bobbyw24
03-12-2009, 06:35 AM
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/93845
Message to the GOP: Why Not Call on Ron Paul?
Stuart Nachbar
March 09, 2009
Recently, two special events happened that have an impact on the perception, and therefore the future of the Republican Party. The first was Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's response to President Obama's State of the Union address. The second was the meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
Jindal's address was only seven minutes and it was a disappointing performance for a young politician of considerable intellect. Only 37, Jindal has run Louisiana's public health system. served as chancellor of a state university system, been elected to Congress twice, and now he is a first-term governor.
However, he blew it on his day to shine for the nation. He made the usual Republican arguments: stimulus spending and taxing the wealthy would leave a huge debt for future generations and would create only a bloated bureaucratic government while solving none of our pressing economic problems.
Fine, that's the party line. Then he went off about "volcano monitoring," a $140 million update of USGS technology to help track the potential for volcanic eruptions, which may be as likely as Category 3+ hurricanes. Conservative Republicans always seem to shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to science. That, and Rush Limbaugh, may prove to be among the acts that will lead to the Republican Party's undoing.
If the GOP is to become more inclusive and actually have a chance to influence policy as a minority party, they need ideas. Which made me wonder: why don't they spend more time talking to Ron Paul?
Ron Paul is a bit of a gadfly. He has spoken about the need to eliminate the Federal Reserve and during his presidential run he stated that the country could close down the IRS and replace it with nothing. But he was also the only GOP candidate to oppose the Patriot Act and the war in Iraq.I don't know if Ron Paul has ever stuck an earmark in an appropriations bill, but if he has not, I would consider him to be a conservative who lives up to his words.
I spliced a few comments together from Ron Paul's official site, CampaignforLiberty.com and from RonPaul.com, on my site www.EducatedQuest.com, as if the congressman were asked to respond to Obama's address, for example:
"An income tax is the most degrading and totalitarian of all possible taxes. Its implementation wrongly suggests that the government owns the lives and labor of the citizens it is supposed to represent. About 45 percent of all federal revenue comes from the personal income tax. That means that about 55 percent — over half of all revenue — comes from other sources, like excise taxes, fees, and corporate taxes. We could eliminate the income tax, replace it with nothing, and still fund the same level of big government we had in the late 1990s."
Personally, for the sake of the Republican Party, I hope that there is a Ron Paul revolution. Democrats and Republicans govern better under a strong two-party system, where each party is as inclusive as possible. And Barack Obama knows it. Sadly, the minority party has shown a shrill voice, as if it were a baby who has lost his rattle.
Stuart Nachbar blogs on thought and fiction in education and politics at www.EducatedQuest.com
Message to the GOP: Why Not Call on Ron Paul?
Stuart Nachbar
March 09, 2009
Recently, two special events happened that have an impact on the perception, and therefore the future of the Republican Party. The first was Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's response to President Obama's State of the Union address. The second was the meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
Jindal's address was only seven minutes and it was a disappointing performance for a young politician of considerable intellect. Only 37, Jindal has run Louisiana's public health system. served as chancellor of a state university system, been elected to Congress twice, and now he is a first-term governor.
However, he blew it on his day to shine for the nation. He made the usual Republican arguments: stimulus spending and taxing the wealthy would leave a huge debt for future generations and would create only a bloated bureaucratic government while solving none of our pressing economic problems.
Fine, that's the party line. Then he went off about "volcano monitoring," a $140 million update of USGS technology to help track the potential for volcanic eruptions, which may be as likely as Category 3+ hurricanes. Conservative Republicans always seem to shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to science. That, and Rush Limbaugh, may prove to be among the acts that will lead to the Republican Party's undoing.
If the GOP is to become more inclusive and actually have a chance to influence policy as a minority party, they need ideas. Which made me wonder: why don't they spend more time talking to Ron Paul?
Ron Paul is a bit of a gadfly. He has spoken about the need to eliminate the Federal Reserve and during his presidential run he stated that the country could close down the IRS and replace it with nothing. But he was also the only GOP candidate to oppose the Patriot Act and the war in Iraq.I don't know if Ron Paul has ever stuck an earmark in an appropriations bill, but if he has not, I would consider him to be a conservative who lives up to his words.
I spliced a few comments together from Ron Paul's official site, CampaignforLiberty.com and from RonPaul.com, on my site www.EducatedQuest.com, as if the congressman were asked to respond to Obama's address, for example:
"An income tax is the most degrading and totalitarian of all possible taxes. Its implementation wrongly suggests that the government owns the lives and labor of the citizens it is supposed to represent. About 45 percent of all federal revenue comes from the personal income tax. That means that about 55 percent — over half of all revenue — comes from other sources, like excise taxes, fees, and corporate taxes. We could eliminate the income tax, replace it with nothing, and still fund the same level of big government we had in the late 1990s."
Personally, for the sake of the Republican Party, I hope that there is a Ron Paul revolution. Democrats and Republicans govern better under a strong two-party system, where each party is as inclusive as possible. And Barack Obama knows it. Sadly, the minority party has shown a shrill voice, as if it were a baby who has lost his rattle.
Stuart Nachbar blogs on thought and fiction in education and politics at www.EducatedQuest.com