The Freedom Bulletin

If you missed Ron Paul’s appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, you can watch the whole thing on YouTube or below:

This was one of my favorite Ron Paul public appearances ever. First of all, the audience absolutely loved him, cheering when Leno mentioned Paul during a joke in his opening monologue, giving him a standing ovation when he was introduced, and erupting in applause throughout the interview whenever he said something they liked (which happened often). Additionally, instead of getting only 30 seconds or a minute to answer a question, as he does in debates, Dr. Paul got to elaborate as he saw fit and struck a more conversational tone. He was very candid, sometimes a little controversially so. At one point, Leno asked Paul what he thought of each of the other Republican candidates. Of Bachmann, he said, after a perfectly timed pause, “She doesn’t like Muslims.” Of Santorum, he exclaimed, “Gays and Muslims!”

Dr. Paul got along really well with Leno, who expressed his respect for Paul’s consistency. The second guest, Fear Factor host Joe Rogan, came in wearing a Ron Paul t-shirt and talked about how much he liked Paul almost as much as he talked about his own show!

Chris Matthews was on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Thursday, and one of the topics of discussion was Rand Paul, the libertarian-leaning Republican who just won the primary in the Kentucky Senate race. Matthews made the following comment about Paul:

“He’s a philosopher, and philosophers shouldn’t run for office. He’s an absolute purist.”

The comment was a reference to Rand’s opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, a federal law that prohibits private businesses from racial discrimination. Rand believes that private companies should be able to decide for themselves who to do business with, and the national government should not have the power to force them to accept customers if they don’t want to.

Although I don’t completely agree with him on this issue, I admire Rand’s opinions and his philosophy. Why does Matthews say that philosophers shouldn’t run for office? By “philosopher” and “absolute purist,” Matthews seems to mean someone who has a consistent set of beliefs, based on reason instead of conformity to popular opinion. At least that’s what Matthews is criticizing Rand Paul for. I don’t see why you wouldn’t want someone like that to run for office. Would you rather have a politician who stands for nothing and cares about nothing but getting elected? In my opinion, only philosophers and purists should run for office.

Rand Paul does not have any campaign experience, so he is still learning how to balance being true to his own beliefs with trying to get elected. It’s not surprising that he is already getting criticized in the press, since he actually stands up for liberty, and there are bound to be many people who oppose that.

I like to think that I have a consistent set of beliefs that I stick to. My philosophy is different in some respects from Rand Paul’s philosophy of libertarianism (or paleoconservatism, depending on who you ask) but there are also lots of similarities. In general, I admire people who have unpopular views and stand up for what they believe in, and Rand Paul, unlike the majority of politicians, is such a person. He is criticized for being radical, on the fringe, outside the mainstream, et cetera. But in a society where the mainstream consists of nearly unanimous support for income taxes, the Durham-Humphrey Amendment, and degrading airport security measures, I fail to see how being outside the mainstream is a bad thing. I hope that Rand sticks to what he believes in and resists the pressure to move toward the center. It reflects badly on our society that believing in liberty makes someone part of the “fringe.” A Senator with a consistent, pro-liberty world view and the courage to act on it would be one of the best things to happen to America in many years.