Monday, April 28, 2008

Ron Paul's Revolution (George F. Smith)

George F. Smith reviews Ron Paul's masterpiece The Revolution: a Manifesto and asks this question:

Given that one accepts this stateless idea of freedom, how should one assess the political philosophy of Ron Paul?

There are two broad views:

  1. Paul’s support of the Constitution means he supports the state; therefore, he is not a freedom fighter and his core values are no different in principle from Clinton’s, Obama’s, or McCain’s. Or,

  2. Paul is perhaps the first candidate in American history to run on a major party platform who opposes the distinguishing feature of the state – i.e., coercion – and is, from that standpoint, a courageous freedom fighter.

In other words, is Ron Paul’s approach fundamentally flawed or is he trying to move us closer to the libertarian ideal of non-aggression?

Read the rest and find out! Or better yet, buy the book and find out!

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