Good Article on Supporting Ron Paul

Really good article.

Several major points:

1. On the charges of Paul being "crazy"

Labeling people “crazy” as a means of dismissing their views — basically depicting political disagreement as a mental illness — is one of the oldest and stalest means of discrediting people who dissent; it’s basically the prime weapon used to enforce mainstream orthodoxy and punish dissidents.

He goes on to fairly discuss "Bush Derangement Syndrome" and other ways people simply resort to the crazy label to demonize opponents. Obviously, Sarah Palin comes to mind. In fairness, the only person I've referred to as crazy is Michelle Bachman and that's not because of her policies, but rather because of her eyes.

2.

Consider what happened in 2007 when a conservative blogger and law professor, Glenn Reynolds, suggested that the U.S. begin assassinating Iranian scientists. Numerous people — such as Law Professor Paul Campos and myself — pointed out how warped and criminal that idea was. One of those most vehement in expressing horror and disgust at this proposal was none other than Kevin Drum, who went so far as to denounce it as Terrorism:

I imagine a lot of people agree with [Reynolds], but his recommendation really demonstrates the moral knot caused by George Bush’s insistence that we’re fighting a “war on terror.” After all, killing civilian scientists and civilian leaders, even if you do it quietly, is unquestionably terrorism. That’s certainly what we’d consider it if Hezbollah fighters tried to kill cabinet undersecretaries and planted bombs at the homes of Los Alamos engineers.

Fast forward three years. Iranian nuclear scientists are actually being murdered. That is almost certainly happening through some combination of Israeli and American actions — at the very least with the approval and complicity of the Obama administration. Where is the outrage and denunciation that was spewed at a mere blogger for suggesting on the Internet that this should be done? Now that it’s actually being done, doesn’t it necessarily mean — using Drum’s reasoning when aimed at Reynolds — that President Obama is a “terrorist”? And if so, isn’t it understandable how eager some people are to find means of doing something other than steadfastly devoting oneself to this politician and working for his re-empowerment by, for instance, changing the terms of the debate?

His major point is that progressives don't really believe in the major criticisms they forwarded during the Bush Administration, especially since they are silent on many of the same issues now that Obama is in office and following those same policies related to detentions, assassinations, civil liberties, etc.