This is a defense of Ron Paul I’m writing out of sheer frustration. I hope it appeals to a few of you.
I’m not a partisan guy. I don’t get excited about “my team” winning. I don’t care if it’s politicians, sports, music–I am simply not the kind of guy who feels really happy about “his” group winning and gets really defensive and upset when “his” group is attacked by supporters of other groups. I don’t care to attack or defend Justin Bieber, Barack Obama, or the New York Yankees. Now, if they do something wrong–if, say, Justin Bieber strangles a prostitute–I’d criticize him, but only because he did something wrong, not because he’s on the other team.
Because of my lack of interest in teams and winning, I’ve never been excited about Ron Paul the way other libertarians are. Further more, I found myself skeptical of his motives (he’s a politician, he’ll sell whatever it takes to win) and doubtful that he could achieve his aims once in office (Obama does not strike me as a gun nut, yet he bends over backwards for the NRA). Yet I have explored a little of Ron Paul due to the current excitement over him, and I have observed something striking: Ron Paul wants to stop murdering people. Even when it’s an unpopular message, he pushes it, which suggests that he really means it. He wants to end the war on drugs and the wars in the middle east. Furthermore, he doesn’t want to start new wars!
The deaths caused by these wars have to be murder. Even if you think that drugs shouldn’t be consumed, and even if you think that there are good reasons for the US government to be invading the Middle east, there is no way you can possibly think that all of those deaths, or even 90%, or even 50% of those deaths, are necessary to achieve those aims. That means thousands and thousands of those deaths are simply murder, and completely immoral. They must stop. Ron Paul wants to stop them.
That’s why it makes me so furious to see things like this. I don’t know much about Ron Paul, so he may be a racist for all I know. But let Ron Paul be a racist! He is the only candidate who wants to stop murdering thousands of people every year! Whatever the immorality of electing a potentially racist President, it does not compare to the immorality of electing a President who is known to be a killer and pro-killing whenever convenient!
As if the evil of one man’s repugnant personal views outweighs the evil of the slaughter of thousands!
There’s also the obvious irony that out of all the candidates’ personal views, Ron Paul’s are the least important. Under Ron Paul’s ideal policies, Paul would lack the power to use his racism for evil. Only a powerful President, with the power to kill and regulate every aspect of society, needs to be an angel in order to be a good President. An economist like Brad Delong should understand this easily.

