The Ron Paul “Kooks”
Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 4/21/09 @ 10:42 pm - Filed Under Local Politics, National Politics
I’ve heard local Republicans refer to a subset of their party as the Ron Paul “kooks” on more than one occasion. I had been wanting to read Paul’s Book, The Revolution, for some time now and I finished it a couple of weekends ago. I must say that I agree with a lot of Paul’s positions as I thought I probably would.
For example, I see no need to extend our military bases all over the planet. I fully agree with Paul that we should close those bases and bring our troops home to defend this country. I’ve always found it quite pitiful that we can guard the borders of South Korea but we can’t manage to keep illegal immigrants from entering this country by the masses.
I’m sure I could go down the list of Paul’s positions and tell you that I agree with the vast majority of them. So that got me wondering, why are people that support Paul considered kooks? Anyone who reads this book would instantly realize that he is not a kook. He has a well thought out reason for his policy positions and the basis for all of them is respect for the Constitution and liberty. If that makes one a kook, well I guess I am one as well.
I’ve never quite figured out the Ron Paul dynamic within the Republican party. It seems he and his supporters are completely rejected and not taken seriously whatsoever. Perhaps one of you local Republicans can fill us in and let us know why the Paul supporters are marginalized. Are they too demanding - i.e. you’re either with us on 100% of the issues or you’re against us?
Regardless of your party leanings I would encourage everyone to read this book. If nothing else it will give you some insight into a truly unique and fascinating personality in modern politics. I’ll bet that you too will come away from the book agreeing with him on a number of issues. If nothing else you will have a new found respect for him and his ideas even if you don’t always agree…
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20 Responses to “The Ron Paul “Kooks””
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Jeff,
I think what offends a lot of the Republicans, not just locally, is the radical extreme agenda the ‘wing-nuts’ try to push at every instance.
They are unrealistic about not only the time frame, but the extent of the ideas. They tend to push farther than Ron Paul’s idea originally extended.
Ron Paul has some good ideas, but everyone must realize that it can’t all come to fruition overnight or in our lifetime. They advocate drastic overthrow of current policies and people.
If a group wants to change the direction of national government, or even local government, they have to work within the frame work–not threaten to overthrow it.
When a group, any group, decides to overtake another party (regardless of their underlying faith of politics) then they become assailants. In the case of the Ron Paulies, they have strategic plans to undermine and create havoc within the Republican Party. How do you reason with people who plan to terrorize you?
No one that I know of think the ideas are all wrong (drug issues, etc.. aside), but the tactics and lack of respect are the issues at hand with the kook-fringe.
I think the “kook” label comes from some of Paul’s ideas such as eliminating the department of education and the IRS. Apparently that magnitude of “change” is too much for people to believe in. After all, without those bureaucracies who will indoctrinate our children and take our money? No, people would much rather have change like killing folks in Afghanistan instead of Iraq. Now that’s good change!
Great post, Jeff. I also have wondered why Republicans mock and reject their best hope of salvation–not Ron Paul specifically, but his general worldview, which, despite strong media efforts to discredit, is insanely popular.
The GOP has always been a loose coalition of only rougly aligned interests. The (sadly) ascendant neoconservative wing of the party has become so statist, it is now a natural enemy of the more libertarian wing of the party. The party is at war with itself. Unsurprisingly, the RINO faction prosecutes the war using disenfranchisement techniques straight out of the progressives’ playbook.
Well, this is a fairly easy question to answer. First, he had some newsletter called the Ron Paul Political Report that spewed some racist filth in the early ’90’s. Ron Paul later disavoed the comments and said they were written by an unnamed ghostwriter, but clearly he’s guilty of gross omission if not comission. If racist comments are made in a newspaper with your name at the top, whether you knew about it or not, its your fault.
Also, there was this crazy exchange where Rudy wiped up the floor with him:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uja2fixGwI
If this is the salvation of the Republican Party, I’m out.
How can you take some of the Ron Paulie’s serious when they think the U.S. Government was behind 9/11?
Here’s a piece from an interview Ron Paul did on whacky Alex Jones’ show:
Sorry, we don’t need a nutjob in the White House.
It is one thing to support a person and their beliefs. It is another to allocate vital time, space, money, and people resources in an unsuccessful attempt to get that person elected as President. Rep. Paul is a very important leader in the Republican Party and serves the conservative cause well as the congressman from TX14.
Abe, Keith
Don’t make the mistake of confusing Ron Paul–who may be a nutjob–with the conservative/libertarian strain of Republicanism from which he comes. That’s the whole point of Jeff’s post, I think. It’s dirty pool to try to discredit an entire political philosophy by referring to one of its proponents as a “kook”–or, along the same lines, to call everyone from that wing of the party a “kook,” solely because Ron Paul looks like someone’s crazy uncle.
Hugh,
While I appreciate the conservative viewpoints of the Libertarian Party in general, it appears to me that their party has become the hangout of choice for conspiracy theorists.
Kind of reminds me of the Hoots and Kelty-ites.
:)
Abe,
I get where you’re coming from, but it’s always dangerous to judge a belief by its adherents. For example, what would we be compelled to conclude about Christianity, if we judged its truth or falsity solely by the behavior of purported Christians?
Honest Abe, is it really that crazy to have doubts about official government stories? The real nutjobs are those who never question what they’re told by authorities.
Point is, Ron Paul has not stated bluntly that he believes the government was behind 9/11. He only expressed a wish for more investigation.
Paul
Perhaps your similarity in names (his last, your first) is clouding your judgment. Ron Paul is not a leader in the Republican Party any more than his crazy political cousin, Dennis Kucinich, is a leader of the Democratic party.
Abe - weren’t you a Runestad apologist? I’d throw him in that same group of nuts.
Keith,
I will admit that yes, I was a Runestad supporter. I met with him several times and he’s not (at least from what I gathered) a Ron Paul goof-ball.
He was the best conservative choice over Shine who loaded the deck with precinct committeeman appointees.
Granted, due to Leininger and Warner’s POS editorials he was branded a Kelty-ite nut, I’d suggest you call him and discuss exactly where he stands before you pass judgement.
A gauntlet is thrown down . . . .
Will Cumtwa pick it up?
Yeah… leader is the wrong way to describe is place in the party. But since he has voted with a majority of his Republican colleagues 84.2% of the time during the current Congress, I’m in no rush to tell my friends along the Gulf that they can do better.
I don’t need to call him, I saw his video before it was pulled from youtube (you know, the one where he says the local GOP committed “jihad” against Kelty). How dare Warner brand him as a Kelty-ite.
Cumtwa circles the gauntlet, inspecting it, then leaves it lay on the ground as he walks away.
Keith, your great-great-grandfather Falco, who once brought a Dutch frigate into action against two Spanish ships of the line over a point of honor, must be spinning in his watery grave.
Jennifer, Thank you for the response regarding the local issues - it give me a little more insight into what’s going on.
Keith,
I don’t see the problem with the statement at all. Paul covers this in his book in some detail. He states that understanding the motives of terrorists and how our foreign policy decisions have blowback is not condoning or accepting the terrorist’s actions. It’s a rational position IMO.
Abe,
What Rooster said. Paul does not believe the government was behind 9/11.
Again, instead of listening to a few soundbites presented on television or the radio, I would encourage people to read his book. I doubt those who do will consider him some kind of kook…
I personally believe that the kook label is assigned because if they were to implement RPR platform in the local state or national arena they would loose their social/religious conservative base, ie where the money comes from, because the GOP would no longer be inserting themselves into individual peoples private business matters.
Is RP a kook, in some cases yes, but he is a well educated kook and in some cases he is correct about what makes this country of ours great and what will kill it as well.
I have read Ron Pauls’ “Revolution, a Manifesto”.
An even better read is Dr. Pauls’ “Freedom Under Seige”. It is much more insightful IMHO, and written long before the Manifesto.
Beyond that, his grasp on economics is unparalleled.
Thanx,
GaryD