LA Times: Ron Paul's ideas no longer fringe

[FrankRep]

Ron Paul's ideas no longer fringe
With the economy still struggling, the lawmaker's libertarian views are getting serious attention.

LA Times
January 2, 2010

Read:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ron-paul2-2010jan02,0,6923745.story

[BuddyRey]

Awesome!

http://digg.com/business_finance/Ron_Paul_s_ideas_no_longer_fringe_latimes_com

[FrankRep]

Awesome!

http://digg.com/business_finance/Ron_Paul_s_ideas_no_longer_fringe_latimes_com

Lets get this to the front page!

[Austrian Econ Disciple]

It's awesome Mises is getting mentioned! Now if only they would mention Murray Rothbard also, which Ron pulls a lot of his philosophy from also.

[low preference guy]

It's awesome Mises is getting mentioned! Now if only they would mention Murray Rothbard also, which Ron pulls a lot of his philosophy from also.

Dream on. The American people will not go for anarchy, and Ron Paul himself says that he looks up to Mises the most.

[FrankRep]

Ron Paul is a disciple of Ludwig von Mises, an Austrian theorist born at the end of the 19th century who contended that government intervention in an economy would fail because free markets were better at allocating resources and fueling growth.

Ludwig von Mises Institute
http://www.mises.org/

[Austrian Econ Disciple]

Dream on. The American people will not go for anarchy, and Ron Paul himself says that he looks up to Mises the most.

Ron Paul is not a utilitarian. Ron Paul is much closer to Rothbard than Mises. Secondly, Rothbard expanded upon Mises economic theories, and took a strict Lockean/Kantian approach (As Paul does).

It's funny. Most anarchists don't consider Voluntaryism anarchy, and most minarchists consider voluntaryism anarchy. :confused:

ANTI-STATE NOT ANTI-GOVERNMENT.

[low preference guy]

Ron Paul is not a utilitarian. Ron Paul is much closer to Rothbard than Mises. Secondly, Rothbard expanded upon Mises economic theories, and took a strict Lockean/Kantian approach (As Paul does).

It's funny. Most anarchists don't consider Voluntaryism anarchy, and most minarchists consider voluntaryism anarchy. :confused:

ANTI-STATE NOT ANTI-GOVERNMENT.

I'd say Ron Paul is closer to Mises. He is unlike both of them in that he says rights come from "our Creator". But the main reason is that Rothbard is an anarchist and Paul is not. That's not a minor difference.

In policy recommendations Paul and Mises would be close to indistinguishable. Rothbard however will advocate for "competing courts", something that Paul and Mises would never do.

[FrankRep]

In either case, the American Financial system and people are addicted to the government like a drug and it will take many years to wean itself off.

Baby steps.

[forsmant]

yeah voluntyrism isnt anarchy
and

[Chase]

Baby steps, or hyperinflation... the free market's way of drawing a line in the sand :p

[Austrian Econ Disciple]

I'd say Ron Paul is closer to Mises. He is unlike both of them in that he says rights come from "our Creator". But the main reason is that Rothbard is an anarchist and Paul is not. That's not a minor difference.

In policy recommendations Paul and Mises would be close to indistinguishable. Rothbard however will advocate for "competing courts", something that Paul and Mises would never do.

http://discoverludwigvonmises.com/HumanAction/chap32.htm

Ron Paul argues for the abolishment of the income tax and other taxes not on the basis that it is harmful (It is), but because it violates Natural Law. This is Rothbard, Locke, and Jeffersons position. (Did you happen to know Mises wasn't against the Income Tax, per se.)

The only distinction you are trying to make is because both are minarchists, that they are invariably more closely linked than Rothbard, the Voluntaryist, and Paul the Nozickian minarchist. This couldn't be further from the truth. This is like trying to say that David Friedman is closer to Rothbard than Mises, which is false.

Paul like Murray, are both Kantian, Lockean Natural Law (Rights) and Moral Absolutists (deontologists). Both vehemently believe in NAP.
Paul like Murray also believes Central Banking and FRB to be inherently immoral and fraudulent. That is the primacy for their abolition of the institutions, even if they somehow were beneficial they would still be against the institutions.

Pauls philosophy is much closer to Rothbard than Mises. That said, both are giants and I wish everyone was a Misesian/Rothbardian.

I just wish utilitarianism was thrown out and we returned to Natural Law, NAP, and Moral Absolutism, that is primarily why I want to see Murray more in the open, just as I wish Locke, Jefferson, and Kant would be brought back into the spotlight. (Yes, I want to see a second enlightenment, a second revival of Classical Liberalism (This time however rejecting republicanism and Hobbes).)

[BuddyRey]

I just wish utilitarianism was thrown out and we returned to Natural Law, NAP, and Moral Absolutism, that is primarily why I want to see Murray more in the open, just as I wish Locke, Jefferson, and Kant would be brought back into the spotlight.

I'm with ya, man. Mises is a great economist, but he doesn't get me fired up or emotionally excited like Rothbard does, since the latter didn't just write about economics, but economics as an outgrowth of a wider sociopolitical philosophy and a way of dealing with one's neighbor. Mises was a detail guy and Rothbard was a "big picture" guy.

I'm thoroughly convinced that the Natural Law philosophy of Rothbard, Spooner, and Paul has incredible potential to convert the masses to libertarian ideas, yet as a general discipline, it seems to be vastly underutilized. Consequentialism is a must as well, especially for people who are used to the coldly pragmatic tone of modern political discourse. But arguments from morality fire the soul and stoke the passions. Once you inspire people to live and think differently, they'll stick around to be informed of their own accord!

[BuddyRey]

Awesome!

http://digg.com/business_finance/Ron_Paul_s_ideas_no_longer_fringe_latimes_com

Self-bumping my Digg link, because it looks like the Haters and the Bury Brigadiers finally found it. ;)

[FrankRep]

48 diggs

http://digg.com/business_finance/Ron_Paul_s_ideas_no_longer_fringe_latimes_com

[malkusm]

Do we *really* have to turn this thread into a philosophical debate?

The fact is, this is a mainstream media outlet mentioning the name Ludwig von Mises as a prime influence on one of the most known politicians of the day. Thousands of people who read this article will be overcome with curiosity and will Google "Ludwig von Mises," and the first thing they will see is the web page of the LvMI, rife with information in the form of articles, videos, books, etc.

It's overwhelmingly a good thing, whether or not you feel like Mises is the primary source of Paul's economic/societal views.

[bobbyw24]

Do we *really* have to turn this thread into a philosophical debate?

The fact is, this is a mainstream media outlet mentioning the name Ludwig von Mises as a prime influence on one of the most known politicians of the day. Thousands of people who read this article will be overcome with curiosity and will Google "Ludwig von Mises," and the first thing they will see is the web page of the LvMI, rife with information in the form of articles, videos, books, etc.

It's overwhelmingly a good thing, whether or not you feel like Mises is the primary source of Paul's economic/societal views.

Good point