So who's Ron Paul?
I was watching a TiVo'd Real Time with Bill Maher last night and remained suprised the entire show. I'd never before seen PJ O'Rourke on television (only knew of him thru radio or print) and I was expecting the Jennifer Lopez Ben Affleck to show up as I didn't know there was any other version of him. He can apparently string three words together and seems to know at least more than Bush. Not a high threshold, but again, suprising. Then a Texas Republican was supposed to round out the show. I always expect Alfred E. Neuman or Yosemite Sam with that kind of set up. Then Ron Paul walked on stage. He was well spoken, apparently has a genuine sense of humor, seemingly reads actual books, and I don't believe he invoked God even once. And lest I offend, I don't personally mind when God is invoked IF somethng of political and intellectual substance has come before the invoking. I'm sorry to say the conversations usually begin and end with God alone and almost always smack of stupidity AND sanctimony. So what am I missing? Because if I'm voting based soley on what has been said publicly (that I've heard), I'll be gobsmacked, but I think I might currently be a Texas Republican. I don't know about all of you, but right now Smaller Gub'mnt and non-interventionist policies seem like a REALLY good idea. And yeah...I know, I know... Fool me once... I believe shrub ran on the same things, but I think Paul actually knows what the words mean. Even when they're strung together like that.
posted by Edith @ 7:58 PM
1 Comments:
At 11:19 AM,
cvo said…
After I saw Ron Paul bitch-slap Rudy Giuliani in the Republican debate, I started doing some research to find out more about him as well.
He's basically a Libertarian who decided to run for president as a Republican, so his voice could be heard during the early stages of the GOP debates.
He represents a district southwest of Houston that basically covers Victoria, Freeport and I think, Sugarland.
He's the only "Republican" who wants to end U.S. involvement in Iraq and withdraw the U.S. Navy from the waters off the Iranian coast. He wants America to pull out of the United Nations, NATO, the International Criminal Court, and most international trade agreements. He wants to abolish FEMA, end the federal war on drugs, get rid of the Department of Homeland Security, send the U.S. military to guard the Mexican border, stop federal prosecutions of obscenity, eliminate the IRS, end most foreign aid, overturn the Patriot Act, phase out Social Security, revoke public services for illegal immigrants, repeal No Child Left Behind, and reestablish gold and silver as legal tender.
Those are all very Libertarian stances, although some including Paul would suggest that they were also Republican ideals before the Religious Right became such a huge player in the party.
Paul has the freedom to be frank and speak the truth because he knows he has no chance of winning the Republican nomination. He might use the publicity from those appearances to launch an Independent campaign, but I can't see it going any further than that.
I see Paul as a Republican version of Dennis Kucinich. Kucinich is the only Democrat willing to say that health care should be a not-for-profit system like France or Canada. But even Kucinich can't use the word "socialist" medicine because of the evil connatations of that word (this speaks to the whole twisting of words thing that I mentioned in my previous blog entry, "It's not WHAT you say, it's HOW you say it".
It seems in every primary for the last 12 years or so, there is at least one candidate (Perot, Stockdale, Tsongas) who is willing to speak openly and candidly not only about our society's ills but also about real change to fix them. Unfortunately, it usually involves raising taxes or something else that involves personal sacrifice, and no voter wants to hear that. They want to hear something like what President Bush said after 9/11 - "keep shopping because if you don't keep buying things, that means the terrorists have won" - instead of what he should have said - "we are entering a difficult struggle in which every American will be asked to make a sacrifice" (think buying war bonds during World War Two).
We all know how Perot, Tsongas and others of their ilk have ended up on Election Day. That shouldn't stop you from voting for Paul or Kucinich depending with which party you are registered. Just don't expect them to be taking the oath in January of 2009.
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