Left for Hillsdale College as conservative, returned Paulie. (vanity)

[carjic]

Sorry for the vanity. My son has returned from Left for Hillsdale College 1 1/2 years ago as a conservative and returned as a rabid Paul Supporter. (vanity)I am despondent after debating with him. He is lost.

[Fightin Whitey]

I came out of high school post-Nixon, post-Vietnam, brainwashed on every matter by CBS, Newsweek & Time, and disagreeing with my dad on almost everything.

After a visit some time later I left him a thank-you card quoting the famous lines by Mark Twain: “When I left home at sixteen, my father was so ignorant I could barely stand to have him around. When I returned at 22, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in six years.”

You’ve given your son a great foundation. Give him time to build on it.

[ronnie raygun]

Young birds flap alot and try to fly right but are not very sucessful, older birds glide and learn to control the wind under thier wings. The message is in thier heads and will eventually tone it self down and become clearer as he or she gets older.

[dps.inspect]

Ron Paul is the "anti" candidate. Many young and good people wish to identify themselves as anti war, anti poverty, anti politics, anti anything that can be construed as loathsome to the "socially correct" persona, an image they wish to adopt as their own (which, by the way, ends up being anti thinking when all is said and done). So, they posit their emotional energy into one who owns that persona as his own piece of real estate.

So what I'm I getting at? Pied Piper Syndrome. Obama was the last piper to whistle out a tune, sounded great for a while, now its old, empty sounding and time to move on, enter Ron Paul. C'mon, did you really think "Hope and Change" was going to save us? Ron Paul, if elected will be much less effective at achieving his desired ends as Obama, and adherents will eventually find that RP won't save us either. Unfortunately, people have to come to the end of themselves before thinking rationally about the realities we face.

As distasteful as he is to me, I'd vote for him over Obama, he certainly cannot plunge this country into greater devastation than we now face, and to me, that sometimes sounds rational, sometimes not...

[waynesa98]

Paul’s “isolationism” is a bit of a misnomer. He’s a total free trader. However if you asked him about how to respond to other countries tariffs I think he’d say apply similar tariffs. Where he falls is the Iran type question. He is stuck in the rationality of MAD (US/USSR) vs the psychosis of Iran.

[paudio]

Paul has a lot of appeal to young people because he picks one philosophy (libertarian) and sticks to it to whatever the logical conclusion lead them. Today's conservatism is a combination of many philosophical lines (libertarianism, patriotism, Christianity, and so on), where some of their tenets might be contradictory with the others'.

For me conservatism works well because--beyond my faith to Christ, which is mostly his doing anyway--life is too complex to comprehend and be confounded in one line of thought.

[GenXteacher]

He’s 19. Still a teenager, and teenagers tend to do dumb things. You might want to have him drug tested though- a lot of Paulites tend to be stoners.

[Persevero]

“You guys need to lighten up. The paulies are NOT our enemies.”

Actually I do see the Paulies as our politial enemies. They are undermining the conservative base. They are unpatriotic, anti-military, and hideous on social issues (I appreciate the Ron Paul is at least pro-life, however, the Libertarian party is not). Their foreign policy is suicidal.

[mamelukesabre]

They are unpatriotic, anti-military
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maybe no one told you yet...the majority of paulies ARE military.

[Erasmus]

However if you asked him about how to respond to other countries tariffs I think he’d say apply similar tariffs.

To the degree that he were an Austrian (which I believe would be 100%), he would not recommend retaliatory tariffs.

[Jim Scott]

I would consider your 19-year-old son's newly acquired devotion to Ron Paul/libertarianism more an annoyance than a disaster. At 19, he has a lot to learn, as we all did. I was totally apolitical at 19. A decade later, I voted for George McGovern because I really didn't understand McGovern's political philosophy - but thought I did. By 1980, I was a husband and father and solidly behind Ronald Reagan. I've been a political and cultural conservative ever since...and I didn't have the distinct benefit of attending Hillsdale college.

I find that many young people adopt libertarian political views based on the libertarian tenets of 'individual freedom' that reject the criminalization of drug use (as long as you don't harm another while high), consenting adults exchanging sex for money and of course, the impractical isolationist stance that renders libertarianism an impossible political philosophy for most conservatives. In short, I believe many college-age folks see libertarianism as a solution to avoiding military conflicts, rid ourselves of a now-gargantuan, smothering government and, in the process, allow drug use and other now-illegal acts that many college students enjoy, to be no longer criminal. Well that and the natural (to young people) enjoyment of being 'non-traditional' that most of us had at that age. After all, most FReepers are pretty disenchanted with the Republican party these days and of course, the Democrats are far worse, as we all know.

Were this my son, I would be curious to hear his rationale for adopting the libertarian philosophy and, when that has been accomplished, gently challenge him on the negative isolationist and social aspects and Ron Paul's (the dutiful libertarian masquerading as a Republican) stand on Iraq acquiring nuclear capability. A stance that most Americans see as dangerous and wholly unrealistic. However, I wouldn't allow this to mar your relationship. One can avoid talking politics. I have to do it frequently with friends that spout liberal nonsense. I'm sure this will all work out, eventually, as your son matures. Even if he remains a libertarian, it could be worse...at least he's not an 'entitlement' liberal.

[vladimir998]

You wrote:

“Evidently you were born perfect.”

Nope. But it still isn’t ever okay to be lost.

[Persevero]

“Maybe no one told you yet...the majority of paulies ARE military.”

Well, they sure do hate themselves.

[stormhill]

What I love most about FR is the casual exposure to brilliant ideas.
Reading a post like yours I feel my IQ increasing.

[Persevero]

Six statements that Ron Paul must defend:

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/12/23/politico-ron-paul-really-has-to-explain-these-six-statements/

Perhaps this would be a good point of dialogue for you and your son.

[cowtowney]

1 strict constitutionalist
2. Limited government
3. Strong 2nd Amendment history
4. Strong on state’s rights
5. Wants to reduce gov budget by over $1 trillion the first year
6. Dept of Energy -gone
7. Dept of Education - gone
8. Repeal Obamacare
9. Pro life
10. Pro home schooling
11. Lower taxes
12. Served in the military - only candidate
13. Wants to eliminate the Fed
14. Abolish capital gains tax
15. Abolish estate taxes

There’s nothing here you have in common? Really?

[mas cerveza por favor]

Austrians favor open borders immigration and Paul is against that so he is not an Austrian (Thank God).

[tioga]

be sure to compile a list of the latest quotes from Paul, but don’t expect miracles. he won’t back down, but he will start to think for himself.

[Jacquerie]

If he learned to learn, to think and write clearly, it was worthwhile, and if it is in him to do so, he will do very well.

[Tijeras_Slim]

This too shall pass.

[Conservative4Ever]

I think here in California, we have ya beat. Getting worse here. We voted in Brown, AGAIN!!