Ron Paul on the Issues

**AirborneSapper7** · 01-29-2012, 08:13 PM

In It to Win It

Conor Murphy is a talented young writer who contributes to The Washington Times. Murphy’s analysis often addresses political realities others seem to miss. In his latest column, Murphy notes that Ron Paul is not only in this election to win it, but that he might be the best possible GOP presidential nominee given the dynamics of this particular campaign including the weaknesses of the other candidates. Writes Murphy:

During this primary season, many political pundits have assumed that Ron Paul is not actively trying to win the Presidency. To them, he is simply a message candidate who has some interesting ideas but no path to the nomination… The facts, however, say otherwise…

This time around, the Ron Paul campaign is more organized, has better advisors, and is actually campaigning to win.
Along with establishment candidate Mitt Romney, Ron Paul is the only candidate who was able to get on the ballot in all fifty states…
Rick Santorum still has very poor name recognition, and Newt Gingrich is one of the most polarizing political figures of our generation…
Mitt Romney and Ron Paul are the only electable candidates to choose from…
Paul’s campaign strategy is not just to stay in the race until the very end, but to accumulate delegates…

Murphy then makes a very important point about Ron Paul’s supposed electoral limits:

There has been a general consensus in the media that Paul has a “ceiling” of support and cannot get past a certain point. The argument goes that because he knows this, he cannot possibly be trying to win a national election.

Once again, this argument might have been true in 2008, but not today. Anyone who has paid attention to the election over the past eight months would see that the ceiling for Ron Paul has gotten higher over time. When he first announced that he was forming an exploratory campaign, pundits said that he would get his 5% of the vote and then drop out. Soon it was 10%, but that was all he would ever get. Within months, the “ceiling” was at 20% and Ron Paul had a shot at winning the Iowa Caucus. At that point Chris Wallace made the comment that Iowa would no longer matter if Ron Paul pulled out a victory there. Ron Paul and his campaign have realized that the “ceiling” that the media talks about does not exist and has simply been created to discourage potential supporters.

There is no question that Dr. Paul’s path to the nomination will be uphill, but the uninspiring Mitt Romney, the unstable Newt Gingrich, and the obscure Rick Santorum make anything possible. He will have many bumps in the road, but he is the only candidate in the race who will cut anything from the budget, who has been consistent, and who is a true conservative.

Santorum, Gingrich, and Romney should take notice: Ron Paul isn’t going anywhere.

In It to Win It*|*Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign Committee

**AirborneSapper7** · 01-29-2012, 08:20 PM

Newt Gingrich is Not a Conservative (Pt. 20)

American conservatism as defined by it’s most notable political leaders, Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, has always been at heart, a critique of the modern state. Goldwater said conservatives must be “extreme” in their defense of liberty. Reagan said that government wasn’t the solution to our problems, but the problem.

It’s been a long time since conservatives have spoke like this. Republicans like Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have a government solution for everything and are willing to circumvent the Constitution to implement their visions. Gingrich in particular has never been shy about his enthusiasm for an activist government and really has no core philosophy to guide his thinking. The philosophy of conservatism is that government is a necessary evil therefore it should be severely limited. This is certainly not the philosophy of Gingrich. But what is Newt’s philosophy? I’m not sure even Gingrich knows. It’s easy to mistake articulation for wisdom.

Pat Buchanan puts Gingrich’s lack of ideological coherence–and lack of conservatism–perfectly:
[I]“n the Reagan White House, Newt Gingrich was considered quite frankly by a lot of folks to be something of a political opportunist and who was not trusted and who had played no role whatsoever,” Buchanan said. “He was a Rockefeller Republican in the great Goldwater-Rockefeller battle, where conservatism came of age…”

“I don’t think he has a core,” Buchanan said. “I don’t think he has a fundamental, ideological and political core… I think he moves from one issue to another to another.”

Newt Gingrich is Not a Conservative (Pt. 20)*|*Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign Committee

**AirborneSapper7** · 01-29-2012, 08:23 PM

“I Like George Washington Except on Foreign Policy”
Ron Paul’s philosophy is that of the Founding Fathers. For Paul, the Constitution is the law of the land, not a mere rhetorical tool. For Paul, maintaining limited government means “eternal vigilance,” to borrow Thomas Jefferson’s phrase, against political leaders’ tendency to empower themselves at the expense of the people. One of the ways government has historically empowered itself is through constant war.

Like the Founding Fathers, Ron Paul believes in a strong national defense. Also like the Founders, Paul fears adopting an irrational offense. Our first President George Washington expressed this fear on September 17, 1796 when he delivered his farewell address. Washington said America should:

Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all… In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave…

The nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts through passion what reason would reject; at other times it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives…

The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of nations, has been the victim…

The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop…

Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people under an efficient government. the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel…

It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world… to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism…

How much of what Washington had to tell the American people sounds like Ron Paul today? Was Washington a pacifist? Hardly? An “isolationist?” Not at all.

A lot has changed since the 18th and 19th centuries and not everything the Founders’ envisioned for America is possible in the modern world. But their insight into the nature of man, the wickedness of political leaders and the centralizing tendency of government still holds true today. That we live in the modern world does not discount the genius of the U.S. Constitution. Neither does it discount the timeless wisdom of the men who wrote it.

There is no question that a nation like Iran is run by wicked men. The problem is, there also aren’t any questions about whether or not our typical response to such nations do us more harm than good. In the lead up to the Iraq War, not enough people asked such questions. Many American now regret this. Lessons not learned, many of our political leaders continue to stoke fear concerning any failure to act abroad. But we should be just as fearful that we might overreact. In fact, observing history, overreacting should be our greatest fear.

This was certainly a primary fear of the Founders, and Washington was right about the inherent dangers to liberty posed by permanent entanglements or alliances.

Agreeing with George Washington, Ron Paul is right to worry about those dangers too.

"I Like George Washington Except on Foreign Policy"*|*Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign Committee

**AirborneSapper7** · 01-29-2012, 08:26 PM

Ron Paul Wins Arizona State GOP Presidential Straw Poll

Bests rivals with 85 percent of the vote in an in-person Republican presidential preference poll

LAKE JACKSON, Texas – 2012 Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul easily won an Arizona state Republican Party straw poll, besting his rivals in a presidential preference survey. Paul won first place garnering 256 votes, or 85 percent of the 301 votes cast.

The 12-term Congressman from Texas’s nearest competitor Newt Gingrich placed a distant second with 6.6 percent, or just 20 votes, and Mitt Romney placed third with 5.6 percent, earning a mere 17 votes. For his part, Rick Santorum fared poorly in fourth with 2.6 percent, attracting eight lonely votes.

Voting was required to be done in person at the Arizona GOP straw poll on January 28^th at the party’s 2012 State Mandatory Meeting, though electronic receipts were available for use a proxy votes by fellow GOPers representing those unable to cast in-person votes. Straw poll ballots were available for purchase for $10. The Arizona Republican Party’s State Mandatory Meetings are held once a year. State Committeemen, of which there are about 1,000, from all over the state assemble to attend to official party business.

“Straw poll victories like the Arizona blowout today are commonplace because more Republicans are viewing Ron Paul as the only authentic conservative vying for the nomination. These contests demonstrate organizational strength, growing support, and the realization that we have entered a lengthy 50-state campaign,” said Ron Paul 2012 National Campaign Chairman Jesse Benton.

The Arizona primary will be held on Tuesday, February 28^th. Early voting for the Grand Canyon State will commence on Thursday, February 2^nd, days after the Florida primary and days before the first-in-the-west Nevada caucus.

Full Arizona GOP straw poll results are as follows:
Paul: 256 votes
Gingrich: 20 votes
Romney: 17 votes
Santorum: 8 votes

For a link to the results, please click here.

Ron Paul Wins Arizona State GOP Presidential Straw Poll*|*Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign Committee

**AirborneSapper7** · 01-29-2012, 08:37 PM

Ron Paul wins Arizona Republican Party straw poll

The State Column | Staff | Sunday, January 29, 2012

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul won the Arizona Republican Party straw poll Saturday, according to the official straw poll website of the Arizona Republican Party. Although the Arizona Republican presidential primary is not scheduled to take place until February 28th, the results of the Arizona Republican party straw poll suggest that Mr. Paul has an active community of supporters in the Grand Canyon State.

Mr. Paul garnered 256 votes to grab first place. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich pulled in 20 votes to secure second place and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney earned 17 votes to take third place. Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum grabbed 8 votes to finish in fourth place.

Although Mr. Paul won the Arizona Republican Party straw poll, the Texas congressman sits behind Mr. Romney and Mr. Gingrich in Grand Canyon State polls. A Public Policy Polling of likely Arizona Republican primary voters from November found Mr. Gingrich with a 20 point lead over Mr. Paul.

Mr. Paul has chalked up numerous straw poll victories throughout his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. Mr. Paul has an active community of voters that can quickly mobilize when a straw poll is announced.

Mr. Paul is dealing with the fallout from a recent Washington Post report that cited several former associates who claim that the former Air Force surgeon signed off on the racist newsletters that were published under his name in the 1990s.
“I don’t know how long you want to beat a dead horse,” Mr. Paul told CNN’s John King on “John King USA” Friday. The Texas congressman continues to deny that he was aware of the content that was going into the newsletters.

The fact that Mr. Paul continues to win straw polls suggests that his base of support has not been diminished by the media’s renewed interest in the racist newsletters scandal.

Ron Paul wins Arizona Republican Party straw poll | The State Column

**AirborneSapper7** · 01-29-2012, 08:40 PM

EVERYONE NEEDS TO SEE THIS.. Be sure to NOTICE how Threatening they are to YOU!!! - YouTube

**AirborneSapper7** · 01-29-2012, 08:43 PM

NDAA Obama vs. Romney vs. Ron Paul. Who is Right? - YouTube

Jan 12, 2012

Let's take a look at how Mitt Romney and Obama compare. Well, they agree on most everything. Ron Paul is the only candidate we have to support the constitution, cut government spending, decrease the size of government, and bring our troops home.