I've been reading Schama's "Citizens" on the French Revolution and the lead-up to it, and I have found it quite interesting to compare parallels between Louis XVI's France and contemporary U.S.A. It's actually a bit scary that the language being used is so similar in both cases, given what happened after 1791.

For instance, my initial comparison between Ron Paul and free market reformer Turgot is, I think, reasonably fair doesn't reflect badly on Paul. Although Turgot ended up losing his job after rushing through his reform program and some of his reforms were reversed in the short term, others were retained or re-instated in a slightly altered form a few years later.

So anyway, which of Paul's policies were you referring to as having potential to improve the U.S.? You're right that I haven't studied it in depth, and my background is not political science or media studies, but I have read the various related discussions on the sift and in the local and U.K. media.

Says the guy who doesn't know what a market is.

But I guess those founding fathers and framers of the Bill of Rights were just a bunch lunkheads.

Ironic quote of the day:
"As one of Jefferson’s favorite books, Gibbon’s ‘Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,’ so luminously argued, there is no surer sign of a country’s cultural and political decay than obtuse blindness to its unmistakable beginnings." - Simon Schama

I'll always love the 'Simon Schama has a freaky 2001 experience' bit at the beginning of this episode.

"Rembrandt's Claudius Civilus tells us that the very greatest painting isn’t bound by time or taste, a reminder that if ever we should need it that eloquence doesn’t always come with a pretty face". FARK! Simon Schama and his wisdom never fails to leave me sitting here dumbfounded..