The foreigners are comin' to git us! ("Libertarian" version)

Far-right Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul

I see I'm not the only one writing this weekend about "libertarian" kookiness. Steve Benen at TPM tells us about one instance in which Ron Paul puts his nuttiness in print 10/06/07. It seems that Congressman Paul sent out a fundraising letter, presented in longhand script (?!), that evidently isn't targeted at the save-the-whales, stop-global-warming crowd. His pitch included the following:

I don't need to tell you that our American way of life is under attack. We see it all around us -- every day -- and it is up to us to save it.

The world's elites are busy forming a North American Union. If they are successful, as they were in forming the European Union, the good 'ol USA will only be a memory. We can't let that happen.

The UN also wants to confiscate our firearms and impose a global tax. The UN elites want to control the world's oceans with the Law of the Sea Treaty. And they want to use our military to police the world. (my emphasis)

As Dave Neiwert has helpfully explained for us, the "North American Union" is the latest way that the nativist right thinks the Men In Black Helicopters as conniving against good all-American white folks. (Glenn Beck and the black helicopters 07/01/07; The return of the 'New World Order' 07/27/07; The swiftboating of American journalism 09/08/07;

Benen observes:

Listening to the [Republican Presidential] debates, Paul often comes across as the most sensible guy on the stage, especially when it comes to Iraq and the Patriot Act. And then we're reminded, in print, that when it comes to a paranoid vision of the world, Paul really is out there on the political periphery.

Tags: authoritarianism, dave neiwert, republican party, ron paul, steve benen