The Ron Paul Revolution
Nov 17, 2007 Political
I have to start off by saying that I like Ron Paul. I don’t know that I like him enough to vote for him for president yet but I like most of his positions. There is a Ron Paul Revolution that appears to be coming from the youth in America, those of college age who are most likely fed up with politics as usual in this country. The problem is, will there be enough of them to help him win? If the history of voting shows anything, it might not be an issue because the youth in America tend NOT to vote. That is why the mainstream politicians court the vote of the seasoned among us. The elderly vote in droves compared to the young however, Paul’s age might help him with the elderly vote. One other thing; is Paul the candidate that can beat any Democrat on the ticket?
Paul has great ideas about retuning this country to following the Constitution. His Congressional nickname is Dr. No because he votes no on any item that does not conform to the limits of the Constitution. As far as any of the candidates are concerned, his voting record is the only one that shows conformity to the Constitution.
Paul is for placing us back on the gold standard and for abolishing the IRS and he would repeal the income tax, all are not bad ideas. Placing us on the gold standard would not allow us just print money to handle inflation. Our country did well under the gold standard and it is time our money was backed by something of value. The backing of the words of politicians is not very strong. The tax system in this country is a sham and it allows government to take our money and redistribute it anywhere they so desire. Congress has shown that it does not know how to handle money and that it is fiscally irresponsible. The XVI Amendment, passed in 1913, is reported to have never been ratified by the required 3/4 of the states because Ohio was not “a state” due to an administrative error. Regardless of the arguments, the tax code has been in effect for nearly 100 years and the only way to do it right is to repeal it and start over.
The IRS is nothing more than the enforcement arm of the extortion racket the government runs. In the days of the mob, people were forced to join protection rackets. If they refused to pay some big guy named Bruno showed up and beat the hell out of them or their business mysteriously burned to the ground. The government extorts money from us and we cannot limit them when they do it. If they passed a law requiring everyone to pay 80% of income in taxes we could not stop it. If we refused to pay, the IRS (their Bruno) would come looking for us and make life miserable. Paul is on to something when he says that we should get rid of this stuff. I like his Constitutional approach. He is not like by the status quo because he says the things DC insiders do not like.
One thing that Ron Paul is adamant about is getting out of the UN. I agree 100% with him on that and believe that we should dissolve all treaties with regard to the UN and we should kick them out of our country. They are worthless and oppose us at every turn.
There are negatives though. Paul is in his 70s and that is a liability though he seems to be in good shape and is handling the rigor of a campaign well. It is still a concern though being young is not necessarily a guarantee one will not die while in office (JFK), it just means that they have a better chance.
There are also the fringe groups that support Paul. The Skinheads is probably the major one but I am sure there are others. I do not think for one minute that Ron Paul courts these people or that he agrees with their message but it is disconcerting that these kinds of folks would flock to his message. Regardless of how Paul feels, perception is reality to many people and many will perceive that he has their philosophies.
The other thing to think about is can Ron Paul beat any of the Democrats that are running? He certainly can garner votes from young people fed up with the system and he can garner votes from moderate conservatives who want the country run in accordance with the Constitution but there are a lot of liberals who are going to vote and they do not like this idea of limited government or repealing the income tax. Liberals are for big government and lots of tax money to spend on worthless programs. Since universal health care is not part of the Constitution, they will not like Paul’s positions because he would deny those things liberals believe to be entitlements.
While I agree with Paul on domestic issues, I am not in agreement with his foreign policy ideas. Regardless of what one believes about the war in Iraq, a complete withdrawal would result in disaster in Iraq as well as here at home. If we are perceived as weak then the radical Muslims will increase their attacks upon us. Clinton’s decisions not to attack them after they continually attacked us led to 9/11. Despite the rewritten history and the Berger stolen documents, it is undeniable that this is what happened. Bin Laden told us that he attacked us because of the weakness displayed by Clinton. If Ron Paul displays a similar weakness then we will be hit again.
If Ron Paul is unwilling to use our military then he should not be President. If, on the other hand, he has some idea as to how to use them to keep us from being attacked then I can listen to what he has to say. I realize that Paul believes we attacked illegally and that the money is being wasted and I know liberals would love to spend it on street corner abortion clinics or other such things. With regard to Paul, the money is worthless if we are attacked here at home and with regard to liberals, they will not get the money if Paul is President. However, if Paul agrees to withdraw all of the financial support we provide around the world and bring our troops home from all nations and put them on bases guarding our country from enemies (and ILLEGALS) then we might be on to something. This means ALL support but it also means that we would be abandoning our allies like Israel, unless Paul has some idea about a treaty with them to help protect them from the Muslim world. I doubt that would happen because Paul seems convinced that since we were able to stare down a Soviet Union with nukes that an Iran with nukes would pose little threat and should be of no concern. I am not sure that he understands that Ahmadinejad is not plating with a full deck and would launch on Israel. In that case I would have to throw back the Ron Paul supporter’s question; WWRPD?
I have not decided on a candidate as of yet. I am watching and listening to see who will do the best job for this country and who can beat the Democratic candidate. I will continue to watch Paul with the rest of them (I never discounted him like the media did) and will decide as we get closer to the election.
One thing is for sure, thoughtful comments and dialog will be beneficial to the process but Ron Paul spammers calling names does little to help the process.
Someone from the Revolution enlighten me and my readers.
Tags: conformity, Congress, constitution, Democrats, gold standard, illegals, income tax, Military, President, ron paul, sham, war