The Secret of Ron Paul's Success

The philosophy of liberty

December 9, 2007

They're asking it on Yahoo!. They're asking it on Digg. They're asking it on random blogs. And you know they're asking it in the backrooms of jealous rival campaign offices. So really, why is Ron Paul so popular?

The answer, as usual, is probably too simple for most to imagine. In this age of artifice, slick PR, marketing strategies and test groups, Ron Paul's campaign seems out of place. It is not slick, it is not shiny, and if it was a car it would probably be a small hatchback: cheap, unassuming and fuel-efficient.

No, as latest episode of The Corbett Report makes clear, the key to his success lies not in the art of manipulation, but simply in having an underlying philosophy which implies a set of political principles which he has lived up to throughout his career in Congress. This philosophy is the philosophy of liberty, and is best summed up by this animated short:

From a few, relatively easy-to-grasp core principles, Ron Paul's entire campaign can be logically deduced:

Monetary policy

The government does not own your labour, which is the product of your time and energy. Therefore, it is not entitled to the profit you earn by selling your labour (or your product). Ergo, the income tax must be abolished.

Foreign policy

No one has the right to engage in non-defensive action which interferes with the liberty of others. Thus, no leader of any group of people has that right (as no group can confer rights on a leader which no individual has themselves). Thus, no military action is justified (or necessary) which is not self-defence. Ergo, the US military empire must be deconstructed by recalling the troops from their permanent bases around the world.

Drug policy

The philosophy of liberty allows the individual to make choices for themselves as long as those choices do not interfere with the liberty of others. By this logic, an individual may choose to use narcotics but a government intervention to stop people from using narcotics is not permitted.

The same reasoning can be applied on down the line on any political issue. Indeed, the real secret of the Ron Paul campaign is that all of his policies can be worked out a priori from the core principles of the philosophy of liberty. In a way, Dr. Paul is not being modest when he declares that his message is what's popular, not his own personality. In this age of polished debate performances and rehearsed answers, it's refreshing to find a politician with a core set of principles guiding their policies. If only other candidates would take notes.