wouldn’t be necessary if we would simply live within our means.
Dr. Paul’s foreign policy cannot be summarized in a single-phrase talking point in a way the American people understand. As many of you have learned, the American people are not particularly well-educated; this is a problem for a press that doesn’t want to risk confusing the consumers. Thus, instead of the complicated answer his foreign policy necessitates, you’ll hear he’s “isolationist.”
Foreign policy notwithstanding, few of his policy ideas are simple. His lucid argument against the Federal Reserve goes far beyond the space I have available here, but as an Austrian economist, Dr. Paul has been caught on video accurately predicting the unintended consequences of government intervention in the housing market and has explained why the behavior of the Federal Reserve is the bartender pouring shots into the economy.
The press, when given the opportunity, will imply his spoken desire to return to a gold standard is laughable. Why? The fiat currency systems in place today give unlimited printing power to politicians who are concerned with reelection. A politician comes along and says he wants the powers abused by the Federal Reserve put back in Congress’ hands where they have to answer to voters, and he’s labeled as disconnected.
The two-party system is protectionist, this surprises no one, but the press is culpable in this situation. As voter participation rates increase, the levels of involvement have decreased. To be a truly informed voter, you simply cannot rely on the press to accurately apprise you of the candidates and issues when they have a track record of error.
When people start reading about Ron Paul, they’re usually skeptics –– I was. As you get deeper and deeper into his record, you find someone with complicated ideas on complicated issues with complicated explanations. When compared to the modern political environment, the only conclusion is, uh oh.
In a land of simple sound bites and catchy talking points, Ron Paul stands alone as a leader with ideas and understanding of the issues. You won’t, for instance, catch Mitt Romney or the president able to explain why U.S. foreign policy in Iran has been counterproductive and they certainly won’t go all the way back to 1953 when the CIA overthrew the Shah.
Ron Paul? The 76-year-old OB/GYN can provide a lecture from memory on the failed policies of the U.S. in the Middle East, specifically regarding Iran, and the explanation isn’t simple.
The press? They’ll tell you Ron Paul wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
S. Jacob Stern expects too much of the American people. His column appears Mondays in the Collegian. Letters and feedback can be sent to letters@collegian.com.
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22 comments
Superb article!
Ron Paul supporters, if you haven’t already, please go to VoteRonPaul and make your pledge to vote for him. Take a look at the map that is shown. It’ll show supporters from across the country. Please share the page with your friends, family and other Ron Paul supporters and scroll down to the bottom to like their facebook page. I would love to see EVERY Ron Paul supporter make their pledge to vote for him. We know that Ron Paul has faced and will face continued efforts to marginalize him and even attempts at voter fraud (Iowa for example!) If we could get every single Ron Paul supporter to this site and make their pledge, it is my belief that it will be hard for them to ignore especially when we start seeing numbers into the millions. We would make people’s eyes pop out of their heads when they see the sheer number of us and no one will ever have a reason to say he is “unelectable” ever again. Thanks.
Thanks for an excellent elucidation of Dr. Paul’s positions. Indeed they are well-reasoned and highly nuanced, which accounts for the lack of appreciation given by the sound-bite media. But once his positions are understood, there is no other candidate. While other candidates seem to attract very fickle bases, I have yet to meet a ‘former’ Ron Paul supporter!
I’d like to share a web link showing the current financial state of our nation if it’s possible to show a link:
http://tinyurl.com/3uuvulg
If anybody sees this and likes it, feel free to copy it. It’s not going to be up much longer.
Great article, but it was Mohammad Mossadegh whom the CIA overthrew in 1953’s Operation AJAX. We had him replaced with the exiled Shaw.
All the points you’ve made are moot unless we can address the outlandish level of voter fraud and voting machine manipulation first. An immediate campaign by the voting public to force the Congress to publicly address this issue is required now before it is too late. We must have a public paper ballot,public vote count with observers from all parties and record them as well…no back room tallies…this must apply to primaries/caucus’s and especially the general election. It is NOW or Never America..WAKE UP or watch as our freedom and Liberty are taken away. God help us if we don’t make this happen NOW!!
@Daniel – absolutely right. We INSTALLED the Shah. I knew that but for some reason wrote it the way I did.
Excellent column, although China is our largest creditor, not debtor but none of this matters. RP is not allowed to win. TPTB will do whatever it takes, with absolutely no limits, to prevent his nomination. The land of the free and the home of the brave went bye bye a long time ago. The current iteration will collapse and the immediate successor will be even worse and more totalitarian. After that – who knows but the populace creating the eventual successor will be products of the current system of indoctrination produced by the unionized robots and mongrels that lead it. The odds of ending up with something like Dr. Paul would approve are, shall we say, a bit less than extremely slim.
For those of you young enough to do so I say get out of this tar pit while you can as it is not far off when that option will be shut down. The “government of the people, by the people and for the people” has now become the exact opposite – and the political clowns and whores on both sides of the aisle, with very few exceptions yell “more, more.”
Whoda thunk that one of the very worst presidents in US history would be replaced ty the very worst of a bad lot? And you think this can or will end well? Ha.
Can you believe this? Newsmax accidentally prints Romney Nevada win article 2 days early! WTF? How obvious does it have to get? http://www.examiner.com/conspiracy-in-denver/newsmax-accidentally-prints-romney-nevada-win-article-2-days-early
First animal skins, then seashells, then gold bars, then fiat money. They are all just mediums of exchange, and the only thing that matters is that everyone agrees to accept them as payment. It’s a non-issue.
And as one gets deeper into Ron Paul’s philosophy, the troubling sense one gets is that he is an anti-Semite. He thinks that the Federal Reserve is “unconstitutional”, and that it’s some sort of devious conspiracy among Jewish bankers to rob the American people. He also couldn’t care less if Iran wipes Israel off the face of the earth with a nuclear bomb. He says that Iran getting the bomb is “none of our business.” Ron Paul also believes that the U.S. should never have fought in the European theater during WW II, because “Hitler didn’t attack us.”
Add to this the fact that Ron Paul thinks that Roe v Wade was an “unconstitutional” Supreme Court decision. And the fact that he believes doctors who perform abortions should be subjected to state criminal penalties. Plus he doesn’t just think that federal income taxes should be lowered: he actually believes that federal taxes, too, are “unconstitutional”.
Add these up and what you have is a presidential candidate who cannot possible win a general election; and what’s more, he knows it. The guy is just wasting everyone’s time.
I knew I could depend on the neo con crowd in particular to prove my thesis indisputably accurate.
Tell us Reg Indy, WHY has he taken those positions. Because context matters in complicated ideas. The anti-semitic argument doesn’t hold water, so nice try.
But in every other context-free extraction you’ve attempted, not to mention your naive defense of fiat currency, you scrape the surface of truth. So let’s hear it, as you’re obviously a statist who is well informed.
Grow up. Calling me names doesn’t change Ron Paul’s more unpalatable positions any. Ron Paul’s anti-Semitism is clear as a bell. It’s one of those unpleasant little facts about him that his supporters will never publicly admit. But it’s one of the reasons that they are attracted to him. That and the fact that they would love to get out of paying any federal income taxes at all. Which is the main attraction.
If and when the fiat currency ever stops working out and people the world over stop taking the American dollar; please let me know. But as of right now, all of Europe’s money is fleeing to the dollar. It’s their currencies that are crashing, not ours.
I’m no statist: I’m a realist. In order to get rid of this socialist sitting in the white house, we have to run a candidate who can beat him in the general election. That person is not Ron Paul, for all of the aforementioned reasons. That’s why he is only coming in 4th among Republican candidates.
If Ron Paul actually knew anything about constitutional law, then constitutional law attorneys would be lining up behind him. Notice that there is no line forming.
“First animal skins, then seashells, then gold bars, then fiat money. They are all just mediums of exchange, and the only thing that matters is that everyone agrees to accept them as payment. It’s a non-issue.”
It doesn’t cost much to print up a dollar bill. It’s a lucrative business to be in the printing business.
Anything else you would have to collect. If sea shells were a currency, I could go out and collect them. If I were to do something similar with a printing press, I would go to jail.
You have given over to a government that lied you into a war and hasn’t prosecuted a single real criminal in our financial system (Franklin Raines, Dick Fuld, Angelo Mozilo, Jon Corzine) the ability to dictate what money is and make as much as they want, and you know you can trust the GOVERNMENT not to abuse the power right?
Look, you’re not talking to a moron. And a couple of weeks ago they actually found the money that John Corzine thought he had lost; so no harm, no foul.
Franklin Raines was the head of Fannie Mae, who has since retired. Dick Fuld was the head of Lehman Brothers, which went down in the fall of 2008. Angelo Mozillo was the head of Countrywide Mortgage, which went down in August of 2008. None of them were in any way related to the Federal Reserve. But do go on: your confusion is very entertaining.
Whoops, I meant that Countrywide went down in August of 2009. Actually Countrywide was on the verge of bankruptcy when it was purchased by Bank of America. That’s why B of A now has problems with indigestion.
“And as one gets deeper into Ron Paul’s philosophy, the troubling sense one gets is that he is an anti-Semite.”
Where’s your support for this red herring?
“He thinks that the Federal Reserve is “unconstitutional”,”
He’s a strict constructionist, meaning if the powers aren’t listed in Article 1, Section 8, Congress shouldn’t do it. This isn’t difficult, yet the neocons attempt to portray this supposedly revolutionary thinking as out of touch.
Yet the document written not as a protection from government, but as a protection from the human nature that invariably uses government as a weapon against the people, remains there with nearly unlimited support from the founders who believed they had possibly prevented tyranny from coming to US shores. They only delayed it. But another use of fallacious argument.
“it’s some sort of devious conspiracy among Jewish bankers to rob the American people.”
He’s not identified the problem as Jewish bankers, he’s correctly and undeniably identified the problem as bankers who benefit from the Federal Reserve’s well documented cronyism. Again, this is undeniable, yet you pretend it doesn’t even exist. So who is disconnected?
Those of us who support an actual leader willing to speak to complicated issues and who led the charge to audit a non-government entity that expanded their sheet $16 trillion during a recession mostly toward friends of theirs? Or the person saying the non-government entity hasn’t robbed the American people?
“He also couldn’t care less if Iran wipes Israel off the face of the earth with a nuclear bomb. He says that Iran getting the bomb is “none of our business.””
Hey hey! Two for the price of one! Strange how the neo cons seem to believe Netanyahu doesn’t know what he’s talking about. As he outlined what Israel wants US foreign policy regarding Israel to be to Congress last year and it read nearly line-by-line identically to Ron Paul’s expressed policy intent.
He has spoken on the issue of Iran with more nuance, detail and explanation than anyone in cable news could possibly refute, yet they, and you as a corollary, have attempted to boil down a complicated issue to a one-liner. Way to refute my thesis.
“Ron Paul also believes that the U.S. should never have fought in the European theater during WW II, because “Hitler didn’t attack us.”” Most of the American people felt that way leading up to Pearl Harbor and it was only because Germany declared war on the US in response to the war declaration on Japan that we entered Europe. You forget your history, the American people were war weary after WWI and didn’t want to keep fighting prolonged wars necessitating the draft.
“Add to this the fact that Ron Paul thinks that Roe v Wade was an “unconstitutional” Supreme Court decision.”
Roe v. Wade was one of the biggest overreaches in the history of SCOTUS. Though I may personally have supported the result, the decision was a farce and undeniably unconstitutional.
“And the fact that he believes doctors who perform abortions should be subjected to state criminal penalties.”
Again you attempt to whittle down a complex idea to a talking point. I thought you were a lawyer, I assumed too much when I assumed you were an honest lawyer (the lesson, as always, never assume a lawyer is telling you the truth). As an OB/GYN he was told very early in his training he was responsible for two lives with pregnant mothers. If anything happened to mother or child as a result of negligence on his part, he was liable. As such, most acts of violence in the US are prosecuted and sentencing carried out by the state.
He has consistently espoused his view, which a large portion of the population supports, abortion is an act of violence. This isn’t a religious argument for him, it is one of pragmatic belief. The ultimate goal of government is to protect life. The goals of the Constitution were to protect life and liberty. Why it is the right hasn’t embraced this view is beyond me. It accomplishes their goal and is appealing to independents.
“Plus he doesn’t just think that federal income taxes should be lowered: he actually believes that federal taxes, too, are “unconstitutional”.”
It appears he cannot win the general election because his own party is committing massive voter fraud. The two biggest obstacles to a Ron Paul presidency have nothing to do with earning the votes of the American people. The obstacles are banks … and the GOP.
“Ron Paul’s anti-Semitism is clear as a bell. It’s one of those unpleasant little facts about him that his supporters will never publicly admit. But it’s one of the reasons that they are attracted to him. That and the fact that they would love to get out of paying any federal income taxes at all.”
If it’s so clear, support your claim. Otherwise the names that APPLY to you pale in comparison to what you are. If Ron Paul is anti-anything it’s anti-statism, which is at conflict with the views of the liberal Jewish population without question.
“If and when the fiat currency ever stops working out and people the world over stop taking the American dollar; please let me know. But as of right now, all of Europe’s money is fleeing to the dollar. It’s their currencies that are crashing, not ours.
I’m no statist: I’m a realist. In order to get rid of this socialist sitting in the white house, we have to run a candidate who can beat him in the general election. That person is not Ron Paul, for all of the aforementioned reasons. That’s why he is only coming in 4th among Republican candidates.
If Ron Paul actually knew anything about constitutional law, then constitutional law attorneys would be lining up behind him. Notice that there is no line forming.”
Your support for statist candidates, the MI complex, the banks and the GOP at large identify you as a statist. You don’t have to admit it, you radiate it. You’re a supporter of Dick Morris, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, etc. It’s okay, we can see you coming a mile away, your version of conservatism failed, and you think more of it under the GOP banner will help, while more of it under the Democrat banner is the end of the country.
The problem is, Ron Paul supporters realize the differences between Mitt Romney & Comrade Zero are meaningless. You’ve convinced yourself, despite your intellect which I recognize, that all is well as long as Zero is gone. That’s just not true.
The EU is coming down first, they’re fleeing to the dollar because China is still propping us up as the largest consumer culture in history, and when we’ve devalued what we owe them enough, they’ll pull the plug and both Western Europe and the US will be shells.
“Franklin Raines was the head of Fannie Mae, who has since retired. Dick Fuld was the head of Lehman Brothers, which went down in the fall of 2008. Angelo Mozillo was the head of Countrywide Mortgage, which went down in August of 2008. None of them were in any way related to the Federal Reserve. But do go on: your confusion is very entertaining.”
So, let me get this straight, as long as they’re no longer employed, there’s no reason to prosecute acts of fraud as long as they’re carried out in accordance with whatever guidelines they put upon themselves? You don’t find it problematic Bernie Madoff only went to prison because he wasn’t the head of a bank?
Registered Independent, for four years here at CSU I’ve watched your commentary and noticed a disturbing reality. You will support mainstream conservative views, gun control & abortion for instance; attack liberal views, such as support for the president, but you don’t seem to generate much beyond what the TV gives us in terms of citation or critical thinking.
You tell me to grow up, that’s fine, I’d rather be immature and aware than mature and ignorant. If you truly believe the things you have said on this website in the last 24 hours and honestly the last 48 months, you are part of the problem we have to address. You have no intellectual curiosity and you fail to recognize the corruption that was rampant for 80 years prior to Zero taking office, that it’s gotten mildly worse under his tenure is NOT a signal to bring back DIck Cheney and Don Rumsfeld.
I’ll grow up when you start seeking information.
Let’s see now, it is your claim that there is no difference between the American public not wanting to enter WW II prior to Pearl Harbor; and Ron Paul’s present day claim that even in hindsight, we never should have fought in Europe during that war? Knowing what we now know about the death camps? Both you and Ron Paul should be ashamed of yourselves.
And Ron Paul’s backers are not “standing for freedom”: they are hoping to eliminate federal income taxes altogether. A wildly extreme position if ever there was one. And it isn’t going to happen, so get used to interacting with the IRS.
There is nothing “sophisticated’ about Ron Paul’s positions or analysis. He just makes it up as he goes along. Yes, I am a Juris Doctor, and I can spot a person feigning knowledge of the law a mile away, as can most lawyers. Such feigned expertise is Ron Paul’s calling card. Taking advice on Constitutional Law from Ron Paul is about as smart as choosing an attorney to deliver your baby. He flat out doesn’t know what he is talking about regarding Constitutional Law. But of course you wouldn’t know the difference; that’s why you’re one of his faithful followers.
Voting for this man is a waste of a vote, since he can’t win. But you spending so much time arguing in his favor is just colossally dumb.
How exactly is not kissing up to Israel anti-Semetic? You make it sound as if Israel is the undisputed voice of all Jews, regardless of the fact that it is not.
@Daniel,
And that has what on earth to do with Ron Paul’s disgraceful position that the United States should never have fought in Europe during WW II?
Is it your position that entering the European Theater was “kissing up to Israel”?
Reg Indy – it’s beyond remarkable you consider yourself qualified to generalize as to what Constitutional Lawyers believe. I happen to know of a dozen lawyers who wholeheartedly see the nomination process as 3 detestable know-nothing blowhards attempting to unseat the incumbent know-nothing blowhards (which, if the president is your standard for “Constitutional Lawyer” then I’m relieved if none of them support Ron Paul, but I suspect you’re galactically wrong) vs. the only true leader worthy of the office in Ron Paul.
I am morbidly curious who it is you support as an expert on the Constitution?
And lastly, I say this only once and let there be no misunderstanding, take caution in your tone when chastising someone with a historically German Jewish last name. As you well know, I’m not some typical 20-year-old college kid. Had my grandfather not had the foresight to flee Germany in the 30s, I wouldn’t be here myself.
As for WWII, want to go with the history book version of how that happened or do you recognize the unconstitutional and idiotic intervention by Wilson was not only a tragic mistake, but also created the environment for Hitler’s rise?
Unintended consequences of an interventionist foreign policy have resulted in the deaths of more Americans than a policy of non-intervention ever would have.
@ Mr. Stern,
The people I support as experts on the Constitution are the U.S. Supreme Court. And your friends would be what: ambulance chasers?
Now you should know from prior experience that I have no intention of “taking caution in my tone”, so that threat by you was purely for show. If you agree with Ron Paul that we never should have entered the European Theater in WW II, then you couldn’t possibly be more in the wrong, both morally and strategically. Obviously your bachelor’s degree will not be in history, as mine is.
And Woodrow Wilson’s policies had nothing whatsoever to do with the rise of Hitler. And it certainly had nothing to do with burning up Jews in ovens. You Ron Paul acolytes will adopt the most absurdly contorted logic to try and back up his ridiculous positions.
I could have sworn Melvyn Leffler had me read a couple books about Wilson and the Fed, while taking his “History of U.S. Foreign Relations” class, at UVa.
Then I know I read something somewhere about the Fed and the Great Depression, during long hours in Alderman Library. Some of those books went as far as to suggest that the Great Depression had some awful consequences on the German economy. Now, stay with me, it gets stranger. There were even more than a few books that had the audacity to suggest that this economic downturn was a contributing factor to the rise of Nationalist Socialism in Germany. Crazy how that all worked out, wouldn’t you agree?
@Daniel,
Funny how the Great Depression didn’t give anyone in America the bright idea to burn Jews up in ovens as a panacea.
And Woodrow Wilson had nothing to do with causing the Great Depression, which occurred decades after he left office.
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Jaed Deaj
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