Flibbertigibbet

He's a What?

In discussing the 2008 presidential race people generally mention Clinton, Obama, Richardson, Romney, McCain, and Guliani. I don't really hear much about anyone else.

Well, this morning one of my coworkers came in RAVING about this guy Ron Paul about whom I've honestly heard nothing at all.

Wikipedia:

Ronald Ernest Paul (born August 20, 1935) is a 10th-term Congressman, physician (M.D.), and a 2008 presidential candidate from the U.S. state of Texas, seeking the nomination of the Republican Party. Paul's presidential campaign has received considerable attention after his participation in the televised Republican presidential debates.

As a Republican, he has represented Texas's 14th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1997, and represented Texas's 22nd district in 1976 and from 1979 to 1985.

Paul advocates a strictly limited role for the federal government, low taxes, free markets, a non-interventionist foreign policy, and a return to monetary policies based on commodity-backed currency. He has earned the nickname "Dr. No" because he is a medical doctor who votes against any bill he believes violates the Constitution. In the words of former Treasury Secretary William Simon, Paul is the "one exception to the Gang of 535" on Capitol Hill. He has never voted to raise taxes or congressional pay, and refuses to participate in the congressional pension system or take government-paid junkets. He has consistently voted against the USA PATRIOT Act, the Military Commissions Act of 2006, and the Iraq War.

Emphasis added.

I need to say again: this is a Republican.

He wants to abolish the IRS and the income tax. He also wants to return us to the gold standard.

He's personally opposed to gay marriage, but doesn't support government involvement in marriage beyond enforcing contracts.

On race, he remarked:

"Racism is simply an ugly form of collectivism, the mindset that views humans strictly as members of groups rather than individuals. Racists believe that all individuals who share superficial physical characteristics are alike: as collectivists, racists think only in terms of groups. By encouraging Americans to adopt a group mentality, the advocates of so-called "diversity" actually perpetuate racism. Their obsession with racial group identity is inherently racist."

Sound familiar?

Racism is the lowest, most crudely primitive form of collectivism. It is the notion of ascribing moral, social or political significance to a man's genetic lineage -- the notion that a man's intellectual and characterological traits are produced and transmitted by his internal body chemistry. Which means, in practice, that a man is to be judged, not by his own character and actions, but by the characters and actions of a collective of ancestors.

One of his sons' name is Rand. Coincidence?

And one of his supporters in one of his videos is wearing a shirt that says, "Who is Ron Paul?" alluding to the famous line in Atlas Shrugged, "Who is John Galt?"

I'm not saying this man is an Objectivist. He's Protestant Christian. He's Republican.

But I have never heard of a major party politician like this on the national circuit. His voting record has been consistent for 10 years and he seems to practice what he preaches.

He has lots of videos up on YouTube.

He was on the Daily Show and the Colbert Report.

Obviously, he gets support from Libertarians. But he also gets support from Democrats and Republicans.

After digging through his views on several issues, it looks like he's just a repackaged Libertarian, so there's some inconsistency in principle on some of his positions. I would specifically cite his endorsement of the Just War Theory and his views on immigration (which mostly just seems unclear to me) as examples.

But, I have to say that I am pleasantly surprised to hear someone relatively mainstream preaching some of these principles.