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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
@Adric: Let's be clear — there are two Pauls in politics, father and son. Ron Paul is the elder of the family and has been a staunch Libertarian (in the classical sense of the term) for his entire political career. He has run for President on both the Libertarian and Republican tickets, though never came close to securing a GOP nomination.
Rand Paul, his son, is a Senator from Kentucky and is a current Republican Presidential candidate. He's got all the personal charm of a turnip and is admittedly in government only because he wants to use his power to tear it down. He's something of a misanthrope on the campaign trail and can't even pretend to be enjoying it, which has undoubtedly contributed to his fall in the polls. His Libertarianism is a bit muddled with Objectivism (Ayn Rand's infamous creed).
There are two Paul platform positions that are laudable for most Democrats: their opposition to the War on Drugs and to the war in Iraq and military interventionism in general. However, their economic position is risible — as noted above, they want to remove the independence of the Federal Reserve Bank and return the United States to the gold standard. The elder Paul worships at the altar of Ludwig von Mises.
edited 26th Jan '16 8:45:35 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Pataki and Graham dropped out. Short version of Rand Paul (Ron's son): he was named after objectivist writer Ayn Rand, and that tells you more or less everything you need to know. Strong following amongst smug know-it-all college students who think that they know everything after a course of Poli-Sci, little to no following elsewhere.
The Paul in this election in Rand Paul, Ron Paul's son. Their claim to fame is their libertarian bent (if you couldn't guess from the name), with Rand particularly differing from the other Republican candidates in being less interventionist.
Ron Paul, somehow, was also the prior meme-candidate (RON PAUL 2012), though obviously that has since been overturned.
edited 26th Jan '16 8:45:48 PM by Eschaton
And before you ask, the Fed is supposed to be able to control Monetary policy of interest rates without technical pressure or control from Congress/The Presidency as to avoid wrecking the economy in the face of naked populism.
The Gold Standard would basically crash the U.S. economy as we're based on Fiat Currency (the trust of money rather than the agreed value of a commodity).
WSJ is reporting that they were traveling to some town hall meeting when FBI agents stopped their car. One of the occupants pulled out a weapon and the FBI opened fire.
I'm baaaaaaackYes, Rand Paul was/is staunchly opposed to the sacrifice of freedoms that are parcel of the War on Terror, one of his few laudable political attributes. In this he had more courage than many Democrats.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"@Fighteer: I should probably do more research, but from what I can tell so far me and Rubio seem to have very similar politics. According to an I Side With test, we agree on about 91% of issues.
Leviticus 19:34Looks like federal agents have surrounded or even retaken the refuge.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/oregon-standoff-ammon-bundy-1.3421438
Yay, so that embarrassing chapter in our history is nearly over, looks like. Good riddance, I hope they rot in prison. Some occupation: it lasted less than a month and accomplished absolutely zilch except to briefly increase the revenue of mail-order sex toy companies.
edited 26th Jan '16 9:08:16 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"How is Clinton more 'pro-immigration' then Sanders, when she was the one most vocally calling for the recent deportations?
2014:
2015:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-child-migrants_us_55d4a5c5e4b055a6dab24c2f
edited 26th Jan '16 9:16:30 PM by SolipsistOwl
From the CBC article I posted: Ammon Bundy's group, which has included people from as far away as Arizona and Michigan, seized the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 2 as part of a long-running dispute over public lands in the West. Law enforcement officers converged on the wildlife refuge after the arrests and were expected to remain at the site throughout the night; it was unclear how many people, if any, remained in the buildings.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.![]()
The news report has the place surrounded by cops. Whether they will storm it or besiege the remaining militants is not yet known.
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Edit: @Solipsist Owl: You do realize that it is illegal to enter the U.S. without a visa, right? We still have laws, and until Congress acts, not enforcing them is something that is very problematic, Constitutionally speaking.
edited 26th Jan '16 9:15:11 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Fighter I'd disagree with being anti-interventionist as laudable, as would the people of Kuwait, Bosnia, Kosovo and East Timor (likely also the people of Libya, but I've had that argument once in class today as is).
Isolationism does the world no good, abandoning people to suffer in messes the US helped create is frankly irresponsible.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
I'm not necessarily saying that I agree with a complete non-interventionist foreign policy, especially given our role in creating those messes to begin with. But the United States most definitely lacks the political will to carry through such interventions to their logical conclusions, which may go as far as a full occupation and reconstruction of the offending nations.
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@Fighteer: My point is that it's disingenuous for Nihlus1 to continually push a narrative of racism towards Sanders, while shilling for Clinton.
Call Sanders "anti-immigrant" if you want, but the record clearly shows that Clinton is not in any regard "better."
edited 26th Jan '16 9:19:17 PM by SolipsistOwl
You're still in Kosovo, it can be done, though starting with big Arab World messes that require lots of security creation before the state building probably wouldn't be the best idea.
I doubt you need to convince Fighter of all people that Nihilus is being disingenuous.
edited 26th Jan '16 9:19:49 PM by Silasw
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran

I didn't list Kasich, Pataki, Paul, or Graham because I ran out of energy, although Kasich does stand a chance of coming in second in New Hampshire and has picked up a major endorsement.
@Protagonist: If you support Rubio's platform, have you really looked at it? Because it's straight-ticket Tea Party.
edited 26th Jan '16 8:38:40 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"