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NationofChange / Op-Ed
Published: Sunday 25 December 2011
“Most Americans still could remember when this Darwinian ideology influenced policy and knew that the nation was not better off — except for a few robber barons — back in the days before Theodore Roosevelt inaugurated the Progressive Era, beginning a century of reform.”
The Lethal Fantasies of Dear Old Ron Paul
The latest evidence of simmering racial resentment on the American political fringe showed up Monday in a Facebook post by a California man who urged the assassination of the president and his two daughters in obscene, racist language. Aside from the Secret Service, there was little reason for most of us to pay attention to this sick boob — except that he was identified as a local political leader of the tea party and an avid supporter of Rep. Ron Paul, the Texas Republican who now seems likely to place first in the Iowa presidential caucuses.
To those who have followed Paul's long career as a failed presidential candidate — these campaigns have become a family business — the appearance of yet another racist nutjob in his orbit is scarcely news. The newsletters that earned millions of dollars for him from gullible subscribers over the decades were often soiled with vile invectives against blacks and other minorities. He is a perennial favorite of the John Birch Society and kindred extremists on the right. He once refused to return a donation from a leader of the Nazi-worshipping skinheads in the Stormfront movement.
What is it about the kindly old doctor that attracts some of the most violent and reactionary elements in society to his banner?
For many years, Paul was merely an outlying crank in the ranks of the Republican Party — a "libertarian" who courted the paranoid bigots in the John Birch Society, whose monthly magazine featured his name on its masthead as a "contributing editor." More than a decade ago, during his 1996 campaign for Congress, the racist ravings in his newsletters were first exposed — the same series of articles that besmirched Martin Luther King and Barbara Jordan and encouraged every racist stereotype about African-Americans as criminals and welfare dependents.
He disowns those words now, but back then a spokesman defended them as merely "taken out of context."
Back then, his rhetorical flirtations with the White Citizens Councils hardly mattered. Almost nobody bothered to listen seriously to his urgings that America return to the gold standard, repeal the income tax and the direct election of U.S. senators and erase all of the advances of the past century in protecting the public from cyclical depressions, poisonous food, water, air and drugs, and the insecurities of poverty, old age and ill health. Most Americans still could remember when this Darwinian ideology influenced policy and knew that the nation was not better off — except for a few robber barons — back in the days before Theodore Roosevelt inaugurated the Progressive Era, beginning a century of reform.
On the far right, including wealthy figures such as the Koch family that once supported the Birch Society and now backs the tea party, there are many who share Paul's brand of political nostalgia. Kindly and gentle as he appears, Paul has always known how to sound the dog whistle that excites them, whether it was in the race-baiting that adorned his newsletters for years, the claims that medicine served us better before Medicare and Medicaid or the campaign against the Federal Reserve. Although Paul has occasionally disavowed his supporters on the ultra-right when political expediency demanded it, they have never abandoned him — and they won't, because whether or not he is actually a racial bigot, he shares their disdain for the 20th century.
There is little reason to worry about the policies of a Paul administration, despite his current lead in the Iowa polls. But the rise of the tea party and the vacuum of leadership in the Republican Party have created a space for Paul's lethal fantasies, which if enacted would return us to the bad old days of mass poverty, rampant pollution, racial supremacy and all the other ills that characterized the America of the robber barons.
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65 comments on "The Lethal Fantasies of Dear Old Ron Paul"
December 27, 2011 5:10pm
The fact that Paul might make sense on some issues and still be a certifiable horse ass on any number of other ones simply means he is well within the range of sociopathology that has become an accepted norm for candidates of the republicator variety. His chance of winning the nomination: zero. His chance of winning the White House: less than zero. His pig blinkered, ignorant and bile drenched rants about blacks, or his tacit acceptance of such from supporters, is still within the protection of the First amendment. (Except for the assassination suggestions. Those don't deserve protection). I would hope some of his more enlightened ideas, such as legalization of drugs, should be part of the conversation during an election year. I do not think this man should be allowed inside the White House even for a visit.
December 27, 2011 12:56pm
Ron Paul made money from the paper. He made money from it for over 10 years. It must be hard to constantly rationalize your bad choices.
December 26, 2011 7:27pm
"In May, Mr. Paul reiterated in an interview with Chris Matthews of MSNBC that he would not have voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawing segregation. He said that he supported its intent, but that parts of it violated his longstanding belief that government should not dictate how property owners behave. " NYTimes http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/26/us/politics/ron-paul-disowns-extremist...
"... government should not dictate how property owners behave"?? And the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a prime example of this?? Is Paul a "Crackpot" or an "Apologist for Racism"? Sometimes it can be so hard to tell. Like maybe Strom Thurmond really did care about the "principle of State's Rights" and thought that segregation was just so terrible and that the state legislatures would certainly getting around to fixing it eventually if the NAACP would just stop antagonizing them by interfering with their property rights.
It is disheartening that this kind of drivel can again fool ignoramuses and dufusses in large numbers.
December 26, 2011 4:48pm
JohnB5039You are letter (b) in your choices. You are deeply uninformed. We can do away with IRS and all the other taxes. It is real easy. What ever is your local retail sales tax, take that number and double it. for example, if your sales tax is 5%, go to 10 or 15 % and do away with federal
December 26, 2011 7:46pm
Old Boh - No, I think I remain well-informed. How the heck does he make all local taxing entities manage the variety of exemptions he proposes? He's talking about Federal policy, not local or even State.
Say I am a home-schooler - I think his "exemption" was $5000 - Do I have to show some kind of "home-schooler certificate" every time I make a purchase, and every store has to check some registry and see if I've had my $5000 yet... - or do I get my "exemption" by submitting documentation of every last retail purchase I made during the year to some kind of central assessing body - oh wait, we have one of those, it's called the IRS....we're back to square one.
BTW, the five states that have zero sales tax won't see much change if they double their rate, will they? A a high-tax state is supporting the govt while low-tax states are getting a free ride? hmm, that won't be too popular.
I suppose we could think of a universal standard percent added to sales taxes - a federal sales tax. But that would be copying those "socialist" European countries....VAT would be better but awful hard to enforce in the US.
No, I think it is you who may need to rethink a little on this one.
December 26, 2011 4:04pm
BTW that link to " The Atlantic" actually contains "the-story-behind-ron-pauls-racist-newsletters/250338/" . I see other commenters have complained about NationofChange truncating links.
December 26, 2011 3:56pm
I was interested in Ron Paul until I found that he is a wacko. See his website.
He says he would abolish income tax! WAIT A MINUTE! That is a huge thing. But there it is: "Eliminating the income, capital gains, and death taxes " (which NB includes that "death taxes" lying phrase about making estate duties sound as if they apply to everyone.) If he doesn't have income tax, how does he fund the operations of government, even if he cuts these back a lot? He doesn't mention a federal sales tax, or a VAT, and indeed he would also remove federal gasoline tax.
But - he would give tax credits for various things he supports, like home schooling. Aren't his tax credits quite meaningless if there are no taxes? DOES NOT COMPUTE.
He doesn't even have a heading for "environment" in his issues list. Would he abolish the EPA? Maybe. He opposes cap-and-trade, is all for expanded drilling all over the US, especially offshore. Makes no statement about global warming: he would encourage the use of natural gas, but also more coal and nuclear, so that probably makes him a denier.
There are lots of vague intentions and attitudes about difficult issues with no specifics about what he would actually do. "Secure America's borders" - how exactly? (The real only long-term answer to that is to stop our predation on the southern nations, that has so demolished their economies.)
He would respond to terrorist attacks by "constitutional means" - what are those, exactly? Seems he is referring to the executive's increase in power vs. Congress - but that's not the same as his statements about avoiding overseas wars. If he means that 9/11 should have been treated as a gigantic crime, not as some kind of "war," then he should come out and say so: I would support that, but I don't think that is what he means. Again, a lot of nice-sounding words, no specifics. No military aid is to go overseas, including stopping our massive military aid to Israel - I agree, but there goes the Jewish vote! And does he include all humanitarian aid? no answer.
There is not a word about the ghastly takeover of the electoral process by the military-industrial-financial complex, now pretty much complete. Nothing about the hyper-concentration of power in the media. Nothing about the fact that nearly all of Congress is basically bought and paid for. No position on "corporate personhood."
Health care? He would leave the system basically as it is, or was before the Obama health care bill. Applies a few Band-aids.
Bearing arms? Oh, sure, the more the merrier.
And finally, racist? Take a look at the quotes from his newsletters and judge for yourself:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/12/the-story-behind-ron...
His rising poll numbers confirm that the American people are either (a) a very scary crowd or (b) deeply uninformed.
December 26, 2011 4:56pm
JohnB5039 . You are letter (b) deeply uninformed. Everybody knows we can do away with income tax. Just raise the retail sales tax. That way all foreigners working in the U.S.A. will have to pay taxes instead of sending our money overseas.
December 26, 2011 7:56pm
Hmm, see my reply to your other post, above, about "exemptions."
December 26, 2011 3:35pm
My, are people ever fierce. The Ron Paul's of the world are poison in an attractive package. Of course people are fed-up with the entrenched, bureaucratic BS, engulfing the US society today...and willy-nilly, lame duck Obama, is no exception. Obama knows full well who and what , is buttering his bread...and it is not you and me. That does not mean that people should swallow the "toxic Paul pill" being presented by the "good Doctor."
The fact remains that Paul, however packaged, has serious baggage, and some outrageous positions which cannot easily be assimilated by rationally processing adult citizens. Let the "poison pill" dispensing, good Doctor go. The pill you swallow, could further hurt you, and all of America.
December 26, 2011 4:18pm
obama walks and talks, but he ain't lame, the gopigs are
December 26, 2011 12:00pm
Whether or not one has any desire for a Ron Paul presidency, this piece is disgusting. I am now motivate to find out who funds this Nation of Change and how it found its way to my inbox.
Hahaha, the status quo is trembling.
December 26, 2011 12:07pm
ON second thought, their are more effective uses of my time. I need to make these people go away.
December 26, 2011 9:31am
Why have you published this garbage in your usually top-notch publication? This is sickening! Ron Paul is to be held responsible for the ravings of someone who -- for all we know -- is a PLANT by the misbegotten destroyers of America? He is the ONLY candidate in the Republican primary that I would vote for, and I'm an Independent. Get your act together, Nation of Change. If you ARE indeed supporting CHANGE in this NATION -- WAKE UP!
Lake Mary, FL
December 26, 2011 8:14am
Because domestic policies are usually controlled by Congress, ron Paul will have a hard time eliminating domestic programs. So not too concerned there. Because foreign policy is usually controlled by the administration, this is where Ron Paul can have major influence. And with his belief of non-intervention, I am totally for Ron Paul. Ron Paul 2012!
December 26, 2011 5:13pm
Which highlights a common error in logic I see here among those rushing to defend RP: And that's this binary thinking that oversimplifies issues down to polar extremes ""You're either with us... Or yer agin' us!" kind of bullshit we see coming out of Dubya during his rush to war in Iraq, and that now drives the thinking of those who assure us that if health-care isn't delivered according to free-market principles, then it MUST be socialism/communism that Obamacare is pushing!
Look. Just because Ron Paul objects to the Pax Americana ideas of the neocons and that coincides with your own view that we should take the Islamophobia down a few notches, doesn;t mean he is doing so for those same reasons. And you give the example of stooping Hitler's genocidal campaign of terror early on had someone done the same then. But the fact of the matter is that Paul is doing this as an extension of his belief in an isolationist worldview, which happens to coincide with pro-Nazi wing-nuts here in the US who also urged against America joining in the war because of what that would probably mean for slowing or stopping Hitler's fantastically successful invasions and occupations of most of Europe which that group of isolationist were all in favor of.
My point is that the motive of a politician for doing something is at least as important, and usually much more important a factor than any action they do, especially if that action or policy is open to interpretation --- the way isolationism certainly can be. And having said that, and being aware of RPs long flirtation with extreme right-wing causes, it only stands to reason that the one dong the lying about whether he had anything to do with or approved of the many racist rants that appeared under his name, would most obviously be him himself.!
I mean c'mon! Hitler was a heck of a good civil administrator, literally raising Germany up out the ashes of her detest in WW1 to become a dominant military power in only a few short years. The autobahn's still stand as a marvel of forward thinking. But none of that means he himself must be a good and decent guy because he did some good and decent things for a nation he was soon to claim as personal property. What he said in Mein Kampf years earlier still mattered a great deal in figuring out the guy, just as RP's magazine topics mean something very important about him after all these years have passed, even if he swears up and down that's no longer him.
Guess what? Politicians lie. And very sleazy, yet very smart politicians lie even better.
Lake Mary, FL
December 26, 2011 8:13am
Because domestic policies are usually controlled by Congress, ron Paul will have a hard time eliminating domestic programs. So not too concerned there. Because foreign policy is usually controlled by the administration, this is where Ron Paul can have major influence. And with his belief of non-intervention, I am totally for Ron Paul. Ron Paul 2012!
December 26, 2011 7:10am
I have to agree with those who have expressed disappointment that Nation of Change is another propaganda source. I will be unsubscribing after this article.
Is the Nation of Change seriously promoting the Federal Reserve Banking System, voted into existence just before Christmas in 1913, when most of the Congress had gone home for the holidays? That system, which is unconstitutional to its core, allows private banking interests to issue our nation's currency as debt to the private banks and has been the "invisible hand of the market," impoverishing this nation and the world through financial weapons of mass destruction (simply stated, currency manipulation, most recently the devastating credit default swaps.) How dare the writer conflate the assertion that this nation needs the evil workings of the private, international, bankers operating in secret, with the people's fear of losing government subsidized health care in an era where health care is a for-profit enterprise?
I do not want to see the return to the gold standard because the banking system owns most of the gold since gold was confiscated by the private banks under FDR. We should seek a production-based, not a debt-based currency, controlled by the people of the United States through their elected representatives as required by Article 1, Section 8, Clause 5 of the United States Constitution. But we MUST End the (unconstitutional) Fed. By bringing that issue back into public discourse and understanding, Ron Paul has done this nation a great service.
The author of this article should read the warnings of Thomas Jefferson (despite being a slave-holder), Andrew Jackson (despite being a thorough racist and genocidal killer of Native Americans), Benjamin Franklin, William Jennings Bryan, Woodrow Wilson's remorse at creating the Fed on his watch, the words of Congressman Louis McFadden in opposition to the Federal Reserve Act and other sources of the truth about the creation of currency available in many formats before he goes about spreading biggest lie of the banking cartel: that it seeks to prevent poverty. Big government, servant of the international banking cartel, creates and sustains poverty worldwide.
We can do better and we must start by freeing ourselves from being the global financial elite's military machine.
I reject the propaganda promoted by this site. Why would Nation of Change pitch the Federal Reserve Banking System? Either you are being paid to do so, or you are frighteningly uninformed. But being uninformed does not justify the mindless promotion of the major cause of war and poverty--private banking interests controlling the government. Using Ockham's razor, I believe that you must be funded by the banking system which is oppressing the world for profit. It is inconceivable that anyone can be so ignorant of a core Libertarian issue and claim to analyze the positions of Ron Paul.
The Federal Reserve Banking System funds and sustains the 1% to the detriment of the 99%.
December 26, 2011 3:34am
Wow Joe Conason, is that the best you could do? "lethal fantasies, mass poverty, rampant pollution, racial supremacy." But the one that takes it is "all the other ills that characterized the America of the robber barons." While good old Barry was bailing out the banks with a trillion and filling all of the posts with dual citizen banking thieves, (the ones who helped mastermind the collapse), Ron Paul was speaking out against the bailouts and the Fed. As far as the racist nonsense, when he left office and worked as a doctor he allowed his signature to be used on publications. He did not write or was aware of any of the prejudiced material.
Shame on me for actually believing that Nation of Change could be a legitimate news source. This bias trash article is the last straw and exposes what a hack news source it really is. I am not a supporter of the two party system and understand voting for the President is a sham but Ron Paul is the only candidate that is not bought and paid for by AIPAC. He is against the global banking cartel and against the foreign intervention that is killing Arabs. Ron Paul is the best shot at stopping the disease. They gave Obama a Nobel Peace prize after killing innocent civilians with a UAV in Pakistan. It doesn't get much sicker than that.
December 27, 2011 1:01pm
"As far as the racist nonsense, when he left office and worked as a doctor he allowed his signature to be used on publications. He did not write or was aware of any of the prejudiced material." REALLY? So, if say, a publication was out that called for all whites to be relegated to second class citizens, and it had BARAK OBAMA signed onto it, you would have the same comments? You would say, "well, although he made over 1 MILLION dollars off the publication, he didn't know ANYTHING about what was in it for TEN YEARS." Why? "Because he said so."
December 26, 2011 2:02am
Golly, any modern politician would expect to be labeled a hatemongering domestic terrorist if he would be the keynote speaker for the John Birch Society 50th. Wouldn't that be Ron Paul? With any luck, the crazy goldbug will be the death of both the Tea Party and the GOP.
December 25, 2011 8:38pm
Wow - Did North Korea press write this propaganda piece?
"Nation of Change" ...IS JUST... Nation of Status Quo
December 25, 2011 7:47pm
"...erase all the advances of the past century in protecting the public from cyclical depressions..." Huh!?! Yeah, those "advances" sure worked in 2007! But the real point is that Ron Paul's anti-imperialist foreign policy really has the neo-con warmongering Israel-first Zionist suck-ups in both parties hitting their panic buttons and striving to smear the good doctor by all means possible. Which tells me that he is on the right track. About foreign policy. And about the Federal Reserve racket which is nothing more than a consortium of private banksters whose sole goal is to enrich themselves and one another at the expense of the 99%.
Ron Paul will win Iowa because the people want real change not the mumbling moronic liar we have in Obama. A "step and fetch it" for the banksters, Wall Street thieves and Zionists who control his sad presidency. Ron Paul did not sign his name to any by line of these rants, denied writing them and denounced their content. What more does an intelligent person need to know? Vote Ron Paul in your caucus, primary and in the presidental election to see "Real Change" not Obama BS.
January 03, 2012 12:39pm
Ron Paul lent his name to this publication and thereby to the by-lines of these rants, enough said. If his statements of "knew nothing/wrote nothing" are to be believed, then what's left: a typical politician looking to make a quick buck off his name who doesn't have the presence of mind to read what's being published under his name? Is such thoughtlessness and carelessness truly presidential material?
December 26, 2011 5:39pm
"What more does an intelligent person need to know? " are you ot of you f'ing mind? Because a politician denied having anything to do with the content of a paper with his name on the masthead, and was there for long enough he was able to make many hundreds of thousands of dollars off all the rants and racist diatribes it featured,l and which he had years and years to have renounced if that was indeed his position but did nothing of the sort until he began a political career where rants of that nature absolutely must be denied if he hoped to go anywhere at all; and now that he does just that, you say ""look! What more do you want? Clearly there's no reason or logic for him to distance himself from a racist screed when running for POTUS, right?"
Are you absolutely fucking out of your mind?? wow! [shaking head, thinking he'd seen everything there was to see as a cognitive psychologist doing research on authoritarian personality syndrome (RWA-SDO Altemeyer]) ... wow!
December 26, 2011 4:12pm
wishfulthinking about ron paul winning in iowa..... mitt wins
December 25, 2011 4:34pm
Clearly we can see from these unbiased comments that Ron Paul is darn close to the second coming of Christ. Pul-EEZE . . . denying his radical right wing past is like denying the Holocaust (oh, maybe you think that didn't happen either.) I can see there's a concerted effort by the Paul faction to whitewash his past and his underlying thinking. If he really believes all this stuff, he's just a tool. If it's an act, then he's merely another politician. About the only positive I can see out of his policies would be reduction in the size of the war machine, and that's far easier said than done. The man is hopelessly naive and about as well equipped to lead the country as Sarah Palin.
December 25, 2011 4:09pm
Paul may be a perennial crank but many of the ideas he espouses are part of the Kochphile Republicanism dominated the Christian Republican party. From destroying any means of regulation of corporations to do what they want and use their millions to win every court case since we now can't bring Class Actions suits that were the only things that have a chance of winning against their overwhelming power. The time of the Robber Barons is returning along with hard line Christian Reconstructionism to put the Bible back into our laws to be used against us. The elites won't be quite so put upon by them though. It will be worse than the 1930's since they will have up to date surveillance and drones and tagging to know where we are. And also 75 years of practice in numerous countries to see how they have the best way to control populations. The rich and powerful are Hoping to take over fully where they failed in 1934
December 25, 2011 3:57pm
You know, maybe there are nutcases who support Ron Paul, but as far as i know he is the only mainstream candidate who wants to end our crusade against the Arabs and Muslims.If you live in 1930s-1940s Germany any champion against the Nazis would be worth supporting. Any anti-Nazi is better than any pro-Nazi.Good luck Ron Paul!!
December 25, 2011 1:02pm
I wonder if Christina Marlowe is somehow blind to the fact that just about every politician (Democrat or Republican) demonstrates the same character flaws she finds so abhorrant - and most to a greater extent than Dr. Paul. I really hoped that the current administration would usher in real change, but it has done quite the opposite, by further strengthening the status quo - Corporatism (not Capitalism) - from bailing out the banks, to perpetuating war for the sake of the military/industrial complex, to pushing through heathcare that benefits giant managed-care providers (NOT the patients); the current administration is every bit a whore to Corporate America as the previous administration.OPEN your eyes. There IS an alternative to the Democans and Republicrats who continue to neglect the vast majority of Americans in favor of their Corporate Masters. We are quickly loosing our citizenship status and becoming SUBJECTS of a government controled by the 1%.WAKE UP!
December 25, 2011 1:14pm
I am aware...they are ALL DIRTBAGS.
Nader has far smarter ideas than any candidate including Paul.
December 25, 2011 1:50pm
Forgot about Nader, you are right on that.
December 25, 2011 12:40pm
The Paulettes suffer from severe cognitive dissonance. No matter what skeletons fall out of his nutty closet, they'll rationalize and justify it. Good article.Bad politician.
December 25, 2011 4:01pm
If Paul is the nominee, then the choice will not be Paul versus somebody better.
The choice will be Paul versus somebody who wants to continue the crusades against the Arabs and Muslims. And continuing the crusade against the Arabs and Muslims is only a few steps better than the Nazis. Our victims in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and elsewhere in the Middle East are as much the children of God as we are, and we have a duty to try to stop their slaughter.
December 25, 2011 12:40pm
So, let me see if I understand this, all I have to do is find one voter that voted for Obama, who is a criminal or racist, or child molester, and then Obama will be completely discredited and shown to also hold this negative trait? Paul has more minority supporters then any Republican candidate in the race.
December 25, 2011 2:11pm
I noticed you removed the comment of Dr. King voting for Ron Paul. I'd like to see the numbers of minority supporters for a John Birch Society affiliated candidate.
December 25, 2011 1:51pm
Prove it.
December 25, 2011 12:35pm
Thanks Joe, for laying bare the scary reality of this whiny little bigoted complainer. Oh , sure he'll end imperialism. He'll just stand up to the MIC and show them who's the boss. Paul is a joke.
December 25, 2011 1:23pm
Sorry. Duplicate post
December 25, 2011 12:32pm
What a strange article. It titles itself as "the lethal fantasies of dear Old Ron Paul" then it explains how racist organizations are supporting Ron Paul. It concludes stating "There is little reason to worry about the policies of a Paul administration."
This article appears to be more of a substance-less smear campaign with a very misleading headline. How did this article get the "Okay" to be published on Nation of Change is beyond me.
December 26, 2011 5:57pm
It's a subtle form of communication known as "sarcasm" that is frequently missed by persons whose own cognitive development lacks the sophistication to alert them to it's use. Not surprisingly those who are prone to conspiracy theories while believing themselves among a select few who benefit from some sort of inside or deeply profound information few others are even capable of, also happen to suffer from that same epistemological difficulty that limits awareness of subtle social cues.
December 25, 2011 3:18pm
It's because Ron Paul's campaign is gaining traction and the Establishment is moving against him with its money in periodicals, blogs, television etc on the purported Progressive, the Liberal and the Conservative sides. Such as this article. Joe Conason's, the author, financial transactions in the last few months would be interesting, and sought for evidence if in a criminal case.
December 25, 2011 3:12pm
It's because Ron Paul's campaign is gaining traction and the Establishment is moving against him with its money in periodicals, blogs, television etc on the purported Progressive, the Liberal and the Conservative sides. Such as this article. Joe Conason's, the author, financial transactions in the last few months would be interesting, and sought for evidence in a criminal case.
December 25, 2011 12:32pm
There is a tremendous amount to dislike about the John Birch Society, the Tea Party and hard core conservatism wanting to kill needed social programs in general. There is much to be said in favor of conservative policies that desire we live within our means. Much to be said in favor of anti-war positions. The blanket condemnation of Ron Paul smacks of reverse Tea Party hatred toward even ideas where a consensus might be reached except for political extremism.
Joe Conason has missed the mark as a journalist in this yellow diatribe.
December 25, 2011 12:31pm
I cannot understand why Ron Paul continues to be the subject of rancorous debate.
Even if you do not agree with all his principles, you may agree that he is the most consistent candidate for the presidency today. And the only other "outsider" to recent run for office was President Obama and he was quickly captured by the Washington machinery.
Paul wants to end our foreign wars, he wants to end the "drug war". He's "crazy" enough to try and he's not easily intimidated.
What better starting point could we have? What other candidate has the "brass ones" to give it a go? Who do *you* prefer to see as the Republican candidate? Romney?
December 25, 2011 12:22pm
Racism is endemic to capitalism, so no surprise Mr. free market is a racist.
Jeff Wilkinson
December 25, 2011 4:17pm
Mindless baseless assertions are endemic to socialism, so no surprise Mr. Jefery Wilkinson is a maker of mindless baseless assertions. Where is the evidence that racism is endemic to capitalism? The most racist regimes are always the socialist ones. Where the Jim Crow laws capitalist? Or the laws against Jews in Nazi Germany? Or were they government attempts to control the use of resources i.e. socialism?