Ron Paul for President? While, to my knowledge, he has not garnered a strong showing in any of the poles, he has succeeded in making a name for himself as kind of "gadfly" for the Republicans. God knows they need one.
My question is this: just how rigid is his adherence to libertarian principles? It's one thing to argue that government interference in this or that affair will more than likely make a problem worse, its quite another to say that the gov. always makes things worse, or that gov. is only legitimate within the narrow limits of enforcing private contracts and protecting basic rights. It is here that Libertarianism as an economic and political philosophy seems to be incompatible with Catholic Social teaching. Gov. does not merely exist to serve the individual, but developed to protect and sustain larger social units such as the family and religion. Government has its role in protecting or promoting the common good as well as protecting private property and choice. For the contemporary Catholic facing a secular government more centralized and powerful than ever before, the temptation to view large government as a bane to Christian life is tempting, but misleading. The real problem with our current government, is not so much that it is powerful and centralized (although reasonable people can differ on how powerful and centralized our government needs to be), but that it misuses this power by tolerating or even promoting social evils. Libertarians, including Ron Paul, frequently wish to limit the government's involvement in drug use, traditional marriage, prostitution and pornography, not because they consider these things good or harmless to the individual, but because they fail to appreciate the social consequences of such things in other spheres of human life. Catholic teaching, on the other hand, teaches that such things not only harm the individual but undermine the larger social groupings that make legitimate freedom possible. In the case of pornography, the most desirable course of action would be to convince the purveyors and users of it to change their ways. But with human nature being in its fallen state, such efforts are bound to be limited in their outcome. A level of coercion is needed to protect those who would be affected negatively by pornography through no choice of their own (or without sufficient knowledge of its evil).
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Ron Paul on the Just War Tradition
Ron Paul, it seems, bases his crticisims of the Iraq war on Just War doctrine:
This is from an article he wrote concerning his Christian faith for The Covenant News (http://www.covenantnews.com/ronpaul070721.htm):
"I have also acted to protect the lives of Americans by my adherence to the doctrine of “just war.” This doctrine, as articulated by Augustine, suggested that war must only be waged as a last resort--- for a discernible moral and public good, with the right intentions, vetted through established legal authorities (a constitutionally required declaration of the Congress), and with a likely probability of success.It has been and remains my firm belief that the current United Nations-mandated, no-win police action in Iraq fails to meet the high moral threshold required to wage just war. That is why I have offered moral and practical opposition to the invasion, occupation and social engineering police exercise now underway in Iraq. It is my belief, borne out by five years of abject failure and tens of thousands of lost lives, that the Iraq operation has been a dangerous diversion from the rightful and appropriate focus of our efforts to bring to justice to the jihadists that have attacked us and seek still to undermine our nation, our values, and our way of life."
Brian's note: There is much more to Just War Doctrine than the above, of course, but it reveals that Paul's criticisms of the war are grounded in something deeper than his weak libertarian philosophy of government. If he would only reconsider some of his libertarian views in light of other political teachings that we have inhereted from the Christian tradition!
This is from an article he wrote concerning his Christian faith for The Covenant News (http://www.covenantnews.com/ronpaul070721.htm):
"I have also acted to protect the lives of Americans by my adherence to the doctrine of “just war.” This doctrine, as articulated by Augustine, suggested that war must only be waged as a last resort--- for a discernible moral and public good, with the right intentions, vetted through established legal authorities (a constitutionally required declaration of the Congress), and with a likely probability of success.It has been and remains my firm belief that the current United Nations-mandated, no-win police action in Iraq fails to meet the high moral threshold required to wage just war. That is why I have offered moral and practical opposition to the invasion, occupation and social engineering police exercise now underway in Iraq. It is my belief, borne out by five years of abject failure and tens of thousands of lost lives, that the Iraq operation has been a dangerous diversion from the rightful and appropriate focus of our efforts to bring to justice to the jihadists that have attacked us and seek still to undermine our nation, our values, and our way of life."
Brian's note: There is much more to Just War Doctrine than the above, of course, but it reveals that Paul's criticisms of the war are grounded in something deeper than his weak libertarian philosophy of government. If he would only reconsider some of his libertarian views in light of other political teachings that we have inhereted from the Christian tradition!
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