I’ve been saying for a while now that Libertarianism is just a prettily re-branded form of Anarchism; the scourge of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

One of the Paul family — Ron, this time —  again makes my point for me.

During a May 15th interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News, there was this exchange:

CHRIS WALLACE: Question — President Paul would tell those folks, you’re on your own?

RON PAUL: Well, you can’t change laws overnight. The president isn’t a dictator, but you would work for certain goals. The principle of ultimate insurance by government is moral hazard because people do things they shouldn’t do.

But I have opposed, you know, flood insurance since I’ve been in Congress for 30 years, since 1976. And I have a coastal district, so I don’t support FEMA. I get a lot more complaints about FEMA than I get support.

Of course, if it’s a program — you know, there are a lot of programs I would do away with, but in the meantime, I’d work to manage them responsibly. As a matter of fact, I have introduced legislation that would make Social Security more an insurance program, make it responsible, even though those things aren’t technically proper.

So, no, FEMA is a problem. You brought up the subject, you know, of the Mississippi. FEMA is more or less in charge. But their decision now, because of government levees, because of the flood and no natural result and taking care of this flood, they have a decision to make. OK, down the Mississippi and flood this city, or down here and flood some innocent farmers.

I mean, this is the kind of dilemma that wouldn’t happen in a society that didn’t expect the government to solve our problems. But to expect the government and people who aren’t benefiting to pay for me to live on the beach and get my house blown down, that’s not morally correct and it’s not in the Constitution, if that’s what we’re supposed to be doing.

I would very much like to see a detailed outline of what the United States of America would look like under a Libertarian form of government such as that proposed by Ron Paul and his equally (if not more) narrow-minded and short-sighted son, and their ilk.

Actually, the more I think about it, the more I suspect it would resemble ‘these United States’ as they (dys)functioned under the Articles of Confederation from 1781-1789. That worked so poorly that our liberty-loving Founding Fathers decided that now it was time for something completely different.

Why don’t the Pauls and self-proclaimed Constitutional literalists do some book-learning on this subject instead of engaging in their favorite political pastime, ‘magical political thinking’?

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The article from which I cited this Ron Paul quote is here, along with video:  “Ron Paul Tells Mississippi River Flood Victims To Build Their Own Levees“.

The Fox News transcript cited in the article is here: “Mike Huckabee Explains 2012 Decision; Rep. Ron Paul on His Presidential Bid; Sens. Durbin, Kyl Talk Immigration Reform, Debt Ceiling | Fox News Sunday“.

Wikipedia Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Articles_of_Confederation

The Articles of Confederation, a text copy (“Agreed to by Congress November 15, 1777; ratified and in force, March 1, 1781.”): http://www.usconstitution.net/articles.html