Bruno
06-06-2010, 06:58 AM
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/us/politics/06paul.html
WASHINGTON — In keeping with their position as the First Family of Libertarianism, the Pauls of Lake Jackson, Tex., did not have many rules around their home.
“Behave yourself and be polite” is how Representative Ron Paul describes his regulatory philosophy about rearing five children. Mr. Paul, a Republican, and his wife of 53 years, Carol, never believed in assigned chores or mandates.
They did not give out allowances, which they viewed as a parental version of a government handout. They did not believe in strict curfews; Mr. Paul says that unintended consequences — like speeding home to beat the clock — can result from excessive meddling from a central authority.
While Mr. Paul’s laissez-faire views produced a family of likeminded thinkers — “We’re all on board,” says the oldest son, Ronnie Paul — they inspired the middle child, Rand, to follow his father’s career path, first into medicine and now politics. If he prevails in November after winning the Republican nomination for a Senate seat in Kentucky last month, he and his father would form a two-man libertarian dynasty.
Father and son are described as each other’s political sounding boards, confidants and support systems. “Dad and Rand spent hours having great philosophical discussions about issues,” said Joy Paul Leblanc, the youngest sibling.
“Everyone always said, ‘If anyone runs for anything, it will be Rand,’ ” the congressman said.
The two Pauls have similar economic ideologies, overlapping organizations and Internet-based fund-raising apparatuses. The elder Mr. Paul, 74, dispensed behind-the-scenes advice during his son’s bid for the Senate seat, in which he upset the favorite, Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson.
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Mr. Paul, the two-time libertarian presidential candidate, referred to his son’s campaign as “our race.” When his son faced criticism recently over comments that some interpreted as skeptical of federal civil rights laws, the congressman was shaken.
Rand Paul, 47, who declined to be interviewed for this article, has described his father as his political hero. But he is quick to emphasize that he has never been dependent on him. “I think my dad has helped me tremendously,” he said in a joint interview with his father for a Kentucky television station this year. “But the only way I win is on my own two feet.”
He decided to go into politics despite his lineage as much as because of it, family members said. “Ron believes that you are not supposed to initiate force on anyone else,” Mrs. Paul said. Her husband promoted self-reliance in his children, and their choices and views flowed from that, she said.
Friends of the family describe a traditional household with early American décor and the frequent aroma of Mrs. Paul’s chocolate chip cookies, if not fish sticks. They have lived since July 4, 1968, in the same middle-class enclave of Lake Jackson, where the streets are named for trees, flowers and fauna (the Pauls live on Blossom). They owned a series of collies (Julie, Kippy and Cricket) and a Maltese (Liberty), and the kids were expected, though not required, to feed the pooches, make their own beds, clear their own dishes from the table and not talk back to their elders.
As a member of Congress, Mr. Paul spent most of his time in Washington and, upon returning to Texas, often crisscrossed his sprawling district to attend political events. At home, his children recall, he prized the solitude of his lawnmower. Mrs. Paul was a stay-at-home mom, longtime Girl Scout troop leader and self-described “busybody” who prided herself on knowing exactly what everyone was doing. If one of the children misbehaved, her husband did not spank or yell. Instead, he sometimes gave them written assignments, Mrs. Paul said, explaining, “He believed in exercising the brain.”
Ron Paul said he was not philosophically opposed to centralized authority, as long as it existed close to home, or within it. “We didn’t say the kids could do anything they wanted,” he said.
“They were a very Brady Bunch-type American family,” said Eric Dondero, a longtime former aide to Ron Paul. “As different as their politics are, their personal life was very normal.”
A strong libertarian bent ran through the Paul brood, and there are no apparent outliers. “Once you learn about the broken monetary policy, there is no other way,” said Ronnie Paul, a retired engineer at Dow Chemical in nearby Freeport. “We believe that stealing from people is not good, whether you’re the government or whether you have a mask on your face.”
cont.
WASHINGTON — In keeping with their position as the First Family of Libertarianism, the Pauls of Lake Jackson, Tex., did not have many rules around their home.
“Behave yourself and be polite” is how Representative Ron Paul describes his regulatory philosophy about rearing five children. Mr. Paul, a Republican, and his wife of 53 years, Carol, never believed in assigned chores or mandates.
They did not give out allowances, which they viewed as a parental version of a government handout. They did not believe in strict curfews; Mr. Paul says that unintended consequences — like speeding home to beat the clock — can result from excessive meddling from a central authority.
While Mr. Paul’s laissez-faire views produced a family of likeminded thinkers — “We’re all on board,” says the oldest son, Ronnie Paul — they inspired the middle child, Rand, to follow his father’s career path, first into medicine and now politics. If he prevails in November after winning the Republican nomination for a Senate seat in Kentucky last month, he and his father would form a two-man libertarian dynasty.
Father and son are described as each other’s political sounding boards, confidants and support systems. “Dad and Rand spent hours having great philosophical discussions about issues,” said Joy Paul Leblanc, the youngest sibling.
“Everyone always said, ‘If anyone runs for anything, it will be Rand,’ ” the congressman said.
The two Pauls have similar economic ideologies, overlapping organizations and Internet-based fund-raising apparatuses. The elder Mr. Paul, 74, dispensed behind-the-scenes advice during his son’s bid for the Senate seat, in which he upset the favorite, Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson.
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Mr. Paul, the two-time libertarian presidential candidate, referred to his son’s campaign as “our race.” When his son faced criticism recently over comments that some interpreted as skeptical of federal civil rights laws, the congressman was shaken.
Rand Paul, 47, who declined to be interviewed for this article, has described his father as his political hero. But he is quick to emphasize that he has never been dependent on him. “I think my dad has helped me tremendously,” he said in a joint interview with his father for a Kentucky television station this year. “But the only way I win is on my own two feet.”
He decided to go into politics despite his lineage as much as because of it, family members said. “Ron believes that you are not supposed to initiate force on anyone else,” Mrs. Paul said. Her husband promoted self-reliance in his children, and their choices and views flowed from that, she said.
Friends of the family describe a traditional household with early American décor and the frequent aroma of Mrs. Paul’s chocolate chip cookies, if not fish sticks. They have lived since July 4, 1968, in the same middle-class enclave of Lake Jackson, where the streets are named for trees, flowers and fauna (the Pauls live on Blossom). They owned a series of collies (Julie, Kippy and Cricket) and a Maltese (Liberty), and the kids were expected, though not required, to feed the pooches, make their own beds, clear their own dishes from the table and not talk back to their elders.
As a member of Congress, Mr. Paul spent most of his time in Washington and, upon returning to Texas, often crisscrossed his sprawling district to attend political events. At home, his children recall, he prized the solitude of his lawnmower. Mrs. Paul was a stay-at-home mom, longtime Girl Scout troop leader and self-described “busybody” who prided herself on knowing exactly what everyone was doing. If one of the children misbehaved, her husband did not spank or yell. Instead, he sometimes gave them written assignments, Mrs. Paul said, explaining, “He believed in exercising the brain.”
Ron Paul said he was not philosophically opposed to centralized authority, as long as it existed close to home, or within it. “We didn’t say the kids could do anything they wanted,” he said.
“They were a very Brady Bunch-type American family,” said Eric Dondero, a longtime former aide to Ron Paul. “As different as their politics are, their personal life was very normal.”
A strong libertarian bent ran through the Paul brood, and there are no apparent outliers. “Once you learn about the broken monetary policy, there is no other way,” said Ronnie Paul, a retired engineer at Dow Chemical in nearby Freeport. “We believe that stealing from people is not good, whether you’re the government or whether you have a mask on your face.”
cont.