I Would like to like Ron Paul. Like many Republicans, I am not excited by any of the Republican candidates running for President. I am looking for a true conservative (whatever that means). I want someone whose foreign policy is principled, realist, and pragmatic and rejects the neocon idealism of the Bush administration. I want a candidate who is socially conservative but not too tied to the religious right agenda. I want an advocate of economic liberty, individualism, free trade, and small government. I guess I am looking for the second coming of Ronald Reagan.
I would settle for less. But, I see no one who remotely excites me. There is no one I want to send a contribution to or volunteer to help get elected.
There is a lot I like about Ron Paul. Many of his principles I agree with. He supports lower taxes, free trade, and smaller government. I agree with him that we should lift the embargo on Cuba. I like it that he receives almost all of his political contributions from small contributors and is not in the pocket of large donors. He seems sincere, honest, modest and principled. He appears to be a real good person.
Having a libertarian streak myself, I like his position on drug laws and states rights and his opposition to Real ID. I agree with his position that the rest of us should not subsidize the flood insurance of those who choose to live in flood plains, and that we should not subsidize farmers.
I admire him for being one of the few members to oppose the Iraq war. And, when he says the war was sold to us with false information, I think he is right. I admire him for his criticism of the Bush civil liberties record and constitutional abuses.
But, I fear Ron Paul is too extreme, naive, and ideological to be president. He opposes US membership in the UN, NATO, The World Trade Organization, and would repeal NAFTA. He wants to abolish the Federal Reserve and return the US to the Gold Standard. That is radical!
In my opinion, he was correct to oppose the war in Iraq, but he also opposed the first gulf war, the authorization to use military force following 9/11 and the war in Kosovo. He advocates an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, which I fear would have terrible humanitarian consequences and lead to a much wider regional conflict. We just can’t “get out”, we need to use care in how we get out. Ron Paul appears to wish the US to withdraw from the world. In a complex dangerous world we do not need an isolationist president.
Ron Paul is no doubt a good man. I agree with many of his principles. But in a nutshell, Ron Paul is a nut. Too bad.
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Just vote for the SOB in the primaries man. So what if Ron Paul puts us back on the gold standard. First of all that would take a huge feat of political will. The government will balance him out. It's better to have a Ron Paul pulling for personal rights and responsibility against the Neo-Cons then to have Mitt Romney or worse working with the current regime.
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