Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Libertarian Party Candidate Attacks Executive Director of Ron Paul Institute as a Kook and Weirdo

This is just sad.

Austin Petersen, who is seeking to be the Libertarian Party presidential nominee, during a recent interview called Ron Paul Institute executive director Daniel McAdams a weirdo and a kook and went on to disparage in general terms the rest of the RPI staff. (Starts at 3:20)





The genesis for the attack is probably a July 25, 2014 article at the Ron Paul Institute  by Adam Dick, ‘Hard-Core Libertarian’ Austin Petersen's Advice for 'Soviet' Ron Paul.

The Dick article is well worth reading and explains exactly the difference between the Petersen view and the RPI view.

But also in that article, Dick points out that Petersen attempted to smear Ron Paul:
Yes, you read that right. In Petersen’s sloppy attempt to smear Paul by repeatedly saying Paul is like a “Soviet apparatchik,” a “Soviet apologist,” and a person “nostalgic for the Soviet Union,” Petersen lets slip the truth that the argument Paul is making is just about the opposite of the one Petersen is smearing Paul for allegedly presenting.
Now Petersen is taking the smears beyond Trumpian levels in his characterization of McAdams. Weirdo, kook? Daniel McAdams?

Daniel McAdams
McAdams was hand picked by Dr. Paul to run RPI. He served as the foreign affairs, civil liberties, and defense policy advisor to  Dr. Paul when he was in Congress from 2001 until Dr. Paul’s retirement at the end of 2012. From 1993-1999 he worked as a journalist based in Budapest, Hungary, and traveled through the former communist bloc as a human rights monitor and election observer.

I invite anyone to listen to the conversations between McAdams and Dr. Paul in their Liberty Report podcasts and try and reach a conclusion that these are not two knowledgeable men discussing the issues of the day, from a non-interventionist perspective and with incredible familiarity with the issues and with an incredible grounding in political and economic theory. There is nothing kooky or weird about them or their discussions.

The non-interventionist perspective includes a long tradition of great men, including, to name but a few, George Washington, John Quincy Adams and Robert Taft.

One would think that a candidate seeking the Libertarian Party nomination for president would spend more time attempting to present his position rather than name calling. One would think that it is clear libertarians should be the intellectual vanguard and not second-hand dealers in cheap smears.

And I apply the word libertarian with hesitation when identifying Petersen as one, even when he goes beyond smears. Read the analysis of Ryan Griggs of Petersen's comments on the Tom Woods Show and you will know why.

-RW

18 comments:

  1. Don't worry about Austin Petersen. He is a complete hack. He rejects the non-aggression principle and resort to name calling often. He has people calling him "the best candidate" for the LP on his OWN website. He wasn't even invited for the LP of Colorado debate because they didn't think he was a real libertarian.

    https://deindividualistinternational.wordpress.com/2016/03/10/the-cancer-of-non-principled-libertarianism/

    Austin Petersen is what happens when movements get more popular. It will attract frauds and saboteurs who are trying to make a name for themselves by hijacking a movement without understanding a damn thing about it. Name calling Ron Paul. What more evidence do you need? Obviously Austin Petersen likes America to return to the cold war era, that era of great libertarianism.

    It is quite sad, nevertheless, that many people who think they are libertarians support this imposter more than candidates like Darryl Perry or Steve Kerbel who are much more libertarian than this slick narcissist. But it just goes to show you that we have to expect libertarianism to be invaded by the Borg just like all other movements.


    https://deindividualistinternational.wordpress.com/2016/03/10/the-cancer-of-non-principled-libertarianism/

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  2. Austin Petersen seems to be someone who creates drama in order to get page views. Not going to bother giving that drama queen the pleasure of having a view of the video. Gets way too much attention and undeservedly so.

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  3. on Dave Smiths podcast https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/part-of-the-problem/id833706616?mt=2 realeased 4/8 he seems to have walked that back a lot.

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  4. My favorite things about him are that he attacks anarchism and the cultish NAP, which ironically is completely meaningless in anarchism. These are two important steps to getting libertarians back on the rails. However his personality is way too aggressive. He also supported Rand Paul in spite of all Rand's interventionist positions.

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    1. Just like that other cultish thing: gravity.

      Minarchists are like physicists who state you'll fall down if you jump from skyscrapers, but if you jump from houses you'll keep floating mid-air.

      https://mises.org/library/classical-liberalism-versus-anarchocapitalism

      Delete
  5. Also for a guy who wants to represent libertarians, he should probably stop insulting and smearing prominent libertarians. I personally think RPI is great. Austin leans way too conservative for me.

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    1. How do you know he leans too conservative? You don't support the NAP, so from your point of view what could possibly be wrong with conservatism? Certainly not their aggressive policies.

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  6. I think Peterson is pretty much an idiot who likes to hear himself talk and imagines himself a real "maverick" of a Libertarian.
    He's running for president, that's enough for me to not like him.
    The first time I heard of him was on the Tom Woods show, and even 3 of my sons who were listening with me were saying "who is this idiot"?
    On the other hand, my sons know Daniel McAdams is a rockstar for non-interventionism and Liberty in the Libertarian tradition. And they care, because they are of the age of boys who get sent to war to get mutilated.
    Peterson I am sure has frustrated dreams wishing he had the clout Daniel does in the Libertarian community.
    And I am confident Daniel doesn't lose a wink of sleep worrying about what Austin Peterson thinks about anything.
    Austin who?

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  7. Way to win, Austin!! LOL can't wait to see how far insulting anarchists (a.k.a. consistent libertarians) and Ron Paul gets you.

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  8. He tries to pull back and say he "really likes Dr. Paul" but then Dr. Paul is obviously too stupid to hire the right people to further the Libertarian cause? Maybe Peterson is butthurt Dr. Paul doesn't know or care who he is? Guarantee the "Judge" doesn't agree with Peterson, Napolitano is an Anarchist. I suppose Austin is so much smarter than he is too? What a self important POS.
    And who is Gavin Wax? Neat coffee cup!
    Never heard of him, sounded like a moron on the podcast, I could only stand so much of his sucking on Peterson's big toe.

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  9. HI! I'm Austin Peterson and I am more Libertarian than Murray Rothbard!!

    Ok, I will stop, this post just blew my top.

    POS Idiot.

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  10. This Austin Powers, I mean Peterson, flaunts himself as a bozo of the first order.

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  11. Did anyone listen to the original podcast by Austin? In no way does he "smear" Ron Paul for hating America. All he states is that other people will try to smear him based on the way he speaks, which is factually correct, considering the Associated Press article did exactly that.

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    Replies
    1. So he didn't say all the things he said according to this article
      http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2014/july/25/hard-core-libertarian-austin-petersens-advice-for-soviet-ron-paul/

      So the article was lying?

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    2. Yes, Petersen clearly makes a distinction between what Ron Paul sounds like and what Ron Paul is. Saying Petersen smeared Ron Paul as a Russian sympathizer is far different than saying Petersen said Ron Paul sounds like a Russian sympathizer to mainstream Americans.

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    3. I published a response to Adam Dick here: http://www.itheperson.com/feud-between-austin-petersen-and-ron-paul-institute/

      Delete
  12. What about the "Liberty Conservatives" podcast that RW refers to in this post? Peterson is smearing the whole RPI.
    As Matthew Murphy says above, way to win Austin.

    Moron.

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