Vince Vaughn Talks Libertarianism With Playboy
The actor and Ron Paul fan considers himself a libertarian because he likes the Constitution and the idea of a Republic.
If you read Playboy for the articles, the latest issue features an interview with actor Vince Vaughn, someone that people are sometimes surprised is a libertarian, espousing some of his libertarian views.
Vaughn takes about Ron Paul, who "woke a lot of people up to the fact that government can't handle everything for you," his distrust of centralized power, and his preference for a system where people are left alone "unless they commit fraud or physical force or take someone's property." "So we should have lawyers running the country?" interviewer David Hochman asks in response. Laws, and courts, are important, Vaughn explains, otherwise "you can't leave your house, because you have to protect your stuff." That leads to a question about owning a gun.
Some more excerpts:
PLAYBOY: Would you ever consider running for office?
VAUGHN: No. But let's say I did. I'm going to have a lot of people with a lot of money becoming my friends, aren't I? Because I can write laws to benefit you. Let's say you're a major corporation, and I'm the politician and I can write laws. I can say which race gets a benefit and which doesn't. That could get me some votes. Or I write laws that help your business and limit other businesses from being able to compete with you because they can't survive all the new programs I'm putting in place. What is it they can't afford? The health care act? Okay, I'll vote for that and they can never reach you. But you have to vote for me.
You have to understand that America today is not capitalistic. The problem is corporatism. The government has too much authority, and it's dangerous. It stifles productivity and freedom and prosperity and peace. I find most people nowadays are more complacent or accepting that the government can successfully do everything for us. It can't. It can't!
PLAYBOY: You're very passionate about these issues.
VAUGHN: How can you not be? The Patriot Act? Let's get rid of it. Undeclared wars, doing away with personal liberties—let's understand how that has worked out historically to see that it has led to some horrible things. Once our personal liberties are gone, when an American citizen can be pulled out of his house and detained for six months without a trial, where is our country? Once those rights are gone, how do you get them back? Once the government is allowed to listen to you, how do you get that privacy back?
Read the whole thing, with pictures, here.