What's your issue?

[1k9]

So I'm sitting around reading the board and I start to wonder why people are here. What I get is that everybody wants Dr. Paul to win, but that doesn't address why we all want him to win. So I thought I'd ask you what issue is the most important to you.

Please keep it to one issue, nearly everything that I see going around me is bothersome, but what really bothers me is the errosion of civil liberties. I can live with the taxes, or the Federal Reserve, hell, I can even live with the Iraq war (mainly because it's so blatent that it will end whether Paul in in office or not).

For me: Civil liberties i.e., war on drugs, Patriot Act, Carvivore etc..

[angelatc]

I can't keep it to one issue. I'm not a one issue voter.

[Noodles]

Civil liberties, with emphasis on stopping the police state.

[MsDoodahs]

Not a one issue person either, sorry.

[Swmorgan77]

Preserving the Constitution in general.

For me it is fundamentally spiritual in nature:

I am LDS, and unlike Romney who mocks at the idea when raised by Chris Matthews, I actually believe the Constitution was inspired and ought to be upheld. When Romney said that the pundits "would not be able to get him to distance himself from his faith", he was wrong. He did and he has, he just may not realize it.

However, setting the religous elements aside...

I am also a long-time student of political philosophy and I firmly believe that the United States Constitution is indeed the greatest political charter ever created, and achieved what is (if upheld) the best form of government for a nation of the geographical size and nature of the United States... I.E. a Federalist Union of primarily sovereign Republics in which basic unalienable rights are secured and government is limited to the role of protecting them.

[BuddyRey]

I think my biggest issue is the shrinking middle class. Our current President is a dyed-in-the-wool plutocrat, and under him, we've seen the rich get exorbitantly richer, and the poor get exorbitantly poorer, until it's almost as if we've reverted to Feudal Serfdom again. Then again, I can't tell if this is my biggest one issue, or civil liberties. They seem almost one in the same to me sometimes, because in a Fascist government, he who has the money has the freedom.

[smtwngrl]

If there's one issue for me, it's the Constitution. (lol--because that covers most of the issues) I've been a constitutionalist for about 13 years now. And I've held Ron Paul in high regard since the mid 90's because of his actions as a Representative.

What's the most critical at this moment in time (to me) is the policy of pre-emptive war abroad along with the attack on our freedoms at home. These are basically two sides of the same coin. Of course, our financial situation is getting critical, too.

[Santana28]

Without a sovereign nation of our own - what do we have? what are we? We should enforce our borders and immigration laws, end foreign intervention, and get out of foreign organizations and agreements.

The willingness to return the power to the state and local level. I'm sure to have a problem with some of the laws passed - but at least then i'll have the choice to *move* if i don't like it. Right now there is no freedom of choice.

Those are my issues. I think if those are resolved, everything else will work itself out as it should.

[johnrocks]

I agree with him on every single issue; a first for me in nearly 30 years of voting!

[Roxi]

the main thing that got my attention is that RP really seemed to "get it" that we were heading in a scary direction...and has realized it for a long time but didnt really think he had the support to change anything about it.
he knows a lot more than we do

i had never heard about the military commissions act til RP

[Nickel]

I'm not really a one issue voter either, but that doesn't mean that I don't have an issue that I think is most important.

For me, the most important issue facing us is our foreign policy. If we followed a non-interventionist foreign policy, think of all the other issues we could address with all the extra troops back in the country and all the extra money back in the country. Not to mention, not having to worry about more unnecessary wars. This is the main reason why I'm supporting Ron Paul (and starting to read about the Libertarian Party).

--
Democrats for Ron Paul

[Bradley in DC]

Liberty

[DjLoTi]

The economy, the war in Iraq, our civil rights, the war on drugs, hemp, and net neutrality.

[UtahApocalypse]

To protect myself, my family, my friends. I feel our country is heading down a road that was traveled once before in Germany. I wont sit back and watch my country fall apart.

[janeuner]

Executive Power

I don't care who is president (Democrat, Republican, Communist...) so long as they understand that they do not have the power to set policy and operate in secrecy. Congress is the supreme power in the land, and I am disheartened that the most honorable congressman we have must give up his seat to remind his peers of that fact.

[Original_Intent]

Preserving the Constitution in general.

For me it is fundamentally spiritual in nature:

I am LDS, and unlike Romney who mocks at the idea when raised by Chris Matthews, I actually believe the Constitution was inspired and ought to be upheld. When Romney said that the pundits "would not be able to get him to distance himself from his faith", he was wrong. He did and he has, he just may not realize it.

However, setting the religous elements aside...

I am also a long-time student of political philosophy and I firmly believe that the United States Constitution is indeed the greatest political charter ever created, and achieved what is (if upheld) the best form of government for a nation of the geographical size and nature of the United States... I.E. a Federalist Union of primarily sovereign Republics in which basic unalienable rights are secured and government is limited to the role of protecting them.

This pretty much sums it up for me. Why go to the effort of re-typing it?

[woowoowoo22]

Taxes

[smtwngrl]

I am disheartened that the most honorable congressman we have must give up his seat to remind his peers of that fact.

Well, actually, he can run for his Congressional seat at the same time he is running for President, so he doesn't have to give it up.

[SeekLiberty]

So I'm sitting around reading the board and I start to wonder why people are here. What I get is that everybody wants Dr. Paul to win, but that doesn't address why we all want him to win. So I thought I'd ask you what issue is the most important to you.

Please keep it to one issue, nearly everything that I see going around me is bothersome, but what really bothers me is the errosion of civil liberties. I can live with the taxes, or the Federal Reserve, hell, I can even live with the Iraq war (mainly because it's so blatent that it will end whether Paul in in office or not).

For me: Civil liberties i.e., war on drugs, Patriot Act, Carvivore etc..

I believe the central issue for everybody is Liberty, and getting it back.

My OWN issue, which has me most concerned, is reaching out to enough people, fast enough, the message of Freedom and WHAT we can DO, as individuals, to get it. One man, by himself, cannot regain the Free Society our Republic once had.

IMO, there is only ONE, surefire, right and proper, Constitutionally CORRECT way to restore our Republic and our Liberty (by taking individual responsibility) and that is mastermind Edwin Vieira's scholarly work ... "Constitutional Homeland Security."

http://www.amazon.com/Constitutional-Homeland-Security-Americans-Revitalize/dp/0967175925/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-8267830-3940011?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1183447348&sr=8-1

I humbly urge everybody to buy and read this book!

It's a WE THE PEOPLE plan Ron Paul would endorse because it's 100% Constitutional.

- SL

[paulitics]

1. CIVIL LIBERTIES. Restore habeas corpus. 2. Stop the NAMU. 3. Get the hell out of middle east affairs. End preemptive wars. 4. Cut govt spending

[ButchHowdy]

1.) To bring heaven to earth.

2.) Every other candidate scares the crap out of me!

[PaleoForPaul]

Cutting the size and scope of federal socalism.

None of the other candidates even come close. While everyone and their brother are worried about some idiots in a cave overseas who's best weapons are suicide bombers (ie not so smart bombs) I look at our entitlements system along with our loose immigration policy and see a real disaster in the works.

[JaylieWoW]

Liberty

Ditto. As stated above, this one issue (if it could be called that), covers everything else because more than just being a word to describe freedom, liberty also carries with it the weight of personal responsibility.

[Scribbler de Stebbing]

This is why Ron Paul can be successful. His supporters embrace his view of Constitutional government and don't have to fight over wedge issues. We just want much less government and much more liberty. No need to get bogged down in individual issues, because they're all covered under the word "No" (relating to government). :D

[LibertyCzar]

We need to follow the Constitution. I agree that we need to return to having the full slate of civil liberties. I would like to see the Constitution amended to better protect these liberties. I would like to see the first amendment broken up into separate amendments for each liberty, better defined so that they cannot be phased out again when it is convenient.

More generally, by returning to the Constitution, we'll be more likely to have more frequent amendments to the Constitution when new situations arrive.

[Swmorgan77]

Guys this thread could be turned into a great youtube video.

A bunch of short statements of Ron Paul supporters talking about why they support him. It would show that Ron Paul's supporters are REAL people and the diversity of their motivations.

I will put it together if you want to PM me the text of your response to this thread and a link to a picture, your first name and location.

Or even better, take a video of yourself making a short statement and sent it to swmorgan77@yahoo.com via yousendit.com

[foraneagle2]

http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v79/121/42/607715/n607715_32922639_6088.jpg

[1k9]

His supporters embrace his view of Constitutional government and don't have to fight over wedge issues.

No disrespect intended, but the reason I'm here is because I'm an individual with my own views. Putting Paul into a cookie cutter and saying that one size fits all, belittles those of us that are passionate about certain issues (even if we are the minority).

[AMack]

Economic policy, specifically related to unbalanced trade, the federal debt, and the federal reserve. I'd rather not have to experience an economic depression during my twenties

=)

[tsoldrin]

Civil Liberties! (I include Constitutional Rights and Habeas Corpus under that heading). For me this is head and shoulders above all else and for two reasons: 1) We NEED these to fight for everything else, plain and simple. 2) We're not getting them back without Ron Paul's help or a whole new civil war/revolutionary war - nobody else has made any noises about restoring our lost freedoms.

The other stuff... can come in time. I am in perfect agreement on foreign policy and always have had that stance. His economics I was skeptical about until I did some research and now I think it's worth a try (someone really has to put his economic policy into words everyone out there can grasp without doing massive research!), small government and low taxes are just icing on the cake.

[cottonmouth]

1. Liberty, privacy
2. Shrink gov't; end deficit spending
3. Cease foreign interventionism
4. Restore constitutional adherence

I have been following RP's political career since 1984, when I became a temporary Republican in order to vote for him in the primary for US Senator ( he was trounced by that erstwhile Democrat slug Phil Gramm). Voted for him for Pres in 1988. Was overjoyed to see him get back in Congress in 1996 and survive all the subsequent efforts by Dems and Reps to run him off. Now, I will again be a Ron Paul Republican. No other politician has ever spoken for me as RP does. God Bless Texas and RP too.

[Bison]

Pro-Life
Stop unconstitutional spending
Stop sending American Jobs over seas.
National Sovereignty
Government off my back
Eliminate IRS

There is more , but thats a good start.

http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/Is_Ron_Paul_Conservative

Digg it

[USAFCapt]

He doesn't subscribe to groupthink.

[Brandybuck]

Free market economics. Just about everything in life ties into the economic sphere. It's not a popular issue, however, as it's very misunderstood. Even within the Ron Paul movement, there are many protectionists that want government interference in certain areas of the economy.

Abolish the IRS, slash spending, scrap most regulations, assert property rights, free unmanaged trade with all, no industry subsidies, etc.

[Wyurm]

everything.

After all I do agree with the constitution. I believe the constitution is the foundation of our country and if you destroy the constitution, you destroy the whole nation that was built on it. Since Paul's message is the same message as the constitution, then my issue is everything.

[BLS]

This is pretty easy really.

He's honest, he's anti-illegal immigration and he believes you are responsible for your own life.

That was enough for me. The war, abortion, and many other issues were not as important to me, and on some issues, I don't share his opinions.
But the fact he talks TO me, and not AT me made all the difference. Why is it that honest politicians never have a chance?

[PatriotOne]

While my reasons won't solve all our problems as there is deep fundamental problems to fix, but the most pressing one to me right now is getting out of the war pronto.

[TheEvilDetector]

There are a million reasons but the fundamental principle rests on a movement away from collectivistic society.

[chopdave]

Abolishing the federal reserve along with abolishing the income tax are my top two issues. I believe a sound currency is one of the most important ingredients to maintain freedom. When a government can print money at will, it can spend endlessly. Our politicians need something to reign them in when it comes to spending. Until we get hold of spending, the inflation tax will continue to rob citizens of their hard earned property. Those who control the money, control the people.

[CJLauderdale4]

If the Federal Government were Constitutional, acted by the Constitution, and was limited to the power initially vested it, all other issues would be resolved, or sent to the States for resolution (where it should be).

[lucius]

Gurudas said it best: “All these people say there are powerful groups threatening our way of life. Some sources identify the bankers and corporate elite as the source of our problems, while others feel the national security state is the threat. The power of Wall Street is now obvious to many. So much is happening today that it is increasingly clear a police state is no longer some distant event to fear. The American people must awaken and join together to restore constitutional government and diminish the power of the large corporations and their agent, the federal government, so that we can again be a free people.”

[megan]

privatization.

[LibertyEagle]

Reinstating the Constitution.

[nayjevin]

decriminilization of dissenting speech/thought

[cajuncocoa]

I would have to say my issue is Civil Liberties. I'm fed up with liberals and conservatives...it's time for a change!

[quickmike]

All the issues are very important to me. But........... the single most important issue for me is the one dealing with a sound monetary system. Without this, none of the others will matter because we will end up like the former Soviet Union when our dollar collapses, which will make anything else unattainable because we will just be worried about the basics of life, like food, energy, paying bills. Like Ron said, we cant go on living on credit forever because eventually the dollar will be looked at as a joke by the rest of the world. When that happens, were screwed because everything right now is based on the US dollar.

[BillyBeer]

Foreign policy, it has been on the wrong course for 110 years and Ron Paul knows full well the folly of ignoring the Founding fathers.

[MozoVote]

Foreign policy and ending the nanny state.

[Mesogen]

I think what turned me on to RP is that he is the ONLY candidate even speaking about the very fundamental issues that affect every part of our country and are driving it in the totally wrong direction it's going.

Debt-based money issued to our government by the privately owned Federal Reserve bank is the enabling factor that allows all of the huge growth of government, the nation building, and even the curtailing of civil liberties.

They are all symptoms of underlying problems that RP alone is addressing on the national stage.

I really wish people would start to "get it" and realize that whether they agree with RP on certain issues like abortion or immigration, these issues don't matter unless you begin to understand and start to solve the underlying fundamental problems in our system.