I am a big fan of Ron Paul. I like his ideas and his passion. But some of his stances are a bit extreme. Here’s a quick rundown of his platform and where I stand.

Feel free to share any thoughts in the comments section!

A. The Constitution: I once read somewhere that America will be remembered for 3 things: Baseball, Jazz, and the Constitution. The country should be run based on the parameters of the Constitution. It’s hard to dispute this one.

B. Privacy & Personal liberty: I whole-heartedly agree with Ron Paul that we should be extremely cautious whenever we give the government more power over our information. National ID cards scare the hell out of me.

C. Abortion: Ron Paul is pro-life. He writes “There cannot be liberty in a society unless the rights of all innocents are protected.” As an OB-GYN he says he delivered over 4,000 babies. As a new parent myself, I can finally understand that life begins way before birth. But it still feels wrong to have a law in place that controls a woman’s decisions about her own body.

D. Foreign Policy: Ron Paul is the only one who’s making any sense! Al Qaeda doesn’t hate us for “our freedom,” they hate us because of our actions. That doesn’t mean that they have a right to kill innocent civilians. It simply means that we need to treat others how we’d like to be treated, if we want to see any change in the world.

Many people would consider this position naive and stupid. Arabs only understand force, many say. If we show any weakness, we’ll be slaughtered.

The fact is that we have become the aggressor nation. The rhetoric is all about protecting human rights and the right to liberty, but the actions are all about protecting our energy sources and expanding our empire. That is simply wrong, and it’s not sustainable.

E. Immigration: I don’t agree with Ron Paul’s plan for immigration, but at least it holds together logically: Secure the borders, enforce visa rules, no amnesty, no welfare for illegal aliens, end birthright citizenship, and pass true immigration reform. In short, Ron Paul wants to crack down on illegal immigration but improve the system so that more immigrants can enter the country legally.

That sounds great on paper, but booting out 10-20 million people would be disastrous for our economy, and is probably impossible in the first place.

Here’s how I see it. We can 1) control all population flows and have a welfare state, or 2) open the borders but shut down all welfare programs. We can’t have both.

I support #2. Let’s start with a “path to citizenship” coupled with a simpler, more open immigration policy. If people really want to come here, they’re going to do it anyway, so let’s get them into the system. If we vastly reduce the size of the government, we’ll reduce the free-rider effect too.

F. Monetary Policy: Ron Paul wants to abolish the Fed and return to the gold standard. His main beef seems to be “the political favoritism and secrecy that characterizes
central banks.”

He cites Alan Greenspan’s own words, from 1966:

“The abandonment of the gold standard made it possible for the welfare statists to use the banking system as a means to an unlimited expansion of credit. In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the hidden confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights. If one grasps this, one has no difficulty in understanding the statists’ antagonism toward the gold standard.” -Alan Greenspan, 1966

Abolishing the Fed seems like a drastic action. All of this talk about fiat currency smells like conspiracy theory to me, and I don’t think it serves Paul’s campaign.

Ron Paul should stick to messages that appeal to the American people. If his main objection to the Fed is that it allows the government to grow uncontrollably, he should stick to a message of reducing the growth of the government. Most people just get a headache when he talks about inflation, the Fed and monetary policy. If you want to read more about his views on this issue, click here.

G. Education: Ron Paul wants to abolish the Department of Education. He argues that education should be locally controlled. This seems way too extreme.

America is about opportunity. If we don’t take steps to provide every child in America with an opportunity to learn and succeed, then we aren’t living up to our promise. The federal government should play a role in directing resources to education. But don’t ask me how much, or how to divide up the money….that’s a tough problem with no easy solution.

H. Environment: Ron Paul believes that a stricter adherence to property rights will solve the environmental issues facing the world. Seems a bit simplistic.

I. Health Care: Ron Paul wants to make all medical expenses tax-deductible, and make every American eligible for an HSA account. He does not support so-called universal health care. In his words, “Government health care only means long waiting periods, lack of choice, poor quality, and frustration.” I completely agree.

But this does not solve the problems of the 45 million Americans who live without health insurance. What can we do to make health insurance more accessible and affordable? None of the candidates are proposing solutions that appeal to me….I would love to study this issue in more depth.

J. Home Schooling: That Ron Paul even has a position on this issue astounds me. There’s even a group called “Home Schoolers for Ron Paul.” Of course people should have the right to home school their children… Do people actually disagree with this?

K. No Taxes On Tips: Slippery slope, but I can’t say I care much. Ploy for the vote of every service worker in the country?

L. Property Rights: Agree, agree, agree.

M. Racism: Ron Paul’s stance on racism is refreshing and different, and definitely worth reading. Excerpt:

Racism is simply an ugly form of collectivism, the mindset that views humans strictly as members of groups rather than as individuals. Racists believe that all individuals who share superficial physical characteristics are alike: as collectivists, racists think only in terms of groups. By encouraging Americans to adopt a group mentality, the advocates of so-called “diversity” actually perpetuate racism.

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