Ron Paul- People are better able to manage their lives than government can manage them?

Question

http://www.mises.org/story/2520
Ron Paul has always believed that foreign and domestic policy should be conducted according to the same principles. Government should be restrained from intervening at home or abroad because its actions fail to achieve their stated aims, create more harm than good, shrink the liberty of the people, and violate rights.
Does that proposition seem radical? Outlandish or farflung? Once you hear it stated, it makes perfect sense that there is no sharp distinction between the principles of domestic and foreign policy. They are part of the same analytical fabric. What would be inconsistent would be to favor activist government at home but restraint abroad, or the reverse: restraint at home and activism abroad. Government unleashed behaves in its own interests, and will not restrict itself in any area of life. It must be curbed in all areas of life lest freedom suffer.
If you recognize the line of thinking in this set of beliefs, it might be because you have read the Federalist Papers, the writings of Thomas Jefferson or George Washington or James Madison, or examined the philosophical origins of the American Revolution. Or perhaps you have read the speeches and books against FDR's New Deal: the same group warned of the devastating consequences of World War II.
Not only does this Paulian view have a precedent in American history; it sums up the very core of what is distinctive about the American contribution to political ideas. The proposition was and is that people are better able to manage their lives than government can manage them. Under conditions of liberty, the result is prosperity and orderly civilization. Under government control, the result is relative poverty and unpredictable chaos. The proof is in the news every day.
He takes the ideas of Washington and Jefferson seriously, just as seriously as he takes the idea of freedom itself, and he does so in times when faith in Leviathan remains the dominant political ideology.
Ideology is such a powerful force that it has propped up policy inconsistency for more than a century. The Left has a massive agenda for the state at home, and yet complains bitterly, with shock and dismay, that the same tools are used to start wars and build imperial structures abroad. The Right claims to want to restrain government at home (at least in some ways) while whooping it up for war and global reconstruction abroad.
It doesn't take a game-theory genius to predict how this conflict works itself out in the long run. The Left and the Right agree to disagree on intellectual grounds but otherwise engage in a dangerous quid pro quo. They turn a blind eye to the government they don't like so long as they get the government they do like.
It's one thing for the Left to grudgingly support international intervention. It makes some sense for a group that believes that government is omniscient enough to bring about fairness, justice, and equality at home to do the same for people abroad. In fact, I've never been able to make much sense out of left-wing antiwar activism, simply because it cuts so much against the idea of socialism, which itself can be summed up as perpetual war on the liberty and property of the people.
What strikes me as ridiculous is the right-wing view that the same government that is incompetent and dangerous domestically — at least in economic and social affairs — has some sort of Midas Touch internationally such that it can bring freedom, democracy, and justice to any land its troops deign to invade.
The freedom to trade internationally is an essential principle. It means that consumers should not be penalized for buying from anyone, or selling to anyone, regardless of their residence. Nor should domestic suppliers be granted anything like a monopoly or subsidized treatment. Nor should trade be used as a weapon in the form of sanctions. Ron Paul has upheld these principles as well, which makes him an old-fashioned liberal in the manner of Cobden and Bright and the American Southern tradition. He has also rejected the mistake of many free traders who believe that a military arm is necessary to back the invisible hand of the marketplace. For Ron Paul, freedom is all of a piece.
Ron Paul's singular voice on foreign affairs has done so much to keep the flame of a consistent liberty burning in times when it might otherwise have been extinguished. He has drawn public attention to the ideas of the founders. He has alerted people to the dangers of empire. He has linked domestic and foreign affairs through libertarian analytics, even when others have been bamboozled by the lies or too intimidated to contradict them. He has told the truth, always. For this, every American, every citizen of the world, is deeply in his debt. In fact, I'm willing to predict that a hundred years from now and more, when all the current office holders are all but forgotten, Ron Paul's name will be remembered as a bright light in dark times (we are in the right side of history).We can't but be deeply grateful that Ron Paul's prophetic words. May its lessons be absorbed by this and future generations. May this treatise stand as an example of how to fight for what is right even when everyone else is silent. May it always be regarded as proof that there were men of courage alive in the first decade of the third millennium. May public and intellectual opinion someday rise to its level of intellectual sophistication and moral valor.

Answer 1

Isn't it amazing how these Ron Paulistas think they are doing their candidate good by posting this silly stuff?

Answer 2

It's one thing for the Left to grudgingly support international intervention, because Liberals believe in surgical strikes and covert operations, and not making a mockery of our country on the world stage. It makes some sense for a group that believes that government is omniscient enough to bring about fairness, justice, and equality, which is nice as a national security issue at home, but, to do the same for people abroad, it should be handled differently, according to liberals. In fact, I've never been able to make much sense out of left-wing antiwar activism, (Or maybe I really don't care to understand), simply because it cuts so much against the idea of socialism, which means nothing because liberals are so against a socialist government). The conservative movement can be summed up as perpetual war on the liberty and property of the people, this is probably why Liberals fear conservatives because they not only embrace this warped way of thinking, they have perfected it. Pretty scary!

Answer 3

Follow Ron Here:

http://www.9or18.com/politics/politics.html

Answer 4

The liberals who reply to this question exhibit their shallowness and lack of intelligence when they say all of this is "silly".
Unfortunately for the USA, there are millions of people who are intellectually incapable of understanding the philosophy of personal freedom and limited government. You make a great point about the quid pro quo between the left and right, with both of them in power (using our confiscated wages ), they continue to grow government and our freedom slowly declines.
I think the key is ending the communist inspired income tax. First step towards that goal is to end automatic payroll deduction and have people send in a check on April 15. Even the government worshipping liberals will start to notice how much their government costs them.

Answer 5

Isn't it common sense that I can run my life better than some criminal gang in Washington? I don't want the government "helping" me out. I want them to leave me alone. I would like the government to be one representative from each state with no executive office. I would like state courts to exist with no federal courts. I would like the FBI and CIA disbanded. The Dept of Homeland Security can go into Nazi Germany where it sounds like it came from. In fact, the federal government sucks. It wastes my money by taking it from me and giving it to people who sit on their butts all day long. It's actually a form of communism. Where there is liberty there is plenty. Where there is big government there is corruption, theft, and desolation.

It's not just this clown in the White House right now, it goes back a long way. Normally anyone who is up for election to the presidency is a pawn of banks and big businesses. HIllary, Osama Obama (or whatever his name is), Edwards, Guilianni, Romney, and McCain are some of the biggest crooks out there. They have all been bought by the elite.
I'll vote for Ron Paul.

Answer 6

It's great to see the strong grassroots support for Ron Paul and his popularity with young voters despite the main stream media blackout. Ron Paul is bringing back the wisdom of America's founders, which is something our nation desperately needs.

Answer 7

People who don't support Ron Paul simply because they don't believe he can win really chaffe my @SS.Elections are not friggin footbal games where it's "our team against yours".
This "game"actually has dire consequences.The current crop of money grubbing palm greasers have absolutely no respect for your freedom or rights.
Their benefactors are special interest lobbyists and international coprorations.
Both parties are killing American liberty from inside the system....like some insidious cancer that isn't discovered until it's terminal.
Don't take your freedom for granted.
Devy Kidd wrote an interesting analogy of the machinations of the nefaious elite a while back.This is dated but stil relevant.
http://www.devvy.com/devvyindex.html
Pull your head out of your @ss while you still have the freedom to do so.

Answer 8

We created this mess because of Incompetence by this admin. Their motives was never terrorism, they have already been caught in that lie over and over.

They do not want to catch or kill the "terrorist" because that will end the fake "war on terror"

There were over 200 deaths in Iraq over the weekend. It keeps getting worse and this just gives this criminal admin another excuse that THEY created to stay.

When is enough going to be enough???

IMPEACE THE CRIMINALS NOW!

"2009" The end of an error or the end of our government?

I think there will be another "9-11" by this admin, we will be under martial law and bush/cheney will suspend the elections.

They have spent the last 6 years writing laws to set this up!

We are in the final countdown!

Noo Good came from G.W.Bush or Cheney!

Good By America!

Answer 9

I like Paul. He seems like a good Joe.

But let me tell you...

Your statement (question?)... isn't necessarily true 100% of the time.

That's the only thing I don't like about the Ron Paul bandwagon. Yes, he does have a lot of bright ideas, and by bright I mean shocking and deeply thoughtful and probably great in practical terms.

But the country isn't suited for him. As much as I would like to have him run things, what many people dismiss is the culture a president inherits. And today's culture doesn't belong with Ron Paul.

That's my two cents. Thousands of people will disagree with me. But I'm sure I'm not the only one to think so.

Answer 10

I am pretty sure i don't need the government to tell me how I should feel about abortion, or gays, or anything whatsoever! They were put there to perform specific functions, not rule over us like an overbearing socialist parent! I want the freedom to feel how I feel about whatever it is I am feeling.

Answer 11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk60hAzwWO4

Ron Paul 2008