I strongly agree that Ron Paul's ideas according to the following link are the right ideas to implement:
http://useconomy.about.com/od/people/p/Ron-Paul-2012.htm
However, I'm not convinced he can implement them.
1. Less govt and cut federal spending
Even if he wins the presidency, can he abolish the Fed?
2. Reduce military spending
I have full confidence he can achieve this if he becomes president :-)
3. End the welfare state
I agree this is the right thing to do but I fear he wouldn't be reelected to allow the benefits of cutting them to be seem before politicians bring it back.
Btw, while I'm for killing Medicaid and Social Security, I feel that it's unjust to cut it cold turkey. Current recipients may need to be grandfathered in. People within X years of becoming recipients may need some sort of allowance as well.
I'm fine with people my age (35) or less being cut off from it. Perhaps even 39 and less as that's our 50% of the population cutoff.
4. Cut taxes
Even if he was president, would he be able to cut taxes? Isn't that controlled by Lesiglative branch?
5. Return to the gold standard
I would LOVE this. However, there's a link in the article that discusses why this wouldn't be feasible unless the whole world adopts it at the same time. How likely is that?
6. Eliminate or audit the Fed
Already discussed above
7. Impact on the Economy
If Ron Paul was elected president and somehow implemented everything he wants to do on day 1 then it's most likely the case that the short term suffering caused may prevent him from being elected a second term which would likely cause the fruits of his work work to not be realized before the next president undoes his work.
Despite my concerns I still want to elect him in the hopes that some of his work sticks, but it's definitely a concern of mine that The People won't realize how right he is if he does get elected.
I did a point by point and maybe I will come back and do it. But in the interest of time I would just say, yes he can. Oh wait that is obama's trademark catch phrase.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, reality... no after 4 years we will not have Ron Pauls ideal government. Just like we do not have Obamas after 4 years or bushes after 8 years. What we will have done is turned the boat around. He would veto so many bad bills and get a chance to speak to the nation so much that the dialouge would no longer be between two different corporate owned teams (err I mean political parties) it would be a true debate between more or less government with a smart man that can actually articulate how freedom and less government really works and helps. He would not get to put everything in place but I think stopping the tide of bad changes and educating people would go a long ways. Even then it might not be enough but the alternative methods of shedding this government off our backs is much worse.
I totally agree with you but your response doesn't address any of my concerns.
ReplyDelete1. He can propose legislation to congress as he has done in the past. In the past two year people have finally started listening to him in enough numbers to get the rest of congress behind the auditting of the fed. As president I am pretty sure he could get even more support and possibly elliminate it. If he does not succeed, we would at least be close where as now it is just a small minority that want to end it.
ReplyDelete2. Agree. Easy one.
3. I am pretty sure if he wins and is able to accomplish much the nation will be happy enough with the status quo that he or his vice president would be re-elected.
4. Paul is not too concerned about cutting taxes. He is rightfully much more concerned about cutting spending. It really does not matter what we set taxes at. regardless of what it is if spending is way higher (as it has been) we just pay for it through inflation. Anyways regardless both are controlled by congress but he would veto anything that does not address the problems we with overspending. Congress could try and pressure him but I doubt Dr No would cave as president since he has not caved as a congressman for the past 3 decades. Congress would eventually have to address the issues they have been ignoring and start cutting spending if they want a budget approved. It would be some uncomfortable weeks as they fight it out but I am pretty sure if Paul is elected people would side with him. I think people are sick of congress ignoring the problems and would want them to finally address things.
6. He has already got a partial audit of the fed as a congressman and head of the monetary subcommittee.
7. I do not think people would care much because generally when things get better they like the status quo and I am pretty sure the short term troubles would be real short. But more importantly... I am not too concerned if Paul gets credit or not nor do I think he is. He just wants to fix things and return america to the right track. He being elected would be a dramatic shift that America has only seen a few times before. I am guessing a lot of current republicans would shift to the democrat party and many independants and libertarians would join the new republican party of Paul/libertarian ideas.
The advantage would be that regardless of what Paul gets credit for, the debate in the future would finally have two different sides rather than two flavors of the same side.
It seems you believe that economic conditions would improve quite quickly after cutting spending.
ReplyDeleteI'm not so convinced, but I do agree that it's the right thing to do for the long term.