Wednesday, August 15, 2007

I Thought Ron Paul Was Smart . . .

He certainly gives that impression at least. Libertarians always make sense to engineers. Its an elegant minimalist solution to every problem, the kind of systematic approach engineers dream of. Unfortunately, to run for president in this country, you have to be entirely duplicitous. This post is about Ron Paul's immigration policy. I respect Ron Paul and his accomplishments greatly. Managing to challenge other candidates on issues based not on stock phrases, but on actual analytical thought is a very impressive feat in a mainstream debate. He has built a name for himself among the fringe, and though he stands no chance, he plays a very important role in challenging the often idiotic party line pitched to the 'base.' The republican party has lost faith in itself (actually i don't know if it ever had any). Gore Vidal once spoke of the contempt that elected officials have for their constituents. The republican debates confirm his conception of American democracy by focusing softball questions on issues that no one but the senile and the uneducated think are important to the nation. The republican discourse has been reduced to pandering such that even the most unqualified can legitimately participate in the debate.

Ron Paul is a Libertarian, but he believes in a nation state. Ron Paul believes in free trade, but he believes in strong borders and immigration control. Worst yet, he has taken the stance of 'no amnesty,' the hate-mongering battle-cry of people who focus not on issues because they understand and are concerned about them, but because they want people to follow their flag. Ron Paul may sound like he understands the essence of market capitalism, but he doesn't. After all, he is a congressman. Any free-trade neo-liberal would tell you that immigration fosters economic growth. For someone who rails against entitlements the way Ron Paul does, he should be less concerned with who may or may not gain access to those entitlements he already said he wants to dismantle, and more concerned with building the kind of economic growth that (while not possible) should equalize our economy. A libertarian should understand that our national standard of living is too high. So the question is, when Ron Paul talks about kicking out them damned illegals, is he pandering or is he really that wrong?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Cause and effect...

Unknown said...

Nice post... the beginning was very lucid but I wasn't sure about the point you made at the end... "our nation's standard of living is too high"??? According to who? That doesn't really sound like the pro-growth attitude you were encouraging.