Paul's Fantasies Don't Cut It

By THE TAMPA TRIBUNE EDITORIAL BOARD | Tbo.com
Published: January 11, 2008

Ron Paul of Texas, a practicing physician, has attracted a solid core of supporters worried about immigration, foreign wars and loss of civil liberties. His criticisms are legitimate, but his simplistic solutions are, as an article in The New Individualist magazine correctly concludes, "utopian silliness."

He favors free trade, but would pull out of agreements that make trade possible. He would close the foreign bases that support the Navy, whose ships keep trade routes open. As a U.S. representative, he votes against spending bills, but makes sure they're well stocked with pork for his district.

Paul wants to abolish the IRS, kill the Federal Reserve, abandon NATO and the U.N., and let workers opt out of Social Security. For every serious problem, he has a simple, silly solution: Let it solve itself.