Hello, is Ron Paul a closet Anarcho-Capitalist?
I have a feeling that he is a Rothbardian, so I am inclined to suggest ‘yes’.
IMHO, I think he is, but uses the Constitution + Republican party + libertarian ideas, as a means to sharing the concept of liberty.
When I heard him speak at an event, he was saying that freedom is popular, that folks ranging from democrats, republicans, libertarians, AND even anarchists came to his events. That was the first time I heard anarchists in a positive light, and set me on a road towards AnCap.
Suffice it to see, his method worked in convincing me of the veracity first of being constitutionally sound, towards libertarianism, then AnCap:).
If I ever run into him in private (what are the chances), I would ask to verify.
I asked him at a private event what he thought about Anarcho Capitalism. His response was something like this, “I think it is a good idea. It is something to strive for, but it isn’t implementable at the moment.”
He definitely knew what it was, and I haven’t met many who actually know what it is that don’t believe it could work.
Pablo: GTK! Thx.
What about Peter Schiff? Marc Faber? and Jim rogers? I know they mention Austrian economics every now and then.
Re: OP,
No, he is not in the closet.
Faber once said that he is an “anarchist at heart.”
Rogers probably knows enough from experience that the state is useless.
His response was something like this, “I think it is a good idea. It is something to strive for, but it isn’t implementable at the moment.”
As if Constitutional government is?
I would argue this that the odds of achieving in the next 50 years:
-
a limited constitutional government - extremely highly unlikely. (1 in a billion)
-
a society with no functional government - unlikely (order of 1 in 100)
The reason is that (1) depends on a political fantasy but (2) depends on a political reality that can just hit you all of a sudden, and it requires no majority (or even minority) support. Economic reality can force it! And as history has proven time and time again, it is not trivial to just set up a new government instead.
and I haven’t met many who actually know what it is that don’t believe it could work.
I’ve heard of a few, every now and then.
Yes, Ron Paul is a voluntarist.
There is mountains of evidence - I’ve defended the obvious countless times, if you want to search it out - google will help.