BEWARE: Capital Controls and People Controls.
Posted on 09/08/2011 9:30:44 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
And now for a lighter moment from last night’s debate, or at least the weirdest moment. Jim Hoft calls this Ron Paul’s Checkpoint Charlie moment, but it’s really more like an apex of Paul’s paranoid band of libertarianism. In this exchange, Paul opposes building a border fence because he doesn’t believe it represents American values, which is a fair enough argument that one usually hears from Democrats. He then tips over into hilarity when he suggests that the US government might use it to stop Americans from fleeing to, er, Mexico:
I immediately noted on Twitter on hearing this that it was my first laugh-out-loud moment of the debate, which got an angry response from a couple of Ronulans. (Is there any other kind?) One told me to ask the people of the former Soviet Union and East Germany about how ridiculous that might be. Well, it may come as a shock to Ron Paul and his followers, but the Iron Curtain wasn’t what made the Soviet Union a totalitarian state (and it wasn’t literally a wall anyway), nor the Berlin Wall for East Germany. The latter had to build the wall in Berlin to keep people from escaping its police state, which existed before the wall was built or even contemplated. Anyone who doesn’t understand the difference doesn’t belong in any serious political debate.
Besides, I’m pretty sure that we’re not running a great risk of capital flight to Mexico at the moment. Our southern neighbor is teetering on the precipice of becoming a failed state, kidnappings are an epidemic, cartels run entire swaths of the country, and the political environment sounds somewhat like the lyrics to “All She Wants to Do is Dance.” Even if an eventual US government closed the border to keep Americans in, we have a wide-open border on the north and two oceans on either side. Americans would like Canadians and swimming a lot better than taking their chances with the drug cartels. And if we were ever in a position where Americans wanted to escape to Mexico, then a border fence would almost literally be the least of our problems.
Once in a while Paul will say something that makes real sense — but such occasions are infrequent. Mosly he is like a crazy old aunt.
But Ron Paul WON the debate, according to the MSNBC poll!
(here’s an /s for those who need it)
No matter how bad things get here, I won’t be fleeing to Mexico.
Oh well, he's a bit on the strange side in some of his ideas.
I wish he would flee to Mexico. He’s getting really tiresome.
LOL
DONE !
TOAST !
Well, that’s what his supporters say, as a bunch of other stuff. He is not what they think he is.
Paul isn’t aware of how strict Mexico’s immigration polices are.
Paul is Von Misses open borders free trade.
Paul loves Mexico.
That’s his first choice for flight.
I personally think he runs to protect the RINOs from being challenged by rational conservatives who might vote for someone less crazy if they didn’t have Dr Idiot to vote for.
Why don’t we just build a giant canal along our border that connects the Gulf with the Pacific ocean?
Lots of jobs created, revenue income (passage tolls) and reduced illegal imigration. Propose it as a enhancement to global trade routes and shipping efficiency so Mexico can’t bitch.
Sure it would be expensive, but at least when it was done we would have something to see (unlike the stimulus plans).
Why not? /heavy sarc ;-)
Sounds like he’s slipping into Jesse Ventura territory.
Jesse loves the vast freedoms he has at his gated mexican compound surrounded by heavily armed security.
I don't know. He was the light entertainment last night. He comes across as doddering, impulsive, and stringing disjointed thoughts together as he talks. Fun to watch, and good for a chuckle. We didn't catch up to the debate until 45 minutes in to it, but I was surprised his "crowd" was as quiet as they were during his airtime. Maybe the Reagan Library did a good job of filtering them out. The audience looked pretty affluent.
With all the mandates we've been getting, do you think it impossible that the federal government might not one day say, "Hand over your guns and your gold?" And if that day came, what are you going to do? Hand over your gold (which might be your only method of buying scarce food) and starve? Shoot it out while trying to protect your family? No, you are likely going to try and leave the country -- or at least most people would.
Ron Paul believes that we haven't seen the worst of this economic mess yet -- that there is a real possibility of a dollar collapse. If that happens, there will be chaos and all bets will be off. Given his track record of predicting the direction of the economy so far, an economic collapse isn't as far fetched as it sounds.
I used to be for the border fence, too -- until someone brought up, "What if it was used to keep you in?" It made me stop and think. I've changed my mind. There are much better ways to deal with border.
I think Ron Paul is sort of like a pseudo-libertarian Pat Buchanan - right about twice a day.
Which beats Obama by a considerable margin.
Presidential Candidate Ron White has a different proposal that also involves using a canal to stop illegal immigration. You have to stick it out all the way to the end to get to the canal part.
WARNING!!! LANGUAGE. NOT SUITABLE FOR WORK
(disclaimer: it's just a joke, son.)
RE: “What if it was used to keep you in?”
The border fence is for the Mexican border, not the Canadian border.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.