Ron Paul at CPAC
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:35 pm - by Ana Danijela
“Mr. Obama, your agenda is not new, it is not change and it is not hope. Spending a nation in to generational debt is not an act of compassion,” said radio host Rush Limbaugh at CPAC.
The Conservative Political Action Conference, a meeting with Republicans across the country where Ron Paul discussed the Federal Reserve and his Friedman-like monetarism sound money policy.
Tied for third with Sarah Palin in the popularity contest seen with CPAC’s straw poll, the question “thinking ahead to the 2012 Presidential election, who would you vote for as the next Republican nominee for President?” returned that Mitt Romney would be the popular choice for the Conservative Action members, at 20%, followed by Bobby Jindal at 14% and Sarah Palin and Ron Paul at 13%.
In more detailed analysis of Conservative priorities, economic conservativism rated in at points 1, 2 and 4, with the “War on Terrorism” rejecting Paulian positions and replacing “eliminating abortion” at 3.
Ron Paul spoke — possibly for one of the first times ever — of libertarian perspective toward world government and monetarist rejection of internationalism central banking, the only thing going for libertarians in the respect of international government, says Ron Paul “is that it is impossible for that system to last.”
“The truth is foreign policy hasn’t changed. We should be looking more to what George Bush said in the year 2000. He was strongly critical of the Clinton years, being the policeman of the world,” said Paul speaking of Obama’s foreign policy, praising early-Bush for being against policing the world, particularly with regard to Obama on Afghanistan Afghanistan, “We had to go spread our goodness into the Middle East.”
“As a matter of fact, the person most pleased with our foreign policy is Osama bin Laden.”
Ron Paul told CNN reporter John Roberts that the Campaign for Liberty would remain “geared up” for the 2012 election and if financials were sound with the party, candidacy in the next election is still a strong possibility.
You can see Ron Paul’s entire speech at his blog in video.
March 3, 2009 at 4:19 AM
Ron Paul’s economic theory should be better classified as Austrian (Mises, Rothbard, Hayek). Friedman-like implies more agreement with the Chicago school than there is.
March 3, 2009 at 12:51 PM
Surely you wouldn’t disagree that his *monetary* policy is that of monetarism — i.e., money is the root of everything — ala the great Milton Friedman? Paul’s economic theory is certainly Mises and Hayek influenced, and personally I would class it as Austrian — or even just “strictly non-interventionist.”
March 3, 2009 at 4:32 PM
I guess if you consider monetarism as being about money, then, yeah, most monetary policies would be monetarist. There is a stark difference between Mises and Friedman. Mises once stormed out of the room calling Friedman a socialist, and Friedman can NOT be considered “strictly non-interventionist.” He favored state control of the money, and would never be heard saying “End The Fed!”
March 10, 2009 at 9:01 AM
Although Mike makes a good point about their being stark differences between the Austrians and Chicago-school boys, as well as between Mises and Hayek–his last statement is incorrect. Late in life, Friedman began opposing the Fed and wondering if private money would be a better system.