Now, longeyes asked me to describe what he calls a Paulestinian America.
I will do this because I think this is a golden opportunity for me to clearly explain my position.
Imagine here a completely fictional universe, in which Ron Paul Or Someone Quite Like him has won the Republican Primaries. Again, this is unlikely.
Imagine that Ron Paul* is revealed the winner of the Republican primaries.
Swiftly, the liberal media commence their assault on Ron Paul*. Because Ron Paul* is known to be a generally non-corrupt politician, most of these attacks will not be on his character, but on his view. Most of the right-wing media (commentators, pundits, etc.) will probably defend Ron Paul* from these attacks, if only out of party loyalty. This will begin a national debate on what is really the main issue of our time - whether we want a welfare state or whether we want constitutionally limited government that respects individual right - a 'conservative' or 'broadly libertarian' system, if you like.
Ron Paul*, of course, will not shy away from his debate - this is why he is here, after all. To fill these shoes, a man must really believe in the notion of limited government, and be able to defend it unashamedly, in front of the cameras, come what may. The liberal media are not prepared, intellectually or culturally, to struggle with this form of flat-out attack on their values. They are prepared - indeed their entire civilization depends on - the notion that they will only contend with people who are obsessed with looking reasonable. They can fight Gingrich, they are better at fighting John McCain. With Ron Paul*, their best survival mechanism is avoidance -trying to smother the revolutionary from media access. That won't work if the revolutionary is a Presidential candidate.
In the same way, Ron Paul* would debate the Democratic Candidate. No longer would this be a fight between "raise taxes 1%" and "raise taxes 50% and eat the rich". This would be a debated between Barack Obama and someone who looks into the camera, unashamed, and says: "Abolish the graduated income tax and replace it with nothing."
This is going to be a fight. Polls suggest that about 12% of Americans are libertarians in a broad sense, but more people can be persuaded to vote for Ron Paul* with the correct marketing - party loyalty ("will you let Obama appoint judges? Ron Paul might be bad on terorrism but we can't let Obama win!"), or niche-based benefits ("Ron Paul will protect complementary medicine users from FDA intervention!" will bring many hippies over, and so will "Ron Paul will legalize marijuana").
If the campaign loses, will still shift what the political mainstream is in this country, in ways Ron Paul, the Congressman from Texas, already did.
If it wins... oh, then we are entering the interesting territory:
Paulestinian America.
Envision now President Ron Paul*. Of course, he would order American troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan (forget that they are already leaving), and out of the many military bases around the world. Perhaps it would be possible for the Pentagon to persuade him to keep some of them, but generally this will probably be the case. America's international standing will be, of course damaged in a variety of ways. There is not a doubt about that. This is a downside, and we are all aware of it.
Here's where the real fun starts.
1. Executive orders. The actual Congressman Ron Paul promised - and indeed President Ron Paul* no doubt would - repeal dozens of Executive orders and Federal regulatons. The import bans on 'assault weapons'? Gone. The impositions on kitchen-table dealers? Gone. In fact it is even possible to do even more - under the Gun Control Act - to recclassify models of firearms away from the NFA and into Title I, to order the BATFE to enact a registration amnesty for NFA firearms, and so forth. This is entirely legal (to the extent BATFE is legal) and within the executive office's purview.
2. The pardon power. Thousands of innocent people are in prison for victimless crimes. From - at least - a libertarian perspective, a person in prison for a victimless crime is an innocent man in prison. If there are innocent men in prison it is a moral prime directive to set them free - and, from a Constitutional point of view it is not outside the President's authority to free all of these people at once.
3. The veto power. No, the President cannot veto everthing. But if President Ron Paul* vetoes everything he can, that would at least stop a large part of the evil acts of modern government, force Congress to compromise, and stop things like the Patriot Act, that require reauthorization.
4. The bully pulpit. A victory by President Ron Paul* would no doubt be a strong message to Congress, and a President Ron Paul* would be able to appeal to the American people (using State of the Union addresses and other opportunities) on behalf of freedom. He would not accomplish all of his goals, but he would accomplish far more, and his victory would no doubt also propel more freedom-friendly candidates into office.
In short, a President Ron Paul* can do far more than is commonly estimated, merely because he is willing to do far more than a President Cain* (much less President McCain)* would.
*Or Someone Quite Like Him
