Open Letter To Ron Paul

To:Ron Paul, Personality Cultist and Former Presidential Candidate
From: Mitch Berg, Crabby peasant and former big-L Libertarian
Re: Dumb

Mr. Paul,

Y’know, I try. I really do.

But when I see things like this on Twitter…:

Chris Kyle’s death seems to confirm that “he who lives by the sword dies by the sword.” Treating PTSD at a firing range doesn’t make sense

— Ron Paul (@RonPaul) February 4, 2013

…I’m more than a little tempted to say that the best thing you can do for your libertarian cause, and those of us who subscribe to at least parts of it, it so shut up and find yourself a little piece of pasture to go out to.

And go out to it.

Please.

That is all.

Posting this on Facebook yesterday caused a bit of a kerfuffle. Some Paul supporters asked me why I was attacking Libertarianism.

I’m not, of course; I am a libertarian-conservative, and have been since long before it was cool. I was – and am – criticizing Ron Paul. But it’s a little discouraging how many of his supporters conflate the two.

Posted

February 5, 2013

Liberty, Stupid

Mitch Berg

Tags:

Open Letters, The Big L

Comments

8 responses to “Open Letter To Ron Paul”

Emery

February 5, 2013

Do you have any information regarding how many “good guys with guns” were present while Chris Kyle was shot to death?
BradC

February 5, 2013

I was – and am – criticizing Ron Paul. But it’s a little discouraging how many of his supporters conflate the two.

Disturbing, yet not surprising. I was at the State GOP convention last May when Ron Paul spoke. There was definitely a creepy cult-of-personality feel in the air, not at all unlike the “Obamassiah” aura of the 2008 campaign.
Mitch Berg

February 5, 2013

Emery,

Good guys with guns are an insurance policy, not an iron-clad guarantee.

Kyle murder aside, firing ranges are exceptionally safe, to say nothing of low-crime, places.
Mitch Berg

February 5, 2013

Brad, I try not to dwell on that- I know a lot of builders in my SD – but yeah, you’re right.

Not sure why, but I grind my teeth when I hear people call him “Doctor Paul”.
BradC

February 5, 2013

Not sure why, but I grind my teeth when I hear people call him “Doctor Paul”.

You mean other than the fact it’s often said with an air of pretentiousness?
Mr. D

February 5, 2013

Well, Paul is a doctor, so he has earned the honorific. Having said that, politicians who are M.D.’s typically don’t use the honorific in the course of their political duties. I don’t remember seeing any instances of Bill Frist being referred to as Dr. Frist. I have seen a few “Doctor Dean” references for Howard Dean, but even that is unusual.

The use of “Doctor” is huge in academia, of course. And I’ve found it’s axiomatic that anyone in that realm who insists on being referred to as “Doctor ______” is usually full of it and someone you are well advised to ignore.
Terry

February 5, 2013

Emery wrote:
Do you have any information regarding how many “good guys with guns” were present while Chris Kyle was shot to death?

You can’t be suggesting that it’s safer for a would-be shooter to kill a person at a shooting range than it would be in a ‘gun-free zone’.
Cuz’ that would be really, really dumb.
Terry

February 5, 2013

Took me about 30 secs to research this.
Routh killed two people.
All three involved, Routh and his victims, were ex-military and very familiar with using guns to kill people.
The ‘shooting range’ was more like a private club. The three were in an isolated, outdoor area.
It was about 90 minutes before the bodies were discovered.
The term ‘ptsd’ has been tossed around, but officials are not confirming that Routh has ever been diagnosed with anything, or was seeing a mental health professional.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/reports-sheriff-says-american-sniper-author-chris-kyle-another-man-killed-at-texas-range/2013/02/03/38f72658-6dcd-11e2-8f4f-2abd96162ba8_story.html
The idea that this shooting has any similarity to mass-shooting events like those in Newton and Aurora is insane, which probably means the usual lefty blogs and news outlets are saying that they are similar.