L.A. Times: If you care about civil liberties, vote for Ron Paul [Most commented]

[sailingaway]

http://opinion.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c7de353ef014e8be88239970d-600wi

http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2011/09/if-you-care-about-civil-liberties-vote-for-ron-paul-most-commented.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpinionLa+%28L.A.+Times+-+Opinion+Blog%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

[Mises_to_Paul]

Indeed, one of the most disappointing aspects of the Obama presidency has been his shoddy work on civil liberties. I never expected much from him in the way of true economic understanding, nor was I naive enough to think that he would heal the "racial divide", but he didn't even do the positive things usually associated with progressive democrats. And I do think because of the (D) next to his name and ethnicity, criticism from the "left" has been largely muted on these issues.

To me, the last two presidencies have illustrated the folly of the traditional left-paridigm in American politics (although I realize American history is littered with similar examples).

The more relevant distinction is the distinction between statism and anti-statism, IMO. Perhaps something like what the political compass (http://www.politicalcompass.org/analysis2) offers, if you are still stuck on "economic vs. social" ways of thinking. The more we can break the traditional ways of thinking about politics, the better it is for people like Ron Paul.