Ron Paul's ideology and libertarianism are very appealing to people who are anti-establishment, or who perceive massive injustices/a broken system. It's real easy to latch onto what libertarianism says when you have a limited understanding of political science, kind of like how Ayn Rand tends to be extremely appealing to adolescents who then throw it out when they get older. I appreciate that the guy has a set of core values he does not compromise on a whim. I love his foreign policy. But that political philosophy would just be a disaster.
What about government-sponsored research for when there is no market calling? Free market, unregulated environmental protection / tort law? No nuclear power regulation? Privatized higher education? Privatized national parks? No regulatory agencies for water quality, road construction, transportation safety, etc etc. The government isn't perfect, there is so much wrong with having a large, powerful centralized government. But it's easy to forget why it is necessary, it works to counter the inherent bacterial nature of humanity. The state serves as an artificial, inhuman counterpart to all of the negative things about humanity, that is why the stupid things we do so often come into conflict with the government. We should absolutely criticize our government, point out the things that it is fucking up royally, but we should do so in the interest of making it better, not throwing it out and giving up.
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