Ron Paul's candidacy

Hobin

Libertarianism != Ayn Randism.

Gokul43201

I think you're confusing what I said with what you think I said. I made no quantitative statements about support for Paul's ideas.

SixNein

But it is quite influenced by it.

Ethical egoism seems to be the central theme of libertarianism.

jduster

Libertarianism is not "Objectivism" (Rand's philosophy).

Rand, throughout her career, harshly criticized libertarians for ripping apart her ideas, and using only parts of them, rather than embracing it as a whole.

Nevertheless, Rand's philosophy of Objectivism was neither philosophy nor objective.

turbo

Paul's supporters hope to hijack the Maine GOP primary this week, as published in this weekend's local papers. He might have some other reason for staying in the race this late, but I don't know what it could be, since he is far out of the running. He can't hope to win too many extra delegates (though he did well in the Maine GOP caucuses), but he may be sticking in the hunt to get a little extra influence headed into the GOP nationals.

John Creighto

And baby blue is not sky blue but they are both blue.

mheslep

Ethical egoism? What does that mean, and on what basis is that the theme of libertarian philosophy?

turbo

Ron Paul supporters jammed the Maine state Republican party convention this weekend and grabbed a share of the top spots, hoping to give Paul leverage in Tampa.

http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/D...onvention.html

Romney's camp is not happy.

SixNein

Ethical egoism is usually the moral defense and rallying cry of libertarianism.

http://www.iep.utm.edu/egoism/#SH2b

John Creighto

I think if we are going to discuss libertarian theory we probably should start another thread. If we want to discuss Ayn Rand specifically we do have a thread about here:
http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=478792

I do wish to say that, I think that trying to simplify Rand's ethic's to ethical egoism is an over simplification. Rand's ethics are partly deotological in that she believes in certain rights (As a minimum the right to life). She also (although she denies it) is to a degree consequentialist in that she justifies her ethical systems by contrasting them against the consequences of collectivism. She also calls her ethics "Objective" in that she views the market as an objective criteria to measure value.

SixNein

Ethical egoism is a little more generalized. But if you wish to read an Ayn Rand defense of it, I would recommend: "The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism"

But back to the point of the thread...

Ron Paul took too high a dosage of ethical egoism. In my opinion, government problems have to be classified. Some problems require an individualist approach, and some problems require a collectivist approach. I don't like extremes in either direction.

In my honest opinion, the government really needs pragmatic people.

Galteeth

I'm pretty sure Bakunin and Rand would be mortal enemies.

Dotini

Sounds good, but does this imply that sometimes it's okay to obey the Constitution and sometimes it's fine not to?

Respectfully submitted,
Steve

Hobin

I don't think so. This would, after all, set a horrible precedent, and it's quite pragmatic to keep this in mind.

turbo

Ron Paul's supporters took control of the state GOP convention and handed Paul 21 of Maine's 24 national delegates. The Romney camp claims that the tactics of the Paul camp were "illegal" and that the delegates should not be seated by the RNC. It's going to be messy in Tampa.

http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/f...012-05-06.html

Dotini

Illegal according to what? Robert's Rules of Order? I doubt it, because that's the chief weapon of Paul's wily supporters against the entrenched GOP establishment, who are really the ones guilty of the dirty tricks. I know. I've seen it first hand.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Electio...ine-and-Nevada <--- Confirmation of our tactics

Respectfully,
Steve

turbo

I doubt that there were breaches of Robert's Rules of Order, since Romney's top lawyer was at the convention, rule-book in hand. The Establishment got out-flanked, and now they are crying foul.

During the caucuses, the results from many pro-Paul areas were not included in the tallies, and the results of the Washington County caucuses (heavily pro-Paul) were not included, the results of the Waldo County caucuses were not included, nor the results of some cities including Waterville that went 21-5 for Paul. The Maine Republican Party indeed played some dirty tricks, steering the caucus victory to Romney by disenfranchising as many Paul supporters as possible. It's coming back to haunt them.

http://articles.businessinsider.com/...aul-vote-count