Of the people running, I'll take the guy actually talking about upholding the constitution, responsible fiscal policy (actually understanding and having an economic philosophy) and the importance of guarding individual rights any day over the moral statists and economic socialists.
Just wait 'til the sheeple wake up to the realization of the economic Tsunami that is already en route ($4/gal gas and gold at $850...and the dollar in free fall...yay...) RP won't sound so bad then...
[Interesting side note to all the Reagan-ites, according to his site, RP was also one of only four Republican Congressmen to endorse Ronald Reagan for president against Gerald Ford in 1976, when Paul led the Texas Reagan delegation at the national Republican convention.]
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... &plindex=7 Interesting video when you compare the facts Reagan cites compared to the economic state of the US today.
From a Reason Magazine Interview 1975 with Ronald Reagan:
http://www.reason.com/news/show/29318.html
REASON: Governor Reagan, you have been quoted in the press as saying that you’re doing a lot of speaking now on behalf of the philosophy of conservatism and libertarianism. Is there a difference between the two?
REAGAN: If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals–if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is.
Now, I can’t say that I will agree with all the things that the present group who call themselves Libertarians in the sense of a party say, because I think that like in any political movement there are shades, and there are libertarians who are almost over at the point of wanting no government at all or anarchy. I believe there are legitimate government functions. There is a legitimate need in an orderly society for some government to maintain freedom or we will have tyranny by individuals. The strongest man on the block will run the neighborhood. We have government to insure that we don’t each one of us have to carry a club to defend ourselves. But again, I stand on my statement that I think that libertarianism and conservatism are travelling the same path. [Reagan's libertarian/conservative idea would be close to what Conservative Libertarianism is today, known as the Republican Liberty Caucus. Most Centrist or Conservative Libertarians believe that some government is a necessity but only so much as is needed to ensure the upholding of the Constitution and the protection of individual property rights and the individual rights of it's citizens.]
REASON: Governor, could you give us some examples of what you would consider to be proper functions of government?
REAGAN: Well, the first and most important thing is that government exists to protect us from each other. Government exists, of course, for the defense of the nation, and for the defense of the rights of the individual. Maybe we don’t all agree on some of the other accepted functions of government, such as fire departments and police departments–again the protection of the people. [Reagan sounding very libertarian...]
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I just threw that comment in there to rile some of you guys up. Relax!
- By Ill flame
- By Sly Fox