The Atlantic's Matthew Yglesias continues a series of smears against Ron Paul, this time pointing out that "libertarian ideology and white supremacist ideology just so happen[] to overlap," since both Ron Paul and white supremacists don't think the federal government should interfere with the right to associate with whomever you choose on your own private property.
This is, of course, a ridiculous attempt to smear by association. Everyone who believes in the right to free speech for white supremacists -- presumably including Mr. Yglesias -- has "overlap" in his beliefs with white supremacists. Likewise, everyone who doesn't believe a world government should impose the Civil Rights Act on the entire world -- presumably including most Americans -- has "overlap" in his beliefs with white supremacists. And we might point out that inasmuch as Mr. Yglesias and his ilk favor social security and various other big-government programs, their views overlap with those of National Socialists.
Yglesias's premise is wrong in any event: Ron Paul's beliefs about private property presumably don't even overlap with those of most white-supremacist types, because many such people no doubt favor violating private property rights by supporting miscegenation laws, sodomy laws, etc., and likely would support overtly racist federal-government policies if a major-party candidate offered them.
How unsurprising: another disingenuous mischaracterization of Ron Paul's beliefs from someone at The Atlantic. Andrew Sullivan deserves better company.
