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View Full Version : What kind of person supports Ron Paul?




Melchior
05-16-2007, 11:44 AM
I'm a libertarian. I started out as a left-liberal and then became more independent with my ideas, eventually becoming an individualist and hard-core capitalist.

The kind of people I'm seeing being supportive of Ron Paul are of course, some libertarians (key word; some), paleoconservatives, market anarchists, as well as a number of moderates and liberals who are more open minded or moderate towards free markets.

This is some mix isn't it? I don't agree with Ron Paul on everything but I think he's a step in the right direction, even if he doesn't win he'll have a positive influence.

MsDoodahs
05-16-2007, 11:52 AM
Market Anarchist here.

ronpaulitician
05-16-2007, 11:56 AM
Libertarian. Supported the war in Iraq in '03, but have since come to regret that decision. Atheist, still trying to make up my mind about my view on abortion (currently: a woman should have the right to abortion up to the moment where the fetus could survive on its own outside the body). Support open borders, but believe that because of the mistakes made in our foreign policy over the last century, we've made so many enemies that we need to secure our borders. Also believe that our welfare state attracts many immigrants that want a free lunch (though I believe that most immigrants come here to improve their lives by working hard).

Gee
05-16-2007, 11:58 AM
Well, its my personal belief that everyone is a libertarian (more or less) until they start to desire some sort of power over other individuals, or get scared into wanting government protection. Most people have libertarian leanings on many issues, even if its a statement as simple and universal as a "live and let live" policy (towards the middle east or otherwise). So I think thats a strong motivating factor for many people to support Dr. Paul.

A lot of people are afraid of the free market, and want government protection from it. I think a lot of that stems from the collision of big corporate lobbiests and a republican democracy. Most people don't understand that a lot of the inequality in the market and our society stems from corporations protecting their interests by meddling in the market by influencing lawmakers, thus no longer making it free. Many people think to support a free market is to support big corporations and the wealth gap, which of course is not the case.

Then there is the fact that he is straightforward, honest, and clearly more courageous than the other 9 GOP canidates.

aravoth
05-16-2007, 12:01 PM
Former extreme right republican here, had a major wake up call about a month ago. Hit the wall, figured out that I was wrong, that we were wrong, and that Haebeus Corpus is suspended, and that the Patriot Act lets GW declare Martial Law for any reason, and congress can't reveiw that action for 6 months.

I guess I'm still a republican, but under a different name. The real republican party exists now as the Libertarian party, becuase our name has been hijacked and soiled on by war-mongering neo-cons.

JoshLowry
05-16-2007, 12:01 PM
These kinds of people: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=32

:D

I don't care for labels. I'm just an American who likes what I hear from Dr.Paul.

aravoth
05-16-2007, 12:02 PM
These kinds of people: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=32

:D

I don't care for labels. I'm just an American who likes what I hear from Dr.Paul.

well said

Gabecpa
05-16-2007, 12:07 PM
I consider myself conservative, but many people will call me libertarian.

I'm basically from the Milton Friedman school of thought: "I don't really care very much what I'm called. I'm much more interested in having people thinking about the ideas, rather than the person."

Gabecpa
05-16-2007, 12:08 PM
I guess I'm still a republican, but under a different name. The real republican party exists now as the Libertarian party, becuase our name has been hijacked and soiled on by war-mongering neo-cons.

Well said.

cujothekitten
05-16-2007, 12:12 PM
I was Barry Goldwater in a former life :p

(Minus the rampant McCarthyism)

angelatc
05-16-2007, 12:31 PM
I was a college social-liberal, then a member of the apathy party. These days I'm calling myself a pro-choice libertarian.

Horace
05-16-2007, 12:34 PM
RP supporters are going to tend to be: young, male, well-educated, white collar, self-motivated. In other words, 1% of the electorate, but 40% of every internet polling sample. ;)

Where are we talking right now? On the web. How about that.

Captain Shays
05-16-2007, 12:40 PM
The more I studied American history, the more I began to realize that the founding fathers must be spiining rapidly in their graves if they can see what these globocops and authoritarians are doing to our liberty and our reputation in the world as well as our economic health.

Ron Paul seems to be our ONLY hope of restoring the Constitution.

Captain Shays
05-16-2007, 12:40 PM
BTW,

I just started a MSN group dedicated to the campaign

http://groups.msn.com/RonPaulGrassRoots/general.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=2

giskard
05-16-2007, 12:47 PM
A realist.

jimvkruse
05-16-2007, 01:00 PM
A paleoconservative. A fan of The American Conservative, Chronicles, VDare, antiwar.com, LewRockwell.com, The League of the South, The Vermont secessionists, AmRen, Steve Sailer, Larison.org, ConservativeTimes.org, Takimag.com, the Distributists, the Southern Agrarians, Burke, Tocqueville, T.S. Eliot, Russell Kirk, Richard Weaver, Robert Nisbet, etc.

4Horsemen
05-16-2007, 02:24 PM
I am patriot conservative, Army Veteran, firefighter/paramedic, Pittsburgh Steelers fan, Copenhagen dipper ( I know, I was young though), agnostic, beagle owner, snook slayer (I wish). About 11 months ago I came across a website that stated the CIA (rogue agents) has been running drugs (cocaine and heroin) into the America for 45yrs. I laughed at that notion, but I soon wasn't laughing anymore and that was just the tip of the iceberg. I'm not going to lie, the truth can screw up your life, many sleepless nights wishing it wasn't true. I'm thankful that I don't have children because I would be ragging right now. We got hope in Ron Paul. It's a slim chance because of the system, but what else do we got?

abouthadit
05-16-2007, 02:25 PM
Market Anarchist here.

ditto. I like the term anarcho-capitalist and A.J. Nock, Lysander Spooner, Napolitano, Lew Rockwell, Mises, Jefferson, Burke, and the US Constitution.

ARealConservative
05-16-2007, 02:30 PM
I'm a real conservative.

I understand that govenment is a necessary evil. I understand this doesn't simply apply to domestic policy - but to foreign policy as well.

I am a conservative however. I think it is perfectly acceptable to allow lower forms of government to impede individual freedoms. The smaller the form of government, the better. People are then free to vote with their feet and find an area more in to their liking for what government should do for them.

abouthadit
05-16-2007, 02:47 PM
People are then free to vote with their feet and find an area more in to their liking for what government should do for them.

or to change it:
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Lesgov
05-16-2007, 04:21 PM
I know from reading Josh's post that he doesn't like to tag people with a name, and I can see his point.
On the other hand, I think it's fascinating to see the group that Ron is pulling together.
I'm an independent constitutionalist, a Pat Buchanan type. I've been keeping up with Ron Paul for a few years now.
Most of us all see certain things that we're not quite happy with about Ron, myself, I'd like to see a stronger stand on immigration and more protection for our trade.
My point is, no president can be our perfect dream president.

This man is real, what you see is what you get. That's why I think he's pulling together all types. We've all been looking for a Ron Paul for a long time.

Melchior
05-16-2007, 05:10 PM
These kinds of people: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=32

:D

I don't care for labels. I'm just an American who likes what I hear from Dr.Paul.

Well I'm not asking for labels.

What are you ideals, values, principles and beliefs? Where do you think the country needs to be headed and how do you think Ron Paul with bring us there?

Delaware
05-16-2007, 06:29 PM
Im Paleoconservative/Libertarian

Government is too big
We have too much legal immigration
Non-intervention is right
Illegal Immigrants need to go back
I dont really care if pot is legalized
I want gold backed money.
We spend too much
Abortion is wrong, but may be allowed in certain circumstances.

JBKing
05-16-2007, 06:41 PM
I am a 23 year old libertarian and a 2nd amendment activist

SelkiesTheEn
05-16-2007, 06:57 PM
Former bible thumper christian republican, now an athiest libertarian. Former war monger, neo-conservative hannity/o'reilly/beck fan. Can't stand any of them now. I love the United States, but the government has been hijacked by constituion shredders and special interest groups. We need to return the US to what it was meant to be. A simple country where people from all over the world can come to get an oppurtunity. Not nomadic UN resolution lapdogs.

jae1227
05-16-2007, 07:02 PM
People sick of this war and see someone who will not let this foreign policy "mistake" happen again.

sicsempertyrannis
05-16-2007, 08:11 PM
True southerner who knows it means. Unlike those shills in South Carolina last night. Sic semper tyrannis.... the motto of my home state...the commonwealth of Virginia. Means... "thus always to tyrants."

billv
05-16-2007, 09:29 PM
I think I'm a traditional conservative, perhaps paleoconservative, though that seems to imply outdated, which I don't like. I'm a conservative after the likes of the founding fathers.

Perhaps the thing that appeals to me the most about Congressman Paul is that he tries to legislate constitutionally, as is his sworn duty. He does not waver. He has strong held convictions, as is obvious from the debate last night, that he will not waver from even if it is unpopular. His convictions seem to stem not from what feels good, or seems right, or that someone has told him, but from a study of history, from economics, and probably other studies as well. I like him because he seems to be intellectually honest. He also seems like a decent person.

tnvoter
05-16-2007, 09:51 PM
As much as I'd like to say I'm this and that I've always voted down the ticket Republican. My first vote was for Bush in '00 -- I remember what Ron Paul is talking about, I voted for Bush based on his desire for non-police of the world, non-nation building, non-big-government. And while I (being a minority) believe in the sincerety of GWBush, he should have followed through on his word whether or not he believed the entire world changed after 9/11.

jimmyjamsslo
05-16-2007, 10:17 PM
though redundant to the 'introduce yourself' post. I think the unvarnished message of freedom unites people from all walks of life, however. I think some people are a mix. As for myself, I am liberal when it comes to women's rights and the gay community, but 'conservative' (re-defined to its classical sense by Dr. Paul for me) in the libertarian sense of less government, fiscal responsibility, strict immigration, gun rights (though i believe in more stringent background checks for deranged or violent individuals). I think that Dr. Paul's genteel demeanor, and his fierce yet quiet intelligence will win many over!

Jimmy

Brandybuck
05-17-2007, 12:15 AM
Have I said what kind of person I am yet? No? Sheesh! I have to correct that, because Ron might be reading this forum, and I want him to know why I have supported him for twenty years!

I was born and raised in rural California. That's the red part of this blue state. My father was somewhat moderate (coming from a New Dealer Democrat household) but my mother was staunchly Republican. I was steeped from a very early age in individualism, free enterprise, anti-communism and fundamentalist Christianity. I read Robert Welch as a child! I was still a high school senior when Ronald Reagan ran for his first term, but I voted from him in college for his second term.

But my mother taught me too well about freedom and liberty! It was only a matter of time before things started to click together. I stumbled across the the existance of the Libertarian Party, and I was hooked. I was in 98% agreement with their platform. I remember a broadcast interviewing a member of the John Birch Society saying "Oh, those Libertarians. They're even more conservative than we are!" I remember a fundamentalist pastor preaching against the drug war.

And then Ron Paul ran for President!

There were a few parts of the Libertarian party that rubbed me the wrong way. The cultist objectivists, the indulgent libertines, the get-rich-quick hucksters with John Edwards haircuts. But then Ron Paul entered the scene and I realized that there was indeed room in the Libertarian Party for ordinary salt-of-the-earth people. I remember Russell Means and FIFE (Freedom Is For Everyone). I remember Andre Marrou campaign for *vice* president. I remember Ron Paul coming to San Diego, and me being lucky enough to sit at the same dinner table with him! I still have his autograph in my copy of Freedom Under Seige. I've got old copies of Libertarians for Life and the Free Market newsletter.

I found two 1988 campaign bumper stickers in my closet last week. They read "Ron Paul Libertarian for President." I didn't have a car back then to put them on. I do now. I'm putting them on my car, because I'm tired of waiting for my new Ron Paul Revolution bumper stickers to show up in the mail! I've never had any bumpers stickers on my cars. Ever. But I am now!

I've also put my copy of Freedom Under Siege and Case For Gold in my reading list stack, to read all over again. Interjection: Wow, I've got a 1988 Ron Paul campaign brochure as a bookmark in Freedom Under Siege. I didn't know that was there. Did you know that Ron Paul had exactly the same platform in 1987 that he does in 2007? The picture in the brochure makes him look twenty years younger, that's the only difference! The other Republicans in the race only *dream* about consistancy such at that!

But like today, I remember the media ignoring him. I remember two television appearances back then. One was a deplorable shock-jock show, whose host has long been forgotten. But the other was William F. Buckley's Firing Line. I used to watch that show religiously. That was back in the era when conservatives were erudite and thoughtful proponents of liberty. Bill Buckley used to debate Cornell West with respect and insight. My how the times have changed!

Anyway, Buckley had Ron Paul on. There were two notable events during that broadcast. The first was Buckley offhandedly admitted he was a libertarian. The second was when Buckley asserted that Paul's campaign was, like Buckley's earlier New York run, a "didactic campaign", whose aim was to educate the people on liberty.

"No!" said Ron Paul. "I'm not running a didactic campaign!" Buckley raised his famous eyebrow. "I'm running to win!"

Some moments in time etch themselves indelibly into your memory. That was one of them. I've been his fan every since. No other candidate, in any race, has ever captured my excitement like Ron Paul did in 1988.

It's twenty years later, and by God, I think he's finally going to win that election he told Buckley he was going to win!

My story is getting too long, so I must cut it short. It's been a strange twenty years, but I am ecstatic that Ron Paul is again running for President. I feel like I'm a kid again. Thank you Ron Paul! Thank you for not giving up on the American People these past two decades! Thank you for not giving up on me!

Anne
05-17-2007, 12:22 AM
This is my first post here. I'm a registered Libertarian and plan to register as a Republican to vote for Ron Paul in the California primary. I'm fiscally conservative and socially liberal. I agree with Ron Paul on just about everything. The one issue I had trouble with was abortion. I'm pro-choice and I've always supported Roe v. Wade but after reading Ron Paul's arguments on why it should be left up to the states, I've come around to his position.

sscb1
05-17-2007, 12:42 AM
As a child I started out as a Republican as that was what my parents are, but was not very interested in politics until sometime during highschool. At that time, I began to listen to radio shows: Mike Gallager, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Dennis Prager, etc. I became some what of a Neocon but had a draw toward the search for truth.

Two years ago, I began to read Lewrockwell.com, not agreeing with what the columnists said about the Iraq war, but finding much of what they said very interesting. This was a turning point for me because as I read lewrockwell, they kept talking about something called Austrian Economics?? I began to take a great interest in economics and anarcho-libertarianism.

Long story short, I now see the world through economic eyes with great respect for life, liberty, and property.