Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Ron Paul, Tancredo, Tax Protesters

Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo, and Tax Protesters

Tom Tancredo is now calling on Iowans for Tax Relief and the Iowa Christian Alliance to reconsider and invite Ron Paul to Saturday's forum. Maybe he thinks this wins some points from the Paul People, but I doubt it. I would think the libertarian position on immigration would be open the borders and let employers hire who they want -- the diametric opposite of Tancredo's "stop legal immigration" view.

Paul, meanwhile, has taken up the cause of two New Hampshire tax protesters:
Paul expressed his sympathy for Ed and Elaine Brown, who have been holed up in their hilltop home for several months, threatening violence if marshals come to arrest them.

The Browns have each been sentenced to 63 months in prison for crimes related to their refusal to pay federal income taxes for nearly 10 years. The Browns contend that there is no law compelling Americans to pay income taxes.

On which count they are so so wrong, says attorney Daniel Evans in an exhaustive tax protester FAQ.

In the Concord (NH) Monitor:
"People who point this out and fight the tax code and fight the monetary code are heroic," Paul said in a video that's been linked to several pro-Brown websites. "I compare them to people like Gandhi, who was willing to speak out and try to bring about change in a peaceful manner. Martin Luther King fought laws that were unfair and unjust, and he suffered, too."

Paul has missed a key phrase, however:

"...threatening violence if marshals come to arrest them."

Weren't Gandhi and King all about, well, non-violence?

This cognitive dissonance came up later in the day on Fox News:
Cavuto: So Congressman, you're not saying Ed and Elaine Brown can be compared to Gandhi?
Paul: I never said that... in matter of, in fact I know very little about that case, I've never talked to them.

"I never said that?" See quote above.

The Paul supporters went gonzo in the comments overnight demanding a "retraction" (for the record, I reject anonymous comments). So, I'll duly note that Ron Paul spoke without knowing all the facts and acknowledges that he has no clue.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Paul had no idea who these people were when asked about them on the 22nd, nor that they had been convicted nor that they said they would resist arrest which is the only violence they have threatened if it could be called that.

The reporter who started this had to print a retraction since she never asked Ron if he was a 'supporter' she just proclaimed him so. The new article then included the fact that Ron said he only believes in peaceful civil disobedience.

He went on Cavuto on the 26th to talk about this and it's up on YouTube already and more at the dailypaul.com

You are just repeating a sensationalist article that got some little cub reporter in big trouble...do you want to be in trouble too? Better erase it right away..



PS - Tancredo is just afraid of a bigger rally than for himself -- that's what Ron will draw for sure. And true libertarians do not believe in open borders...sheesh.

Anonymous said...

Though, he then said on Neil Cavuto that he wasn't familiar with this particular case, and again stressed the nonviolend resistance, saying that they would probably end up in jail.

Anonymous said...

The quote from the Concord Monitor looks consistent with the video I have seen. Ron Paul was refering to protesters in general in making the comparison, not to some specific protesters.

Curtis said...

You might want to make a correction on that Ron Paul/Brown/Ghandi accusation. It's been thoroughly debunked, on video. AP jumped the gun on that one.

Anonymous said...

Wrong. I am very impressed and phoned Tom Tancredo's office in D.C to thank him for his integrity. I spoke with a receptionist and asked her to pass on my respect to Tom...another HERO in my book.

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Local Ale said...

Bay Buchanan runs the show for Team Tancredo, and I would suspect her brother, Pat, suggested Tom get a little closer to Paul and further from the Establishment.

As far as coalition building, which is what Paul is all about and what a Real Right should be about as we are diverse, these are god signs. Tancredo and Paul aren't that far off on the subject of immigration policy for some accommodation to be made between the two camps.

Paul is in line with the most prominent libertarian theorists, Hoppe, the late Thomas Friedman, and the late Murray Rothbard, that mass immigration is incompatible with the gigantic welfare state.

When Tancredo does drop out, the hope is he endorses Paul.

Anonymous said...

He says "people like that" without referring directly to the Browns, whose case he says he is unfamiliar with.

What's the problem here?

Mike Wagner said...

I have a bit of advice for Tom Tancredo - quit! Just drop out of the race and advice your supporters (both of them) to back Ron Paul.