Ron Paul and America - Part V

Ron Paul came in second in the Iowa straw poll, 200 votes behind Michele Bachmann and almost twice as many votes as the third place candidate, Tim Pawlenty. The pundit coverage afterwards dismissed Paul, and most didn't even mention his name. A couple of pundits said Paul always does good in the straw polls, although last year he came in 5th in Iowa's straw poll. Paul was in a virtual tie with Bachmann despite not spending much money in Iowa unlike Bachmann who was born in Iowa and spent a lot of money getting votes out, including giving out 6000 tickets to the event.

The point is that the media pretend Paul doesn't exist no matter how he good he does among grass roots supporters. Paul's message is resonating with more and more Americans as time goes on. One Iowan reporter, before the results were announced, said that she heard voters saying they would switch their votes to Santorum because of Paul's foreign policy position. Santorum hardly registered.

I will end this series by restating that Ron Paul is hitting a nerve among Americans who are tired of government intervention in foreign countries and in our economy. The media will make Paul look like an isolationist crank who would put America at risk of terrorist attack, but many Americans see through the constant fear mongering which supports the military/industrial complex. Paul realizes we need a first-class defense, but we have the technological proficiency to protect our country without nation-building and enriching defense contractors. The slogs in Afghanistan and Iraq speak for themselves, and our folly in Libya is hidden by the media because it's such a wrong-headed move. Once Americans can get over feeling as if they're betraying the military by demanding exits from the mideast, you'll see the underlying desire to bring our troops home and to close our military bases in rich countries which should be defending themselves.

Paul is on the right track with his foreign policy position, and he's the only candidate with enough courage to tell the truth -- the rest are either avoiding the issue or pandering to what they think is a hawkish American Right. The time has come for honesty and courage -- we've seen enough political spinning and propaganda. Perhaps Paul will be marginalized once again, but he's the only candidate with serious ideas and integrity in the race. America needs to do something radically positive for our country -- they need to elect Ron Paul.

Ron Paul and America - Part IV

Today we'll hear all about Rick Perry and his challenge to Romney -- they both present the right image. It's important in politics that the optics are right -- all the pundits will tell you this. Mitt Romney, they say, is from central casting -- he looks the part of president. Obama put forth an image in 2008 that fooled the entire world -- yes, image is very important if you want to fool people. Otherwise, ideas and content are important, if you want to make real changes that have a positive effect.

Ron Paul is a throwback to presidents who didn't look like movie stars, before optics were so important. This is one reason there's a dearth of good candidates to choose from in elections. You can get the optics right, but once the content comes out, you realize that the candidate is a cardboard cut-out with a recording attached to it. It's very hard to find someone who has all the right qualities and has made it through the political jungle to the point of being a viable candidate. What has been sacrificed is content, ideas, wisdom, integrity. It's especially unusal on the Republican side for a good candidate to rise to the top. Reagan was an anamoly, and Republicans have been trying to find the same magic since. Paul is not a Reagan, but the ideas, content and integrity are close, and in most important ways more true to limited government principles. However, Republicans are searching for someone comparable to Obama in image. That person might exist, but most people who would be viable on the right of politics are not that big on making a career out of politics. There are probably entrpreneurs and CEOs across the country who would make good presidents, but they're a little busy right now protecting what they've built. 

Dr. Paul didn't have to go into politics, but we're lucky that every so often someone successful in the private sector enters the political realm to help protect us from the statist march to central control. Our government system, for the most part, attracts the worst sort of political animal, and our cult of personality rewards those like Obama who don't understand the nation's needs, but fully understand how to get elected. This is not an attack on Obama the individual -- he's a symptom of more fundamental problems. The Obama illusion created in 2008 is the fault of our system and the public's gullibility when it comes to image. Most of the world fell for the image, then our allies began rolling their eyes, and our enemies dismissed him with a smirk. The problem is not Obama, but the exalted position of president and the trained hopes people have in presidential saviors. Obama was set up from the beginning, and the sad part is that Obama appears to have believed his own hype.

Dr. Paul possesses the humilty needed for a president and an understanding of limitations vital to leading the government of a nation such as the USA. The private sector in America must be freed from statist shackles, and no one in Washington knows this better that Ron Paul. It's not about image -- it's about ideas and principles.

More later.

Ron Paul and America - Part III

It's a little depressing to watch the Right, one by one, reject Ron Paul. Future generations will read the history of American intervention in foreign countries, especially the mideast, and statist manipulation of our economy, and wonder how we could make the same mistakes over and over. Ron Paul will be seen, if he's not wiped out of history by present efforts to make him invisible, as a visionary. By then we'll have already gone through the big crash, and our form of statism will appear as ancient and rigidly unworkable as 20th century USSR communism appears to young people today.

Paul has sounded the warning about the Fed for years, yet people are only beginning to pay attention. The mystery surrounding the Fed has to be removed if our economy is to ever recover. Daily you hear the Left rant about corporations and the wealth divide in America, yet hardly any of them see a free market which eliminates the Fed as the solution to corporate/government collusion. From the very beginning when Hamilton had his way and we created a merchant-State rather than a truly free market, government and Big Business have rigged the game -- now it has reached proportions which can be described as criminal. I have nothing against Big Business, of course -- jobs are created and wealth is created through large enterprises as well as small and medium size businesses, but the advantages bestowed on connected corporations through regulations and the byzantine tax code are anathema to a free market and fair competition. Paul has been sounding this alarm, also, and yet not even the Right fully accepts his warnings. But, it's the Left who ought to realize that the great difference between the protected rich and the poor can be ameliorated if all unfair advantages are removed and a free market is established. All the Left can do, however, is allude to how kooky they think Paul is and how unrealistic his ideas are in a modern economy.

Ron Paul and America - Part II

The Republican candidates, Gingrich, Romney, Santorum, Pawlenty, Huntsman, etc., all of them except for Ron Paul, have not put forth a consistent limited government message. They appear concerned that the change in the public mood regarding government actions calls for a limited government posture, but none have a record of being champions for a truly limited government and a true free market. If the wind changes and it appears the public's demanding a jobs program and more economic intervention by the government, each one of them will develope a statist plan to intervene and "create jobs".

Ron Paul is consistent, even when he appears inconsistent, as with abortion. Paul believes in the right to life which calls for government to perform one of its legitimate duties which is protect the right to life. I happen to disagree with Paul on this issue because of the special biological situation of the fetus being in the woman's body, but I respect Paul's consistency. Abortion in America is a settled issue, and this part of Paul's philosophy will have nothing to do with his ability to govern from a limited government perspective.

Perhaps from the beginning of America the country has been split between limited government and a statist, central approach, but the inspirational idea of America has been limited government and a free market, and to the extent America achieved this, the world has witnessed the greatest economic growth and advancement in prosperity ever known. Even though government interference in the economy has created an advantage for powerful, rent-seeking companies, the idea of innovation and creativity and relative economic freedom has also produced true achievement and a statdard of living for the majority that decades back would seem like luxury.

What's missing in today's statist-shackled and crony-infested market is the diversity of small enterprises and individual effort to find innovative niches. Regulations have made it difficult for the individual to creatively find his or her way to make a living and really enjoy the effort to make the living. Ron Paul talks about the folly of government intervention in the economy, yet pols like Mitt Romney posture as King CEO of America, and many talk about America competing with China as if each are giant corporations competing for sales of the most global widgets. The idea of better State Capitalism is not what America needs, and that's why America needs to listen to the ideas Paul is espousing.

Ron Paul and America -- part I

The Republican Party is frightened by Ron Paul. Even Glenn Beck, who usually has a fairly good understanding of Paul's limited government philosophy, has now joined the chorus relegating Paul to the margins. Ron Paul upholds non-interventionism in foreign affairs, and this is too much for those Republicans or conservatives who preach "small" government out of one side of their mouths while proposing government intervention out of the other. Paul says we should end the sanctions on Iran and trade with them economically, just as we should trade with Cuba. This enrages conservatives and hawks like Rick Santorum who believe we should do something about Iran and Iran's nuclear program. What should we do? What should we do with North Korea and Paksitan? The only way to stop them is to attack the countries and take them over, then make the countries conform to our wishes. Is this what they want? Sanctions and tough talk won't deter Iran from building a nuclear weapon. And if Iran is stopped, who's next? Where does it stop? Do we have to control half the world to feel secure?

So what do the hawks want to do? Our government has caused problems over an over by interfering in the business of others countries. Is Iran a threat to our national security? If Iran attempted to bomb America, we'd destroy the entire country. It's dangerous for America to start making war-like moves toward Iran, escalating a situation in which there's war between our countries. Even if we attacked Iran and destroyed it's nuclear program, what then? We'd have to fight the whole mideast region, and there aren't enough volunteer soldiers to get involved a a great war in the mideast. The draft would have to be resurrected, then half our young men and women would be called into combat duty -- it would be a disaster.

By not interfering, and by trading with Iran, we send a message to the Iranian people that we aren't concerned with Iran's government -- it can do what it wants to do -- but if it ever attacks us, we'll have to respond with great, destructive force. The Iranian government is tyrannical, but the people of Iran have to deal with this situation -- they'll have to make the sacrifices, if they want a different government. Our involvement can only lead to many deaths and no resolution -- a long deadly slog in a no-win situation. Our history of involvement in the mideast has resulted in tragedy and failure, over and over. Paul also wants us to disconnect our government from Israel, and we should. We should be a friendly trading partners with Israel, and that's all. America can no longer play the role of Global Cop. It's tearing our country down, and it's not helping anyone. Israel can take care of its own security, and Israel's government can make its own decisions.

Ron Paul truly believes in limited government. Glenn Beck said Paul looked frail in the debates. His body might be frail, because Paul has put a lot of energy into being a true limited government patriot, but his mind and ideas are still strong. America is sort of like Ron Paul at this point in time. The idea of America is still alive with some Americans --liberty, limited government, free maket -- but like Paul, too many people ignore the ideas -- they say the ideas can't work in modern America -- they say the ideas are extreme. The media has ignored and marginalized Paul, just like the political class has ignored and marginalized the idea of America. Paul's probably tired. America is tired -- downgraded -- burdened with debt -- shackled by statism -- yes, America is tired, but the idea still lives, and as long as there are pols like Ron Paul, there's a glimmer of hope.