Friday, January 25, 2013

Is Rand Paul Also Plagued with Libido Dominandi?

Whoa, what's libido dominandi, you say? It's a Latin phrase meaning "The will to power; the desire to dominate; the lust for government."

This disease plagues practically every politician, bureaucrat, and wanna-be politicians and bureaucrats. It's very dangerous given the fact that central planning always reduces prosperity and is immoral.

Ron Paul stood out as unique among politicians as he seemed to not only lack libido dominandi, but seemed to have the opposite. He was distrustful, reluctant, and resistant to dominate over others through government. This is one of the reasons he was such an effective libertarian, earning the trust of the most hardcore libertarians on earth.

That's why I would have been genuinely excited for Ron Paul to hold whatever office he ran for. He had a track record that would allow us to trust him with powers we ultimately don't want anyone to have.

Unfortunately, his son Rand is showing strong signs of libido dominandi. I especially began to notice this after he became a Senator. He talked about running for President if his father didn't just barley after being sworn in. Looking back on that weak field, he could have been successful, but I digress.

A stronger example is Rand's latest actions. There was his headline grabbing comments "I would have relieved you" to Hillary Clinton ("A preview of 2016?"), and even more notable his comments during this interview:
Interviewer: "...if you become President Paul..."
Rand Paul: "I like the ring of that" (smiles)
Rand is dropping quite a few hints that he is very interested in the Presidency, and they don't get any clearer than this. Compare it to Ron Paul, who was always very reluctant to run in the first place, both times. During the heat of the last race, in December 2011, he honestly admitted he didn't see himself in the White House. ABC reported:

An amazing admission tonight from Ron Paul.
In an exclusive interview, I asked him: “When you lay your head on your pillow at night, do you see yourself in the Oval Office?”
“Not really,” he said.
He went on to say that he’s not blind to the odds, but they are “not as slim as they were 25 years ago.”
Hard to imagine any other candidate saying that.

Indeed. That question was another way of saying "do you suffer from libido dominandi?" Sadly, Rand Paul is turning out to be quite the opposite. He will now go out of his way to indicate he does dream of being  President.

That's a bad sign. It's not bad per se to desire oneself to be President instead of some standard Republican or Democrat. If one uses the office to advance the cause of liberty and roll back statism, I applaud them. But we all know how rare that is. Couple this with the many indications that Rand Paul is moving towards a more mainstream Republican stance, and it's a reason for major concern that Rand isn't just different in his style and strategy.

1 comment:

  1. Rand Paul can't run far enough fast enough from his father's positions. He will out-NeoCon the best of them before the year is out.

    What's amusing is watching his supporters spinning like tops - "oh, he doesn't believe it, it's just pandering" - like pandering is now a good thing.

    You linked to this article over on RPFs; you should be careful, you're on the verge of being banned or at least relegated to the subscribers-only ghetto; "Liberty" means only happy, happy thoughts.

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