Ron Paul is the real-life Ron Swanson.
For those who don’t get the reference, you’re missing out. Ron Swanson is the director of the Parks and Recreation Department on the fictional NBC tv show Parks and Recreation. He is also a diehard liberatarian who doesn’t believe government is useful.
I’m watching Ron Paul’s 2012 candidacy announcement, which aired Friday, on Cspan right now and, while entertaining, I don’t agree with what most of Paul is saying. Much like Swanson, he advocates for a ‘put people in charge of themselves’ system of government. However, his system is too idealistic. He says that heroin should be legalized, as should most other drugs, because you’re telling people they can make their own choices but they WILL be held responsible. However, how do you justify this to the victims of their actions- either directly, as in the case of people who get run over by drunk drivers, or indirectly, as in when they cost their family, or the state, hundreds and thousands of dollars in incarceration, paying back debts, emotional toil, the list goes on?
I think the problem with libertarian forms of goverment is that they’re just too optimistic. If you really believe that if left alone, people will act their best, then how do you account for all of the tragedies in the world? There has to be some sort of system to manage, regulate, bring people to agreements. I’m not saying that power should be taken out of the hands of the people, but rather that the people should be EMpowered by allowing them to make rules which protect them from each other. I’m a Hobbesian, what can I say?
i love ron swanson as a fictional and entertaining character but he is no ron paul. ron paul's ideas are not radical but constitutional. and the period of the most unregulated market in the history of man, 1830 to just before WW1, brought the world the most peace and prosperity ever recorded in human history. free markets solve problems. ron paul 2012.
"I think the problem with libertarian forms of goverment is that they’re just too optimistic"
really so are you saying there is no atrocities caused by governments today?
I think you are confusing libertarians with anarchist.
Libertarians belive that the role of government should be limited to the protection of life, liberty and property rights of every individual.
The analogy you just used of the drunk driver is not representive of libertarian principles.
If a drunk driver kills another individual he must be tried in the court of law. Person A killed Person B and therfore government must step in because he violated the right to life of another individual.
I look at libertarianism as just having government do their tradtional fuctions rather than taking from everyone to pay for social programs that go no where.
You said “I’m not saying that power should be taken out of the hands of the people, but rather that the people should be EMpowered by allowing them to make rules which protect them from each other.”
Well guess what? That is at the heart of Libertarianism. We are not anarchists. We believe in limited government. We believe in having laws to protect us from each other (laws against murder, rape, theft).
Many of us (myself included) believe that laws against drunk driving are appropriate as well, because it puts the lives of others in danger. That is a violation of the right to life. It’s like shooting a gun into a crowd. It puts other people in danger, and is therefore worthy of government intervention.
We just also happen to believe that government shouldn’t protect us from harming ourselves. People should claim responsibility for their actions. If they wish to live a miserable life, so be it. As long as they do not violate the rights of others, whatever they do should be fair game.
I’m not trying to make you agree with this view; I’m only letting you know you may have more in common with it than you think.
You may not agree with him but he would be better than what we have had and you can vote down whatever you don’t approve of.
Paul does not advocate legalizing heroin. He just wishes to end the drug war and leave the drug issue to the states.
Same with abortion, healthcare, etc.