AWF
10-12-2007, 10:54 PM
I don't mean this as a gotcha question, but rather to generate discussion, b/c I think it's interesting and important.
I think I read somewhere recently that RP wouldn't say who he voted for in the last election (and perhaps others). We can probably assume he supported Reagan both times (can't we?) and himself in '88, but it's less clear afterwards. Of greatest interest are the two most recent elections. Having reviewed his archive of articles, I found a good and detailed (but ambiguous) 2004 election post-mortem:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul218.html
Money quote:
"Though the recent election reflected the good instincts of many Americans concerned about moral values, abortion, and marriage, let’s hope and pray this endorsement will not be used to justify more pre-emptive/unnecessary wars, expand welfare, ignore deficits, endorse the current monetary system, expand the domestic police state, and promote the American empire worldwide."
I think I read one that he wrote after the 2000 election at some point, but couldn't find it.
The reason this isn't a totally academic question is that a closely related issue came up in the last debate. Specifically, RP refused to automatically endorse the GOP nominee in 2008 and, in a sense, hinted his support was unlikely (i.e. they would need to almost adopt his position on the war).
The fact is that RP is drawing support from a very politically diverse coalition and probably doesn't want to tamper with that by announcing his votes. Nonetheless, I wonder who he has voted for in the past couple elections. I would say almost no way Gore/Kerry...Bush maybe...Browne/Badnarik maybe...Buchanan leaning no....Phillips/Peroutka less likely...Nader very unlikely...did not vote also very unlikely.
Any thoughts?
I think I read somewhere recently that RP wouldn't say who he voted for in the last election (and perhaps others). We can probably assume he supported Reagan both times (can't we?) and himself in '88, but it's less clear afterwards. Of greatest interest are the two most recent elections. Having reviewed his archive of articles, I found a good and detailed (but ambiguous) 2004 election post-mortem:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul218.html
Money quote:
"Though the recent election reflected the good instincts of many Americans concerned about moral values, abortion, and marriage, let’s hope and pray this endorsement will not be used to justify more pre-emptive/unnecessary wars, expand welfare, ignore deficits, endorse the current monetary system, expand the domestic police state, and promote the American empire worldwide."
I think I read one that he wrote after the 2000 election at some point, but couldn't find it.
The reason this isn't a totally academic question is that a closely related issue came up in the last debate. Specifically, RP refused to automatically endorse the GOP nominee in 2008 and, in a sense, hinted his support was unlikely (i.e. they would need to almost adopt his position on the war).
The fact is that RP is drawing support from a very politically diverse coalition and probably doesn't want to tamper with that by announcing his votes. Nonetheless, I wonder who he has voted for in the past couple elections. I would say almost no way Gore/Kerry...Bush maybe...Browne/Badnarik maybe...Buchanan leaning no....Phillips/Peroutka less likely...Nader very unlikely...did not vote also very unlikely.
Any thoughts?