Guy Incognito
DP Veteran
- Joined
- May 14, 2010
- Messages
- 11,216
- Reaction score
- 2,846
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Libertarian
I agree with you and disagree with you. Yes, Paul felt he could not answer the question because the libertarian answer is indeed politically correct. But as a politician, he knew that if he dared to answer it honestly as he believes, the price to pay would be very high. That tells me that Paul knows that his philosophy is not accepted by the vast majority of people and much of it is actually repugnant to most Americans. If he is the principled libertarian poster boy that his worshippers paint him out to be, he should have stepped up to the plate and given an honest answer. But Ron Paul - like almost all politicians - embraces compromise as is evident by him turning his back on the Libertarian Party and running as a Republican for the convenience of winning elective office.
I completely agree with you, Paul is just another politician. "The Libertarian" is just his schtick. He's so close to the presidency he can taste it, and like all good politicians he is walking back his extreme ideals to appeal to the middle. Libertarians are so far from the middle, though, that you can walk them back all day and still not be anywhere close to the middle.
Libertarian presidential politics is a joke. Libertarianism is incompatible with the political mainstream. The real work of libertarian politics is done in philosophy departments. On rare occasions a grassroots movement will get a local government spot, and that's a pretty big coup. But in order for a libertarian to break into the mainstream, they have to completely sell out their principles, and become a "fusionist-libertarian." AKA, not a libertarian at all, but a Repblican who likes to call himself a libertarian.