Ron Paul will not save you

Ron Paul needs little introduction to most people who would be running across this post. Even though he is relatively radical compared to the average person as far as free markets go, the reason he is a bad thing for libertarianism is actually the fact that he isn’t enough of a free marketeer.

With the US Presidential election upon us, I feel that it’s time to look at why Ron Paul’s candidacy should not be supported:

1. Voting will not change anything of significance: The problem is with democracy as a system, not with who is in charge.
2. Ron Paul is not that much different from other politicians, he still has to pander to audiences and offer them something for nothing, just as any other politician does. Notice how he still has to compromise his positions because he doesn’t want to risk feeling the wrath of the public service unions.
3. He won’t even get the Republican nomination, let alone President, he just doesn’t have the numbers. Working towards freedom is not the sort of thing that you get people to vote for, it is something that comes about by our own actions and thoughts. So voting is looking in the complete wrong direction.
4. Even if he does become President, there is no telling that he will be able to do what he says he will do.
5. Notice how there isn’t much of a plan as to exactly what will be privatised and how it will be done, given we’re talking about dismantling government agencies – no easy task, when people are dependent on these agencies.
6. To think that Ron Paul can go into the government and make it smaller is forgetting the entire purpose of government – to steal and take control of things. Don’t believe me? Well then why don’t you get to opt-out of taxes or regulation? Why is it that some firms pay money to politicians in return for favourable legislation? Why is that when people can’t just rely on their own productivity or voluntary solutions, they opt for government solutions? The government doesn’t exist to help us, it exists for some people to try and push costs onto other people. In a sense, the system will be rigged against anybody trying to make government smaller, since each individual department will want to try and maintain its own budget/power.
7. Governments have never been kept small in the past – just look at the US constitution, it was designed to limit powers not explicitly granted. The US government is now one of the biggest, most powerful governments in the world!

I’m not saying that I dislike the ideas of personal liberty, freedom and free markets. I’m just saying that I disagree with political solutions like trying to get your “saviour” voted in, in favour of solutions that will actually work, like refusing to vote and actually living personal freedom.

What we need is people moving towards freedom on their own, not our own guy in the machine to control the guns of the state. The world is sick, and until it realises that democracy sucks, it will never get well.