Here’s a column I put in the print version this past June, and now, because Dr. Ron Paul, Texas Congressman for almost 30 years, appears to be gaining incredible ground in the lead-up to the Iowa polls, it looks like it’s as timely as ever….not to mention that on his radio program Keepin it Kleen this past Monday (12.01.11), our friend, columnist (and my publisher…more on that in a bit!) Michael Kleen devoted a portion of his show to a recent blog post which diverts a bit from the original premise as posted on the very left wing Mother Earth News, but still contains the talking points that people who are truly unenlightened about Dr. Paul seem to want to cling to.

Well, we’re at that stage in the game where the rubber meets the road and the politicos are announcing their bid for presidency to replace this god-awful mistake America made in November 2008.

Our beloved Dr. Paul. I lurv this guy.

I don’t believe we’ve fully seen just how bad of a mistake that was—yet—and I do believe that in the days to come before we select another prez, we’re going to get a bolus of badness and mistakenness….which might lead us to make an even bigger mistake in an all-out effort to elect someone, ANYONE, who ISN’T Obama.

Thank God Donald Trump is out of the way….I could see an entire nation of TV-zombies putting that shill into office based on the fact that they “wartched ’im onna teevee fer a long time an’ heeza purty gud biznezman!”

But then we’re left with half-wits like Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty and lord help us maybe Mike Huckabeast….I mean, Huckabee.

And right there in front of us, with the same platform he’s had every single time he’s run for any office, president or congressman, is the man who makes the most sense of any of the 535 put together—our beloved Dr. Ron Paul.

Make no mistake. This man, a congressman elected from Texas’ 19th Congressional District on the Gulf side of that fine state, has never wavered in any of the beliefs he holds when it comes to being a public servant. He doesn’t have to. The Constitution of the United States of America doesn’t change (despite what Obama and his minion want); so Dr. Paul’s stance is as immutable, as well.

And it’s his firm convictions, based singularly and solely on the document that helped create this country, that scares the feces out of the opposition—both Dem AND Repub, even if Dr. Paul is of the Republican persuasion—because it seems that everyone wants to dismantle that document systematically, from the local yokel mayors in our little southern Illinois towns all the way up to the repulsive “lawyers” we now have sitting on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Frequent emailer taunted me

My F.E. (frequent emailer) sent me what we here like to call “column fodder” on May 16, an article dissing Dr. Paul.

Nothing new…established media, politicos and pundits alike take every opportunity to impugn Dr. Paul, even though when you go back and look at the 2007-08 debates, you’ll see that he was the only one who was predicting the inescapable—that the American government and those who run it can’t spend their way out of a recession. His words on a sound fiscal and monetary policy rang through the hallowed halls of the debate locations and fell on deaf ears….only now, four years later, that’s not the case. Now, they were prescient.

Still, there are the hardcore socialist/communist liberal whiners who are horrified at all of Dr. Paul’s platforms, because, well, my God! It would mean an end to the decimation of everything this country stands for, wouldn’t it! And we just can’t have that.

Mr. Dolt, sneering

So the article F.E. sent sneered “Could Ron Paul ever be a true contender for the White House?” before actually acknowledging that the “Ron Paul Revolution” (you know, that thing we have on our mast on the front page of this website, with “LOVE” spelled backwards) “minted a new generation of libertarian activists” (heh heh, that’d be me) who’ve helped lay some of the organizational and ideological groundwork for the Tea Party movement” (see? I’ve been saying it for years….WE were the first Tea Partiers by supporting Dr. Paul in late 2007, not those who would like to lay claim to the groups that hold rallies now; not that there’s anything wrong with them, of course).

Still, even though Dr. Paul announced his candidacy May 13, idiots like this dolt F.E. sent me use phrases like “Paul’s growing cult following” and “his view are just a tad extreme for voters from either major party” (he’s a dolt because he doesn’t realize that there’s been a polar ice cap shift of the voting populace to NOT vote “party,” but that’s only stating the obvious.)

Mr. Dolt pointed out that Dr. Paul would like to:

1 “Eviscerate Entitlements: Believes that Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are unconstitutional, and has compared the failure of federal courts to strike them down to the courts’ failure to abolish slavery in the 19th century.”
Well, sure. Have you ever known anything attached to the word ‘entitlements’ that has a GOOD connotation? No. And Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid ARE unconstitutional. The federal government cannot FORCE a person to set aside money for their ‘retirement’ or buy/buy into something they don’t want, …much like Obamacare now. But that’s been forgotten since too many generations have passed that don’t understand what these ‘entitlements’ were actually set up for.

Some good damn ideas

2 “Lay Off Half His Cabinet: Wants to abolish half of all federal agencies, including the departments of Energy, Education, Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and Labor.”
Brilliant. None of those departments need to exist, because none of those things need to be federally regulated, especially education and farming. And as for the Department of Energy: when it was established in 1977, gas was 62 cents a gallon. We see how much THAT’S done for us, huh?

3 “Enable State Extremism: Would let states to set their own policies on abortion, gay marriage, prayer in school, and most other issues.”
What a wonderful concept! Gets the states out from under the thumb of the intrusive federal government, and if one state is more conservative than the one next door, people have the option to move there out of preference….again, brilliant! And, you do know, there’s such a thing as the Tenth Amendment…look it up.

4 “Protect Sexual Predators’ Privacy: Voted against requiring operators of wi-fi networks who discover the transmission of child porn and other forms online sex predation to report it to the government.”
That’s a backwards way of saying Dr. Paul is against any kind of internet regulation….which he is. Note the part of this sentence that contains the word “requiring.” This is a country based on laws. When you begin “requiring” people to do this or do that on something, you begin a slippery slope where you beget more and more “requirements”…and suddenly you’ve got a Department of Internet Regulation. Wi-fi network owners aren’t the ones who discover transmission of child porn anyway; it’s usually the server farms. But if the wi-fi owners did discover it, they’d likely turn it in anyway; it’s called “doing the right thing,” and you can’t regulate that, either

Osama bin dead; census has one purpose

5 “Rescind the Bin Laden Raid: Instead of authorizing the Navy Seals to take him out, President Paul would have sought Pakistan’s cooperation to arrest him.”
Assuming, of course, that bin Laden was actually ALIVE when this purported “raid” took place, why WOULDN’T we want to use whatever resources available to arrest the turbanhead and bring him to justice for what he supposedly ‘masterminded’? The whole scenario was so foolish that at this point in time, the only people who believe it are left-wing nutjobs and rednecks who want to feel good about something this administration is doing, even if it’s an obvious farce.

6 “Simplify the Census: The questions posed by the Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey, which collects demographics data such as age, race, and income, are ‘both ludicrous and insulting,’ Paul says.”
Why yes, they are. There’s one purpose for the census and one alone: the enumeration of the population for the apportionment of Representatives in Congress among the several States. That’s it and that’s all. Nobody needs to know race and income but those who have it. Even illegals, living here and using up our resources (utilities, housing, public transportation, entitlements) need to be counted so we will have proper representation, even if that representation were to get a clue and send the illegals back where they came from, like they should.

Sex, drugs and monopolies

7 “Let the Oldest Profession Be: Paul wants to legalize prostitution at the federal level.”
Again, this is a misrepresentation of something Paul believes, which is: a person’s body is their own. If they are stupid enough to want to sell it to the highest bidder, so be it. They’re gonna do it anyway, might as well make tax money off of it.

8 “Legalize All Drugs: Including cocaine and heroin.”
See number 7. This is a blatant demonization of Paul to make him look “bad” in the eyes of conservatives who find some kind of smug moral superiority in upholding the War on Drugs, a “war” which, like ALL “wars” on things, has failed miserably. People are going to do drugs. There is nothing that can stop it, as we’ve seen time and again. Dr. Paul—who is a REAL doctor, an OB/GYN, and, at age 76, has seen it all in his career—does not promote drug use. He does promote common sense. And common sense dictates that with something like prostitution and illegal drugs, when you take the illicitness—the thrill, the kick—out of it, and tax it, use diminishes (just like anything taxed) and valuable resources (courts and law enforcement) aren’t wasted on such a thing, but can be focused on much more serious life-and-limb crimes.

9 “Keep Monopolies Intact: Opposes federal antitrust legislation, calling it ‘much more harmful than helpful.’ Thinks that monopolies can be controlled by protecting ‘the concept of the voluntary contract’.”
Well sure they could. There’s such a thing as Breach of Contract, in both federal and state court. If someone breaches their contract, you sue them and let a judge or jury sort it out. Monopolies are an outdated concept; if a company is so huge that they’ve booted out the competition, there must be something they’re doing right. If they don’t do it right—like Champion Labs did that landed them in court with an antitrust suit—they’ll implode somewhere along the line, whether there are monopoly regulations or not. Greed is its own undoing.

End the Fed….& the EPA while you’re at it

10 “Lay Off Ben Bernanke: Would abolish the Federal Reserve and revert to use of currencies that are backed by hard assets such as gold.”
The most brilliant idea brought to light since 1913. If we didn’t have the federal reserve (a collection of private bankers, not a government agency) screwing with our money, creating periods of inflation/recession/depression etc, the free market could function properly and we wouldn’t have the fiscal atmosphere we now have, of bailouts and an entire generation of people who find it easier to sit on their asses and collect public aid than it is to work.

11 “Stop Policing the Environment: Believes that climate change is no big deal and the Environmental Protection Agency is unnecessary. Most environmental problems can be addressed by enforcing private-property rights. Paul also thinks that interstate issues such as air pollution are best dealt with through compacts between states.”
Um. Yes. Because “global warming” is the greatest fraud perpetrated on the people in decades. And if the EPfreakingA wants to whine about ‘depleting the ozone with power plant emissions,’ but ignores the FACT that most of them in the Midwest spew arsenic on the people living around them, they’ve definitely got very screwed-up priorities.

Free markets: let’s try it, shall we?

12 “Not Do Anything, but Still…: Would not have voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because it was a ‘massive violation of private property and contract, which are the bedrocks of a free society.’”
And indeed they are. And indeed the Civil Rights Act was. If a business didn’t cater to minorities, the free market would have dictated that this would be a place that minorities, and those who supported them and their rights, avoid that business…and not be forced by the federal government to alter the way they do business. The free market ended up dictating desegregation anyway….otherwise, Cairo, Ill., wouldn’t have a population of only 3,000 right now.

13 “Let Markets Care for the Disabled: ‘The ADA should have never been passed,’ Paul says. The treatment of the handicapped should be determined by the free market.”
Absolutely. Does anyone out there remember the unbelievable fiscal crises counties found themselves in with the ADA’s ‘unfunded mandates’? Would you believe me when I tell you that many are still trying to recover from the expenditures of ramps and elevators and other alterations to fit ADA? What kind of businesses could have developed out of people needing help at the courthouses and post offices? Perhaps instead of counties spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars that they didn’t have, but had to raise taxes, fines and fees to pay for this monstrosity, kind hearted people could have developed “assistant” services, whole businesses, revolving around helping handicapped people at different facilities.

Egregious spending CURBED

14 “First, Do Harm: Wants to end birthright citizenship. Believes that emergency rooms should have the right to turn away illegal immigrants.”
You betcha. Because too many hospitals that once treated LEGAL American citizens and their children are closed because illegals were using them as clinics, since ERs aren’t allowed to turn anyone away. Talk about “do harm.” If we don’t get this illegal invasion under control, we won’t have a country to call home for ourselves, the LEGAL taxpayers who support these hospitals as one by one they go under.

15. “Diss Mother Teresa: Voted against giving her the Congressional Gold Medal. Has argued that the medal, which costs $30,000, is too expensive.”
This last little jab is what I call one of the sh*ttiest ways to characterize Dr. Paul’s fiscally conservative views. Sure, Mother Teresa was awesome. She was canonized. Why does the American taxpayer therefore have to foot the bill for a medal for her? Think about all the little things your local government spends money on that you go “Huh?” about…and subsequently wonder if they stopped such spending, would your annual tax bill go down instead of up? Dr. Paul doesn’t vote to spend money unless it’s an expenditure authorized by the Constitution; that’s why they call him “Dr. No.” If EVERYBODY in Congress did that, think about how much more of your income you’d be taking home every week.

My emailer subject-lined his submission of this article to me as “Any of these a deal-breaker for you?”

My answer: Not at all. They’re the high points of Dr. Paul’s platform, albeit deliberately presented incorrectly in spots. I was thrilled to see them brought to the fore. Anyone with common sense and a deeper-than-surface understanding of how our government really runs would.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG2PUZoukfA

Hopefully, the choice in Primary 2012 and General that same year will be clear.