As I see it, the Republic field of candidates is incredibly weak. Palin, Romney, Jindal, Gingrich, Huckabee probably have no chance of winning. They won’t do ANY good in office. I sense there is a growing backlash against both Republicans and Democrats in this country. For those who are disappointed with Obama, yet don’t want to hand the country back over to the establishment Republicans given the recent disastrous Bush Administration, the field of possibilities is small. In fact I think this characterizes most of the country. People want a candidate whose hands are clean of the recent disastrous overseas wars (Iraq and Afghanistan), the economic meltdown, and somebody who is independent minded who actually has substance to their arguments. In evaluation of all the possibilities for a challenger to Obama in 2012, I have concluded that only one man can defeat Obama.
That man is Ron Paul.
First of all, as a preface to the meat of this post, understand this: Ron Paul was dead on accurate in predicting the catastrophic consequences of our foreign policy following 9/11 and forecast the economic meltdown years before anybody else. He is independent minded and has challenged both Republican and Democrat administrations for their foreign policy and economic policy for several decades. He also has a history of being right in predicting the consequences of bad policy at the time they are debated. This includes domestic economic policy as well as foreign policy.
Consider these videos from 2002 about the war:
He supported a vary narrowly defined effort to catch Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice in a swift and deliberate manner. He opposed nation building in Afghanistan, he opposed going to war with Iraq, he opposed the Patriot Act, suspension of habeas corpus, and all civil liberty violations by the Bush Administration. In fact his opposition was more forceful and deliberate than nearly any Democrat. History has proven he was right.
Furthermore, he is the only person in our government to understand and explain the motives behind terrorist attacks against us. As many historians, authors and experts have written about, but far too few politicians have acknowledged, Islamic terrorists don’t target us because we are rich and free, they attack us because we have been bombing the middle east, propping up dictators, overthrowing elected governments, causing the deaths of millions with our sanctions, and meddling in their affairs for decades. If we were poor Iraqis or Saudis or Pakistanis or Iranians many of us would react in much the same way. There is no other politician on either side of the isle that I know of that has expressed this common sense, logical thinking better than Ron Paul.
Contrast Ron Paul’s foreign policy and his understanding of the concept of Blowback with McCain’s knee jerk kowtowing to the military industrial complex (similar to most politicians in Washington, Democrat and Republican):
Also, Ron Paul is currently opposing the propaganda effort against Iran. History is repeating itself. The plans were laid for war with Iraq in the 90s. Consider this video from 1998, where Ron Paul supports impeachment of President Clinton, but for very different reasons. He supported impeachment for the illegal bombing of Iraq. Also, he predicts the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
*"For us to unleash bombs on Iraq at this particular time to kill more innocent people for narrow political reasons, no there is absolutely no need to cause more bombing because of a very, overall flawed foreign policy…
Our national security is more jeopardized by permitting this to happen, because *we’re liable to start a war, we’re liable to have our military men killed, we’re liable to have more attacks on us by terrorists."
The same thing is happening today with the propaganda and sanctions being considered against Iran. Ron Paul doesn’t just support bringing the troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan, but from Germany, Japan, Korea and the rest of the 130 countries were we have troops stationed. We’re building fortresses overseas, yet we are broke and people are suffering here at home? Nobody can defend this insane foreign policy. A non interventionist foreign policy is a winning position if there ever was one.
Likewise, he predicted the economic crises years before anyone else, consider these links:
http://www.minnpost.com/craigwestover/2008/09/18/3559/ron_paul_saw_this_financial_mess_coming
Ron Paul understands that the Keynesian economic policy that Obama is pursuing will make the problem much worse and prevent a true recovery and most troublesome the possible collapse of the dollar. Consider these videos of Ron Paul explaining economics to talking heads and debating his solution with those who support the status quo:
As you probably know, Ron Paul has been a persistent critic of the Federal Reserve, arguing that it creates the moral hazard, inflates these financial bubbles and unfairly punishes the poor (and those on fixed incomes like the elderly) and transfers wealth to Wall Street and the well connected. He correctly dispels the notion that a Central Bank is part of the free market, showing how it is a form of banker Corporatism that rewards the well connected at the expense of everybody else.
He has pushed through a bill to audit the Federal Reserve which has gain vast bipartisan support. He wants to create transparency of this banking cartel and expose all the back room deals and find out exactly what they are doing to our money. In the end he supports ending the federal reserve system and again backing our currency with a tangible asset to maintain value of the dollar and prevent unaccountable government that can simply monetize debt. He feels, and so do I having studied the matter, that once people find out what the Federal Reserve really does and what they have been doing in secret for decades, there will be an overwhelming public support for ending this immoral institution. He repeatedly challenged Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke in hearings. Greenspan has been disgraced and Bernanke is looking like more of a fool every passing month. And Ron Paul has been proven right. A few of his exchanges with Fed chairmen:
So, Ron Paul was right on the economic crisis and he understands a superior economic school of thought (the Austrian School). In normal cases this stuff is too complex and intellectual for most Americans to understand. But not anymore. People are focused on the debt and the budget. They see the system is not working anymore and they are looking for answers. Conventional Keynesian theory offers no solutions. The inevitable consequence of Keynesian policy is the destruction of the currency. People instinctually know that we need to cut spending and balance the budget and fundamentally reorganize the way our economy functions.
So, Ron Paul favors cutting spending and balancing the budget, allowing liquidation of debt and malinvestment, auditing the Federal Reserve leading to ending the Federal Reserve. We have a problem with this, critics contend. You just want to throw people out on the street without medical care and welfare benefits? This is NOT Ron Paul’s position. He believes we need to continue to fund Medicare and Social Security for the foreseeable future. But we have to be honest with ourselves, Medicare and Social Security are bankrupt and if we wait until they simply collapse due to destruction of our dollar, everyone will be out on the street. So we have to have a transition period. There is no trust fund. Todays workers are working only to pay for the benefits going to seniors TODAY. They will get nothing when they retire. So, morally they should be allowed to opt out of the system and keep all their money and save for their retirements themselves. But what about the seniors and baby boomers who need help now? That is where Ron Paul’s ingenious transition plan back to fiscal sanity comes in. He contends that we should save hundreds of billions of dollars by ending our overseas empire and drastically cutting the defense budget. Then we would use that money to cut down on our deficit and use the rest to help the people currently dependent on Medicare and Social Security while allowing young people to opt out. For those who opt out, it would further reduce the long term unfunded liabilities of these programs getting us closer to a balanced budget.
Here is a video about the transition plan:
If you look at our condition rationally you would see that this is the only sensible option we have at this point in our history.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Ron Paul, I will provide a rundown of his positions on the issues:
On the war on drugs:
On the environment:
On Health Care (Ron Paul is a doctor):
On Civil Liberties:
On Education:
On Immigration:
On the Constitution:
On the difference between Free Markets and Corporatism:
It is my belief that the platform that Ron Paul would run on would appeal to a majority of Americans. He demonstrated significant fundraising ability in 2007 and 2008 raising 35-40 million dollars during that primary season. Since then his organization and enthusiasm has expanded exponentially through his Campaign for Liberty organization. If he were to run I believe he could raise $50 - 60 - 70 Million dollars for a primary run. The whole country has shifted towards a libertarian direction. He would absolutely be a contender.
We are at a unprecedented position in our history. Circumstances are such that someone like Ron Paul could beat the odds and win the presidency. The internet is key. The ascendancy of Social Networking, Smart phones and online fundraising plus the reliance on the Internet for news and information will make the 2012 race one unlike any we have ever seen. Circumstances are such that the economy is issue number one in most peoples minds. Foreign policy is very important as well. If the economy continues to decline, confidence will be lost in mainstream economics and Obama’s “solutions”. If Obama continues his march towards war with Iran, an antiwar candidate will have serious appeal.
There are two issues raised in this thread. Whether Ron Paul is philosophically right on the issues and whether he can actually win. I believe he is both right AND can win if he ran in 2012. A recent Rasmussen poll showed Ron Paul in a dead heat with Obama:
No other republican candidate matches up as well with Obama. Ron Paul can get the Tea Party vote, and also the antiwar left, disillusioned Obama supporters, Independents, people of all stripes.
Polls show that his supporters are far more diverse than the typical white republican voter. He has the youth vote, he draws support from blacks (far more than any other republican in recent memory) hes got social liberals and social conservatives. His biggest problem is getting the stubborn, older conservatives who still love Rush Limbaugh, Bush and the Neocons. But that won’t matter, that is a dieing demographic (literally).
Ron Paul won the Straw Poll at CPAC. He finished second to Romney at SRLC by a single vote. His support is strong.
So, I want to hear your take on first, whether you think Ron Paul is correct on the important issues of the day (mainly economics and foreign policy) and whether or not you agree with me that he would be the strongest challenger to Obama.
Also, I would do ANYTHING to see a debate between Barack Obama and Ron Paul. Ron Paul would win so easily it would be insane. Ron Paul is a million times smarter than Barack Obama. If it came to that, I am confident that a majority of the country would see who is more qualified to occupy the highest office in the land.
I know I have written a lengthy thread here. I have also included a lot of youtube videos. I welcome all responses, but please put forth a bit of effort to look through the links I have provided. I spent a bit of time putting this together. I would hope you would do the same in responding.
I believe Ron Paul is one of the most brilliant philosophic and intellectual minds in the world today. He has courage. He has the respect of his colleagues. He has been proven right over and over and over again. I have never seen him lose a debate (I have never seen him have a worthy challenger).
In closing, consider these final videos of Ron Paul signally a warning to all of us in the form of prepared statements on the house floor:
