On CNN's Inside Politics, Politico’s Mike Allen reported on an new effort by Rand Paul to address the current view that he is allegedly an isolationist, reports Political Ticker.
Allen said on the show that Rand is planning a high-profile speech at the National Defense University this fall to address critics, and attempt to reposition himself on the foreign policy spectrum.
“He’s going to argue that he’s smack in the middle - the same place that George H.W. Bush was, that Reagan was, and that Ike was,” said Allen.
There will be a lot of truth in Rand's attempt to cast himself in this light. He is not at all like his father, who is against all US meddling in foreign affairs. George H.W. Bush-like is really where Rand is at.
-RW
(ht Jay Stephenson)
Democratic elections are in a way analogous to markets because a candidate cannot expect victory without catering to the value preferences of the majority. Quite like marketing a product they go about selling a certain brand of politics. Hayek's theory on how "intellectuals" define the prevalent values of a society is always worth reading.
ReplyDeleteAcemoglu and Robinson in their work "Why Nations Fail" describe certain events as “critical junctures”, essentially they are major "events that disrupt the existing political and economic balance in one or many societies”. With some exaggeration we can say Ron Paul was indeed such a political event, undoubtedly starting numerous cultural feed-back loops which kept on reinforcing his brand of ideas.
Murray Rothbard in his private Volker Fund memos does talk about the need for a hardcore libertarian institution which will uncompromisingly push ideas, and constantly attempt to expand the boundaries of public imagination even though it may not gain immediate acceptance. Ron Paul did that by taking the Rothbardian ethics mainstream, seems Rand Paul does not share the same intent, if his idea is to gain immediate profit then quite like an entrepreneur he has to identify and pander to the prevalent cultural values without trying too hard to mold it.
Lew Rockwell said it best in his latest article : "Nothing in the world is easier than opposing a war that ended long ago. It takes no real courage to be against the Vietnam War in 2014. What takes courage is opposing a war while it is being fought – when the propaganda and intimidation of the public are at their height – or even before it breaks out in the first place."
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lewrockwell.com/2014/08/lew-rockwell/the-states-worst-atrocity/