Bethany,
Ron Paul agrees with what you are saying regarding the Constitution, as would the founders. The system is designed so it can be modified to adapt to new developments, wisdom, and situations. Amendments are precisely that mechanism. That said, the process of amending the Constitution was intentionally designed to be a slow and deliberate process. This protects the document from radical changes based on irrational fears or temporary trends etc.
What Ron Paul says regarding the Constitution is that we must at least follow it. As you point out, if we don't like something about it then it can be amended according to the process that has served this country well for 220+ years. However, as Ron Paul has said repeatedly, the worst thing that we can do is to IGNORE it! Unfortunately, that is precisely what is happening today and has happened increasingly since WWII. If we ignore the supreme law of the land and allow the politicians to do as they please then our great Constitutional Republic is a heartbeat away from extinction. The great experiment which has lifted so many millions up, become the greatest, freest society humankind has ever known has died. If we choose to ignore this law, then why not ignore that law? If we can pre-emptively invade or attack a country without declaring war, then why can't any other country? If we can torture that person, why not this citizen? Slippery slope indeed.
The healthcare system is not a free market system and dismissing free market principles based on a comparison to it is not fair to do. Ron Paul is only candidate to point out (and the only one that understands because he has practiced medicine for years) that our system, before government got involved and created the third-party payor system, worked infinitely better than what we have today. Be careful not to confuse a free market with one that is regulated by the government for the benefit of special interest lobbies. That is corporatism, not free market capitalism. When the powerful can influence the laws, win subsidies, and gain protections from government there is no free market. That is the healthcare system we have today and Ron Paul is vehemently opposed to corporatism and government sponsored corporate welfare.
There is a role for government in society. The problem is it has been distorted and twisted into a leviathan that no longer serves the people as it was intended. Social security is a perfect example of a well-intentioned program that should be providing a simple trust fund for citizens being abused, borrowed against, and used as a political lever.
If you go to www.ronpaullibrary.org you can read pretty much everything Dr. Paul has written over the past 30 years on nearly every subject. It is worth the effort. Furthermore, if you do some research on his intellectual touchstone, Austrian Economic Theory, you may gain a greater appreciation for what free markets should and could be, and crucially how monetary theory is critical in determining the appropriate role of government and a just society (www.mises.org) I can tell you that I was an economics major at a liberal university and NEVER even heard the name Ludwig Von Mises, or Hayek, or Bastiat. I was stuffed to the gills with Keynes and Chicago school and the partisan statist rantings of Krugman. I can also tell you that when I stumbled upon this stuff, thanks to the internet, three years ago it was like a personal epiphany. Ron Paul is a recognized Austrian economist and these theories literally speak to the heart of the issues in my estimation and they are so simple and rational and based on most of what we already intuitively know. Liberating to say the least.
One more thing about free market capitalism... In the history of mankind, no other system has lifted so many from the depths of poverty than capitalism. Before capitalism and the great open society that is America, upward mobility simply did not exist on such a grand scale for the common people. We have our problems and we will always have our problems but there is no greater system ever devised and we must protect it (we actually have a fair amount of work to do to try and return to what made it so great) or we will lose it forever. That is what Ron Paul believes in and that is why people believe in Ron Paul once they learn who he really is, beyond the smear, fear, and rhetoric.
Yep. Ron Paul is insane to think that our government should actually follow the Constitution instead of ignoring it. Only someone certifiable would ever believe that our politicians should actually uphold their oaths of office instead of pandering for their own interests.
What a nutjob!
Chuck,
While Ron Paul is interested in ending US involvement in managed (free-trade in name only) trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA he is very explicit that he strongly promotes free trade and diplomacy. He wants to talk and trade openly with every country as he firmly believes that the more nations trade with each other, the more their interests are aligned and the more peaceful their relationships are likely to be.
There are plenty of countries that our government prevents US businesses from dealing with not to mention massive subsidies and other interferences in the marketplace that create animosity. Our current 'free trade' policy is more mercantilist than it is real free trade. It is this same mercantilism that directs our foreign policy to invade countries that are no threat to us which undoubtedly hurts our standing on the world stage more than anything else.
On this linked page you can read pretty much everything he has written regarding free trade and I think most people that enjoy traveling overseas and doing business overseas would support his views unless of course they own or work for a major corporation that benefits from the managed trade agreements directly ;)
