Ron Paul No Racist

FreeMarketNews.com
Monday November 19, 2007

Will the presidential campaign of Ron Paul (R-Tex) return what may be a smidgen of money supposedly donated by so-called Ayrian or “White Supremacist" groups? This question has been asked more insistently as Ron Paul becomes a more successful and powerful candidate. But is it fair?

To begin with, while it seems true that some in the ‘White Supremacist” community are attracted to Ron Paul’s small government campaign, the support for Ron Paul by such groups is surprising, if not suspicious – given his background and belief structure. Also, the donations, tiny as they probably are, are difficult to sort through given the amount of donations that Ron Paul receives every day. The campaign is reportedly about to cross over 100,000 donations. Who exactly will sort through them and make a decision as to which ones are to be returned and why? (If Ron Paul does return even one donation, the resultant precedent would likely only "raise the bar" and give disengenuous opponents even more ammunition.)

Second, Ron Paul’s voluminous writings are freely available to anyone who wishes to look. There is not a scintilla of evidence in any of his personal writings that he has at any time placed the color of someone’s skin over talent, drive and ambition.

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Finally, Ron Paul’s personal and professional associations are evidently and obviously free of the taint of racism of any sort. There are African Americans working in his campaign; the volunteer “leading the charge” for Ron Paul in Kentucky is said to be Nigerian. Perhaps Ron Paul’s closest intellectual soulmate was the Jewish, free-market economist Murray Rothbard.

Given the above, it is likely reasonable to wonder whether those who continue to insist that Ron Paul sort through 100,000 donations in order to prove a “politically correct purity” are being disingenuous. By bringing up the issue and harping on it, they plant an illegitimate perception in the reader that such questions have merit.

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