Comments on: Libertarians Questioning Paul’s Connection To Extremist Right

By: Old News Accounts Contradict Paul’s Defense - Liberal Values - Defending Liberty and Enlightened Thought

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 20:46:34 +0000

[...] Back in November I discussed how libertarians were beginning to dissociate themselves from Ron Paul, and even half jokingly suggested that Reason would eventually do so on its cover to differentiate themselves from Paul’s markedly non-libertarian views. For a while many libertarians hid their heads in the sand, ignoring what long time libertarians know about Paul, and deceived themselves into thinking they had a true libertarian candidate achieving national attention. The recent article in The New Republic was the last straw, with even many of the writers at Reason realizing that it was time to drop the pretense. I’ve noted some of the responses to the quotations from Paul’s newsletter from libertarians here and here. [...]

By: Wall Street Journal Joins Coverage of Paul Supporters - Liberal Values - Defending Liberty and Enlightened Thought

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 20:14:22 +0000

[...] In the last few days I’ve also noted how some libertarians are reacting negatively to Paul here and here. [...]

By: Conservatives vs. Paul Supporters on Pork - Liberal Values - Defending Liberty and Enlightened Thought

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 08:00:20 +0000

[...] Which group is preferable, the bulk of the Republicans or those who support Ron Paul? A month ago the choice seemed obvious. Even though I disagreed with Paul’s social conservatism, Paul did seem far preferable with regards to his position on Iraq and civil liberties. Unfortunately the Ron Paul movement increasingly seems to be one of fringe groups such as white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and conspiracy theorists who have little understanding of libertarian philosophy or economic beliefs. As a result it now appears that conservatives have a better understanding of economics than many Paul supporters, at least with regards to the consequences of earmarks. [...]

By: Paul Meltdown Accelerates - Liberal Values - Defending Liberty and Enlightened Thought

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 06:13:40 +0000

[...] Libertarians Questioning Paul’s Connection To Extremist Right [...]

By: Paul (Somewhat) Responds To Critics on Racism - Liberal Values - Defending Liberty and Enlightened Thought

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 23:15:09 +0000

[...] Libertarians Questioning Paul’s Connection To Extremist Right [...]

By: Ron Chusid

Ron Chusid — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 18:23:48 +0000

Francine,

While I don’t agree with you with regards to supporting Paul, I otherwise agree with you about the labels meaning very little. I’ve written on the problems with labels many times in the past.

Forget whether Paul is too conservative or whether or not he is a libertarian. All that really matters is whether you agree or disagree on the issues. I cannot support Paul because of his positions on abortion rights and his views on separation of church and state. I would call this being conservative as Paul echoes the views of conservatives both on opposing abortion rights and in promoting a revisionist history denying the goal of the founding fathers to create a secular society with separation of church and state. However what is meaningful the issues where we disagree, not how they are labeled.

I noted in the comments to another similar post the vast differences in people labeled libertarian. The comments included many Paul supporters as well as comments from Eric Dondero, a former Paul aide who calls himself a libertarian despite supporting the war and the Patriot Act. He also backs Rudy Giuliani. Bill Maher calls himself a libertarian but supports John Edwards. For different reasons I find Edwards and Giuliani to be among the least libertarian candidates running. Besides all these variations, I also think back to the libertarians I knew back in the days before the Libertarian Party who would not consider any of these people libertarians. Throw in a Murray Rothbard type anarcho-capitalist and we have quite a variety of beliefs which are all labeled libertarian.

By: Francine

Francine — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 15:22:49 +0000

Let me get this straight.

Republican/Conservatives “Leaders”: Ron Paul is too Liberal and/or Left-Libertarian.

Democrat/Liberal “Leaders”: Ron Paul is too Conservative and/or Right-Libertarian.

Libertarian/left-libertarian, right-libertarian, neo-libertarian(oxymoronic label) “Leaders”: Ron Paul is too Conservative and/or Liberal.

So to summarize, according to these self-appointed political elitists i shouldn’t support Ron Paul because he is too Conservative or Liberal or Libertarian and/or not Conservative or Liberal or Libertarian enough.

Huh?

And they wonder why Paul supporters ignore the talking heads…

By: Outside The Beltway | OTB

Outside The Beltway | OTB — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:13:07 +0000

Libertarians Against Ron Paul…

Libertarian bloggers from across the political spectrum have come out against Ron Paul.
Right-libertarian lawprof Ilya Somin believes that “Ron Paul deserves credit for his strong commitment to limited government on many issues, including taxes, …

By: University Update - Ron Paul - Libertarians Questioning Paul’s Connection To Extremist Right

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 23:49:29 +0000

[...] Wesley Clark Libertarians Questioning Paul’s Connection To Extremist Right » This Summary is from an article posted at Liberal Values – Defending Liberty and Enlightened Thought on Tuesday, November 20, 2007 While Paul supporters see him as a threat to the status quo, I’ve seen his campaign as more of a threat to libertarian ideas. Confusing Paul’s social conservativism with libertarianism reinforces the view that libertarians … is that in the past conservatives like Barry Goldwater opposed the religious right while Paul Summary Provided by Technorati.comView Original Article at Liberal Values – Defending Liberty and Enlightened Thought » Recent Discussion Topics [...]

By: Ron Chusid

Ron Chusid — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 23:32:27 +0000

It is common for candidates to return money contributed by people with views such as Don Blacks and any other candidate would do so.

“The money is used for the purpose of promoting Dr. Paul’s ideas, not the ideas of the donor.”

Ironically in a way this might not be true. I’ve heard speculation that Black might have donated the money for the publicity, considering how many hits there are to posts on the contribution around the internet.

By: PK

PK — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 23:28:40 +0000

I think it’s a mistake to think that a political campaign has some duty to screen the people who send it money. It should take money from anyone unless it was illegally obtained. The money is used for the purpose of promoting Dr. Paul’s ideas, not the ideas of the donor. If a communist sends money to a capitalist candidate, the candidate should use that money to promote capitalism rather than send it back to the communist to help him promote communism.