Why Ron Paul Matters

Why do I support Ron Paul? This column gives a good summary. From the Wall Street Journal:

"Why Ron Paul Matters: by Edward H. Crane
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204632204577129132189244456.html?mod=djemEditorialPage_t

The tagline for the article sums it up perfectly: "Among all the GOP presidential candidates, he's the only one who stands for constitutionally limited government."

That's right, for all their hot air, blowhards like Gingrich, Santorum, and Romney have no concept of what limited government even is. I would add that this is not just true for Republican candidates, of course. the Democrats are even worse. But in the end Republicans are almost as bad. They don't realize that if they support a large federal government for their purposes, it will just as easily be used for illegitimate left wing purposes when the Democrats are in power. Only Ron Paul understands this.

Back to the article.
"Mr. Paul would cut the federal budget by $1 trillion immediately. He can't do it, of course, but voters sense he really wants to. As Milton Friedman once explained, the true tax on the American people is the level of spending—the resources taken from the private sector and employed in the public sector. Whether financed from direct taxation, inflation or borrowing, spending is the burden."

"Mr. Paul has tapped into a stirring recognition by limited-government Republicans and independents that an overreaching military presence around the world is inconsistent with small, constitutional government at home."

"...our current [military] expenditures equal what the rest of the world spends, which makes little sense. It is futile to try to be the world's policeman—to try to create an American Empire as so many neoconservatives promote. And we can't afford it."

"Mr. Paul's huge support among young people is due in large part to his fierce commitment to protecting the individual liberties guaranteed us in the Constitution."

Here's one of the hot items at the moment: "...the Stop Online Piracy Act moving through the House is a clear effort by the federal government to censor the Internet. Mr. Paul stands up against all this, which should and does engender support from limited government advocates in the GOP."

I totally agree with this: "Austrian economics. Mr. Paul is often criticized for references to what some consider obscure economists of the so-called Austrian School. People should read them before criticizing. Nobel laureate Friedrich von Hayek and his mentor Ludwig von Mises were two of the greatest economists and social scientists ever to live." Amen.

"Mr. Paul, like Austrian School economists, understands that we would be better off with a gold standard, competing currencies or a monetary rule than with the arbitrary and discretionary powers of our out-of-control Federal Reserve."


And just for fun, here's a cool meme: