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September 29, 2009:
Tuesday’s Daily Show interview featured Texas congressman Ron Paul. After introducing Paul and mentioning his new book, End the Fed, Stewart joked, “You seem to have put a lot of thought and effort into this book; and you call yourself a congressman.”
Paul is a small-government Republican with libertarian leanings, who advocates personal rights and freedoms. In his book, he argues for the end of The United States Federal Reserve Bank, contending that it’s corrupt, outdated and, most importantly, unconstitutional.
The Fed, he asserts, helps government pay its bills by simply printing money when needed, which, ultimately, is extremely damaging to the economy. Such irresponsible production of currency, in the long term, serves to raise inflation, increase government size, and steadily decrease currency’s value over time. The Fed, Paul states, monetizes debt; when presented with a bill, they simply print the money needed to pay it.
At one point, Paul states: “They use this [money] to finance these wars that I think are so ridiculous. Undeclared wars; endless wars; good wars; long wars—all kinds of wars with no end in sight.” Considering the ideology of the Republican party over the last decade and more, this is a fairly radical statement coming from a Republican congressman. Furthermore, Paul’s arguments are both compelling and lucid. And, in contrast to the stereotypical politician, he comes across as both pragmatic and likeable, giving his arguments even further resonance. “It’s hard to enforce fraud laws,” he contends, “when the government participates in fraud.”
This is a terrific interview. There aren’t a lot of laughs, but this session illustrates the qualities that make Stewart such an effective interviewer. Obviously, if a broader range of topics were broached between Stewart and Paul, the pair would likely uncover a number of serious ideological differences. But Stewart approaches this interview respectfully and inquisitively; he asks pointed, intelligent questions, striving to laugh with the guest, not at him. Regardless of ideological differences, Stewart approaches the vast majority of his interviews in the same style (with a few exceptions). He’s rarely timid about asking tough questions though, and those qualities are why he’s among the best [fake] journalists working in TV today.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Ron Paul | ||||
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Comments
The attitude of most Libertarians and many Republicans is rugged thinking seasoned with Christian values that they don't truly practice. Their true belief is more like live and let die driven by Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest. Stewart brings up the moral obligation of all of us as intelligent human beings in a rational society.
That is a highly collectivist view you have there.
John
Thanks for reading and commenting. Your comment is too vague for me to adequately address though. I *do* have some collectivist leanings, but they hardly define my political philosophy entire. Or maybe your comment is addressed toward Paul or Stewart? In any case, I found Paul surprisingly likable (I frequently don't like politicians of any political persuasion); I don't mean to imply that I necessarily found his arguments valid, but I *do* find them compelling and thought-provoking, enough so in fact, for further investigation.
John Roe
Thanks for reading. I appreciate the your comments.
Ron Paul's affable manner and almost inescapable logic are just a couple of reasons why he garnered such a vocal and nearly rabid following during the primaries. Jon Stewart was one of the few who actually showed him the respect he deserves. Dr. Paul operates from a position that, to many, is archaic and "quaint"...you may have heard of the Constitution, but few understand it or defend it as he does. Just wait until he writes an easily digestible volume on our foreign policy. Toilet paper sales will go through the roof because you people are going to sh!t yourselves.
Mark
Thanks for the comment. This interview indeed opened my eyes about why Paul's survived so long in congress and why he's so popular among a limited group of core supporters. Stewart's respectful to almost everyone he interviews and yet to asks insightful, sometimes tough questions, all while remaining funny and disarming; the guy's quite good at what he does. I can see though, why certain elements of the political establishment would marginalize Paul; he's a threat to the status quo. I plan on reading this book when I have a chance and I'll stock up on toilet paper in anticipation of his 'easily digestible volume on foreign policy.'
JohnRoe wrote: "The attitude of most Libertarians and many Republicans is rugged thinking seasoned with Christian values that they don't truly practice....Their true belief is more like live and let die driven by Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest. "
My experience has been that libertarians tend to be a pretty varied lot. I think your idea of a "true belief" is wide of the mark, but doubtless some would feel as you described, but that has nothing to do with libertarianism. Perhaps you are confusing them with Objectivists. A libertarian can be just as charitable as he or she chooses to be, but would feel that they have no right to compel others to charity against their will, and conversely, others have no right to compel them. Not even by using the agency of government as an intermediary to force charity from others and then decide how it is to be used.
I am a Jewish libertarian who just got done giving money to a private charity not ten minutes ago.
I too believe in a moral obligation. I believe I do not have the right to force another to do anything. That includes providing health care to anyone, or taking their wages.
I believe that liberals and libertarians have the same goals the only difference is in their economics. Liberals are Keyensians and libertarians are in the Austrian school of economics camp.
If you believe the best way to get people stuff is to print money you are a liberal, if you believe the best way to get people stuff is not to steal the value of their money in the first place you are a libertarian.
(Of course I could be wrong).
Ron Paul's affable manner and almost inescapable logic are just a couple of reasons why he garnered such a vocal and nearly rabid following during the primaries. Jon Stewart was one of the few who actually showed him the respect he deserves. Dr. Paul operates from a position that, to many, is archaic and "quaint"...you may have heard of the Constitution, but few understand it or defend it as he does. Just wait until he writes an easily digestible volume on our foreign policy. Toilet paper sales will go through the roof because you people are going to sh!t yourselves.
John Roe, if you look into his life, I think you'll find Ron Paul seems to be quite the sound follower of his Christian values. He is a physician who has personally delivered over 4,000 babies, he was known for making deals to treat poor folk for little cost or even free back in his heyday (one reason he was first elected to Congress- when he went into politics, there were a lot of grateful families in his district who saw fit to help him out), has been married to his first and only wife for over 50 years without scandal or interruption, and has a squeaky-clean congressional record which shows unwavering adherence to his principles, even at the expense of personal gain (eg. he has voted against congressional pay raises).
Ron Paul offers up the view of a free society, where individuals can be whom they choose without legislative pressures or controls on every nuance of their lives. We have grown into a society that expects government agencies to feed, house, and cloth us, and bitch when it costs too much or the color of our "free" clothing.
Government agencies are like a Rube Goldberg machine, wasteful, cumbersome and often downright dangerous, and everyone but Dr. Paul is ignoring the elephant in the room. If Dr. Paul runs for President in 2012 he has my vote, and I hope that of every free thinking American citizen not relying on government support for their personal comfort.
I hope Americans recognize that Ron Paul IS "Truth, justice and the American way".
MANY ron paul supporters were non-political or totally disenfranchised until he came along, hence the signs "Dr. Paul cured my apathy" that many people made. He is a man of principal, not corruptable. He voted against his own raise! He predicted many of the problems we have today. He speaks with such logic and common sense, I can only assume his detractors and haters are not of sound mind. He represents the old school republicans, before the bush family was in power.
I really was not a stewart until now. Lots of respect. He was very fair. I am non-religious, ron paul is christian, but I dont care, because he is all about personal liberties and freedom.
First poster foul ball.
Moral obligation transcends political theory. It's the thieves and lazies who try to feed moral obligation into government and political activity. That way they can reduce it to nothing while making promises as long as the people are gullible.
Morality belongs to the people not the enforcers.
Mr. Stewart is one of the few in the major media who have been fair with Ron Paul. If more people are able to hear his ideas and understand where they come from and where they would take us, I think we could see some major leaps forward for humanity in our lifetime. While I love his ideas because I understand how they are rooted in principles, its also because I believe in progress. Too many well intentioned folks have gotten confused along the way: freedom and personal liberty are the relatively new ideas to the world; not bureaucracy, conglomerates or the heavy hand of government.
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