Ron Paul, conspiracy theorists, and "I don't want to run your life"

From the February issue of Reason, two helpful excerpts from a feature article on the Ron Paul "revolution"...

There's one strain of the Paul movement, though, that often alienates his other supporters and potential supporters. Ranging from John Birchers to 9/11 Truthers, they're the type whose distrust of government is enmeshed in elaborate, complicated, and implausible conspiracy theories. To the extent those people have a favorite candidate, it's apt to be Ron Paul. One big reason: He shares their refusal to believe the government always has good intentions.

Practically, having the corner on this niche of voters is a small blessing. But the resulting guilt by association is potentially a significant problem for Paul. It can be overcome with knowledge, but not without some effort.

Paul wraps up the speech with three things he doesn't want to do that sum up the Ron Paul message. First: "I don't want to run your life. We all have different values. I wouldn't know how to do it. I don't have the authority under the Constitution, and I don't have the moral right." Second: "I don't want to run the economy. People run the economy in a free society." Third: "I don't want to run the world...We don't need to be imposing ourselves around the world."

In politics, it is tempting to say that you will do something or fix a problem. Typically (but not always), the ends are legitimate. But too often, the means to those ends are unethical, inappropriate, unconstitutional, and impractical. It's interesting that Dr. Paul is known as "Dr. No" and that his political philosophy can be so easily defined in terms of what he won't do.