Ron Paul is the Most Mainstream Candidate
When the mainstream media actually covers the Ron Paul campaign, they tend to overlook the widespread evidence of his massive grassroots support, and focus on some of his more unusual stances on the issues. No other serious candidate in perhaps a century has talked about monetary policy, and few other candidates have talked about cutting the federal budget, let alone cutting enough to eventually repeal the income tax and replace it with nothing.
But there is an obvious reason why Ron Paul's campaign donations are exploding, and why he has built a national volunteer organization that other candidates would give their firstborn child for: Ron Paul is the most mainstream candidate in the race.
The biggest issues in the 2008 presidential election are almost universally agreed to be the war in Iraq, illegal immigration, health care, runaway federal spending, and civil liberties. Of all the presidential candidates in both major parties, only Ron Paul is on the winning side on all five issues, with the majority of American voters.
Ron Paul is well known for his opposition to the Iraq war. He warned us against it before it started, predicting many of the negative consequences that came to pass. He wasn't fooled by misleading government "intelligence" reports, as some of the leading Democratic candidates were. He voted against the war, unlike most of the other presidential candidates in both parties. He has never voted to fund the war, and has never flip-flopped in his opposition to it.
Most "experts" have argued that his strong opposition to the war would hurt him in the Republican primaries, but over 50% of Iowa Republicans want the troops brought home within six months. In other states the percentage is lower, but Ron Paul has those voters to himself.
Illegal immigration has been one of the top issues nationally for the past few years. John McCain's embrace of amnesty for illegal aliens was one major factor that doomed his campaign, when he had been ordained as the Republican front-runner early on. Mike Huckabee struggled to raise money for the first three quarters of the year, largely because he was viewed as soft on illegal immigration. Ron Paul would reduce the government incentives that encourage illegal immigration, as well as strengthening border security.
Every candidate is promising a better American health care system, but only Ron Paul is a medical doctor with a strong understanding of free market economics, who would attack the problem at its root, rolling back the damage from past government intervention, rather than creating expensive new government bureaucracies, red tape, and mandates. He understands that restoring freedom of choice to individuals, and strengthening the doctor-patient relationship is what's been missing for the past few decades.
Conservative voters in particular have been deeply discouraged by runaway federal spending under a Republican administration, particularly when Republicans controlled both houses of Congress. While the Democrats compete with each other to dream up even more expensive new programs, most of the Republican candidates offer only lip service to minor cuts in domestic spending, while promising to continue the expensive war in Iraq and adding to an already bloated Pentagon budget.
Ron Paul would save American taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars per year, simply by bringing the troops home from Iraq and elsewhere. He has boldly called for eliminating entire federal departments, not just "trimming the fat." Along with serious spending cuts, he is the only candidate promising to balance the budget right away, and the only one with any prayer of doing so, since the others would not reduce spending at all.
Protecting our civil liberties may not be the biggest issue to all Americans, but it is far and away the most important issue to those who are concerned about it. When a once free nation can pass the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the Real ID Act, suspend habeas corpus, and allow the President to violate the Fourth Amendment and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by spying on American citizens, it is not the time to elect someone who went along with that assault on our Constitutional rights.
Ron Paul has stood firm against each of those attacks on freedom, and has gone on the offensive with his American Freedom Agenda Act. It would undo most of the damage done to our civil liberties so far, and voters can rest assured that Ron Paul would respect the Constitutional limits of his office as President.
Given the mainstream media's focus on Ron Paul's less orthodox views, it is up to us to inform the voters that Ron Paul is the most mainstream candidate in the race, the one on their side on ending the Iraq war, reducing illegal immigration, improving health care, reducing government spending, and restoring our civil liberties.
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But there is an obvious reason why Ron Paul's campaign donations are exploding, and why he has built a national volunteer organization that other candidates would give their firstborn child for: Ron Paul is the most mainstream candidate in the race.
The biggest issues in the 2008 presidential election are almost universally agreed to be the war in Iraq, illegal immigration, health care, runaway federal spending, and civil liberties. Of all the presidential candidates in both major parties, only Ron Paul is on the winning side on all five issues, with the majority of American voters.
Ron Paul is well known for his opposition to the Iraq war. He warned us against it before it started, predicting many of the negative consequences that came to pass. He wasn't fooled by misleading government "intelligence" reports, as some of the leading Democratic candidates were. He voted against the war, unlike most of the other presidential candidates in both parties. He has never voted to fund the war, and has never flip-flopped in his opposition to it.
Most "experts" have argued that his strong opposition to the war would hurt him in the Republican primaries, but over 50% of Iowa Republicans want the troops brought home within six months. In other states the percentage is lower, but Ron Paul has those voters to himself.
Illegal immigration has been one of the top issues nationally for the past few years. John McCain's embrace of amnesty for illegal aliens was one major factor that doomed his campaign, when he had been ordained as the Republican front-runner early on. Mike Huckabee struggled to raise money for the first three quarters of the year, largely because he was viewed as soft on illegal immigration. Ron Paul would reduce the government incentives that encourage illegal immigration, as well as strengthening border security.
Every candidate is promising a better American health care system, but only Ron Paul is a medical doctor with a strong understanding of free market economics, who would attack the problem at its root, rolling back the damage from past government intervention, rather than creating expensive new government bureaucracies, red tape, and mandates. He understands that restoring freedom of choice to individuals, and strengthening the doctor-patient relationship is what's been missing for the past few decades.
Conservative voters in particular have been deeply discouraged by runaway federal spending under a Republican administration, particularly when Republicans controlled both houses of Congress. While the Democrats compete with each other to dream up even more expensive new programs, most of the Republican candidates offer only lip service to minor cuts in domestic spending, while promising to continue the expensive war in Iraq and adding to an already bloated Pentagon budget.
Ron Paul would save American taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars per year, simply by bringing the troops home from Iraq and elsewhere. He has boldly called for eliminating entire federal departments, not just "trimming the fat." Along with serious spending cuts, he is the only candidate promising to balance the budget right away, and the only one with any prayer of doing so, since the others would not reduce spending at all.
Protecting our civil liberties may not be the biggest issue to all Americans, but it is far and away the most important issue to those who are concerned about it. When a once free nation can pass the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the Real ID Act, suspend habeas corpus, and allow the President to violate the Fourth Amendment and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by spying on American citizens, it is not the time to elect someone who went along with that assault on our Constitutional rights.
Ron Paul has stood firm against each of those attacks on freedom, and has gone on the offensive with his American Freedom Agenda Act. It would undo most of the damage done to our civil liberties so far, and voters can rest assured that Ron Paul would respect the Constitutional limits of his office as President.
Given the mainstream media's focus on Ron Paul's less orthodox views, it is up to us to inform the voters that Ron Paul is the most mainstream candidate in the race, the one on their side on ending the Iraq war, reducing illegal immigration, improving health care, reducing government spending, and restoring our civil liberties.
