A Libertarian’s Lament: Why Ron Paul Is an Embarrassment to the Creed
Will Wilkinson, himself a libertarian writer, on the Ron Paul doctrine, “a morally dubious ideology of privilege poorly disguised as a doctrine of liberation.” After laying out his positions on taxation and immigration (as described in Paul’s most recent book), Wilkinson surmises:
So when it comes to protecting the wealth of propertied Americans, Paul is an absolutist who will brook no compromise. Taxation is slavery! But when it comes to defending an equally basic, principled commitment to free immigration and unrestricted labor markets, Paul develops a keen sensitivity to complicated questions of feasibility, hemming and hawing his way to a convoluted compromise that would continue to affirm the systematic violation of the individual rights of foreigners who would like to live and work in America, and those of Americans who would like to live and work with them.
Wilkinson also takes on Paul’s repugnant, know-nothing, retroactive opposition to nearly all civil rights legislation, on the grounds that whatever restrictions they placed on white male property owners categorically outweigh any increases in liberties for women and minorities they allowed.
He’s affable and interesting, and takes on the two-party consensus on war and monetary policy, but his famed ideological coherence only extends as far as his self-interest.
