On The Contradictions and Revenge Fantasies of Ron Paul's Supporters

Over at A Stitch In Haste, Kip Esq. has some thoughtful observations about the following:

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Police confiscated two display photos of scantily clad men and a woman from an Abercrombie & Fitch store and cited the manager on a misdemeanor obscenity charge, authorities said.
...
City code makes it a crime to display "obscene materials in a business that is open to juveniles," Bernstein said.

Call this exhibit #1. As Kip points out, the offending posters, one of which you can see below, do not remotely qualify as obscene according to the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Constitution.

However, as Kip also points out, according to Ron Paul's interpretation of the Constitution, the local or state government would be well within their rights to ban stores from using photos like this one.

Which brings us to exhibit #2. This is only one example of the kind of thing we're going to see from Ron Paul supporters as the "good doctor's" campaign slides into the abyss: revenge fantasies, especially against the media, the source of all their troubles (or so they seem to believe.)

"TommyzDad", a "Senior Member" over at the RonPaulForums, asks, "What kind of 'payback' would you like to see extracted from the MSM when Dr. Paul wins the House?" I will reproduce the first reply to his question in its entirety. Interestingly enough, the poster's user name is "Rockwell":

Immediately suspend their license for 90 days and freeze all assets from sale or transfer.

Hold public hearings to allow for any complaint from the citizenry, investigate. Issue subpoenas and take depositions from all executives to respond to charges. If found in violation of FCC laws revoke licenses and suspend all rights to future broadcasting on public airways of any responsible parties. Forfeiture and siezure of all property, equpiment, assets of those networks found to be in violation and sell off such property with funds to be used for the general welfare.

Rewrite FCC guidelines to prohibit the use of public airwaves by any organization with more than X employees, or more than X assets. Mandatory non-profit status and salary/compensation caps.

I'm sure I could think of others, that's a good start.

Now, the last time I saw a revenge fantasy like this, it was on the Democratic Underground forum, and it was from some lefty venting his spleen at the insurance industry.

But these are Ron Paul supporters. They're supposed to reject the idea that the FCC should be allowed to regulate the news broadcasts while it seizes the property of those who fail to comply with its edicts. That's the revenge fantasy of a fascist, not a libertarian.

Moreover, it's unlikely Ron Paul would support expanding the power of the FCC to make the fantasy possible. I wonder if "Rockwell" knows that.

Which brings our two exhibits together. Do Ron Paul supporters even know what the good doctor really stands for? Do they know that, under Paul's interpretation of the Constitution, states could prohibit the display of photographs as mild as the one displayed above? That, on his interpretation, the California law that led Paul Robert Cohen to be prosecuted for wearing a "Fuck the Draft" jacket is a perfectly legitimate exercise of state police power?

I bet they don't. Or maybe they just don't care. But a general ignorance of the ramifications of Ron Paul's anti-federalist (but hardly pro-liberty) ideology would explain their failure to realize that it would drastically expand state police power, while explicitly limiting the federal government's power to enact the kind of revenge fantasy cited above.

Or, like I said, maybe they don't care about consistency. Or liberty. And that would make Ron Paul's acolytes no different, essentially, from the supporters of Hillary Clinton and John McCain.

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