Is Ron Paul A Visionary Or A Nut Job?

Which one is he?

  • Visionary

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Nut Job

    Votes: 1 100.0%

  • Total voters
    1

GunPei2X said:
DaveC: I just noticed that you post at ThinkProgress :) I hope you also frequent fstd.com !
I do? Must be a different person.
 
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daclassicgamingmaster said:
I have the same gripe about "confession". It's such a load of crapola. All I have to do is see some man with a collar and "God will forgive". Rubbish.

I often tell my American friends that. The weird thing is that they don't deny it. On top of that there is a horrible amount of contradiction in the Bible. It can't be the direct word of God. Have a look at this:
QUOTE
War or Peace?

The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.
[EXO 15:3]

Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen
[ROM 15:33]

QUOTE
God be seen?

[Exod. 24:9,10; Amos 9:1; Gen. 26:2; and John 14:9]

God CAN be seen:

"And I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my backparts."
[Ex. 33:23]

"And the Lord spake to Moses face to face, as a man speaketh to his friend."
[Ex. 33:11]

"For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved."
[Gen. 32:30]

God CANNOT be seen

"No man hath seen God at any time.
[John 1:18]

"And he said, Thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see me and live."
[Ex. 33:20]

"Whom no man hath seen nor can see"
[1 Tim. 6:16]

QUOTE
CRUEL, UNMERCIFUL, DESTRUCTIVE, and FEROCIOUS or KIND, MERCIFUL, and GOOD God:

"I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy."
[Jer. 13:14]

"Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not, but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling."
[1 Samuel 15:3]

"The Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy."
[James 5:11]

"For his mercy endureth forever."
[1 Chron. 16:34]

"The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works." (Ps. 145:9) "God is love."
[1 John 4:16]

QUOTE
Judas died how?

"And he cast down the pieces of silver into the temple and departed, and went out and hanged himself."
[Matt. 27:5]

"And falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all of his bowels gushed out."
[Acts 1:18]

The list goes on and on... :rolleyes:
 
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This is where a Christian would argue that the Bible is not meant to be taken literally all the time. Too bad I'm not one :p
 
It's a common misconception all Americans are bible thumping christians... not even remotely true. Christians are just often very vocal and insist you accept their views or else fire brimstone and all of that..... as an American, an Athiest and as a plain old human being I say forgiving people for atrocities in the name of 'god forgives all' is madness....

As for libertarians, I can agree with some of what they say, and their ideas sound good at first, "Get rid of all victimless crime, saving the gov't money to spend on fighting real crime, remove unnecessary federal agencies and abolish tax" sounds great but in the real world it would never work. Libertarians usually strike me as a step above anarchists.... full of idealism, no realism, no idea how things actually work in the real world. Take away all gov't agencies, you remove all basic services, people are stuck fending for themselves, we have anarchy. And anarchy will quickly be replaced by fascism. Do the republicans and democrats both have the wrong idea? Yes. Do libertarians have it all figured out? Absolutely not.

A comment on the OP, you can have ridiculous ideas without being 'locked up in a cell'. Insane people are not inherently dangerous. Some are, but definitely not all. I'm not convinced Ron Paul is actually crazy, just full of ridiculous fucking ideas.
 
Stealth Bagel said:
As for libertarians, I can agree with some of what they say, and their ideas sound good at first, "Get rid of all victimless crime, saving the gov't money to spend on fighting real crime, remove unnecessary federal agencies and abolish tax" sounds great but in the real world it would never work. Libertarians usually strike me as a step above anarchists.... full of idealism, no realism, no idea how things actually work in the real world. Take away all gov't agencies, you remove all basic services, people are stuck fending for themselves, we have anarchy. And anarchy will quickly be replaced by fascism. Do the republicans and democrats both have the wrong idea? Yes. Do libertarians have it all figured out? Absolutely not.
The problem is you can only view this from the perspective of the current, fucked up world. Whilst schools are forced to teach moral weakness, then of course they will grow up into mindless drones with no critical thinking ability. I don't think there is any doubt that kids do at some point want to learn, but schools (and often parents) indoctrinate kids into morons. Morons don't want to learn, they just want to drink and fight.

It's is a major problem because in order to overcome this you will have to enlighten parents and overhall the education system. People wouldn't be "fending for themselves", because everybody would be fully rational. Society would function effectively, and progress would advance at a much faster rate. It is idealistic inasmuch as it wouldn't work in the current world. I don't think it's ridiculous to suggest that it's feasible in the real world though.


Of course none of this would benefit any government that could actually be elected; a country of free thinking citizens wouldn't approve of their propaganda/population crushing/state sponsored death.
 
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Stealth Bagel said:
It's a common misconception all Americans are bible thumping christians... not even remotely true.
Of course not *all* are, but there is a grain of truth to the stereotype. From ABC News:

QUOTE
In views that diverge widely from those in other developed nations, about 45 percent of American adults take the Bible’s story of creation literally.


QUOTE
In a Gallup poll last June, one-third of American adults surveyed agreed that “The Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word.”
 
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LHC said:
It's is a major problem because in order to overcome this you will have to enlighten parents and overhall the education system. People wouldn't be "fending for themselves", because everybody would be fully rational. Society would function effectively, and progress would advance at a much faster rate. It is idealistic inasmuch as it wouldn't work in the current world. I don't think it's ridiculous to suggest that it's feasible in the real world though.

You could never make everybody fully rational, no matter how much 'enlightenment' you put them through. Trying to do so could lead to such brutal measures as genocide of anybody who behaves irrationally. Society breaks down without leaders; it always has done and always will.
 
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nickspoon said:
You could never make everybody fully rational.......
It kind of makes me wish the rapture was a possibility. If Jesus did come and take all his followers away that would be a large proportion of them taken care of. Would it be justifiable to bribe Mohamed with 72 virgins to come back and take his lot away too ?

Damn ! You are right. There is still Judaeism, Hindism, Sheikism ....

Maybe in another 1000 years the human race will have grown up. Lets play more video games in the meantime.
 
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Yeah, most Americans are Bible-thumping Christians. We're a Christian nation, after all.

Working in GameStop a few weeks back, some lady asked me for game recommendations for her 3 kids, aged 5, 11, and 19. I gave her ideas for the younger kids, but for the 19 year old, I went to the good, gory stuff: Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, etc. I was huffed at, like I had insulted them personally, and told that those games weren't allowed in their house. "My children all really enjoy The Bible Game, actually", is what I was told.


What a joke.
 
Great video, and good question.

I for one think he's a bit of both. He has made remarkably insightful comments of slavery and fascism and some other stuff, but when it comes to the solutions he proposes that's absolute crack pottery.

He suffers the same sort of problem as most communists do, at least in my country (France). Great analysis of the issues we're facing, awfully idiotic and infeasible proposed solutions. Cutting off the income tax as it makes over $1,000B/year? And then complaining that we have to save money? That's utterly ridiculous, besides, the income tax makes the richest pay more, which makes that it should rather be increased. Also his plan of withdrawing troops from everywhere in the world sounds infeasible, although I could hardly argue why.

In the video he didn't mention his gold standard proposal, but that too is stupid, I have no idea what it's even supposed to solve, it seems to be yet another of his overly simplistic and infeasible proposals based on his ideals. That sort of idealism is dangerous in that you don't do something because it has desirable effects, but because for some obscure reason you believe it's what should be done, regardless of what it does.

So overall I think he's more like a nut job and that he would make an awful president, but he brings a great contribution to the debate.

PS : Just looked at the few latest posts in this topic. Ha, as expected, you liberal hippies ended up talking about what liberal hippies always end up talking about. Colour me unsurprised. I didn't expect anything better from you guys, when you start a topic near a sensitive spot you know from the start where it's gonna end and that nothing interesting and really on topic will end up being saying. That's a flaw, work to correct it, or be doomed to repeat that sort of fruitless argument on a regular basis for the rest of your stereotypical lives.
 
A_SN said:
PS : Just looked at the few latest posts in this topic. Ha, as expected, you liberal hippies ended up talking about what liberal hippies always end up talking about. Colour me unsurprised. I didn't expect anything better from you guys, when you start a topic near a sensitive spot you know from the start where it's gonna end and that nothing interesting and really on topic will end up being saying. That's a flaw, work to correct it, or be doomed to repeat that sort of fruitless argument on a regular basis for the rest of your stereotypical lives.
Oh please. I though using 'liberal hippies' as a derogatory epithet died out decades ago.

I doubt that everyone in this thread would even consider themselves liberal. As you can see, the topic has bred healthy discussion (okay, maybe stretching it with 'healthy') about religion, and interesting points have been raised. The problem with you - one of the problems with you - is that you can't see what is good about argument for the sake of argument. An argument means, hopefully, that people have to consider their position. If one person makes one reasonable choice as a result, the argument is worthwhile; and even if not, it is a better way to waste time than bitching about people arguing 'fruitlessly'.

Also, being a complete arse will get you nowhere.
 
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daclassicgamingmaster said:
Yeah, most Americans are Bible-thumping Christians. We're a Christian nation, after all.
NOOooo! Don't fall into the trap of using their own devious language tricks. The US was founded as a secular nation - Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion....etc.

It is subtle, but linking the words Christian and nation like that suggests it was founded on christian principles (whatever they might be), rather than principles derived from the English Bill of Rights, Magna Carta and the ideas that arose from the Age of Enlightenment.

They can weasle out of it by saying it only implies the majority declare christianity as their particular brand of delusion. But you have to ask yourself what comes to mind when you hear the phrase 'Islamic nation'.
 
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nickspoon said:
LHC said:
It's is a major problem because in order to overcome this you will have to enlighten parents and overhall the education system. People wouldn't be "fending for themselves", because everybody would be fully rational. Society would function effectively, and progress would advance at a much faster rate. It is idealistic inasmuch as it wouldn't work in the current world. I don't think it's ridiculous to suggest that it's feasible in the real world though.

You could never make everybody fully rational, no matter how much 'enlightenment' you put them through. Trying to do so could lead to such brutal measures as genocide of anybody who behaves irrationally. Society breaks down without leaders; it always has done and always will.

I don't know where you read that libertarianism expresses support for genocide. In fact I suspect that state-sponsored death and genocide is higher on average in countries where free thought and innovation is given greater discouragement.

The point is that humans are inherantly rational, and society is destroying that. If we encourage free and rational thought society will flourish. Discouraging rational thought because 'people can't be trusted' is far more dangerous.
 
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Fawny Kate said:
daclassicgamingmaster said:
Yeah, most Americans are Bible-thumping Christians. We're a Christian nation, after all.
NOOooo! Don't fall into the trap of using their own devious language tricks. The US was founded as a secular nation - Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion....etc.

It is subtle, but linking the words Christian and nation like that suggests it was founded on christian principles (whatever they might be), rather than principles derived from the English Bill of Rights, Magna Carta and the ideas that arose from the Age of Enlightenment.

They can weasle out of it by saying it only implies the majority declare christianity as their particular brand of delusion. But you have to ask yourself what comes to mind when you hear the phrase 'Islamic nation'.

Eh? The US was founded on Godly beliefs. I don't know who told you we were secular...

Most of the people who initially came here, came here to escape religious persecution. We were considered to be the "New Eden" for quite some time.
 
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nickspoon said:
A_SN said:
PS : Just looked at the few latest posts in this topic. Ha, as expected, you liberal hippies ended up talking about what liberal hippies always end up talking about. Colour me unsurprised. I didn't expect anything better from you guys, when you start a topic near a sensitive spot you know from the start where it's gonna end and that nothing interesting and really on topic will end up being saying. That's a flaw, work to correct it, or be doomed to repeat that sort of fruitless argument on a regular basis for the rest of your stereotypical lives.
Oh please. I though using 'liberal hippies' as a derogatory epithet died out decades ago.

I doubt that everyone in this thread would even consider themselves liberal. As you can see, the topic has bred healthy discussion (okay, maybe stretching it with 'healthy') about religion, and interesting points have been raised. The problem with you - one of the problems with you - is that you can't see what is good about argument for the sake of argument. An argument means, hopefully, that people have to consider their position. If one person makes one reasonable choice as a result, the argument is worthwhile; and even if not, it is a better way to waste time than bitching about people arguing 'fruitlessly'.

Also, being a complete arse will get you nowhere.

Yeah right, you guys can't talk about a republican without arguing about religion. And that sort of argument is so redundant, just look at the comments on Slashdot, you've got at least one of these at least everyday there.

And I'm not wasting my time by "bitching" about you guys, I'm "seeing the bigger picture" in what you guys do, ha!
 
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daclassicgamingmaster said:
Fawny Kate said:
daclassicgamingmaster said:
Yeah, most Americans are Bible-thumping Christians. We're a Christian nation, after all.
NOOooo! Don't fall into the trap of using their own devious language tricks. The US was founded as a secular nation - Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion....etc.

It is subtle, but linking the words Christian and nation like that suggests it was founded on christian principles (whatever they might be), rather than principles derived from the English Bill of Rights, Magna Carta and the ideas that arose from the Age of Enlightenment.

They can weasle out of it by saying it only implies the majority declare christianity as their particular brand of delusion. But you have to ask yourself what comes to mind when you hear the phrase 'Islamic nation'.

Eh? The US was founded on Godly beliefs. I don't know who told you we were secular...

Most of the people who initially came here, came here to escape religious persecution. We were considered to be the "New Eden" for quite some time.

Yeah but the US isn't officially a Christian nation. It was founded on secular principles because of religious persecution in Europe.

I read a quote ages ago which made me laugh:

"In the UK there is an official state religion, yet nobody gives a shit over there. In the US we have a constitution specifically prohibiting the establishment of religion, yet everybody is a religious maniac. Yet another example of the free market being more efficient than the state."
 
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LHC said:
daclassicgamingmaster said:
Fawny Kate said:
daclassicgamingmaster said:
Yeah, most Americans are Bible-thumping Christians. We're a Christian nation, after all.
NOOooo! Don't fall into the trap of using their own devious language tricks. The US was founded as a secular nation - Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion....etc.

It is subtle, but linking the words Christian and nation like that suggests it was founded on christian principles (whatever they might be), rather than principles derived from the English Bill of Rights, Magna Carta and the ideas that arose from the Age of Enlightenment.

They can weasle out of it by saying it only implies the majority declare christianity as their particular brand of delusion. But you have to ask yourself what comes to mind when you hear the phrase 'Islamic nation'.

Eh? The US was founded on Godly beliefs. I don't know who told you we were secular...

Most of the people who initially came here, came here to escape religious persecution. We were considered to be the "New Eden" for quite some time.

Yeah but the US isn't officially a Christian nation. It was founded on secular principles because of religious persecution in Europe.

I read a quote ages ago which made me laugh:

"In the UK there is an official state religion, yet nobody gives a shit over there. In the US we have a constitution specifically prohibiting the establishment of religion, yet everybody is a religious maniac. Yet another example of the free market being more efficient than the state."

I never said that the US was "officially" a Christian nation. By that, I mean that there's a very large percent of the population that is obsessed with Jesus or the Bible.
 
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daclassicgamingmaster said:
Eh? The US was founded on Godly beliefs. I don't know who told you we were secular...
In the words of someone cooler than myself:

"Treaty of Tripoli, bitch."

1796, approved by John Adams and confirmed by unanimous vote in the senate. Article 11: "As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion"
 
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A_SN said:
Yeah right, you guys can't talk about a republican without arguing about religion. And that sort of argument is so redundant, just look at the comments on Slashdot, you've got at least one of these at least everyday there.
That is mostly because the Republican party has been infiltrated and taken over by religious zealots. The Republican party has become "the party of God". Republicans also constantly use religion as a wedge issue to get support and votes. Since religious evangelism is so big with the Republicans, yes talking about Republicans leads to religion as it is a big part of their party.

You don't have to be a "liberal hippy", what ever that is supposed to be, to see that.

Now excuse me while I clean out my bong, polish my quartz crystals, and wash my daisy/peace sign painted VW van ;)
 
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