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Rand Paul Pledges to Immediately End NSA Mass Surveillance If Elected President

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Re: Rand Paul Pledges to Immediately End NSA Mass Surveillance If Elected President

#141

Post by wdr1 »

lubos wrote: post #30

This is not surprising. Rand Paul, similar to his father Ron Paul, has very libertarian political views which means they prefer no government involvement, not just in the Internet but anywhere. This is not as good as it sounds. For example, he doesn't support FED in controlling money supply. But FED was instrumental in making USD the most stable currency in the last 100 years. He doesn't like energy regulations and b…

> But FED was instrumental in making USD the most stable currency in the last 100 years.

That's complete bullcrap. The most stable for the last 100 years (1915 - present) is the Swiss Franc.

Re: Rand Paul Pledges to Immediately End NSA Mass Surveillance If Elected President

#142

Post by ende »

lubos wrote: post #63
morgante wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's fair to call someone who advocates against abortion and same-sex marriages a libertarian.

Well, there is also something called "Christian libertarianism". See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_libertarianism

There's also something called Libertarian Socialism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_socialism). As a concept, it defies the strict ordering of the left-right spectrum.

Libertarianism is probably best not defined as a noun but as an adjective.

Re: Rand Paul Pledges to Immediately End NSA Mass Surveillance If Elected President

#143

Post by 13years »

MCRed wrote: post #107
lubos wrote: post #30

This is not surprising. Rand Paul, similar to his father Ron Paul, has very libertarian political views which means they prefer no government involvement, not just in the Internet but anywhere. This is not as good as it sounds. For example, he doesn't support FED in controlling money supply. But FED was instrumental in making USD the most stable currency in the last 100 years. He doesn't like energy regulations and b…

Do you consider losing %98 of its value "stable"? The US Dollar has lost at least that, probably closer to %99.9999, though it's harder to measure now that the fed is not giving us reliable stats anymore. Do you realize the FED is a private bank, owned by the upper %1 of the %1? And that giving them an interest rate on ever dollar in circulation was probably the worst example of a government granted monopoly ever? Do…

Thank you! Good to see at least some people are awake. Although a bit disappointing more didn't point this out.

Re: Rand Paul Pledges to Immediately End NSA Mass Surveillance If Elected President

#144

Post by jebblue »

encoderer wrote: post #70

Yeah, and Nixon had a secret plan to end the war. Twice.

The war that was started by the Democratic Party:

http://blogs.britannica.com/2009/01/2-the-vietnam-war-top-10...

"President John F. Kennedy had sent military advisors and then troops into South Vietnam. After Kennedy’s assassination, what to do about the Vietnam War became a pressing matter of business for the new president, Lyndon B. Johnson."

From there see the VietNam War link: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/628478/Vietnam-War

"Accepting the de facto partition of Vietnam as unavoidable but still pledging to halt the spread of communism in Asia, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower began a crash program of assistance to the State of Vietnam—or South Vietnam, as it was invariably called. The Saigon Military Mission, a covert operation to conduct psychological warfare and paramilitary activities in South Vietnam, was launched on June 1, 1954"

Re: Rand Paul Pledges to Immediately End NSA Mass Surveillance If Elected President

#145

Post by quanticle »

panarky wrote: post #38

It will be a mildly entertaining distraction to watch establishment politicians squirm with this issue. Will anyone really argue in favor of dragnet surveillance? But in the end it will be just that, a mildly entertaining distraction. Rand Paul has no chance, and even if he were to be elected President in a fluke, nothing much would change.

>Will anyone really argue in favor of dragnet surveillance?

Absolutely. In fact, I'd expect them to argue in favor of dragnet surveillance, saying that it's necessary to prevent another 9/11.

Re: Rand Paul Pledges to Immediately End NSA Mass Surveillance If Elected President

#146

Post by jebblue »

Rapzid wrote: post #40
lettergram wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given he was one of the Senators forcing the government shutdown based on values, I suspect he is one of the more honest politicians. That being said, an honest politician... It's almost like we need another word other than politician.

This wasn't so many years ago.. Wasn't just about everything that group was doing, or not doing, around that time an attempt to sabotage the POTUS? I mean, that did happen didn't it?

They were trying to keep POTUS from sabotaging the United Stated of America. That is what they were doing.

Re: Rand Paul Pledges to Immediately End NSA Mass Surveillance If Elected President

#147

Post by mehrzad »

Great, the man also wants to destroy public funding of science. I understand that that is his opinion, but well fuck that. I want to be a scientist and need REUs. Science is more important than capitalism. Capitalism has failed the world.

edit: that last sentence was a bit much, I'll admit.

Re: Rand Paul Pledges to Immediately End NSA Mass Surveillance If Elected President

#148

Post by hueving »

mkautzm wrote: post #114
lettergram wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alright, two things.. (1) It seems you are just dismissing him and his father have similar ideas, which aren't necessarily any crazier than every other politician ever (i.e. social security is so awesome). Rand and Ron Paul both supported STATES rights, which lets be honest, makes it possible to move between states and have different taxes, laws, and unique experiences. This leads me to my second point... (2) "His re…

That's the American dream if you were born into the means of achieving the American dream. Libertarians seem to universally believe that everyone is just born with wealth, or that if you bootstraps hard enough, you are just bound to trip over wealth.

That strawman is just about the same as saying, 'liberals seem to universally believe that nobody could be incompetent and every personal outcome is controlled by everyone else instead of personal decisions.'

Re: Rand Paul Pledges to Immediately End NSA Mass Surveillance If Elected President

#149

Post by twrkit »

MCRed wrote: post #107
lubos wrote: post #30

This is not surprising. Rand Paul, similar to his father Ron Paul, has very libertarian political views which means they prefer no government involvement, not just in the Internet but anywhere. This is not as good as it sounds. For example, he doesn't support FED in controlling money supply. But FED was instrumental in making USD the most stable currency in the last 100 years. He doesn't like energy regulations and b…

Do you consider losing %98 of its value "stable"? The US Dollar has lost at least that, probably closer to %99.9999, though it's harder to measure now that the fed is not giving us reliable stats anymore. Do you realize the FED is a private bank, owned by the upper %1 of the %1? And that giving them an interest rate on ever dollar in circulation was probably the worst example of a government granted monopoly ever? Do…

The Creature from Jekyll Island is one of the best books I've ever read, highly recommend it.

Re: Rand Paul Pledges to Immediately End NSA Mass Surveillance If Elected President

#150

Post by ScottBurson »

crazy1van wrote: post #108
morgante wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's fair to call someone who advocates against abortion and same-sex marriages a libertarian.

> I don't think it's fair to call someone who advocates against abortion and same-sex marriages a libertarian. Regarding abortion: Libertarians believe in individual liberties. So if you believe that an unborn child is a person, it is very consistent with libertarian-ism to protect its life. The crux of the debate is when does does a fetus become a person. Regarding same-sex marriages: Again, relating this question t…

So if you believe that an unborn child is a person, it is very consistent with libertarian-ism to protect its life.

But not everyone believes that a fetus is a person. In fact people have quite divergent views on that question, and I am inclined to doubt the debate will ever be finally settled. It is more a matter of religion than of science.

I don't think it's consistent with libertarianism to enact an answer to that question into law when it is still so much debated.

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