I have been following the presidential candidates for a little while now. There only seems to one “real” candidate in the entire field of either Democrats and Republicans. That is is Ron Paul. The rest of the field seems too polished or wanting to tell you what they think you want to hear.
Things I like about Ron Paul:
- Health Freedom
- Personal Privacy and liberty
- Eliminate the Federal Reserve System
- Eliminate the IRS and the income tax
- Eliminate US funding of waste and corruption in the UN
- Use the US Military for defense not offensive operations and protect US Independence and Sovereignty
- Property Rights
Health Freedom
What business is it of the state what I put in my body? The current government bureaucracy makes no effort to hide their agenda; which is to control all vitamins and supplements. If they allow vitamins and supplements to be available they will severely restrict the dosage and may require a prescription.
Who is the winner of this type of regulations? That’s pretty easy, the pharmaceutical companies are hoping to capture the lucrative health supplement business with medications.
Never mind the War on Drugs, which has been one the biggest boondoggles of all time for law enforcement. The government doesn’t have any right to tell you want you can and cannot put in your body. There is no mention of it in the constitution. I choose not to use any of the Drugs classified as illegal but believe that if someone wants to use them it is their business as long as they don’t hurt anyone else.
Personal Privacy and Liberty
Our privacy has been under attack for the last 7 years. The Real-ID act will be attempt to track who you are and what you do. It will not improve security and be more of an inconvenience for most people to obtain a new ID. This is essentially an unfunded mandate from the federal government. I personally do not want a Real-ID and will not run out and get one.
I was not happy when I renewed my passport this year and got an RFID in my passport. I am guessing that that would make me a potential target in a foreign country. Not that someone would be able to read the data on the passport as much as being able to detect that I am carrying a passport and determining that I am not from around here.
Eliminate the Federal Reserve System
The federal reserve system is essentially a private / public entity. The are accountable to no one; they don’t even give straight answers to the Congress of the United States nor are they required to do so.
Since 1913, the Federal Reserve has devalued the dollar substantially. It is the central bank and gets the ability to create money of thin air. All other banks are legally required to have a reserve. One of the requirements for a society to be prosperous is that the currency be consistent. The current US dollar is is a fiat currency and not based on a precious metal or substance with real value. The Silver/Gold standard used for currency from 1793 – 1933 was based on Silver ($1 = 1 ounce) with a fixed rate of exchange ($20 per ounce) to gold. Today that same silver dollar is worth about $13 dollars in the Federal Reserve currency. Gold is even more extreme in that 1 ounce of gold is work more than $850.
Without the Fed and the fiat dollar we would be much better off. However I believe we would need substantial banking law changes for the system to work. During the free banking error many banks failed. It was not uncommon for a bank to have a box of nails covered with gold coins to try to trick the bank regulators. Today we are no more honorable than we were then.
Eliminate the IRS and the income tax
There was a time when the federal government was subservient to the states. That day is no more. I think that 3 things created the monstrous federal government we have today.
1. The Federal Reserve – Has allowed the currency to be debased and allowed the government to create money out of thin air to wage wars and pursue agendas not in line with the best interests of the people.
2. The 17th amendment to the constitution – Has allowed special interests to influence both houses of congress. This has broken the binding from the States to the Senate. Prior to this amendment the Senate and Federal government did not overstep their bounds often because of control the State legislators had to select the senate members.
3. The 16th amendment to the constitution – Was not intended to collect taxes on wages earned; but intended to collect taxes on profits earned. However overtime it become the monster it is today that we call “Income Tax” . This has allow the government to collect money to wage war and pursue agendas not in line with the best interests of the people.
Without the IRS and income tax the entire system would grind to halt and the federal government would need to find a way to live within its means.
Eliminate US funding of waste and corruption in the UN
I think the UN is a great idea as a forum to discuss and negotiate between countries. As a way to change the world via UN organizations I don’t think makes any sense. Each sovereign country owns it’s own destiny and the UN should not dictate what that is or meddle in it.
Use the US Military for defense not offensive operations and protect US Independence and Sovereignty
The US military is positioned for offensive operations around the world. As seen on 911 it was not prepared to defend the US Mainland. The US military is most expensive in the world; what the rest of the world spends on military gear comes close to what we spend on the US military.
The US military is also set up to fight a standard war much like the 1st gulf war in which tanks blasted each other from miles away and the enemy is known. In an occupation as we have seen with Iraq the US military is have a much harder time keeping the peace.
Property Rights
Across the country we have seen several local cases of eminent domain abused. For example, a town or city taking a property by eminent domain to give it to a private developer for a “Special Project”.
This just is wrong! It is a great example of how we privative profits and social the risks associated with local development. This is small time compared to what happens at the federal government level.
What I don’t like or less sure of about Ron Paul
The only issue that I am not sure that I agree with him on is
I personally believe this falls under freedom of health. It is not the governments job to regulate or create laws in this particular area.
I think most other democracies in the world have had a full and healthy debate on the issue with the “people” deciding that they will allow or will not allow abortion. The supreme court in the US has short circuited this debate and enforced a decision on the entire country without debate.
With abortion as a hot topic it keeps that established parties in the green. Lots of money is donated to both parties by people with this as their one hot issue. I find this odd that this one issue is so important when we are waging an undeclared war in two countries and the economy of of the US is ripe for a very severe recession over the next few quarters.
In Conclusion
I think Ron Paul’s positions are very well thought out and very consistent compared to the other candidates in the running for president. Ron Paul is the real deal, he doesn’t have a bunch of focus groups telling what sounds good and not good.
I think some of the positions he has will be unpopular with some folks; especially those that would stand to lose a lot under the policies that a Paul administration would keep.
Vote for Ron Paul.
