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View Full Version : Confessions of a Defecting Democrat --- Why Ron Paul is the Perfect Candidate...




BuddyRey
01-24-2008, 05:45 PM
Article: http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_bill_dou_071218_confessions_of_a_def.htm

Digg: http://www.digg.com/politics/Ron_Paul_Revolution_Spreads_to_the_Thinking_Left

This article particularly hits home for me, as a former Independent small-d democrat who despises today's Republican Party and longs for real change from what seems to be an increasingly indistinguishable two-party system.

freedom-maniac
01-24-2008, 06:32 PM
I'm a former Dem myself. Not the liberal idiots that dominate the party, but more like William Jennings Bryan.

Anyways, my top issue is getting out of Iraq, and I don't want to wait to 2013 with O'Billary. Kucinich was great, but, well, still Kucinich. Ron Paul's now the only person running who voted against the Iraq War.

Fields
01-24-2008, 09:33 PM
Good article and dugg.

Chuang-Tzu
01-25-2008, 12:46 PM
Open minded progressives and liberal democrats want to end this Empire building nonsense just as much as Ron Paul supporters do and will join a struggle to add "Sunshine" to the secretive dealings that continue to undermine freedom and progress. Stop with the Socialist name calling and see the big picture!

Molly1
01-25-2008, 12:57 PM
That's a great article and it explains why Ron Paul is the only Republican who could beat the Democrats in November, Democrats will vote for him.

Both parties are now controlled by the same people and America is slowly waking up to this fact. How many Iraqi's did Bill Clinton kill quietly during his presidency? Some say as many as 500,000, the majority of them children.

This has got to stop!

Edit: oh I see this thread is about Dennis. I gave to his candidacy, too, since I considered him a different breed, like Ron Paul. I'm saddened to hear he dropped out.

DahuiHeeNalu
01-25-2008, 02:40 PM
I have never voted before but this time i am and putting all my time toward canvasing and putting flyers on cars.

CelestialRender
01-25-2008, 03:00 PM
edit for quote

But yeah...this is important. The fact that we're getting more supporters from the right than the left shows me that we haven't pushed hard enough on the ideas that unite us.

billyjoeallen
01-25-2008, 03:05 PM
dugg.

Kade
01-25-2008, 03:07 PM
Open minded progressives and liberal democrats want to end this Empire building nonsense just as much as Ron Paul supporters do and will join a struggle to add "Sunshine" to the secretive dealings that continue to undermine freedom and progress. Stop with the Socialist name calling and see the big picture!

Welcome to the group. I agree with your 100%.

The name-calling needs to stop. I am extremely progressive, and I am NOT a socialist, or a Commie, or whatever other MSTR name you can copy from Rush and Savage. It's like they can't think for themselves.

littlex
01-25-2008, 04:18 PM
Yey, I'm so happy to welcome the Kucinich people. I love my Ron Paul peeps, but coming from a socialist dem background, Kucinich is the man. I'm sorry I couldn't talk my family into supporting him, they like "winners" whatever that means. We've got to vote for our principles and ideas and not for the dems and reps. Welcome aboard!

Campusanis
01-25-2008, 05:16 PM
The name-calling needs to stop. I am extremely progressive, and I am NOT a socialist, or a Commie, or whatever other MSTR name you can copy from Rush and Savage. It's like they can't think for themselves.

+ a million!
I've actually heard people saying things like "ah, I'd like to vote for candidate X but I'm a [insert generalising group name]". It really is like they can't think for themselves.
So all Democrats, don't just restrain yourself from voting for Paul simply because he's with the Republicans. Apart from that, didn't he say he'd think about Kucinich for Vice President somewhen? (Would that even be possible?)

SevenEyedJeff
01-25-2008, 10:44 PM
I hate it when people vote for someone because they like a winner. Well, what good is voting for a winner when they pass trade deals that send your jobs overseas, won't do anything about the illegal immigration problem, and bankrupt the country with overspending and an aggressive foreign policy? People need to be leaders, and not just follow what everyone else is doing or voting for who everyone else is voting for. I'm voting for who I believe in because, inside, I know it's the right thing to do. I never voted for Bush or Clinton, and I feel good knowing that I didn't vote for them. It will feel just as good knowing that I was willing to try to save this country by voting for the right man, at a critical time for our country, and that person is Ron Paul.

BuddyRey
01-27-2008, 07:59 PM
Yey, I'm so happy to welcome the Kucinich people. I love my Ron Paul peeps, but coming from a socialist dem background, Kucinich is the man. I'm sorry I couldn't talk my family into supporting him, they like "winners" whatever that means. We've got to vote for our principles and ideas and not for the dems and reps. Welcome aboard!

Ditto!

I also come from a Dem family (my mom campaigned for George McGovern, but has since split with the dems on issues like border control). For me personally, it was a difficult journey to come to the philosophy of personal and economic liberty, but I think we can reach out to many of the folks who lean to the left on economic matters and form a solid coalition to save this country from the hard-right, pro-war, pro-theocracy crowd.

Mini-Me
01-27-2008, 11:56 PM
Welcome to the group. I agree with your 100%.

The name-calling needs to stop. I am extremely progressive, and I am NOT a socialist, or a Commie, or whatever other MSTR name you can copy from Rush and Savage. It's like they can't think for themselves.

I just wanted to chip in that I'm in total agreement here...we do not want to "cut off our nose to spite our face" by alienating "socialists" and "progressives" (whatever we want to call them ;)). Economic liberals are not our archenemies; they're just people with different viewpoints on one important issue. While economics are extremely important (and Ron Paul's message is right up my alley), we all need to come together and prioritize and realize that we all face problems far more dire than entitlements: We need to stop the madness of empire building, the rising police state, the consolidation of power into the executive branch, the consolidation of power at the federal level, and the insidiously gradual shift toward unelected supranational governments.

Getting rid of entitlements, drastically cutting spending, and abolishing the central bank and the Fed are great things in their own right, but even more importantly, they are the means to scale back government and loosen tyranny's grip over our country and the world. Ron Paul is our last best hope to head off the brewing storm of authoritarian fascism, and we need as much help as we can get from all corners to get him elected. If you think things are getting bad now, just wait...as I'm sure everyone knows, free speech is under attack (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=100084). Gun rights (the "last defense" against all other rights being trampled over) are under attack (here is one of many relevant threads (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=101497)). We're getting the Real ID. The Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments are now relics of the past (PATRIOT Act, among other things), and the Eighth is heading in that direction (torture). The Tenth has been a dark little joke for a long time. Habeas corpus is "quaint." The NSA is spying on us. Intelligence agencies now want carte blanche to read our emails, file transfers, and web searches (http://rawstory.com/news/2007/US_drafting_plan_to_allow_government_0114.html), and based on the way things have been going, I don't see anyone in power denying this to them. There have apparently been executive orders written (but not yet enacted) to confiscate all food, etc. in the event of martial law, which can now pretty much be declared at the "whim of a hat," as our favorite President George W. Bush would put it. The Constitution is already being disregarded, but the NAU will usher in its official death, should it come to pass.

All of these terrifying things are going on, and some of us are still vehemently shunning economic liberals for being evil socialists? Everyone needs to understand something: It's one thing if government power expands to create universal healthcare - especially if it turns out to be a disaster (as it will), entitlement policies like that alone can be defeated by public outcry and political action. When government power expands to destroy free speech, however...that's another animal entirely, and it's something far more horrifying. All expansions of government power should be fought of course, but we really need to prioritize and realize that even hardcore economic liberals can still be our allies in the fight to save our republic from becoming a nightmarish police state, or even worse, a province of the NAU or a one-world government run by elites.

Kade
01-28-2008, 01:13 PM
I just wanted to chip in that I'm in total agreement here...we do not want to "cut off our nose to spite our face" by alienating "socialists" and "progressives" (whatever we want to call them ;)). Economic liberals are not our archenemies; they're just people with different viewpoints on one important issue. While economics are extremely important (and Ron Paul's message is right up my alley), we all need to come together and prioritize and realize that we all face problems far more dire than entitlements: We need to stop the madness of empire building, the rising police state, the consolidation of power into the executive branch, the consolidation of power at the federal level, and the insidiously gradual shift toward unelected supranational governments.

Getting rid of entitlements, drastically cutting spending, and abolishing the central bank and the Fed are great things in their own right, but even more importantly, they are the means to scale back government and loosen tyranny's grip over our country and the world. Ron Paul is our last best hope to head off the brewing storm of authoritarian fascism, and we need as much help as we can get from all corners to get him elected. If you think things are getting bad now, just wait...as I'm sure everyone knows, free speech is under attack (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=100084). Gun rights (the "last defense" against all other rights being trampled over) are under attack (here is one of many relevant threads (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=101497)). We're getting the Real ID. The Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments are now relics of the past (PATRIOT Act, among other things), and the Eighth is heading in that direction (torture). The Tenth has been a dark little joke for a long time. Habeas corpus is "quaint." The NSA is spying on us. Intelligence agencies now want carte blanche to read our emails, file transfers, and web searches (http://rawstory.com/news/2007/US_drafting_plan_to_allow_government_0114.html), and based on the way things have been going, I don't see anyone in power denying this to them. There have apparently been executive orders written (but not yet enacted) to confiscate all food, etc. in the event of martial law, which can now pretty much be declared at the "whim of a hat," as our favorite President George W. Bush would put it. The Constitution is already being disregarded, but the NAU will usher in its official death, should it come to pass.

All of these terrifying things are going on, and some of us are still vehemently shunning economic liberals for being evil socialists? Everyone needs to understand something: It's one thing if government power expands to create universal healthcare - especially if it turns out to be a disaster (as it will), entitlement policies like that alone can be defeated by public outcry and political action. When government power expands to destroy free speech, however...that's another animal entirely, and it's something far more horrifying. All expansions of government power should be fought of course, but we really need to prioritize and realize that even hardcore economic liberals can still be our allies in the fight to save our republic from becoming a nightmarish police state, or even worse, a province of the NAU or a one-world government run by elites.

I agree with you. I'm more of a social liberal than a economic liberal. I do support and believe in Public Education very strongly however...

My biggest concern right now is the expansion of the government power to trump our most precious liberties, including the freedoms we take for granted or should demand, like net neutrality. We are but a stone's throw away from national ID cards and a surveillance state. This government is not afraid of the people, and in that, it has failed the founding principals.

1000-points-of-fright
01-28-2008, 01:46 PM
The great thing about Paul's philosophy is that if you really believe in economic liberalism and entitlements you can still have it... in your state. All you have to do is vote for the local politicians who will implement it.

Convert
01-28-2008, 02:27 PM
As a libertarian leaning liberal, I've been a registered Democrat for my entire adult life. I live in a closed primary state, so I'm now a dreaded Republican.

I began supporting Paul because of his Anti-Iraq War stance, but I've come to appreciate his economics savvy as well. I also love his authenticity and honesty, and the fact that he doesn't pander.

Go Ron Paul!!!

liberteebell
01-28-2008, 02:40 PM
Bump for a great thread.

When I look at the members of my meetup group, ages from 17 to 76 (yes, really!) and every background imaginable, from Green party to hard core evangelical, conservative Christian and everything in between, I realize that I'm looking at the Real America, not some silly, divisive left-right, name-calling paradigm foisted upon us by those who want to keep us divided. The discussions are lively, yet everyone gets along incredibly well. As Ron Paul says, "freedom brings us together" and it transcends all differences. It's really the coolest thing to be part of and to witness! :cool:

BuddyRey
05-16-2011, 03:29 AM
Given very recent developments in the left-right establishment's infowarfare onslaught against Ron Paul, I figured this article would be a timely one to bump.

Kade
06-20-2011, 09:27 AM
I don't know if I was drunk when I wrote half the stuff I did -- there was some pretty shoddy writing on my part. I'll help with the bump though.

I suppose I know what I was trying to convey.