Today, a "Conservative Animal" (blog name) called me a "paulie" (sic).
For the record, I do agree with Ron Paul, but my opinions were largely in line with his before I began to pay much attention to him, about six years ago. Plus, whatever is wrong with my opinions, a lot of thoughts go into them, and so ad hominem arguments are resented, chiefly because they indicate no respect for my time.
The "Left - Right" paradigm in which we frame political discussions seems more absurd to me everyday.
.
"Left" and "Right" have much more in common than their shared disdain for the simple honesty of Ron Paul.
* They both have the exact same plan to deal with our national debt problem - blame the other party.
* Democrats spoke against Bush's military adventurism; Republicans decry Obama's. But in the end, both keep funding our unsustainable worldwide military presence.
* Neither has any respect for the Constitution: Conservative Animal is offended by the confidence with which Ron Paul supporters cite the Constitution (it's our fault that hardly anyone else reads it?), and thinks the Federal courts are the sole arbiters of its meaning. Animal thus affirms the hubris of Chief Justice Hughes: "...we are under a Constitution, but the Constitution is what the judges say it is..." My "liberal" critic thinks the Constitution is subservient to popular opinion, and inadequate for modern life, and since his view is shared by the statists who dominate the federal judiciary, he, like Conservative Animal, is happy for our country to be governed by de facto tribunals of judges.
* Both quickly play the race card when they have no answers: the liberal thinks objections to Obama's massive expansion of the federal government is rooted in racism; Conservative Animal accused me of being anti-Semitic because I think Israel deliberately attacked the USS Liberty in 1967. Since I didn't mention the Liberty attack in my post on Mr. Animal's blog, I'm guessing somebody searched out my comments about it elsewhere online. I'm opting out of participation on that blog, as the proprieters are given to overbearing and verbose tirades full of ad hominem arguments, red herring, and ipse dixit assertions posing as axioms. See for yourself here.
* Both are ignorant of, or OK with, the President having authority to imprison American citizens indefinitely without charging them.
The Left side of the box is still the box. Ditto the right side.
Ron Paul's ideas are not really profound. He just cuts through the bullshit; and millions of people are ready for someone to do that.
Unfortunately, many more millions are still thinking in the box.
Pray and think. Please.
"Left" and "Right" have much more in common than their shared disdain for the simple honesty of Ron Paul.
* They both have the exact same plan to deal with our national debt problem - blame the other party.
* Democrats spoke against Bush's military adventurism; Republicans decry Obama's. But in the end, both keep funding our unsustainable worldwide military presence.
* Neither has any respect for the Constitution: Conservative Animal is offended by the confidence with which Ron Paul supporters cite the Constitution (it's our fault that hardly anyone else reads it?), and thinks the Federal courts are the sole arbiters of its meaning. Animal thus affirms the hubris of Chief Justice Hughes: "...we are under a Constitution, but the Constitution is what the judges say it is..." My "liberal" critic thinks the Constitution is subservient to popular opinion, and inadequate for modern life, and since his view is shared by the statists who dominate the federal judiciary, he, like Conservative Animal, is happy for our country to be governed by de facto tribunals of judges.
* Both quickly play the race card when they have no answers: the liberal thinks objections to Obama's massive expansion of the federal government is rooted in racism; Conservative Animal accused me of being anti-Semitic because I think Israel deliberately attacked the USS Liberty in 1967. Since I didn't mention the Liberty attack in my post on Mr. Animal's blog, I'm guessing somebody searched out my comments about it elsewhere online. I'm opting out of participation on that blog, as the proprieters are given to overbearing and verbose tirades full of ad hominem arguments, red herring, and ipse dixit assertions posing as axioms. See for yourself here.
* Both are ignorant of, or OK with, the President having authority to imprison American citizens indefinitely without charging them.
The Left side of the box is still the box. Ditto the right side.
Ron Paul's ideas are not really profound. He just cuts through the bullshit; and millions of people are ready for someone to do that.
Unfortunately, many more millions are still thinking in the box.
Pray and think. Please.
