The Apotheosis of Ron Paul

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I've wanted to comment on the recent revelations about the Ron Paul Newsletter, but I've been busy with school and being a host to my Brazilian cousin in the past week. I had heard of these newsletters awhile back, but was convinced that the staffer who wrote these racist remarks, which I had never read, was promptly fired, end of story. I've browsed lewrockwell.com for many years now, since I was in highschool, and aside from an article on immigration that I felt was extremely offensive (and I emailed Lew about) I haven't seen anything very objectionable printed. I find it unsettling that Lew Rockwell was apparently responsible for the newsletters and has not explained or apologized for them.

Unearthing these newsletters is not a smear, just journalism. This is newsworthy and I think libertarians ought to be grateful that it was Julian Sanchez and David Weigel who dug it up. I volunteered for the Ron Paul campaign, but the libertarian movement is more important than the campaign. Ron Paul seems like a great guy, someone everyone my age wants to be their grandpa, but ultimately I don't care about his campaign if there's any chance the movement will suffer in the long run because of it. For the sake of freedom and classical liberalism we should never fear facing the truth. Libertarian philosophy distinguishes itself from other political perspectives precisely because of its unique claim of moral highground. The Ron Paul campaign has been enormously successful in spreading libertarian ideas and I've seen, on the ground, the outlines of how the movement intends to spread politically. That is ultimately the important thing.

Don't drink the kool aid.

Comments

  1. Anonymous1:22 PM

    Excellent, John!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Joshua Holmes4:46 PM

    We don't have a unique claim to a moral high ground - plenty of people think their philosophy is right - we have a claim to a unique moral high ground: natural rights.

    ReplyDelete

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