Ron Paul on Wesley Snipes

[Nate-ForLiberty]

Ron Paul needs to come out and say he would pardon Wesley Snipes, who was just convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to 3 years in prison.

[Anti Federalist]

Ron Paul needs to come out and say he would pardon Wesley Snipes, who was just convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to 3 years in prison.

I don't know if he would commit to that or not.

I asked him in person, in NH, December 2007, if he would pardon Ed and Elaine Brown.

While sympathetic and knowing a little about the case he wouldn't come out and say yes.

[RileyE104]

How about pardoning all persons convicted of non-violent drug/tax offenses, in other words political prisoners....?

[Yieu]

How about pardoning all persons convicted of non-violent drug/tax offenses, in other words political prisoners....?

Perhaps he might do that, which we would like, but I'm not sure you win an election on such a stance.


Ron Paul needs to come out and say he would pardon Wesley Snipes, who was just convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to 3 years in prison.

I doubt he would say that, because when he mentions such civil disobedience he says that civil disobedience is a legitimate method to try to change the system (it worked for Ghandi and Dr. King Jr.), but that they have to accept the consequences of their actions. Perhaps he might pardon such people, but it's not something to run on in this day and age.

[Nate-ForLiberty]

The whole point is that Snipes is in the news and Paul could use it to draw attention to his stance on the income tax. People would then have a real world example of why it's the only sane choice. Basically, for a soundbite to draw people in.

[Yieu]

The whole point is that Snipes is in the news and Paul could use it to draw attention to his stance on the income tax. People would then have a real world example of why it's the only sane choice. Basically, for a soundbite to draw people in.

Yeah, perhaps he could get a few talking points in against having an income tax, but the strange thing is that even though nobody wants the income tax, they get scared when you talk about actually removing it.

There were many times in 2007 where I told people he wants to end the income tax, and their response was almost always "And that's why he's not going to win".

I think that's a strange stance for them to take if they really don't want the tax, and I don't want Ron to water down that part of the message, that's a very important part of it. What can be done to make this position look more viable though?

[Nate-ForLiberty]

Yeah, perhaps he could get a few talking points in against having an income tax, but the strange thing is that even though nobody wants the income tax, they get scared when you talk about actually removing it.

There were many times in 2007 where I told people he wants to end the income tax, and their response was almost always "And that's why he's not going to win".

I think that's a strange stance for them to take if they really don't want the tax, and I don't want Ron to water down that part of the message, that's a very important part of it. What can be done to make this position look more viable though?

people just need to be educated about it. takes time

[Yieu]

people just need to be educated about it. takes time

I hope you're right, but how much time do we have? His expected 2012 run is just around the corner, and it'll be a few years beyond that until our Gunny might feel ready to take it on.

People are waking up faster, but it's still uphill from here.

[Nate-ForLiberty]

I hope you're right, but how much time do we have? His expected 2012 run is just around the corner, and it'll be a few years beyond that until our Gunny might feel ready to take it on.

People are waking up faster, but it's still uphill from here.

true it is all uphill, but Paul has waaaaay more troops on the ground this time around. Since 2008 the Liberty mvt has gained many AM radio shows, Judge Nap, and others to spread the message around. And I bet this time around the hiphop "underground" will come out in force. It was kinda there for him, but that was a near impossible sell up against Obama.

Everything is poised for mass awakening.

[WorldonaString]

Everything is poised for mass awakening.

Seems like its all there for the taking. As Mulder and Scully say, "I want to believe!" :)

[osan]

Perhaps he might do that, which we would like, but I'm not sure you win an election on such a stance.

I understand this position, but is it not high time for honest and principled men to stand up and be counted, rather than playing it safe with half measures and games?


Perhaps he might pardon such people, but it's not something to run on in this day and age.

That is a sad statement on just how pathetic we as a people have become.

Maybe it is time to move to Russia...

[osan]

Everything is poised for mass awakening.

Big fucking deal. It's been so poised for a very long time. Many people simply refuse to wake up. It isn't convenient. The sort will only do so moments before the monster's jaws close shut upon them. That's called a little bit of "too late".

[james1906]

Big fucking deal. It's been so poised for a very long time. Many people simply refuse to wake up. It isn't convenient. The sort will only do so moments before the monster's jaws close shut upon them. That's called a little bit of "too late".

Yeah, people are comatose, not passed out.

[speciallyblend]

Perhaps he might do that, which we would like, but I'm not sure you win an election on such a stance.



I doubt he would say that, because when he mentions such civil disobedience he says that civil disobedience is a legitimate method to try to change the system (it worked for Ghandi and Dr. King Jr.), but that they have to accept the consequences of their actions. Perhaps he might pardon such people, but it's not something to run on in this day and age.

i hear ya but we do have a 75 yr voter base of people with this on their record;) I would think you add in family and friends! if A Candidate would comeout and make this an issue! I can think of millions upon millions of support from people terrorized by the US GOV!!!

[mczerone]

On the LRC blog today there was a comparison (http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/70404.html) between Snipes and Rangel.

With the right framework, the ideological stance can be popular, namely: "You and your friends, those people who work in the productive sector, whether rich or poor, are persecuted and jailed for not paying their "fair share". But Rangel, Rahm Emanuel, and others in the political class are given slaps on the wrists, or even lauded for being creative in their efforts to game the system. When the central government takes it upon itself to punish people who fail to meet the demands that it makes itself, it will always favor those in the politically connected social circles, and will disproportionately punish those outsiders who may have legitimate gripes against the very system that insulates itself from any challenges.

"The only solution here is to repeal the 16th Amendment, which requires not only that you sacrifice an arbitrary part of your wealth to the state in ways that, through complicated loopholes, requires less from those who hold political sway than those who wish to live peacefully but also has placed the burden on the citizens to calculate and track their own indebtedness to the tax collectors. A failure to calculate correctly, made mistakenly or willingly, invites punishment similar to not paying at all."

For a long time the only things that have been certain in life were death and taxes. The time is now to remove taxes from that list. Only after the productive sector can keep their earned wealth can we start to make inroads on the certainty of death.

[Fredom101]

This is RP's bane.
He is an anarchist at heart (i.e. hangs out with Lew Rockwell quite often) but works in the system and cannot ultimately go against the very system he works for. Pardoning these people would mean questioning the very laws they broke, which leads to a wider discussion of the meaning and purpose of laws to begin with..

RP knows the slippery slope that he faces with many issues, and he is very adept and playing it safe and only expressing politically advantageous talk.

[RPgrassrootsactivist]

Almost all federal criminal laws are unconstitutional. For confirmation, read section 2 of Thomas Jefferson's 1798 Kentucky Resolutions at http://www.constitution.org/cons/kent1798.htm and compare to the text of the Constitution itself, which lists only four crimes as being under federal jurisdiction: treason, counterfeiting of currency, piracy and other crimes committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations. Jefferson points out that all other crimes are under the exclusive jurisdiction of the States in which they were committed, not the federal government.

Ron should be pardoning a lot more people than Wesley Snipes. He should be pardoning everyone who is convicted of a crime not enumerated in the Constitution as being under federal jurisdiction (which is most of them).

In fact, he should also pardon anyone who did not have a jury which was fully informed of its common law power to ignore the instructions of a judge and nullify the law by acquitting the defendant if the jury believed the law to be unconstitutional or unjust. Legal scholar Clay Conrad wrote a book called Jury Nullification that shows how having juries informed of these powers is an integral common law part of what the Sixth Amendment means by a jury trial. Therefore, any federal jury which has been kept in the dark about these powers by the judge (which is virtually every federal jury in virtually every criminal trial) violates the Sixth Amendment, making those convictions unconstitutional as well.

But I don't think he should say anything about issuing pardons on the campaign trail.

[Yieu]

Perhaps he might do that, which we would like, but I'm not sure you win an election on such a stance.

I understand this position, but is it not high time for honest and principled men to stand up and be counted, rather than playing it safe with half measures and games?


Perhaps he might pardon such people, but it's not something to run on in this day and age.

That is a sad statement on just how pathetic we as a people have become.

Maybe it is time to move to Russia...

It is a sad statement, I agree. To clarify though, once he's in office I'm sure he'll pardon away. I wish it were different.