[slap_j]

Originally Posted by Ridley's Own

But isn't that exactly his appeal? That he is an idealist who holds the constitution immutable?

Actually no. His platform includes a constitutional amendment.

[Chrysostom]

Originally Posted by Ridley's Own

But isn't that exactly his appeal? That he is an idealist who holds the constitution immutable?

Every other time I see him speak I vacillate between deciding that he's a brand of fundamentalist and that he's a nicely realistic fellow, so I have to admit I can't fully answer that question. But I think he's more just a guy who wants people to really commit. If you decide that something was wrong with the Constitution, amend it. That takes serious, reflective commitment. Just like the Iraq war -- if you're going to do it, he says, at least commit to it and declare a war. They couldn't declare a war because they weren't really that committed to it, and that lack of commitment plagued everything about the attack.

Originally Posted by Ridley's Own

Even to use your example, I'd say that he's (at worst) a liar and a hypocrite, at best, someone who plays fast and loose with his own set of rules.

OK, I suppose we have different judgments then. =/

Originally Posted by Ridley's Own

It really doesn't worry me at the end of the day, because Ron Paul isn't going to be president. But it does concern me that some (but, obviously, not a lot) of people are buying lock stock and barrel into the Von Mises Institute nonsense without a lot of critical thinking of what a true Von Mises Institute world would look like.

I'm assuming that in even eight years he could accomplish very little. I think a Libertarian US would be not particularly good, but I also think that if you've got to work on the axis of Statism vs. Libertarianism then please get as close to the middle as you can.