Would you vote for Ron Paul? (polltard)

[Barcalounger]

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Wow, two votes for Ron Paul from Democrats. I honestly thought there wouldn't be any. Do those voters want to share their thinking?

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There a few of us weirdos out there who don't mind public schools, social security, and environmental protections (economic lefties) who also hate authoritarian types who will try to tap your phones, bomb innocent countries, or censor the internet (social libertarian). Given the choice between:

Hillary - who I may agree with on the economic left issues but disagree with her more social authoritarian views, and
Standard Republican Neo Con 2.0 - who I disagree with on economic AND social issues, and
Ron - who I may agree with on social libertarian issues but disagree with his economically right views

It's wholly sensible that a libertarian lefty may bite the bullet and vote for less government services if it also means less personal privacy intrusions. Politics ain't linear.

[4 High]

Hes one of few Republicans i would consider deeply, but in the end i dont think i could actually cast a vote for him.

[ojc02]

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Wow, two votes for Ron Paul from Democrats. I honestly thought there wouldn't be any. Do those voters want to share their thinking?

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There a few of us weirdos out there who don't mind public schools, social security, and environmental protections (economic lefties) who also hate authoritarian types who will try to tap your phones, bomb innocent countries, or censor the internet (social libertarian). Given the choice between:

Hillary - who I may agree with on the economic left issues but disagree with her more social authoritarian views, and
Standard Republican Neo Con 2.0 - who I disagree with on economic AND social issues, and
Ron - who I may agree with on social libertarian issues but disagree with his economically right views

It's wholly sensible that a libertarian lefty may bite the bullet and vote for less government services if it also means less personal privacy intrusions. Politics ain't linear.

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You make good point. I'm just surprised that someone who typically votes democrat (traditionally center-left) could pass a vote for someone whose economic views are so very far away from the traditional center. I guess it's a pretty damning indictment of the state of the social / foreign policies of the alternatives.

[ojc02]

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Hes one of few Republicans i would consider deeply, but in the end i dont think i could actually cast a vote for him.

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Any one issue that tips the balance for you?

[Barcalounger]

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Wow, two votes for Ron Paul from Democrats. I honestly thought there wouldn't be any. Do those voters want to share their thinking?

[/ QUOTE ]
There a few of us weirdos out there who don't mind public schools, social security, and environmental protections (economic lefties) who also hate authoritarian types who will try to tap your phones, bomb innocent countries, or censor the internet (social libertarian). Given the choice between:

Hillary - who I may agree with on the economic left issues but disagree with her more social authoritarian views, and
Standard Republican Neo Con 2.0 - who I disagree with on economic AND social issues, and
Ron - who I may agree with on social libertarian issues but disagree with his economically right views

It's wholly sensible that a libertarian lefty may bite the bullet and vote for less government services if it also means less personal privacy intrusions. Politics ain't linear.

[/ QUOTE ]

You make good point. I'm just surprised that someone who typically votes democrat (traditionally center-left) could pass a vote for someone whose economic views are so very far away from the traditional center. I guess it's a pretty damning indictment of the state of the social / foreign policies of the alternatives.

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There's also the fact that laws are very hard to erase from the books once they're in there. Many of the economic issues that he may want to tackle (SS, public schools, etc) would require an insanely friendly and ballsy congress to repeal some very popular and entrenched laws. On the other hand, many of the recent civil liberty violations (warrantless wire taps, torturing detainees, signing statements, provoking Iran into war, etc) are based on overzealous power wielding by the executive branch which Ron could stop immediately (with or without the help of congress) if he was at the head of it. The worst parts of the Patriot Act become useless if you have an executive who doesn't use them.

So a risk/reward type analysis might come up almost a given of the great reward of less personal intrusions with the smaller risk of losing some economic policies that he'll probably have to fight tooth and nail with Congress and the public on. I might just end up talking myself into this...

[AlexM]

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So a risk/reward type analysis might come up almost a given of the great reward of less personal intrusions with the smaller risk of losing some economic policies that he'll probably have to fight tooth and nail with Congress and the public on. I might just end up talking myself into this...

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I've long thought that people who are even slightly more libertarian oriented than the Dems/Reps should be voting libertarian. If things ever get too libertarian for their liking, they can always vote enough of the other guys back in to strike a balance, but by voting Dem/Rep things aren't going to get better at all.

[Dr. Strangelove]

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Wow, two votes for Ron Paul from Democrats. I honestly thought there wouldn't be any. Do those voters want to share their thinking?

[/ QUOTE ]
There a few of us weirdos out there who don't mind public schools, social security, and environmental protections (economic lefties) who also hate authoritarian types who will try to tap your phones, bomb innocent countries, or censor the internet (social libertarian). Given the choice between:

Hillary - who I may agree with on the economic left issues but disagree with her more social authoritarian views, and
Standard Republican Neo Con 2.0 - who I disagree with on economic AND social issues, and
Ron - who I may agree with on social libertarian issues but disagree with his economically right views

It's wholly sensible that a libertarian lefty may bite the bullet and vote for less government services if it also means less personal privacy intrusions. Politics ain't linear.

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This describes my position perfectly.

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There's also the fact that laws are very hard to erase from the books once they're in there. Many of the economic issues that he may want to tackle (SS, public schools, etc) would require an insanely friendly and ballsy congress to repeal some very popular and entrenched laws. On the other hand, many of the recent civil liberty violations (warrantless wire taps, torturing detainees, signing statements, provoking Iran into war, etc) are based on overzealous power wielding by the executive branch which Ron could stop immediately (with or without the help of congress) if he was at the head of it. The worst parts of the Patriot Act become useless if you have an executive who doesn't use them.

So a risk/reward type analysis might come up almost a given of the great reward of less personal intrusions with the smaller risk of losing some economic policies that he'll probably have to fight tooth and nail with Congress and the public on. I might just end up talking myself into this...


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I've come to this conclusion as well.

[WillMagic]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZmPS0XmeBw

I'm an ACist and I would vote for Ron Paul. In fact I actually donated money to his exploratory committee - i think it's the best bang for my buck in terms of spreading libertarian ideas that I could get.

[ojc02]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZmPS0XmeBw

I'm an ACist and I would vote for Ron Paul. In fact I actually donated money to his exploratory committee - i think it's the best bang for my buck in terms of spreading libertarian ideas that I could get.

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Good man!
If I had money (school debt), I'd donate some too. It really is an education issue. A lot of people don't realize the gravity of the situation .
(Also - Article by Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz)

If only this poll of 2+2 politics was representative of the US as a whole. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Felix_Nietzsche]

I respect Ron Paul. When he first ran for president, I voted for him. When he runs for Congress, I give money to his campaign.

He is probably the most principled politician in Washinton DC. His nickname in Congress is "Dr No" (he is a MD), because if he thinks a bill is unconstitutional, he automatically votes against it whether he thinks it is a good bill or not.....

I like Ron Paul but he is wrong on the Iraq war.
I hope he stays in Congress spreading the libertarian message. But he would make a bad president.....

*Factoid: I received a hand written letter from Ron Paul once and gave it to a hand writing analyst that I know. In her analysis of his hand writing she saw many good traits. One of the things she said this person's handwriting revealed was this person has a strong like for women. I told the her he was a OB-GYN, she laughed. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]