I found this interesting: I’ve been posting at ronpaulforums.com for quite some time now. I recently posted a thread about the need to immediately eliminate all forms of welfarism, including Social Security and Medicare. Apparently, the term “abolish” is too strong of a word: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showpost.php?p=2362524&postcount=12
Also, here is the text of a message I got from the above mod:
I know you have been a voice of reason for the an-cap philosophy. I also know you were named as a possible agent for the Mises Trolls in their infamous “infiltrate RPFs” thread. Please be considerate of the very difficult position I am in and avoid the appearance of being one of them.
Thanks
Apparently, they think that anarchists from this forum are infiltrating RPF?
Hm. I dont buy that RP is a ‘closet anarchist’. I think this is a case of projecting what some want him to be. I see no evidence that he is ‘sabotaging’ the state - otherwise he wouldnt even vote for profitable state endeavors, such as the new US quarters program (which he did vote for - my guess is because its a harmless way to raise revenue).
But back to the topic. They didnt like me over at RPforums because they perceived I wanted to start a violent struggle with the state - not really sure how they came to that conclusion. That said, I think there are too many MLK-quoting egalitarians over there, and their philosophy often seems misguided at best.
I donated to RPhawaii when he was doing his cycle bit, I even sponsored one of the old timers there with their first year’sC4L membership dues. I remember donating to the forums back in the early days, before advertising.
I don’t regret that.
But when I see “mises trolls”, I am happy to no longer be associated with RPF.
Conza informs me that the infiltrate RPF thread is related to something I posted, about market testing a minarchist to ancap reading list there, as that would be the target audience, but of course those guys are so neurotic, they see it as treason or some such thing.
Sad day when they censor the word “abolish”, and Ron Paul wants to abolish the FED and income tax.
I’m fairly certain Ron Paul is truly an an-cap..Look at the guys he has been friends with, Rothbard, Block and Rockwell use to work for him. There is no possible way he is not an an-cap after spending reasonable time with those guys.
He also brought in Tom Woods for the hearing for this HR1207 circus. It’s interesting that the media has not tried to pin him on this issue. It shows how stupid the media is. They could easily discredit him by labeling him an anarchist, even if he’s not.
The link is down. However, from what I experience from you Kaju, you seem to be a rational, intelligent agent. I can then conclude that you were probably not violating any of the forum rules [ if I am wrong in this statement, please correct me ]. I have just recently started getting into the fray with “Constitutionalists” and so far my experience with some of them has lead me to conclude that these are some pretty rabid people. They are so devoted to the belief that the government can be reformed, that they quickly become apologists of the state. They are almost like Marxists of the Right. I understand that Austrian-ism does not necessarily tell you to hold certain values but to connect something like Mises Socialist calculation critique and the basic principle of loving liberty, how you can deduce that the state can be a good thing either ethically or economically is a rather puzzling argument to make.
It seems to me like only econ geeks such as ourselves could call someone else an “agent” in this situation.
Well, Mises was a minarchist and a utilitarian. There are several other minarchists working in the Austrian tradition; it isn’t like every Austrian scholar is necessarily also an anarchist.
That said, I still find it rather odd how someone will parrot Rothbard on everything from natural law to money and banking but then claim that anarchists are irrational and crazy. That’s basically the general feel I get from RPF.
Is Tom Woods an anarchist? He seems like more of a Catholic minarchist to me.
RPForums is full of a bunch of babies. I posted my thoughts on how I thought Ron Paul should quit the presidential race about half way through it, and boy did I get flamed. Then they suspended my posting privileges. I now think it is a good thing that he did not drop out, I was just so bummed at how poorly he was doing. But instead of trying to build me up, they flamed me and then revoked my posting privileges.
