L.A. Liberty

Re: When Rothbard Endorsed Bush Sr.

Alex made a longer reply - and I don’t want to be unfair in my response - but seeing as how I’m at the beach and the kids want to go play, I’m going to just cut straight to his final argument (which makes possible his preceding arguments that Romney is no worse than Bush Sr. in “buying time,” and that Rand’s support is a good strategic move):

alexholzbach:

How can you say [Republicans and Democrats] have “little substantive difference?”

Well, let’s compare the presumptive candidates, Romney and Obama.

Romney is a central-banking Keynesian corporatist who supports The Fed and (some, though admittedly not all) bailouts. Romney believes that economic stimulus can be engineered by government spending. His presumed cabinet and advisors will, like the current administration, be filled with Wall Street lobbyists (both have been heavily supported by the likes of Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, though Romney has a long way to go to reach Obama’s 2008 totals). Romney does not understand that price inflation is merely, and always, a by-product of monetary inflation (expansion of the money base). He is supportive of automatic increases to the minimum wage. He agitates about foreign countries “stealing jobs” and threatens free trade by continuing or erecting protectionist policies. He is willing to wage war, even humanitarian and so-called “preventive” war, and will leave “all options on the table.” Indeed, he plans to increase military spending and his budgets will continue the current trend of outrageous expansion. He is a drug-warrior supportive of prohibition and passing legislation against peaceful people for their “own good.” He opposes online gambling. He presided over one of the first “cap and trade” legislations in the country. He supports the Patriot Act and the NDAA. He’d continue, and perhaps even intensify (if that’s even possible), the current administration’s harsh immigration and deportation policy. Like Obama, Romney supports REAL ID. He supports “enhanced interrogation techniques” and will continue “extraordinary rendition.” He wants to increase Guantanamo’s capacity and keep prisoners from legal counsel. Romney may be willing to make tiny tax cuts, but he does not question the legitimacy of the income tax. And, of course, we all know that Obamacare was modeled after Romneycare. He wants to increase subsidies to “power generation, fuel cells, nanotechnology, and materials science” industries.

Any of that sound familiar? It should, as it’s essentially Obama’s record.

I will grant that there are a handful of ways in which Romney is maybe marginally an improvement over Obama, but those tiny differences cannot trump the statist whoppers listed above.