It's funny, those that are well to the left, Med, DP, are going on and on about how radical and extremist Ron Paul is. I just don't see it. To me, extremist are those other flakes on the left like Acorn that got us into this mess by forcing banks to issue subprime mortgages with the help of government.
At any rate. Ron Paul's ideas were not radical, though one would certainly say that they were reformist, and would reduce government in size and scope to something less than it was in the 1930s.
The abolishment of Social Security (after floating the Debt necessary to pay off its obligations) would be a good thing for this country. In just that taxes could be lowered at least 7.5% (the employer's portion could be used to focus on paying off the national debt) or the complete 15% which would allow for a lot more spending in the economy.
But at any rate, I don't see what's so 'extremist' about Ron Paul's views. Seems to me that they are more a matter of common sense.
1. Limit Federal Powers, returning more authority to the States
2. Balance the Budget and work on paying off the debt.
3. Remove the ability to Print money from the government's hands by requiring that it use Gold and Silver as currency.
4. All of the above results in drastically lowered taxes, and returns authority over to the states. If the states want to continue to be socialist that their business, or if they want to become more capitalist that's their business as well. Instead of 1 gestalt, which is subject to being completely fucked up by the morons on the left, you have 50 entities united that are independent of each other, and thus can decide on their own what social system is best for their citizens. More to the point, the state(s) that choose the best system will become wealthier than the states that choose incorrectly. Ideally, this would provide a way for people to see which system works the best, and thus serve to end all debate.
Though I can just imagine how quickly the more socialist states would be swamped by people wanting free hand outs proving that when you subsidize something (stupidity, laziness) all you get is more of it.