As an interested outside observer, I wonder where most of you lie with your social politics. From what I understand, Ron Paul is quite socially conservative. Are you mostly in support of this, or do you tend to focus more on his economic ideas?
The following quotes from his Wikipedia page concern me:
He regularly votes against almost all proposals for new government spending, initiatives, or taxes
Do you really all think that any sort of government spending is bad? Are you all libertarians?
He has pledged never to raise taxes and states he has never voted to approve a budget deficit.
I think this is something that would concern everyone with any knowledge of economics. If there is a recession and you refuse to go into deficit, you have no choice but to cut back massively on spending. Let's think about this for a second.
The world economy has tanked due to some dodge-fuckery on Wall Street. Governments around the world bailed out the big banks (the way it was done was more than a little ridiculous, something I agree with RP on). Now the economy is stagnant, which means reduced revenues as the tax takings are lower. Should we really then say that spending must be cut massively, punishing those who had nothing to do with the crisis? Social welfare, healthcare, education - these things are essential for a functioning and growing economy. If you cut back on them, you actually slow down your chances of recovery. How is this productive?
Take the example of someone who just lost their job. Then you tell them they can't get social security due to spending cuts. They will probably lose their house if they have a mortgage and end up living in some really dodgy temporary accommodation, or even on the streets. What are the chances of that person then finding work and helping to get the economy moving again? Not too great I'd say. Whereas if they had some support from the government, they would potentially be able to look at drumming up work - perhaps even look at starting their own business (say.. in the IM sphere
)
Right, so, where was I.. balanced budgets, in my opinion, are crazy in times of recession. The whole idea of going into deficit is to smooth out the boom/bust cycles that happen in every economy. You spend during the bad times to help prop things up, and you save during the good times so that when the bad comes, you have some deep pockets.
He endorses eliminating most federal government agencies
So, true libertarian style. Deregulate everything. That won't end in tears. No sir.
He says his years as an obstetrician led him to believe life begins at conception; his abortion-related legislation, like the Sanctity of Life Act, is intended to negate Roe v. Wade and to get "the federal government completely out of the business of regulating state matters"
Can't say I agree with him there, but then I'm from a heathenistic socialist welfare state known as Australia where the right to choose is enshrined in common law.
Paul also believes that the notion of the separation of church and state is currently misused by the court system: "In case after case, the Supreme Court has used the infamous 'separation of church and state' metaphor to uphold court decisions that allow the federal government to intrude upon and deprive citizens of their religious liberty"
Again, can't say I agree with him. See our census data to get an idea of the trend here -
Census 2011: Australia, a nation transformed (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Anyway.. interested to see what people think about the above. He's a fascinating candidate, but not one I would vote for were I a US citizen. It's good to see someone bring fresh ideas to the table though, and shake up the game.
