Who is this Ron Paul?

[RACooper]

Originally Posted by eli_the_chopper

I would love for us to pull out of Iraq overnight. As soon as we can get our troops out of the Middle East, the better off we are.

An immediate pull out of Iraq would create a disaster of epic proportions in the Middle East as neighboring countries became more involved in the ethnic and sectarian violence and divisions... I have to question the intelligence or understanding of some one wanting to be a leader that can't see beyond the domestic impact.

Also, our alliance with SA makes us hypocrites. While we are "making the worlds safe for democracy", one of our closest allies in the Middle East is a monarchy run by the direct bloodline of the first king. Why aren't we liberating those folks too?

So the USA should cancel it's alliances with other monarchies as well? Good luck with that, many folks living in a monarchy would happily take up arms to defended themselves and the monarchy from "liberation".

As for the IRS: historically, we have only had the IRS (or during Lincoln's tenure, the Bureau of Internal Revenue) when we have had an income tax. Since the income tax is direct and not apportioned, all we would need is for it to be declared unconstitutional (it is; the 16th amendment needs to be repealed), and it could be eliminated. At that point, the only income for the federal government will be external revenue collected through duties and tariffs.

Disaster - would mean the canceling of scores of trade treaties and agreements, which would catastrophic effects not only for the USA but the global economy... an incredibly shortsighted and self-defeating economic idea.

Maybe his supporters aren't all a bunch of pot-smoking hippies after all. Maybe they just want small central government, something that 100 years ago wasn't that crazy of an idea, and something that ~230 years ago we fought a revolution for.

Maybe not hippies, but still out of touch with reality if you ask me...