I’ve heard several people now say that they’re leaning towards Ron Paul, so I thought I’d make a special post about him.
Ron Paul is a Libertarian at heart, so it helps to understand the beliefs of the Libertarian party. Much of what he says about smaller government sounds great, but there are a few looney things that over the years have kept the Libertarian party a meaningless third party. Below are a few of those things that Ron Paul ascribes to.
1) He’s anti-death penalty, but most Republicans are the opposite. Surprisingly he’s pro-life which isn’t a given for Libertarians, but from what I can tell Paul is coming from a Christian background. He’s mixed some of his Libertarian values and his Christian values, and that has led to his own special version of being a Republican.
2) He’s anti-drug laws. He’s made some crazy statements that the war on drugs is keeping down the black man in the inner-city.
3) He doesn’t understand the danger of Militant Islam. A woman in the Sudan was being threatened with death for a Teddy Bear named Mohammad. What does that have to do with us “meddling” in foreign affairs as Ron Paul likes to say? What about when Iraq attacked Kuwait in the first Gulf War? According to Ron Paul since we weren’t threatened, then it’s not our fight. You know what, just forget that whole peace through strength thing. It’s better to just sit on our thumbs and get attacked first, and then we can worry about protecting ourselves.
If you’re a pacifist then this whole discussion is probably lost on you, but go read some of Paul’s comments. He says some looney things.
Overall I love what he has to say about limited government, and that’s the best thing the Libertarian party has going for it. Unfortunately for me, the other crackpot beliefs far outweigh my desire for a more limited government. Not to mention there isn’t a chance in heck he could win the national election. I also don’t understand how people like BOTH Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee. Paul is a limited government person, and Huckabee sounds like a big government Republican like Bush.
I think Thompson has the right stance on a lot of issues, and he might be the most conservative at his core, but he’s too late to the party, and he’s not dynamic enough to win the nomination or a general election. Giuliani is top notch on everything except social issues, which I might be able to live with if it means no Hillary or Obama. For now Romney is my favorite.