The Blimp Is Back

Ron Paul will toss his hat into the ring today for Obama's current job.  Via Balloon Juice, the Esquire magazine profile of Paul's positions is interesting reading.

Ron Paul is, or seems to be, a very sweet and shockingly naïve man who wants very much to do right by America. But his uncompromising vision of freedom would destroy America, really, by turbo-charging the powerful and the rich, who have shown throughout history that they have (with a few exceptions) zero social conscience and very little concern for the country. Already they've grasped most of the wealth and property in the country. Those in the top percentile are perfectly happy to throw Americans out of work and create jobs in China or Mexico if it means more profits, which they then bank overseas to avoid paying the taxes that create the relatively uncorrupted government under which they thrive. Given the nearly unlimited freedom from regulations and taxes that Republicans like Paul dream of, they'd be completely unrestrained. Eventually the desperate peasantry would realize, as they just realized throughout the Middle East, that the system was completely gamed against them. The result would be bloody revolution.

Ain't that the truth.  Sunday I talked about Christian objectivism as the Golden Rule:  those who have the gold are morally superior and deserve to make the rules.  That's the center of Paul's philosophy, a sort of capitalist version of the Divine Right of Kings.  If you are a truly hard-working, deserving, moral person then you'll be rich.  Likewise, if you're dirt poor, you've clearly lead a life of sloth and vice.  Wealth is self-evident qualification for leadership.  The sin of greed?  Well, that's not really a sin, you see.

It's weird, but it's very appealing to the corporate types that run the world.