The last thing we need is more anti-science politicians, especially ones who favor massive increases in government power over our personal lives (Paul is against Federal government--he's fine with intrusive government if it is state government).

Given that we have 50 states and that their politicians are a lot closer to the people and that the Federal government would still be enforce freedom of mobility between states, I'd say that would be a huge improvement.

Ron Paul is by no means perfect but Sweet Zombie Jesus, he is still 100 times better then the wast majority of politicians.

The smaller the size of a group, the greater the tendency for it to oppress the freedom of its members.

That may be true for small groups like clubs, gangs, and tribes, but I don't think you can generalize that to governments.

Or in other words, the more actively engaged the electorate is, the stronger the "public" lobby is vs. other private lobbies.

And the smaller and more local a government is, the more engaged the electorate is. Prime example, the smaller states have more independent senators, governors, etc. By independent I mean literally (I) and not (R) or (D), not just metaphorically independent.

What we need is less politics on HN.