In Defense of Ron Paul Supporter's Knowledge

Before I begin, I would first like to debunk the claim the Occupy Wall Street protesters and Ron Paul supporters are sympathetic to each others' causes:

The two principle difference in values between OWS'ers and libertarians, are:

1. Occupyers expect the government to regulate corporations and banks to get rid of corruption and end exploitation.

Libertarians expect the government to end regulation of corporations and banks to get rid of corruption and end exploitation.

2. Occupyers expect the government to take from the rich and give to the middle class and poor via social programs such as universal health care and a progressive tax rate that funds said social programs.

Libertarians want the government to lower taxes, get rid of our debt, and get rid of social programs that help a few at the expense of the rest. But above all, we want the government to focus on what it was originally created to do: ensure order, a stable economy, and a domestic defense. All else should be afterthoughts.

So although Occupy Wall Street protesters may want some of the same basic things as Ron Paul supporters, their ideas about implementation are very much opposed!
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In regards to Ron Paul followers not being knowledgeable enough, I would agree. What I disagree with is that people who disagree with Ron Paul's policies thinking they are somehow more knowledgeable, or worse yet, "experts". We can never be too knowledgeable about a topic, as there is always more to learn.

Ron Paul supporters are not as knowledgeable about (for example) economics, because we don't really care about economics. The free market was developed by people who *were* knowledgeable about economics (the founder of economics, Adam Smith, was one of the biggest promoters of laissez-faire and biggest critics of government-caused inflation and currency devaluation!), so we don't need to be knowledgeable to know that liberty works. The only reason why Ron Paul supporters need to know more about economics, is because people who are so caught up in their knowledgeable ideas about the best economic system, that they end up completely missing the point:

Liberty!
Liberty!
Liberty!

That's what we're knowledgeable about: about the fact that America is being enslaved in debt, that our liberties are being stripped away from us on all fronts in the name of "national security" and the "common good", that America is no longer the land of the free and home of the brave, it is the land of the "you'll do just fine with you're willing to stay inside the government's walled garden"

I think that in that respect, Ron Paul supporters are a lot knowledgeable than supporters of the establishment (like Obama supporters), because we can see how nearly every single amendment of the Bill of Rights has been trampled on by the establishment, that we can no longer live our lives freely without worrying about what rules and regulations we might be inadvertently breaking, that we have to live in FUD of the day the government might break into our houses for protesting its totalitarian rule, that our houses might be demolished or repossessed due to "zoning changes", that the dollar will completely tank and we'll be running around with wheelbarrows of notes and worthless credit. Supporters of Ron Paul can see this all happening, and we are completely confounded at how asinine establishment-supporters can be to not even see it.

Progressives are very intelligent, very knowledgeable people, and the progressive movement was started by doctors, lawyers, teachers, bankers, and ministers. Progressives also created the most destructive reforms America has ever seen. You might be knowledgeable about economics, about sociology, and about the statistical benefits of universal healthcare, regulation, and the welfare state. But If you support the establishment that promises these "walled gardens" in exchange for your "cooperation", then you are either willing to give up your individual freedom, or utterly ignorant about Liberty! In the end, liberty is the most important thing to be knowledgeable about, and Ron Paul supporters will trump you on that front any day!