Every candidate negatives; it is no secret that Ron Paul has his. He has the obvious one; he is fighting an uphill battle running in the GOP as libertarian. In addition, he is on in his years and has the charisma of jagged broken glass. The GOP base loves his domestic policy but cannot stand his foreign policy. Nonetheless, after 20 some years of running for president, it looks like he may at least win the first two primaries. He is holding the steady lead in Iowa is and cleaning up in New Hampshire. This is for the other states primary goers who are still dead set against Paul.
About Those Newsletters
If there was one thing Paul had going for him, it was his reputation as being squeaky clean. There was no flip-flopping or Tiffany’s accounts in his past to muddy the waters. As his gains seemed to be legitimate, the GOP machine went digging for some dirt in an attempt to turn the tides onto one of their chosen candidates, and in doing so came across some awful newsletters baring Paul’s name.
Some have pointed out that Paul could have profited up to one million dollars on the newsletters. While I have not seen an evidence to lend evidence to this claim, even if it were true, I am not sure that should matter. After all, Paul is a self-described capitalist and anyone who is concerned with the GOP primary ought to be as well, so the concern of the profit is thrown out. Now, it is no secret that these were written by Lew Rockwell and Paul has addressed them in the past; this time however he got all senile and retorted that he had not written them. If had just taken responsibility, and brushed them off nonchalantly it would never have mattered. We all know the other candidates have far worse things in their mcmansion sized closets, and since republican politics is often about the lesser of two evils, I would have found a way to make it about the other guys and their problems.
That Icky Foreign Policy
I like pieces of Ron Paul’s foreign policy. I like the idea of ending foreign aid and getting rid of our bases on other countries and bringing our troops home from all the entanglements were are currently engaged in. I for one like what Obama did to kill UBL. To heck with international law, to heck with Pakistan, we found our man and we clipped him. That’s America and Pakistan should know that if the hold a guy we want dead then were will trespass wherever the heck we dang well please to send him to the virgins.
Ron Paul is nothing if not a man of principle. So his crazy notions of isolationism would not go far in congress, that whole thing about checks and balances is starting to make sense, isn’t it? Yes, we are surely guaranteed some gridlock, but that is better than the extremes both sides offer. If we must go to war, it will be done the constitutional way and that seems to a notion that most humans like.
Like I said, every candidate has their drawbacks. Most of Ron Paul’s policy drawbacks would get checked by another branch of government making them a non-issue. As to those newsletters that Lew Rockwell wrote – well at least he didn’t create the system that underpins obamacare, flip-flop on social issues when it suited his political advancement. Nor did he vote to create ANWR, the Federal Department of Education, or sit on a couch with Nancy Pelosi and talk about how concerned he is about global warming. Sure, Dick Morris and Karl Rove call him a liberal, but that is simply because they realize that a Paul presidency would put an end to the shenanigans they engage in that make themselves rich at the expense of the taxpayer. Not to mention the fact that most of Paul’s stances are common sense and they cannot combat them with their arsenal of weapons, so they just call him liberal. Its the conservative equivalent of calling someone racist. After all, do we want a guy like Karl Rove dictating who we are allowed to have as our candidate? Is that not why we have the primary process? As for Dick Morris, I am not sure the lisper cares what happens so long as he can plug his new book, whatever it happens to be called.
Vote Paul or America dies, it is just that simple.
Cain is on his way out, but I hope remnants of his tax plan stay with us. No other plan offered attacks our highly discriminatory system and creates equality in taxation much like the oh-so memorable 9-9-9 would.
His detractors suggest that the plan would magically be increased in the future, however Cain made the salient point that his plan would never increase taxes, rather a politician would. Not acting because some future politician may or may not increase the rate of taxes is not a valid reason not to at least consider the benefits of his plan.
First off, I will say I take issue with the corporate tax. Perhaps it shows how DC Herman Cain really is; of all people a businessman like him ought to know that corporate taxes are just passed on to the consumer. That’s why when other presidential hopefuls criticized the plan for creating a new sales tax I knew none of them would be the fix America needs right now. How can any of them claim to remotely understand what plagues our economy if they cannot understand the simplest of taxation principles? This would eliminate the hidden nature of government and taxes and make it very real to consumers just how expensive big government can be. I think his opponents were just mad they did not come up with something so simple and so catchy before he did. Oh well.
I think a plan more like 15-15 would work better; a 15% tax on all goods and a 15% tax on all income. That is right, all income. Everyone, even the “poor” would be included in my plan, and that would insure the plan would never change. No self-interested politician (is there any other kind?) would dare hike up the rate because of the toll it would take on the poor. I would suggest this plan until America is all caught up on its debt, and then I would trim it to a single 15% national tax on all goods, no exceptions, write-offs, credits or waivers. Everyone must pay. When everyone is included in a tax plan, it shackles the hands of future politicians.
I have not been a long time libertarian. For the most part, I have always tilted to the right of the republican main stream, very socially and fiscally conservative. However, after reading a book no related whatsoever to politics, for some reason it just clicked. Needless to say, I have yet to become some sort of Alex-Jones-nutty-bar conspiracy theorist or what some consider the traditional Ron Paul Supporter. I still have all of my screws, I still have clarity.
When it comes to a 2012 candidate, I have an open mind. I am willing to consider some of the mainstream folks, and to be fair, the most surprising so far has been Newt. I never really cared for Newt and still consider him to be a progressive, but like me the guy is chock full of new ideas. We need a guy with ideas. Don’t get me started on Herman Cain; I cannot explain my admiration for him.
After all is said and done, I have continuously thrown my support behind Ron Paul, making the argument that he would garner support from anti-war leftists, the mainstream anti-Obama republicans, and all independents. But after the Fox News/Google debate, I think I have a new idea.
Sure, no one knows his name. He is rarely named in any polls, and when he is, he has 1% of support. Fred Karger has a better shot at this point. But, we are still a year away. Remember last time? Last time we ran John McCain. We had 48% of the popular vote. We cannot do any worse with Johnson.
Johnson brings all the sanity of the libertarian message, without the potential senile factor of Paul.
Johnson is younger, only 58. Paul is 75. Johnson could be in the White House for two terms. It is also a factor when considering the how young people.
Johnson has executive experience. Johnson was a governor and a small business owner. There are a limited number of former presidents who ran from the House. With Johnson, we bring the sound free market principles that you see in a guy like Herman Cain fused with the understanding of how to run a state, much like Perry or Romney without have signed anything conservatives would find reprehensible.
Johnson is vocal about his support for the Fair Tax. It is a big seller for the Tea Party types.
Gary Johnson has the ability to appeal to young people in similar ways to Obama. He is an advocate for gay rights and the decriminalization of marijuana. Combine that with his desire to withdraw troops from out bases globally, and he has the capacity to grab a lot of attention from the growing population of young libertarians.
I would support Ron Paul in a heartbeat; however once I laid out the facts, Gary Johnson seems to be well rounded and far more competitive. While he seems like a long shot, crazier things have happen. I really think he could be the Reagan to my generation. If we do not Johnson or Paul in 12 and Obama wins, I think he would have a tremendous opportunity in 16, but by then we will have been sold to the Chinese and split with the Russians.
Governors Romney, Perry, Huntsman were at the NBC/POLITICO Debate taking credit for jobs statistics in their respective states. How can self proclaimed conservatives take credit for creating jobs in the private market? I answer it with my traditional zeal.
P.S. Like my new do? Hip, ain’t it!
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