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Will the GOP—and Dems—Rue Paul Next November?
That's the question columnist Ron Hart asks. Snippets:
Little noticed in the increasingly shrill sniping, however, is the emergence of a purplish centrism. These centrists who will shape future elections are we libertarians - fiscally conservative and socially moderate. We believe in personal responsibility and minimal government - and not just while running for office. In short, we say smoke all the crack you want, just don't expect us to pay for your rehab. We do not meddle in places where it is not our business, e.g., Iraq, your bedroom, your religion. Libertarian thinking is gaining traction in our culture by those fed up with the far left and the far right....
Ron Paul is not your typical politician. He strikes me as the only one running who is more likely to be listening to a constituent in a bar rather than getting a $400 haircut or running his opinions by a focus group. He is a smart, conscientious and an accomplished private sector doctor who went into politics for the right reasons. He is a man who stands firmly by his beliefs and does not pander to the worst in human instinct. As such, and if history is any guide, rest assured that he has no chance in hell of winning.
reason on Ron Paul here.
Matt Welch and me on RP and the libertarian ascendency here.
Eric Dondero|12.20.07 @ 8:00AM|#
Rudy Giuliani has just been admitted to a hospital in Missouri
for "flu like symptoms."
Hey you all Rudy Bashers out there, including Reason Editors.
I've got a great idea. Why don't you kick the man while he's down?
Come up with some sort of front page article saying how Rudy is
"Hitler" or something to that affect.
Don't report on all the libertarians supporting Rudy like Sally
Pipes, Steve Forbes, Clint Bolick, Martin Anderson, Dennis Miller,
et.al.
No, better to just say he's a "Fascist" or something to that
affect.
Don't report on Ontheissues.org that lists Rudy as a 60/60
"Moderate Libertarian," second only to Ron Paul on the libertarian
scale among all 20 some major party candidates.
No, just make up some lies on how Giuliani is a tax raiser, or is
anti-Choice on abortion, or how Giuliani wouldn't really fight back
against Islamo-Fascism.
Kick the man while he's down. Someone gets sick. Perfect
opportunity for Reason and the Paul-bots to kick 'em in the teeth
with such accusations.
Eric Dondero|12.20.07 @ 8:01AM|#
Oh, and don't forget it's Christmas.
Best opportunity for the Giuliani haters to really spew their venom
towards Giuliani.
Gotta destroy that libertarian-leaning GOPer in the primary, so
that our boy "Ron Paul" can improve his poll numbers from 4.7% to
4.9% in the RCP average. Right?
Fluffy|12.20.07 @ 8:02AM|#
Well, the last time Rudy was going to lose an election and
wanted to run away and hide, he got a doctor's note excusing him
from class.
Maybe he's going to do that now, too.
"I have 45 day flu! I cannot continue! Excuse me while I go
trolling around cigar clubs looking for a new piece of ass!"
Fluffy|12.20.07 @ 8:04AM|#
Eric, are you actually giving us some of the credit for
"destroying" Giuliani?
Well, thank you! That's very nice of you.
Now I can puff my chest out and think proudly, "I helped to destroy
Rudy Giuliani!"
Is this the part of the interview where I thank Jesus for making
this possible?
|12.20.07 @ 8:05AM|#
What's that in the sky?
A bird?
A plane?
No, it's Giuliani's campaign going down in flames.
Oh, from the Derbyshire piece:
If those people are crazy, though, I want to be crazy with them.
Crazy like a fox!
Fluffy|12.20.07 @ 8:07AM|#
No, just make up some lies on how Giuliani is a tax raiser,
or is anti-Choice on abortion, or how Giuliani wouldn't really
fight back against Islamo-Fascism.
Link please.
All the criticisms of Giuliani I remember are:
He employs genocidal sociopaths like Norman Podhoretz.
He favors endless war.
He has a history of nanny statism.
He has a history of opposing free speech.
He has a history of hating due process, even when he was an officer
of the court.
He has a history of standing up for police brutality.
He stands up for and longs for the chance to expand upon Bush's
extrajudicial system of detention and torture.
Did I miss anything? I'm sure I did, help me out here people.
|12.20.07 @ 8:11AM|#
Fluffy,
You forgot about how Giuliani rubs one off every night to video of
his speech after 9/11...
|12.20.07 @ 8:14AM|#
"Did I miss anything? I'm sure I did, help me out here
people."
YES! He ignores the second amendment to the constitution, so no
bill of rights garantee is safe.
|12.20.07 @ 8:23AM|#
Can someone explain to me why I should give a fuck about the
opinion of Dennis "Needless Analogies" Miller?
Oh, and Forbes is currently National Co-Chair and a Senior Policy
Advisor to Giuliani's 2008 campaign...
|12.20.07 @ 8:23AM|#
Holy jumping threadjacks, Batman!
Got to give Dondero his props for taking a post about Ron Paul and
making it a post about a guy who thinks freedom means submitting to
righteous authority.
|12.20.07 @ 8:24AM|#
Neo-Nazis Say: Ron Paul is One of Us:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=28341_Neo-Nazis_Say-_Ron_Paul_is_One_of_Us&only
OhioMichael|12.20.07 @ 8:25AM|#
I heard that Rudy Giuliani had an allergic reaction to his new pair of pantyhose.
Eric Dondero|12.20.07 @ 8:27AM|#
9/11! Islamo-Fascism! Commie-Nazis! Rudy! 9/11! 9/11!
Islamo-Fascism! Commie-Nazis! Rudy! 9/11! Islamo-Fascism!
Commie-Nazis! Rudy! 9/11! 9/11! Islamo-Fascism! Commie-Nazis! Rudy!
9/11! Islamo-Fascism! Commie-Nazis! Rudy! 9/11! 9/11!
Islamo-Fascism! Commie-Nazis! Rudy! 9/11! Islamo-Fascism!
Commie-Nazis! Rudy! 9/11! 9/11! Islamo-Fascism! Commie-Nazis!
Rudy!
oh, and 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11
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9/11
Chucklehead|12.20.07 @ 8:29AM|#
Donderoooooooooooooooooooo,
Shouldn't you be washing Ghouliani's feet with your tears?
|12.20.07 @ 8:42AM|#
Eric Dondero,
Just because someone holds a few liberal social positions while at
the same time holding a few conservative economic positions, that
does not make them a Libertarian.
Sure, Rudy is pro-choice - but he thinks the state should pay for
the abortion (because it's a "Right", you know, and if it's a
right, and you can't afford it, then the state should pay for it.
... huh? I wonder if that is how he feels about the 2nd
amendment?)
Rudy is for tax cuts - OK, I'll give you that, but he is for tax
cuts because he believes they will let him raise more revenue that
he can throw around the marketplace (business and social) buying
support with.
And sure, he's for open immigration, but he wants every immigrant
to have a bio-metric enabled ID card. (he doesn't explain how it
will only be for immigrants, so one assumes that means you and I
will have to show one to get a job/open a bank account too.)
But ask Rudy how he feels about the DEA and the drug war, and he
will give you a solid drug-warrior answer.
And ask Rudy about gun control, and he will tell you that you have
a "right" to own a gun since the supreme court decided that way,
but he wants to sue every gun manufacturer so your right will only
be a theoretical one.
I could go on, but I think I have made my point: Libertarianism is
not an "ala carte" philosophy - otherwise Bill "gun of the month
club" Maher would have to be considered a Libertarian.
Libertarianism is about the NIOF principle, and Rudy Giuliani is
all about initiating force to solve social, economic, and
diplomatic problems.
It's kinda like the old Doonsbury comic where uncle Duke says
"Sometimes you have to shove freedom down peoples' throats whether
they want it or not."
Even if we give him a huge benefit of the doubt and accept that he
only wants to initiate force on the side of liberty, (he doesn't,
but let's just pretend for a moment that he does,) that doesn't
make him a Libertarian. Even if it's freedom and liberty, by
initiating force you cede all legitimate claim to the title
"libertarian" at best you are a coercive Libertine, at worse, a
fascist. (by which I mean economic/soft fascism, not national
socialist/racist fascism.)
Later.
|12.20.07 @ 8:45AM|#
What kind of a pussy goes to the hospital for "flu-like
symptoms"?
Someone who has no concern for the cost of his medical
treatment!
|12.20.07 @ 8:46AM|#
Why do I picture Dondero sitting in the corner of a room with a bottle of vodka in one hand, weeping over his signed photograph of a smiling Giuliani while his life size portrait of Putin looks on the scene disapprovingly (has Putin ever smiled...ever)
|12.20.07 @ 8:47AM|#
I'm puzzled why anybody falls for Giuliani's bullshit claim that
he is a tax cutter.
After all, he spent alot of time in Albany begging them to send him
more money extracted from taxpayers who didn't live in the
city.
In other words, sure a guy living in New York might have paid a
smaller amount in taxes to the city, but a guy living in
Schenectady ended up taking up the slack.
Believing that Giuliani is a tax-cutter requires a great deal of
gulliblility; I think the only people who would fall for that are
the kind of morons who think that Al Queda has Scud missiles....
Oh wait, yeah....
|12.20.07 @ 8:51AM|#
tarran,
If we surrender to the Islamo-Fascists, they will be on our border lobbing scud missles at Brownsville, El Paso, Tucson, and San Diego faster than you can say "Allah AhuAhkbar.
Wow. Just wow. I knew Dondero was a bedwetter, but I don't have the
time to follow him all around the internet and read all his
looniness. Somehow that gem slipped passed me.
Obviously, Mexico is in cahoots with Al Qaeda. We need to nuke
Mexico ASAP.
|12.20.07 @ 8:55AM|#
Taking the thread back from Commander Pee Pee Pants,
"Politics should be limited in scope to war, protection of property, and the occasional precautionary beheading of a member of the ruling class."
Love that P.J. O'Rourke quote. Let's start with the lobbyists mentioned in the article.
Other Matt|12.20.07 @ 8:56AM|#
Did I miss anything? I'm sure I did, help me out here
people.
He lost me when discussing his use of firearms bans in NYC was a
"tool", showing his arrogance that he was the one who got to decide
who was "tooled" and who wasn't.
Episiarch|12.20.07 @ 9:01AM|#
The fact that DOONDDERRRROOOO believes that anyone who was not only a power player in NYC, but actually mayor, could ever be a libertarian is...amusing.
|12.20.07 @ 9:01AM|#
Hey E.D., the first thing I did this morning when I saw the headline was pray for him and his doctors, that he would make a full recovery. Can't stand the man myself, think he would make a more horrible president than W, but hey, he is a fellow human being, and I wouldn't wish ill on him or anyone else. Why don't you grow up and start acting like a human too instead of a mean-hearted little troll. Or if you don't want to do that, just go away. You bore me.
|12.20.07 @ 9:04AM|#
Dennis Miller, a libertarian? I seem to remember him having some pretty hawkish positions, e.g. his asking Ron Paul in an interview on his radio show: "Don't you think its time to 'get it on' with radical Islam?"
|12.20.07 @ 9:10AM|#
Steve Forbes campaigned for Ron Paul with Nolan Ryan back in the 90's, and is a supporter of Paul's.
|12.20.07 @ 9:10AM|#
How quickly you've gone from "Rudy is the only viable
candidate," to "boo hoo, don't hurt him."
Sad, really sad.
Balloon Maker|12.20.07 @ 9:15AM|#
In pro sports, when they report that a player is sitting out for "flu-like symptoms," it means he's hung over. Maybe Rudy went on a Mexican bender.
|12.20.07 @ 9:17AM|#
Did I miss anything? I'm sure I did, help me out here
people.
He's a gun grabber.
iowan|12.20.07 @ 9:19AM|#
What kind of a pussy goes to the hospital for "flu-like
symptoms"?
Without knowing anything about rudy's situation, I can tell you my
daughter was one held over night in the hospital due to the flu.
Symptoms so severe, she couldn't even keep plain water down. They
put three bags of saline solution in through an IV drip.
Dehydration can kill.
|12.20.07 @ 9:25AM|#
Hey Dondero, did you see that Rudy is plummeting in Florida and California, losing ground to Huckabee?
|12.20.07 @ 9:26AM|#
I'm not going to blame him for seeing a doctor. It's easy enough to attack his position on the issues.
|12.20.07 @ 9:29AM|#
I'm so excited! This morning, my mom told me that Ron Paul was
going to be on Meet the Press this Sunday.
The exciting part isn't the fact that he's appearing on Meet the
Press, it's the fact that she's paying attention! She mentioned
Paul's response to critics when he didn't give back a $500 donation
from a neo-nazi (Why give it back so he can spend it? The less
money a neo-nazi has, the better!) And she said, "to think he gave
me a gynecological exam 32 years ago! Wow!"
And she was smiling!! A few months ago, she would point
out the staff mistake in mixing up her file with another patient's.
Now she focuses on how cool it is that the greatest candidate ever
was once her physician.
Yes!! I've brought her into the fold :-D
|12.20.07 @ 9:32AM|#
sage,
Part of Dondero's fascination with Rudy is that whole "tough guy in
the aftermath of 9/11" facade. It doesn't quite jibe with "my tummy
hurts and I have a headache so rush me to the emergency room" Rudy
we're getting to know. Or, as mentioned earlier, the "playing the
cancer card to avoid getting my ass kicked by Hillary in the Senate
race."
However, you do bring up a fair point, and his health concerns
should not be used against him.
|12.20.07 @ 9:36AM|#
John-David, not that I'm saying anyone else shouldn't point out his wussery. I won't blame them for that either.
Bingo|12.20.07 @ 9:40AM|#
In the hospital for flu-like symptoms? Bah, nothing a shot of whiskey and nyquil every hour for a day or two couldn't cure.
Must resist... horrible joke..|12.20.07 @ 9:41AM|#
It doesn't quite jibe with "my tummy hurts and I have a headache so rush me to the emergency room" Rudy we're getting to know.
...are you saying Rudy is a pussy? Because maybe he should have
seen Dr. Paul for his illness.
Episiarch|12.20.07 @ 9:43AM|#
In the hospital for flu-like symptoms? Bah, nothing a shot
of whiskey and nyquil every hour for a day or two couldn't
cure.
Nyquiladas are the best.
|12.20.07 @ 9:44AM|#
This is an attempt (in vain?) to get back on topic.
He [Ron Paul] is a man who stands firmly by his beliefs and
does not pander to the worst in human instinct. As such, and if
history is any guide, rest assured that he has no chance in hell of
winning.
This is friggin' hard to argue with. I pretty much agree with the
assessment of RP's chances in the noble quest. Why did I donate
money? Why do I talk him up so much I irritate people on occasion?
I'm getting better at avoiding that, after all it
IS a campaign. Because we are going to change the
friggin' debate parameters this time around! Paul loses, but his
primary showing, coupled with the enthusiasm of his spectrum wide
supporters is going to rattle the teacups of both parties.
Freedom is popular! Ya gotta love it.
|12.20.07 @ 9:55AM|#
Just got a chance to watch the Glenn Beck interview with the
good Doctor.
Beck's questions were 50% decent, 50% insane. (And
they call us the kooks.)
Dr. P handled then pretty damn well. He has gotten exponentially
better at these things since the campaign started.
Let's keep this momentum going through Sunday and beyond.
End the tyranny.
Join the r3OVLution.
Ron Paul 2008!
|12.20.07 @ 10:01AM|#
Well, the last time Rudy was going to lose an election and
wanted to run away and hide, he got a doctor's note excusing him
from class.
My vague recollection is that he was a pretty solid favorite, since
you could expect NYC residents to cast more votes for him that they
usually would for a Repub.
THE RUMOR STARTS HERE|12.20.07 @ 10:11AM|#
What kind of a pussy goes to the hospital for "flu-like
symptoms"?
A pussy with AIDS.
|12.20.07 @ 10:13AM|#
Please forgive me.
Donderoooooooooo, Screwing around on your wife is not a violation
of libertarian principles. Sending your paramour's chauffeur tab to
the taxpayers certainly is.
I couldn't resist. Go back on topic now.
BakedPenguin|12.20.07 @ 10:16AM|#
Does anyone else see an analogy between the Paul campaign and Anderson's '80 campaign? Not in the specific positions they hold, of course, but rather in the "inner-party outsider" status of the candidate, and the fact that they both had/have views which were/are anathema to their parties?
|12.20.07 @ 10:24AM|#
It has been pretty obvious for about twenty years now that the
majority of the country is fiscally and economicly conservative and
socially pretty moderate. People are tired of high taxes and
regulation and tried of endless culture wars over government
policy. Ron Paul tapped into that. He is the only one in either
party who isn't a slave to the various one issue interest groups
that make up the major party's bases.
If he were ten years younger and hadn't read just enough economics
to be dangerous, Ron Paul could be a real force. But the mantle of
true independent politics is still there even after Ron Paul. The
fact that someone as certifiably looney on so many issues like Paul
could do so well, shows how desparate a large part of the
electorate is for someone who will reign in government, taxes and
spending and shut the hell up about social issues.
horsewithnonick|12.20.07 @ 10:31AM|#
Beck's questions were 50% decent, 50%
insane.
50% decent, 50% insane...that seems to me to be a pretty spot-on
description of Beck's usual on-air behavior.
I have only read the transcript, so missed any nonverbal
communication going on, but the interview seemed to me to be an
excellent showcase for Dr. Paul.
|12.20.07 @ 10:34AM|#
Rudy Giuliani has just been admitted to a hospital in
Missouri for "flu like symptoms."
Rudy's a junkie?
|12.20.07 @ 10:36AM|#
Mmm...wishful thinking. Americans are sick of the "far right and
far left," and so naturally they will gravitate to the sweet
sensible moderation of libertarianism.
Actually, it will lead them to a Bill Clinton-ish centrism.
Americans are for the most part socially moderate and fiscally
conservative, and that probably spells Democratic in the medium
term.
I understand that the Democratic Party is an unholy mess, but
that's because it's a real party that practices actual politics in
the real world, not in Libertarian Fantasyland.
|12.20.07 @ 10:39AM|#
"I understand that the Democratic Party is an unholy mess, but
that's because it's a real party that practices actual politics in
the real world, not in Libertarian Fantasyland."
That is why their winning of the 2006 elections resulted in a
complete pullout of Iraq and the impeachment of the President.
|12.20.07 @ 10:40AM|#
Adam,
Bill Clinton only got popular after he started selling out liberals
to the Republican Congress. He was very unpopular his first two
years when he had a Democratic Congress and his main inititives
were the BTU tax and socialized medicine. Then with a divided
government, you shockingly got centrist policies and both parties
were re-elected in 1996.
|12.20.07 @ 10:49AM|#
I cannot believe that no one linked here.
Eric, this is one you have to see. Your boy Rudy's on the front
page of The American Conservative. Good going Rudy!!
Yours in Danger,
Dangerman
Bingo|12.20.07 @ 10:50AM|#
John:
Unfortunately, about 15% of the nation are a bunch of
Bible-thumping luddites that want to shove an American flag down
every brown person's throat and 15% are a bunch of Euro-weenie
wannabes that think they can fix every societal ill.
The problem isn't that these groups exist, its that they see the
federal government as the solution to every problem and that the
major parties have declared them to be their respective
bases.
Most people are socially moderate and fiscally conservative, but
they don't seem to realize there is an alternative to the views of
those two groups.
Bingo|12.20.07 @ 10:51AM|#
**note: All statistics are pulled from the great compendium of information that is "my ass"
|12.20.07 @ 10:53AM|#
"The fact that someone as certifiably looney on so many issues
like Paul could do so well, shows how desparate a large part of the
electorate is for someone who will reign in government, taxes and
spending and shut the hell up about social issues."
And it shows how desperate a large portion of the public is tired
of our meddling foreign policy. My wife and I have talked to lots
of people who question our meddling overseas. They believe we have
enough problems to settle in this country without trying to settle
problems overseas.
|12.20.07 @ 10:54AM|#
the only one running who is more likely to be listening to a
constituent in a bar rather than getting a $400 haircut or
running his opinions by a focus group
Exactly; a surprising (to MSM "analysts" anyway) number of people
actually want to hear the candidate say what HE thinks, as opposed
to what the candidate's team of political consultants and marketing
wizards say they want to hear.
|12.20.07 @ 11:03AM|#
Bingo,
Most people I know who are outside of the intellectual class have
one view on foreign policy and wars; rubble makes no trouble. I am
not kidding. This includes Republicans and Democrats. I am always
facinated by my wife's family's views on these things. They are
died in the wool working class Democrats from the Northeast. Their
attitude towards Iraq is that we should have just turned the place
into a parking lot and gone home. Bush got into trouble not for
starting the war but for trying to rebuild the country. I am not
saying that is the right way to think. I am just saying a whole lot
of the public left and right thinks that way.
|12.20.07 @ 11:12AM|#
**note: All statistics are pulled from the great compendium
of information that is "my ass"
The best disclaimer I've read in a long time.
|12.20.07 @ 11:29AM|#
"As such, and if history is any guide, rest assured that he has
no chance in hell of winning."
Recent history, perhaps. But, if you look back far enough he
actually has a great chance. Personally, however, I don't think
either ancient or recent history can be much help. What I take away
from history is that change is inevitable, and surprises happen
when least expected. That doesn't mean Paul will win, but it means
we don't really know. We just have to do our best then wait and
see. Everybody's obsession with polls and commentaries is sort of
like the way more primitive cultures would consult oracles or
prophets or other fortune-tellers. As humans we like security, and
we like to pretend we have it even if we don't. How about we all
just grow up and accept that the future is a mystery, a tale yet to
be told, but at the same time something that we will all end up
being responsible for.
BakedPenguin|12.20.07 @ 12:01PM|#
Most people are socially moderate and fiscally conservative, but they don't seem to realize there is an alternative to the views of those two groups.
True, but they are neither as socially moderate nor as fiscally
conservative as we are. There is also the inertia factor. A lot of
people simply cannot believe that things would work without the
government. The reason for this is that the government has been
doing these things for a long time, and they have no memory of the
time prior, and lack the imagination, or desire, to see a world
where there is much less government than there is now.
Imagine thinking that everything the libertarians say we are going
to get rid of in the government will be replaced by
nothing, and you'll understand the mindset. The
tax money taken from the rich will simply go back to them, while
the poor and middle class will be no better off. (keep in mind -
I am not saying this is what will happen, only what I
believe many people think). Until we can address this mindset, it
will be hard to sell libertarianism.
|12.20.07 @ 12:11PM|#
Dondero,
I don't want Rudy to die. I want him to live to be completely
embarrassed in the primaries where I think he'll not only lose but
get beaten by Ron Paul, Huckabee, and Romney in no particular
order. Maybe even McCain and Thompson.
Jennifer,
I agree. There are too many things that have happened in the
history of the world that were unexpected to consider it a foregone
conclusion that Ron Paul won't win the nomination.
|12.20.07 @ 12:28PM|#
The tax money taken from the rich will simply go back to
them, while the poor and middle class will be no better
off.
We've lost the sense in this country that "you won't be hectored
and henpecked by petty bureaucrats" is a perfectly good answer to
"What's in it for me".
mAD FOR rON pAUL|12.20.07 @ 12:29PM|#
Mock and denegrate anybody who deviates an inch from the Truth as we define it. Civility is for statists. We are the only ones who truly love liberty. LONG LIVE RON PAUL!
Bingo|12.20.07 @ 12:54PM|#
BakedPenguin:
I've noticed the key difference between libertarians and... well
pretty much every other political subset is that libertarians
understand the concept of emergent behavior.
Neither conservatives nor liberals seem to "get" the fact that
complex behaviors can result out of a simple and limited set of
initial rules. Both conservatives and liberals think that you need
to govern every possible outcome otherwise people will either a)
not know what to do or b) do evil things.
|12.20.07 @ 1:39PM|#
Try saying "but we must get rid of the EPA! Globalization is
great!" to a lower-middle class mother worried because the Xmas toy
(made in China) she got for her kids has been recalled due to
excessive lead and cadmium levels.
That's the problem. Libertarians come off as a bunch of selfish
"I've got mine, who cares about you" free-market zealots who don't
give a piss about whether anything is regulated. "If your kid dies,
you can just sue the company!"
Ironchef|12.20.07 @ 1:58PM|#
Grumpy, libertarians don't wish all regulation to just go away. We just don't believe all is necessary, and that the government should not always be involved. There are plenty of examples of succesful, private regulation. ABA, AMA, higher education (accrediation), the insurance industry. . .
|12.20.07 @ 2:15PM|#
Yeah, clearly we need to roll back globalization because
1/1,000,000,000th of the toys sold to us from China had high levels
of lead, a transgression for which they actually executed one of
their apparatchiks.
Am I supposed to feel bad for challenging the "lower-middle class
mothers" who hold mass-produced, half-baked opinions like this?
Neu Mejican|12.20.07 @ 2:27PM|#
Bingo,
emergent behavior
Greens include the concept in their platform.
Libertarians have a limited understanding of emergent behavior at
best...regulatory mechanisms are emergent phenomena in all complex
adaptive systems, fur instance.
Brandybuck|12.20.07 @ 2:41PM|#
Wait... Is Eric blaming Ron Paul supporters for that Rudy/Nazi cover? Wholly crap, this guy is so far off the deep end he probably gets off doing self-trepanation.
Emergent Behavior|12.20.07 @ 3:22PM|#
A successful adaptive system will operate on a limited set of
initial rules that interact with context to produce complex
behavior.
The system that is able to adapt those initial rules to optimize
performance as the context changes will, more often than not,
outperform the system that can not adapt the initial rules.
Flexibility is an important trait of successful adaptive
systems.
The framers of the US constitution understood this principle and
allowed for mechanisms to change the rules to adapt the system to
the changing context.
Modern libertarians are often less wise and see the initial rules
as sufficient to meet any and all challenges posed by the context
in which the system operates.
While some of the initial foundational rules are necessary for the
system to function, they are often not sufficient to the
context.
|12.20.07 @ 4:51PM|#
Hart is dead on again. He is the best at putting this in prospective. Too bad more voters have not bought in. The ? is does RP run with smurff Bloomberg? And too, who will rue Paul the most, the Dems or Repubs? Is RP going to be the Ross Perot of this deal and get us that mean witch Hillary?
|12.20.07 @ 4:58PM|#
Hart says: "Big money flows in D.C. these days, so much so that Ted Kennedy got the largest book deal ever, in the millions, for his upcoming memoir. I just hope it so big that it can be used as a floatation device." Now that is funny, I do not care who you are!! I wonder what percent of the country will get that reference? Great column, Hart may be the best writing today.
|12.20.07 @ 5:03PM|#
Modern libertarians are often less wise and see the initial
rules as sufficient to meet any and all challenges posed by the
context in which the system operates.
Perhaps, but many of us are just pissed off that the "mechanisms to
change the rules to adapt the system to the changing context" (that
is, the amendment process) as proven inconvenient for Our Masters,
so they have just disregarded said mechanisms, in the process
erecting the gigantic, rigid, non-adaptive edifice of the Total
State.
Neu Mejican|12.20.07 @ 5:08PM|#
RC Dean,
The amendment process is only one of the mechanisms in our
constitution to allow for adaptive change...
See Articles I-IV...
|12.20.07 @ 6:17PM|#
Eric Dondero is so funny, I find him on every news site I visit
bashing any reasonable Ron Paul reporting..
He thinks Rudy has a libertarian message? Wow Eric, whatever drugs
your taking you oughta start selling them that way you can be the
one non-special interest to give Rudy a nickel or two.
Rudy is really hitting it off with those conservatives isn't he, he
has so many things going for him...
No family values, married his cousin, kids endorsing Obama,
sanctuary city, 9-11, 9-11, 9-11, 9-11, 9-11, bomb Iran, stay on
the "offense," Yankee fan flip-flopping.
He sure is the man for the 9-11, 9-11, and 9-11. Just ask the
NYFD.
Keep smoking your crack-pipe.
|12.20.07 @ 7:52PM|#
Bronwyn's comment about Ron Paul giving his mother a gyno exam
made me think of a great bumbersticker:
VOTE FOR RON PAUL/he's seen more pussy than either of the
Clintons
|12.20.07 @ 8:47PM|#
If we're to believe the Many Worlds interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, there are an infinite number of universes in which Ron Paul wins the presidency. Indeed, there are an infinite number of universes in which Ron Paul wins the presidency and then fucks Paris Hilton on the House floor after his first State of the Union.
Ron Paul is a joke|12.20.07 @ 10:10PM|#
You know, maybe, just maybe, someone would take what Reason has to say about Paul seriously if you guys ever criticized him on anything he has done in the past. It is sickening how much this site fawns over Ron Paul.
|12.21.07 @ 8:43AM|#
Hey dumb ass, it is a libertarian blog, who did you expect to
get cheered--John Kerry?
One thing is for sure, Hart writes one of the funniest, brilliant
and most insightful columns around today.
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