Grow Up, Ron Paul

[웃 910]

Like most other little kids, all I wanted to do was eat junk food, play video games, and goof around with my friends. I didn't like being made to go to school, going to bed at 9 PM, eating vegetables, doing homework after school, or taking out the garbage. And like most other little kids who don't like abiding by the rules of their parents, I sometimes fantasized about what it would be like to run away from home. But when I packed my backpack full of clothes and individually-wrapped packs of peanut butter crackers from the pantry, I could never go through with my plan. I knew if I ran away I'd be hungry, cold, lost, and eventually, found by the police and returned home.

Libertarian views of government regulation are very similar to how a 6-year-old views the authority exerted by their parents. Ron Paul's every-individual-for-themselves rhetoric appeals to young, radical libertarians with simplistic views of authority, and an ignorance of why government exists in the first place.

In Ron Paul's ideal America, safety regulations imposed on employers by the

Occupational Safety and Health Administration would be a thing of the past. Clean air and water regulations imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency would be no more. Taxpayers would save money, since Ron Paul would abolish the Department of Education and cut the Food and Drug Administration's budget by 40%. Employers would save money by paying workers as little as they wish, since Ron Paul would abolish the Davis-Bacon Act. Corporate giants would be free to monopolize markets, since Ron Paul opposes federal anti-trust legislation. And employees would no longer be required to pay into Social Security.

So what would this libertarian utopia look like, if Ron Paul were elected and followed through on his campaign promises?

• Families grieving for loved ones lost due to Massey Energy's negligence in the Upper Big Branch coal mine explosion would have to accept that their relatives were casualties of the invisible hand of the unfettered free market. And Massey would get off scot-free for pollutingMartin County, Kentucky's drinking water supply with 300 million gallons of coal slurry.
• Millions of college students dependent on Pell grants would be forced to move back home and work minimum-wage jobs, no longer financially able to further their education. Oh wait - what minimum wage?
• Food recalls would be a regular occurrence when tainted meat and vegetables hit supermarket shelves and caused record outbreaks of e-coli. And risky new drugs would avoid FDA testsand hit the express lane to the pharmacy, endangering the health of millions.
• Too-big-to-fail banks like Wells Fargo, Citi, Chase and Bank of America would be allowed to merge and/or buy out their competitors, as would oil giants like ExxonMobil and Chevron, and cellphone service-providers like AT&T and Verizon.
• The Social Security trust fund would become insolvent, making retirement that much harder for those who paid into it all their lives.

Ron Paul and his right-libertarian ideology does espouse a new kind of freedom, just as rebellious children who fantasize about running away from home dream of a new kind of freedom. But, as much as we may have rebelled against our parents as little kids, we eventually matured and realized that the rules and regulations our parents imposed on us were meant so we'd grow up to be responsible, functioning adults in society.

An unregulated little kid free to eat junk food and play video games all day won't ever learn the responsibilities of adulthood. And an unregulated society where every individual is out for themselves will quickly collapse.

http://readersupport...row-up-ron-paul

Edited January 10, 2012 by ☠

[luckytxn 2,264]

Don't worry. Your two major party Nanny state will make sure that RP will go away. Don't be scared.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Your source even has a piece comparing Ron Paul to Bin Laden

[slim 1,530]

Ron Paul doesn't say those things have to go away....

... he says they have to go away at the federal level.

I saw an interesting post about Ron Paul a few days ago. It said, "Calling Ron Paul an isolationist because of his foreign policy is like calling your neighbor a hermit because he doesn't come over and break your windows."

Although I do like being labeled - "young, radical libertarians with simplistic views of authority, and an ignorance of why government exists in the first place."

Edited January 10, 2012 by slim

[luckytxn 2,264]

Ron Paul doesn't say those things have to go away....

... he says they have to go away at the federal level.

I saw an interesting post about Ron Paul a few days ago. It said, "Calling Ron Paul an isolationist because of his foreign policy is like calling your neighbor a hermit because he doesn't come over and break your windows."

Although I do like being labeled - "young, radical libertarians with simplistic views of authority, and an ignorance of why government exists in the first place."

The message that the two major parties are going to have the major media put out is the false views of Ron Paul. Most people are going to buy it as they are sheep and do the bidding of their over lords. It will be the status quo as usual.

[slim 1,530]

The message that the two major parties are going to have the major media put out is the false views of Ron Paul. Most people are going to buy it as they are sheep and do the bidding of their over lords. It will be the status quo as usual.

What's going to end up doing them in is things like facebook.

Social media is going to kill MSNBC, Fox, etc. We'll still watch their news programs, but the beauty of something like twitter is it allows folks to post their own personal opinions in real time. "On my way to vote for Ron Paul." Someone will read that and say, "Well, gosh, if slim's doing it, I'm going to do it too."

Sheeple may not know anything, but they sure know how to follow their buddies.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

What's going to end up doing them in is things like facebook.

Social media is going to kill MSNBC, Fox, etc. We'll still watch their news programs, but the beauty of something like twitter is it allows folks to post their own personal opinions in real time. "On my way to vote for Ron Paul." Someone will read that and say, "Well, gosh, if slim's doing it, I'm going to do it too."

Sheeple may not know anything, but they sure know how to follow their buddies.

yup.

Prior to the internet Obama didn't stand a chance in hell of being elected President. But Facebook, Twitter, etc.. made it the "cool thing to do" in voting for Obama. Nevermind the fact these idiots didn't know a thing about him and most still don't.

[slim 1,530]

yup.

Prior to the internet Obama didn't stand a chance in hell of being elected President. But Facebook, Twitter, etc.. made it the "cool thing to do" in voting for Obama. Nevermind the fact these idiots didn't know a thing about him and most still don't.

I wonder if Oprah will be "unleashed" if Ron Paul wins. Will she jump up and down and yell and show the world, once again, how racist she is?

[mawilson 2,133]

How did people survive 100 years ago without all these government departments that Ron Paul wants to abolish?

Edited January 10, 2012 by mawilson

[Ban Hammer 13,398]

How did people survive 100 years ago without all these government departments that Ron Paul wants to abolish?

cavemen were on food stamps.

[The_Dude 1,142]

Don't worry. Your two major party Nanny state will make sure that RP will go away. Don't be scared.

You are aware that Ron Paul is a republican right? He may have a few libertarian ideas, but at his core, he is a republican.

What's going to end up doing them in is things like facebook.

Social media is going to kill MSNBC, Fox, etc. We'll still watch their news programs, but the beauty of something like twitter is it allows folks to post their own personal opinions in real time. "On my way to vote for Ron Paul." Someone will read that and say, "Well, gosh, if slim's doing it, I'm going to do it too."

Sheeple may not know anything, but they sure know how to follow their buddies.

Slim, if someone decides to go vote for someone because you tweeted that you were going to vote for ron paul, then our country is in a lot more trouble than anyone could anticipate, from an educational point of view.

How did people survive 100 years ago without all these government departments that Ron Paul wants to abolish?

They have those groups of people who spend their 6 week vacations trying to recreate life 100 years ago. I have no desire to go backwards, at all. We survived just fine 100 years ago because we didn't have the population, technology, or social dynamics that we do today.

[^_^ 5,021]

We survived just fine 100 years ago...

No, we didn't. Life expectancies were much lower, infant mortality was much higher. Adults routinely dropped dead due to diseases that are totally preventable/treatable today.

[mawilson 2,133]

No, we didn't. Life expectancies were much lower, infant mortality was much higher. Adults routinely dropped dead due to diseases that are totally preventable/treatable today.

I agree, but the author's claim that "an unregulated society where every individual is out for themselves will quickly collapse" is false.

[^_^ 5,021]

I agree, but the author's claim that "an unregulated society where every individual is out for themselves will quickly collapse" is false.

Depends on what you define as 'collapse'. It's not a binary "collapsed or not-collapsed" difference. There are degrees of 'change' and we all are going to define 'collapse' at different points.

For example, there are those who look outside their window and see a Mexican couple with 8 kids and declare that point to have already arrived.

[The_Dude 1,142]

No, we didn't. Life expectancies were much lower, infant mortality was much higher. Adults routinely dropped dead due to diseases that are totally preventable/treatable today.

Don't forget that people wiped their arses with their hands back then too. Oh wait, some people still do...