Ron Paul

Once again Texas Congressional Representative Dr. Ron Paul is running for president, once again the mainstream media infers that he’s a fringe candidate, and once again the “Ron Paul Revolution” is putting on a pretty impressive showing for being a grass roots operation. Oh Yeah… once again the establishment GOP is trying very hard to ignore him.

One internet pundit, in describing the GOP candidates explains it this way, “Here is the choice, those with integrity… -- a theocrat who wishes to impose his historical religious fantasy on the States, and… -- a cranky old dude who has some good ideas, but has a loose connection with reality. Then there are those with no integrity… -- a stuffed shirt magic underwear bozo who thinks a corporate kleptocracy is good for all, and -- a time proven personal, and professional, liar with massive ethics violations who says "trust me." Well, personally I rather think these descriptions might be just a little bit on the extreme side, but that’s what the man said…

At any rate, considering the Democratic Party’s presidential offering, I have absolutely no choice but to vote for one of the Republicans in the race, and I’m personally not real impressed with the choices the GOP has made available. What I see are three slick professional politicians, and one “cranky old dude who has some good ideas”. Humm… I’m somewhat of a cranky old dude myself, and I like to think I’ve got some good ideas as well (although a lot of people will argue that point), so…

I have a Ron Paul for President campaign brochure in front of me that says he wants to dump the Federal Reserve, along with phasing out the IRS and Income tax. Personally I think that’s one of the better ideas to come along in many a year. He wants to do away with the FED, for without the Fed creating fiat “money” out of wistful thinking and hot air, who knows, maybe we can get federal spending under control, and reduce the national debt as well! (Gee… with that the banks that are “to big to fail” might have to break-up into a lot of little banks, and the high dollar folks in the financial industry might have to go out and find an honest job for a change!) Nobody has ever gotten the overly complex IRS tax code straightened out, so, if we just dump the whole thing, the IRS can no longer be making up the rules as they go about fleecing us. He wants to balance the budget, abolish corporate subsidies, and return spending to 2006 levels, all quite admirable ideas. Another campaign promise he makes that I particularly like is to repeal the Patriot Act, and to return power to the states. The Patriot Act did after all, effectively dump our Constitution in the waste basket, eliminate the rule of law, and make our unelected federal bureaucracy the supreme power in the land. In the past Rep. Paul also voted to put a lid on “gun control” and to limit the power of the executive branch… (the presidency), which means strict limits on the war powers act and the infamous “executive orders”. But dumping the IRS has one potential drawback. Without all those tax dollars coming in every year, what are congressmen going to spend to buy their loyal following and get reelected? Many of his ideas aren’t going to set well with the really big businessmen in this country either, which probably means a lot of irate phone calls to their tame congressmen, which would make the Senator from Boeing, or the Representative from General Mills quite unhappy with the oval office. Returning power to the states obviously reduces the power of the federal bureaucracy, which also won’t set well in Sodom-on-the-Potomac. And of course Congressional business as usual again threatens to be the brick wall facing any meaningful reform, so how does he plan to get all these ideas past the great hot air generator on the hill? I dunno, but I’ll certainly wish him well!

The other problem facing Rep. Paul is the Democratic Party. You know who they are of course, those wonderful folks who voted for Mr. Obama because while we live in the greatest, most wonderful country in the world, they want to "CHANGE" all that. They also believe that the government would do a better job of spending the money I earn than I can. Well, they also think illegal aliens have a right to free health care, education, and Social Security benefits, while business should not be allowed to make profits for themselves. Business only needs to break even and give the rest of the profits to the government for redistribution… as the Democrats see fit…

Rep. Paul would also have the problem of liberal left wing judges who rewrite the Constitution every few days to suit some nut who would never get his agenda past the voters. Humm… In defending their usurpation of federal power, would the Supreme Court declare Mr. Paul’s candidacy “invalid” and kick him out of the running? But then the courts didn’t seem to have much of a problem with the highly questionable Mr. Obama…

At any rate it’s all pretty much a moot point despite Mr. Paul’s quite creditable showing in the primaries. It seems that his Libertarian background is the dragging anchor that will keep him out of office. So… I guess we’re stuck with making our choice from among three slick mainstream politicians. Which leaves me wondering, where-oh-where is Ronnie Regan when we really need him!?