Ron Paul in The Economist

The Economist magazine speaks on Ron Paul, the Browns, taxes and freedom.

United States
Libertarian protests
Live free or get hauled off to prison
Oct 11th 2007 | AUSTIN
From The Economist print edition

Taxing questions

THE American constitution gives Congress the power to collect taxes. The 16th amendment to it elaborates that Congress may tax incomes. That is enough to make most Americans pony up. But Ed and Elaine Brown of New Hampshire are unconvinced. In 1996 they decided to stop paying federal income taxes because, they said, they saw no law authorising such an imposition. And in January of this year, when they were convicted on charges of tax evasion, they resisted.

Mr Brown retreated to his home and vowed to fight anyone who tried to arrest him. Mrs Brown, a dentist in quieter times, joined him a bit later. Their home made a good fort. It sprawls over more than 100 acres (40 hectares) of forest and was equipped with generators, weapons and booby traps. Thus holed up, the couple gave interviews. News of their stand spread over the internet. Supporters brought food and supplies. The situation was at an impasse until federal marshals had a clever idea. On October 4th, they tricked the Browns by posing as supporters. The Browns welcomed them onto the property and were arrested on the front porch.

The Browns, it has to be admitted, are at the far end of the spectrum. But thousands of reasonable Americans are deeply committed to a candidate whose platform might appeal to such scofflaws. Abolishing the federal income tax is a priority for supporters of Ron Paul, a congressman from Texas who is running for the Republican presidential nomination on a libertarian platform. Mr Paul reckons it would be possible to accomplish this; fiscal rigour is central to his campaign. He also wants to dismantle the Federal Reserve and return to gold-backed currency. He has always opposed the war in Iraq. He wants America out of the UN, the WTO, and any other international arrangement. He strongly supports home-schooling and, of course, gun ownership.

These stances are agreeable to people who distrust government, and political watchers have been surprised by Mr Paul’s success thus far. According to an October 4th Gallup poll, he is still wallowing with around 2% of the Republican vote. However, in the third quarter of this year he raised more than $5m—quite respectable compared, say, with the $9m raised by Fred Thompson.

It is probably the intensity of Mr Paul’s convictions that commends him to his supporters. Republican voters are still not sure whether to believe the conservative credentials of leading candidates like Mitt Romney or Mr Thompson. Mr Paul plainly believes what he says. Perhaps the other candidates should adopt a bit of his libertarian fervour.

I, for one, love that Congressman Paul is getting so much exposure. I’ve been trying to do my part and have introduced quite a few people to his ideas. Here is a pic of the rEVOLution shirt on safari. The blurry people are the sweetest couple but I don’t want it implied that they support Dr. No.

~ by Miche on October 18, 2007.