Ron Paul Campaign Answers Slashdot Reader Questions 1011
On January 15th we asked you for tech-oriented questions we could send to the various presidential candidates, and you responded like mad. The candidates were the exact opposite: not a single one answered emails we sent to their "media inquiry" links or email addresses. Slashdot has more readers than all but a handful of major daily papers, so that's kind of strange. Maybe they figure our votes aren't worth much or that hardly any of us vote. In any case, the Ron Paul campaign finally responded, due to some string-pulling by a Slashdot reader who knows some of Ron Paul's Texas campaign people. Perhaps other Slashdot readers -- like you (hint hint) -- can pull a few strings with some of the other campaigns and get them to communicate with us. Use this email address, please. But first, you'll probably want to read the Ron Paul campaign's answers to your questions (below).
1) Global high tech
In the last year, India and China have both announced and made progress towards implementing their own space programs. How should America respond to such growing technological boldness in such countries? Is it a threat or an opportunity?
Ron Paul campaign:
America should stop subsidizing the defenses of the rest of the world and worry more about its own national security interests, including its interests in a viable space program. As president, I will also work to remove barriers to private space flight.
2) Why Can't I Get a Straight Answer?
I've noticed that a number of candidates (I'm not naming names) and a number of administration officials will not answer a question in a clear and concise fashion. The subject could be anything from "Do you think waterboarding is torture?" to "What will be your stance toward the war in Iraq if you are elected?"
So my question to you is, "Do you think that I want someone in that office (Whichever one it is) who is deliberately attempting to deceive me?"
Even if you don't answer this question, I hope you think about it the next time someone asks you a question.
Ron Paul campaign:
The American people should expect clear and direct answers to their questions. Not only have I always strived to clearly state my position on issues, but my voting record backs up my commitment to the free-market, limited government philosophy I espouse on the campaign trail.
3) Marijuana
I'm a college graduate with a decent job in a technical field. I pay my taxes, my debts are minimal. I get along well with others, and am close to my family. I like to think that I am a good citizen and contribute to society. Yet because I smoke marijuana instead of drinking beer when I come home from work, my government has declared war on me.
My question is this: Do you believe I belong in jail? If so, why? If not, what are you going to do to protect me from being arrested?
Ron Paul campaign:
I oppose federal laws outlawing marijuana and I oppose federal interference with state medical marijuana laws.
4) What do you think about technology?
Can you clarify your policy around fair use of digital media and content? More specifically, can you explain how you will balance the rights of the average citizen to use digital content in "fair use" ways (backups, time-shifting, parody, etc.) with the need for corporations to protect IP investments? With the previous two administrations we have seen an erosion of fair-use rights via the DMCA and copyright extension bills. As President, will your policies tend to favor these trends or reverse them?
Ron Paul campaign:
I favor enforcement of intellectual property rights; however, some of the steps taken to protect these rights impose unreasonable burdens on the consumers and even raise civil liberties concerns. As president, I will seek a balance between the interest of copyright holders and consumers of digital media.
5) What do you think about patents?
People complain about taxes being the main hindrance of innovation, but when someone creates a new product, be it an iPhone or a Blackberry, they aren't looking out for the tax man. The main hindrance to American technological innovation is a patent system that rewards people for sitting on ideas and punishes those who create new products.
It has become an accepted fact that when you create something new, you will likely have to pay companies that had nothing whatsoever to do with your invention, just because they filed a patent while never intending to actually produce or sell anything.
As President, would you fix our broken patent system?
Ron Paul campaign:
Patents have a role to play in encouraging innovation. While I do not have a plan for patent reform yet, I would want to work with Congress to make sure that the US patent system encourages and rewards innovation. Making sure the patent system is fair to small business and entrepreneurs, rewards the actual inventors of a product, and does not tilt the playing field to large corporations will be a priority in my administration's approach to patent law.
Re:coflicting answers (Score:2, Informative)
Re:lolwut (Score:5, Informative)
Many years ago, on a certain presidential campaign (which one is not important; he didn't win), if you got a "personal" answer to your letter addressed to the candidate, chances are that I wrote it and "signed" his name with a machine that scrawled "his" signature with a felt-tip pen.
You really can't expect a presidential candidate to personally answer all requests or even all media requests. That task alone takes at least 100 hours per day, which means you need to have a number of people doing it.
Reality = when you vote for almost any office higher than local school board member, you're voting for a team instead of for an individual.
I have learned, over the years, to carefully watch the actions of that team, and its organization or lack thereof, as a useful indicator of how competent that candidate will be in office if he or she is elected.
I may have stories to tell about our attempts to contact various campaigns as the general election gets closer.
- Robin
Sheesh (Score:2, Informative)
Five questions, and you waste one on, "Have you stopped beating your wife", I mean, "Why do you lie to us", I mean, "why can't I get a straight answer"?
What do you expect the candidate to say? All the questions were pretty sucky, IMO.
It being Ron Paul, I wish one of the questions was, "How can you, as a doctor, be a evolution denier? And will you, once President, have a scientist explain what a theory is [youtube.com]?
We wouldn't allow a person who believes in a flat earth to become President. We wouldn't allow a holocaust denier to become President. Why would we allow an evolution denier to become President?
Clarification of Ron Paul answers (Score:2, Informative)
I hope everything is clearer now. It's funny how Ron Paul haters love to point out he will never win. Well, his views won't die, and Nader had no chance either, but how many votes did he win in FL, 100k? And how many votes were in dispute with Bush, less than 1000?
I get the feeling big media, fox news, and hardcore dems or repubs love to live in denial that he isn't a threat.
Re:Doh! (Score:5, Informative)
Nothing but sound bites (Score:2, Informative)
Although I'm not an Obama fan... (Score:4, Informative)
In general, Obama is:
a) in favor of investing in education
b) against the NASA manned program to the moon and mars. I believe he was going to use that money to fund some third world development fund.
c) is absolutely in favor of copyright protection in general, and is committed to the DMCA in particular.
d) is in favor of environmental technology in general, ethanol in particular (thanks Iowa!)
e) deploy next generation broadband
f) in favor of net neutrality
Re:Softball questions. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:lolwut (Score:5, Informative)
For what it's worth I work with the grassroots campaign here in TX and saw these answers before they were published, I'm pretty busy but will try to stay around this thread and help clarify things if needed.
Re:lolwut (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.amazon.com/Power-Game-How-Washington-Works/dp/0345410483/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202232934&sr=8-1 [amazon.com] and, if you need tragi-comic relief:
http://www.amazon.com/Parliament-Whores-Humorist-Attempts-Government/dp/0802139701/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202232989&sr=1-1 [amazon.com]
Summary: government may not be the oldest profession, but it could be the oldest business.
Re:KIhan Paul answers your questions (Score:2, Informative)
Re:lolwut (http://www.signaturemachine.com/) (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.signaturemachine.com/products/demo_page.htm?source=google_ad&gclid=CKujifnPrZECFQlxOAodakCHdg [signaturemachine.com]
Actual signing speed will be faster than displayed on this video.
Re:Softball questions. (Score:5, Informative)
I will give these a try. This is not an official campaign response, but it's also not just a fanboy response; I *have* been sent to represent the campaign before, and am on a first-name basis with the family and campaign. I will also try to get an official response to this but it's kind of Super Tuesday today so most people are working in the field.
Most of these can also be answered via google, anyway.
Do you believe the current levels of illegal immigration are harmful to America in terms of economy and culture? If so, how do you propose to reduce/end illegal immigration?
Paul is the strongest anti-illegal immigration candidate still running, primarily because of the harm done to our economy when people take entitlements they did not contribute to. He is absolutely opposed to illegal immigration and has published a 6-point plan to secure the border, including no amnesty, amendinging the Constitution to make clear children born to illegals here are not citizens, physically securing the border, etc.
That said, he does not oppose legal immigration and primarily sees the problem as economic. He has stated that immigrants are made scapegoats of our current economic problems. We can't afford to keep doing what we're doing with entitlements, so we have to fix that first, but once the economy is fixed he has stated the problem would always be too little immigration.
Do you believe in open borders -- unrestricted immigration?
I think this is included in the second half of the answer above; for more information on things Ron Paul has consistently said on immigration see here: http://www.ronpaul2008.com/articles/?tag=Immigration [ronpaul2008.com]
In Republican debate #2, you implied that America was not attacked on 9/11. What words, the, would you use to describe the events of that day -- the murder of thousands of people by organized foreign nationals subsidized by States, the destruction of hundreds of millions of dollars in property and the follow-on damage to our economy?
We were obviously attacked and I've never heard him say anything remotely otherwise. He has consistently proposed for and voted for legislation to go after the actual perpetrators (al Qaeda) as opposed to random Arabian countries that have oil we'd like to have. He has criticized our interventionist, imperial foreign policy as a strong contributing factor for why people attack us, but regardless of their reasons they need to be brought to justice. Random civilians do not need to be bombed for this to happen.
Should those on welfare be disallowed from voting?
I've never heard him speak to this directly but I would certainly say no. He is the one person running who knows we need to eventually get rid of the entitlements BUT do it in a way that keeps existing people dependent on them from being thrown in the street, and revoking their basic rights is not consistent with his approach. We need to cut our imperial spending and take care of things at home, while promoting better policies for the future (as in letting kids opt-out of social security, while still paying back those that paid in already).
What restrictions to firearm ownership do you support?
None, though private property owners set the policy on their own property.
Do you believe the Federal government has exceeded the authority granted to it by the Constitution? If so, how do you propose to return America's Federal government to the limited powers proscribed therein?
What softball? Ron Paul of course believes the Federal government has run roughshod over the Constitution. He never votes for unconstitutional legislation and as President would veto it. He has stated that he would veto any budget that contained unconstitutional spending. The one place for "wiggle room" here is going to be his above approach to not throw people used to entitlements out onto the str
Re:coflicting answers (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Softball questions. (Score:4, Informative)
Question 1> Do you believe the current levels of illegal immigration are harmful to America in terms of economy and culture? If so, how do you propose to reduce/end illegal immigration?
Do you believe in open borders -- unrestricted immigration?
Answer 1>
The talk must stop. We must secure our borders now. A nation without secure borders is no nation at all. It makes no sense to fight terrorists abroad when our own front door is left unlocked. This is my six point plan:
* Physically secure our borders and coastlines. We must do whatever it takes to control entry into our country before we undertake complicated immigration reform proposals.
* Enforce visa rules. Immigration officials must track visa holders and deport anyone who overstays their visa or otherwise violates U.S. law. This is especially important when we recall that a number of 9/11 terrorists had expired visas.
* No amnesty. Estimates suggest that 10 to 20 million people are in our country illegally. That's a lot of people to reward for breaking our laws.
* No welfare for illegal aliens. Americans have welcomed immigrants who seek opportunity, work hard, and play by the rules. But taxpayers should not pay for illegal immigrants who use hospitals, clinics, schools, roads, and social services.
* End birthright citizenship. As long as illegal immigrants know their children born here will be citizens, the incentive to enter the U.S. illegally will remain strong.
* Pass true immigration reform. The current system is incoherent and unfair. But current reform proposals would allow up to 60 million more immigrants into our country, according to the Heritage Foundation. This is insanity. Legal immigrants from all countries should face the same rules and waiting periods.
Question 2> In Republican debate #2, you implied that America was not attacked on 9/11. What words, the, would you use to describe the events of that day -- the murder of thousands of people by organized foreign nationals subsidized by States, the destruction of hundreds of millions of dollars in property and the follow-on damage to our economy?
Answer 2> I could find no clear answer to your question...There were answers around your question here:
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/articles/?tag=Terrorism [ronpaul2008.com]
Question 3>Should those on welfare be disallowed from voting?
Answer 3> While I could find no clear answers to your question, I think most people who follow Ron Paul would find your question completely bizarre. Of course he is for every united states citizen's right to vote. He's never beaten his wife, and he's never called for welfare recipients to lose the right to vote.
His positions on this area (voting record) appears to be here: http://www.thelangreport.com/?p=324 [thelangreport.com]
Question 4>What restrictions to firearm ownership do you support?
Answer 4>
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/issues/second-amendment/ [ronpaul2008.com]
I share our Founders' belief that in a free society each citizen must have the right to keep and bear arms. They ratified the Second Amendment knowing that this right is the guardian of every other right, and they all would be horrified by the proliferation of unc
Re:Even though I don't vote... (Score:1, Informative)
The Newsletters: Since at least 1978, Ron Paul has attached his name to a series of newsletters--Ron Paul's Freedom Report, Ron Paul Political Report, The Ron Paul Survival Report, and The Ron Paul Investment Letter--that frequently made outrageous statements:
A Special Issue on Racial Terrorism" analyzes the Los Angeles riots of 1992: "Order was only restored in L.A. when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks three days after rioting began.
Good answer (Score:3, Informative)
If he were to get his way people should be asking their state elected officials this question, not him.
Re:How do you propose to take care of the blacks? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Although I'm not an Obama fan... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Although I'm not an Obama fan... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:coflicting answers (Score:2, Informative)
I think it's important to note that he's extremely against the legality of abortions being a Federal issue, for the record [ronpaul2008.com].
Re:Contradiction - in #4 not in #3 (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Exactly what I wanted to hear! (Score:2, Informative)
I was a little disappointed with the answer to my question, the one about marijuana. I asked:
He answered:
I already knew that he opposed such laws, but what would he actually do about it? How would he use his powers as president to effect such change? What specific orders would he give to the DEA and the justice department to ensure that no more people are victimized by these laws?
There's another way in which he didn't really answer my question. He said he opposes federal marijuana laws, but marijuana is illegal in my state. Does he believe I should go to jail or not? From his answer, it sounds like he does.
I lobbed him a softball and he fumbled.
Re:coflicting answers (Score:4, Informative)
Re:perfectly clear answer (Score:3, Informative)
Are you daft? If the government pulls out of regulating the electricity market, the power lines have to belong to someone and you can be damn sure that without regulation no power company is going to allow competition. The same with ISPs and roadways. I guess you'd propose that these new companies spend billions of dollars digging new power lines laying new data lines and roadways, just so that they can compete, it wouldn't happen and people would be horribly exploited. Not to mention having two of everything would create a huge sink in both economic and natural resources. This just wouldn't work and there's no way to enforce competition in such a system without government intervention.
We could go into hospitals as that as the perennial examples against free market systems, but I am sure everyone has heard these, besides I think the electricity/roadways/data lines make a an even better example.
The truth is free market is a very limited idea like trying to solve a physics problem assuming the problem exists in an environment without air and without friction, it's happy thoughts all the way until you really that it's not real life.
Re:Sheesh (Score:3, Informative)
WHAT information??? (Score:3, Informative)
Moderation +3
40% Informative
Someone's moderating drunk, that's the only explanation I can think of.
Re:How do we smear this guy? (Score:1, Informative)
The seriously racist newsletters were written within a 5 year span from 1989 to 1994, not decades as you inaccurately state.
They were not written by many anonymous contributors. They were most likely written by Lew Rockwell, Paul's one-time congressional chief of staff, and vice president of Ron Paul & Associates, the corporation that published the Ron Paul Political Report and the Ron Paul Survival Report. Rockwell is still a friend and associate of Paul, and sometimes accompanied him to political events.
See here for more info [reason.com], including words from an editor of American Libertarian who says it was common knowledge in 1988 that Rockwell wrote the stuff published under Paul's name.
A critical question answered on youTube (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Softball questions. (Score:3, Informative)
Most politicians answer these questions to some degree, too. But you have to dig. It sounds like you're upset that the media doesn't talk about issues like these, and there I agree with you. The established media has totally failed to raise the bar in public political discourse. In fact it's just about completely buggered it up. Everyone should know exactly where all the candidates stand on all the questions you mention. The fact that so few do is pretty sad. But since the info is out there, you're a bit to blame too. Don't just sit back and complain that nobody brought the info to your doorstep. Go out and learn about these things. And then vote what you believe.
In any case, hope you find some good answers. Cheers.
Re:perfectly clear answer (Score:3, Informative)
On the other hand, let's suppose, for the sake of argumentation, that you're correct, that neither new power lines aren't built, nor some other solution is developed (and yes, you underestimate the level of ingenuity the "profit motive" can leverage), and thus that electricity stays very, very expensive, in a true "natural monopoly" situation. Well, wouldn't that mean a lower amount of electricity being produced over a given period of time compared to what we have now? Now, where does electricity come from? Mostly from oil, coal, gas and nuclear sources, right? So, doesn't less electricity being consumed means a lower consumption of finite natural resources? In other words, the options we have in a free market of energy are either correct offer vs. demand prices due to creative competition, or a kind of forced nature preservation. I don't know about you, but whatever the outcome of such a move was, to me it still would seem like a win-win situation.Er... I haven't. But from what I see here in Brazil, where we have a lot of both public-owned and private hospitals, the private ones are always better, and not too expensive. I pay $60/month for a private health plan, and I have access to all (yes, all) evidence-based treatments available to all known illnesses. Now, admittedly, the government has had some influence in this, as it has over time increased the minimum requirements private health plans must obey, all the while however failing miserably in making their own hospitals reach 10% of what it demands from private ones. Even so, though, the health plan companies manage to comply, and as they compete against each other for customers, their services improve, as do their hospitals.
But I have no precise idea on how the health system in the USA works, though. If you would be so kind as to explain I'd be thankful.
Re:How do you propose to take care of the blacks? (Score:5, Informative)
Nothing in his congressional record, personal life, nor his medical practice leads one iota of credence to the newsletters. In fact, it's just the opposite.
Would the president of the NAACP back someone like you just described? Of course not. Would someone that you just described deliver babies for free to African American and Hispanic families that were too poor to afford it? No.
He was running a full time medical practice and left the newsletters in care of people he thought he could trust. That was a mistake, as there were those who had a different agenda. At least he admitted he had been careless, unlike MOST of our elected officials (Iraq War).
His actions speak a lot louder than the words written by some assholes who had a vendetta. Here's a challenge for you. I want you to find one, just one instance where an action in his personal, medical, or political life shows paranoid racism. You won't find one.
He's not a libertarian. He's a constitutionalist. There is a difference.
~X~
Re:coflicting answers (Score:3, Informative)
When the Fed decided to stop printing the M3 report, Ron Paul was the only person [capitalspectator.com] who attempted to stop them two years ago. Anyone who cared could see the Fed was going to fuck every single American via inflation, [financialsense.com] and Ron Paul was the only one on the hill who gave a shit. Inflation is now at the highest it has been in more than three decades. Ron Paul tried to prevent it.
This "interview" is thoroughly disappointing.
To me, if you're picking a candidate based on their words rather than looking at their actions in the legislature, then your vote will be an uninformed one.
Re:coflicting answers (Score:3, Informative)
The Fed? Inflation is high because your dollar went to shit because of your deficit. If Ron Paul could have stopped the Iraq war he damn well should have.
He tried that, too. IIRC he also voted against the PATRIOT act. The only problem with Ron Paul in these areas is that for whatever reason not enough of his fellow congress critters listened to him to stop some of these more insane measures.
Re:How do you propose to take care of the blacks? (Score:3, Informative)
The president and 20 year long friend of Ron Paul defended him. Ron Paul has also written a treatise about how to eliminate racism, which seems rather odd for someone who would be a racist.
Lew Rockwell and the Mises institute ARE NOT FRIENDS of Paul. You will find that they have been attacking Paul almost non-stop. Lew Rockwell was fired I believe. It was Lew and pals who orchestrated The New Republic release. Not exactly something you do to someone you support.
As far as your "extensive ties" go, I can find no such evidence other than some PO blogs and people thinking that Ron Paul supports them. There was one story in the USA Daily, but it was retracted on the basis that they could not find any credible sources to back it up. Other than that there doesn't appear to be any credible information.
The John Birch Society support Paul for his constitutional views. Other than one speech he gave (on constitutional principles no less), I don't find any other ties to the group. The same with the league of the south. They support him because of his views on the Constitution and states right.
I do not see any PAC money coming from these groups. Nor do I see Ron Paul actively endorsing or supporting these groups either. I don't see it in his congressional record, and certainly not in his public record. You would think that if what your saying is true, the mainstream media would have picked it up and utterly destroyed him with it.
But I suppose you want to make a leap from some of the crazies supporting Ron Paul to Ron Paul being a crazy himself. o_0
The only thing I've managed to find with any racism at all has been the newsletters. Everything else has been word-of-mouth or unsubstantiated, uncorraborative stories. How about something from real source or news outlet.
But since your so keen on on political wrong-doings and such, try this site http://www.judicialwatch.org/ [judicialwatch.org]. Obama has quite a record. Another one for more recent statements is factcheck.org.
~X~