The cult of Paul

Who is Ron Paul?” That’s a question I hear almost daily.\nFortunately, the same people who chalked that question decided to chalk the answer just about everywhere. You can barely walk five steps without running into a “Stop the War: Ron Paul.”\nThe sidewalk seems to constantly be asking me if I love freedom while implying that if I don’t support Ron Paul, I am more comfortable with tyranny.\nI feel that the time has come to be frank about this candidate and the movement he seems to be generating. It would be nice if we all stopped pretending to love Ron Paul or if those who do love him took the time to learn a little bit more about him.\nWho is Ron Paul? Yes, he is against the war. Yes, he opposes the Patriot Act, he has shown a continued commitment to balanced budgets, he supports Social Security reform and he has a voting record to prove his support of the Constitution.\nThis is what you usually hear about Ron Paul, and for good reason; if some of his other ideas were better known, many probably wouldn’t give him a second thought. \nRon Paul wants to abolish the IRS and the Federal Reserve; he believes welfare programs are one of the greatest threats to liberty, that guns prevent tyranny and that abolishing the Department of Education while supporting home schooling would be an effective solution to current education problems.\nHe opposes nearly every international trade agreement including World Trade Organization, Central America Free Trade Agreement and North American Free Trade Agreement, ignoring the kind of huge economic turmoil that would likely be caused by bottlenecking world trade.\nHe also supports withdrawal from the United Nations, an action that would probably bring about the dissolution of an organization that has fed millions of children, maintained a lifeline to international refugees, provided a focal point for global HIV and AIDS relief efforts and helped families plan, mothers survive and children grow up healthy in the most impoverished places on earth. \nThe Ron Paul movement tries to frame itself as revolutionary; the official campaign slogan is “Hope for America,” but it is clearly regressive. The campaign is merely a list of things our government should not have done; I am still waiting for the list of what the government should do instead. His campaign tries to justify its lack of vision with its ideology – for Paulites, every problem facing America comes from a lack of respect for the rule of law and the Constitution. This view seems to suggest a static America, one distinctly separate from human civilization and the world community. \nIt would be nice if people reading this walked away with a better idea of what Ron Paul stands for. It would be even nicer if his supporters were a little more honest with their chalking, but I guess “Down with UNICEF: Ron Paul” doesn’t sound as good as “Ron Paul for freedom.”