Ron Pauls approach to the environment - what think ye?

[bryant69]

" The key to sound environmental policy is respect for private property rights. The strict enforcement of property rights corrects environmental wrongs while increasing the cost of polluting.

In a free market, no one is allowed to pollute his neighbor's land, air, or water. If your property is being damaged, you have every right to sue the polluter, and government should protect that right. After paying damages, the polluter's production and sale costs rise, making it unprofitable to continue doing business the same way. Currently, preemptive regulations and pay-to-pollute schemes favor those wealthy enough to perform the regulatory tap dance, while those who own the polluted land rarely receive a quick or just resolution to their problems." --> http://www.ronpaul2008.com/issues/environment/

What do you think? To me it sounds better than it is (largely because I don't know how it deals with national or global environmental threats.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Tesha]

1. Typical Libertarian bullshit. As if we didn't all share water, air, etc. (NT)

[Scout]

2. doesn't matter what his approach to the environment is...

he's an anti-choice whackadoodle!

[bryant69]

6. That's a very narrow way of looking at it

I would never vote for Ron Paul or encourage anybody else to, but it is entirely possible that down the road a true libertarian pops up without Ron Pauls selective control of woman's body. So it's worth knowing what you would think if the "pro-choice Ron Paul" appeared.

Since i think libertarianism is a slightly more benign form of conservativism I would still be opposed to it, but others may differ.

Bryant

[skipos]

3. Don forget...

TO VOTE FOR RON PAUL!!!

[Deep13]

4. Great idea if it's in addition to Federal regulation.

Under his plan, state courts become the regulatory agencies.

[Ohio Joe]

5. I think he is a POS repug and...

I don't give a crap about anything he thinks.

[Warpy]

7. You're downstream from a Dow plant

and the water you divert to irrigate the crops you sell to keep yourself alive is being polluted to the point your crops are poisoned and won't sell. Now your well is gone and you and your family are sick.

Let's see, it's going to be a sick person going up against a phalanx of the highest paid, most rabid lawyers a corporation can buy.

That's what's wrong with it.

Libertarianism is BULLSHIT. Don't fall for it.

[calmblueocean]

15. Exactly. Why do people fall for this?

I think because the real world is complex and difficult, and libertarianland is comforting and simple. I can see where young people, especially high school and college students, can fall for it before they've had a chance to live on their own, but how can grown adults actually believe this crap? How can you run for office on it and earn $6 million in a day? That boggles the mind.

[Jim__]

8. Feel free to sue GM.

But, expect to be in court for years and years, and be up against a battery of top lawyers. Yeah, you might win, but if you lose, what will the cost be?

[onehandle]

9. Mine! Mine! Mine!

All "Libertarian thinking" in a nutshell.

And this guy is heavy on the right-wing end of their insanity.

[Occam Bandage]

10. LMAO. Good luck suing a corporation for defiling a national forest or the atmosphere.

You wouldn't have standing. Nobody would.

[Ravy]

11. Sue everyone who owns a car???? No thanks. nt

[glowing]

12. It doesn't work...

Say you own a peice of land next to a stream uphill from your neighbors.. you want a swimming pool, so you damn the water.. Well now your neighbors downstream are effected and they can't grow their food, let alone wash their bodies.. So, they go and sue you for the water.. but its on your land...

The libertarian view is all about self. And you can't do that... the model didn't work when I was 12 and my teacher set up the "town" and we were all land owners... It was fun just doing what we did to get our land, and then we had to own it and protect it... We soon learned why we have a govt structure the way we do.. She actually took water from people, and had fires condemn our homes... things that made us realize.. that we would need each other and to provide services for one another.

[Marrah_G]

13. Major problem with that

Okay think about this:

Large company vs Middle class homeowner. Who do you think will win that court battle?

[thereismore]

14. It's like this: Pollute first, get sued later maybe, make the plaintiff prove you did it while you

continue doing it, then get off on a technicality with a good lawyer or settle for nickels and dimes while you made billions of profit.

It's bullshit.

[Occam Bandage]

18. Plus, if you pollute the right way, you can't possibly be sued.

Destroy a national forest? Dump waste into the Pacific? Pump CO2 into the atmosphere? Nobody can sue you, because nobody would have standing.

[Nite Owl]

16. It assumes that anyone can

afford to pay the lawyers to sue. Big corporations can afford that, the people can't.

[porphyrian]

17. It would just make the rich buy up as much as possible...

...and pollute it to their hearts' content. Plus, law suits are after the fact - how do you take back a child's cancer?

[icnorth]

19. Some more libretarian, ideological, idealistic pap

Sounds great if you live in the fantasy world bubble of Ron Paul. In the real world it ain't going to happen because first of all you have to believe little old John Q. Public is going to fight this battle on a level playing field. John Q. can pursue litigation in court on an equal footing against Haliburton, or Exxon, or...??? Yeah sure! Bullshit!

[Ganja Ninja]

20. Sue! Sue! Sue! Yeah good luck with that.

We can do that already and how often does the little guy win out over the big corporations?

[RethugAssKicker]

21. Trickle down phiosophy !!!...... NO government regulations !!

So... a corp can pollute, and the private citizen can sue... The Courts back you up ...fining the corporations a fortune, thereby stopping said corporation from that polluing practice.... and once this happens enough the corporations will learn their lessons and a good environment will naturally result from this !!!

TOTAL BULLSHIT !!!!

[Evoman]

22. I have a better environmental policy......sacrifice Ron Paul to the gods, and hope they clean up

this mess.

It might work, or it might not...who knows.

[Zorra]

23. Wow. How utterly naive. The scenario he describes is the inevitable

result of the free market - the wealthy monopolize, take control of the justice system, and use the justice system to their advantage, leaving their powerless victims with no legal recourse.

This is how the "free market" works in the real world.

Paul's obvious fundamental lack of understanding of human nature and the basic consequences of "free market" economics in the real world means that he is far too shallow to lead our country.

After 8 years of deliberate mismanagement, neglect, and decline during the Bu*h administration, our nation will collapse if Paul somehow manages to get elected to the presidency.

[book_worm]

24. Why should I care about Ron Paul's environmental policy?

Why all the Ron Paul posts on DU?

[bryant69]

25. in my case it's to see how much libertarian thinking there is at DU

Not much, it appears.

Bryant