++ PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS
As this field shaped up several months ago, I said the only 3
candidates I was considering for my vote were Michele Bachmann, Herman
Cain or Ron Paul. I have had some level of disagreement with every
person in the race.
When a person has held office before and has a track record, I believe
it is more important to examine how they have governed rather than to
give priority to the words they as espousing now when they want our
votes. I do recognize that people can change their opinions, but the
principle of their past governance is generally more important.
I believe Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich are all
politically expedient flip floppers with Newt being the king of the 3
of them. I wouldn’t call Santorum a flip flopper, but rather a
professional deal maker and compromiser. His endorsement for Arlen
Spector (at first a Democrat, then a Republican & back to a Democrat),
perhaps the most liberal Republican to ever serve in the Senate, is
hard to forgive. At that time, Specter was in a close Republican
primary race against a more conservative Pat Toomey (just elected to
the Senate in 2010) when Santorum and then President George W. Bush
publicly endorsed Specter who eventually won the race. He stabbed
Pennsylvania conservatives in the back and they couldn’t wait to throw
him out in the next election. Santorum lost by 18 percentage points.
For me, he is a person that would be very hard for me to trust, given
his track record, though he is solid on social issues. I just can’t
get too excited about John Huntsman, someone President Obama selected
to be our Ambassador to China. I believe Gary Johnson has dropped out
and is running as a Libertarian, which is where is probably needs to
be.
Though people are telling me their thoughts, I can’t for the life of
me understand why Michelle Bachmann sank like a rock after the Iowa
straw poll. I liked Herman Cain regarding some issues, but became
convinced he wasn’t up to the task, especially with his needing to
frequently clarify himself and the people he selected caused a
question in my mind about his abilities. The high powered attorney he
hired to deal with all the sexual allegations didn’t do Herman any
favors with me when his statement about the alleged multi year affair
went something like this, “it was a consensual relationship and it is
none of anyone’s business.” Sorry, wrong answer for me.
Therefore, through the process of elimination I am left with only one
candidate and that is Ron Paul. I don’t necessarily disagree with his
ideology of non-interventionism regarding foreign affairs. However, I
don’t know how to get to that posture after intervening as the world’s
policeman for the past 120 years or so. I don’t know how to unravel
that web of entanglement overnight without giving encouragement to
those who now hate us?
I would love for Ron Paul to be a U.S. Senator, but as the President
and Commander in Chief, that concerns me. I also believe he
underestimates the threat of Radical Islam, both here and abroad. In
addition, his flip flop on illegal immigration really bothers me,
especially his opposition to building a fence. I believe an effective
fence along the full border with Mexico is one of the highest spending
priorities in America. The funding should come out of our military
budget. It is a higher priority than keeping troops in any nation
anywhere else in the world. While it is technically true, that fences
can keep people in as well as out, it is a silly argument as no one is
suggesting people should not be able to travel outside the U.S.. I am
also not so sure that Paul sees our trade deficit as the serious
problem it is and I don’t know that he knows what to do about it. I
was very disappointed the Donald Trump debate didn’t happen as I
believe the trade issue would have been the focus of that debate. If
we don’t fix that issue, we can’t have a REAL economic recovery.
What I do like about Ron Paul is that I believe he and Bachmann are or
were the only 2 candidates really committed to the kind of spending
cuts needed to pull us back from the brink of the debt disaster.
Though I believe both of them were wanting to get that done too
quickly. I also appreciate his understanding of the evils of the
Federal Reserve and his fight to eliminate it and replace it’s fiat
federal reserve notes with gold and silver backed currency.
I also appreciate that he is probably the only candidate in the race
that would work to get the U.S. out of the United Nations and the UN
out of the United States. I also support his efforts to eliminate
foreign aid, even to Israel. I personally am a supporter of Israel and
believe in their right to live in the land that God gave to them,
which is especially difficult when they are surrounded by irrational
aggressors who want to see them destroyed.
What most Americans who support Israel don’t understand it that the
aid to Israel has been the leverage used by the United States to
interfere and pull Israel back every time they have been on the verge
of delivering a crushing blow to their aggressor neighbors. My idea of
supporting Israel would be to sell them the military weapons they need
and trade with them as much as possible. Also, there is nothing to
keep Americans from sending financial aid to Israel through private
efforts, but it should not be through our government.
Of course the strongest aspect of Ron Paul is his fight for liberty.
He really understands what our founders fought for and why we must
strive toward liberty over dependency. We must also lean toward
prudent risk taking over the temptations to prohibit or severely limit
risks in the name of safety or the illusions of peace. Ever increasing
safety regulations are one of the greatest risks to our liberties as
well as making us soft as a nation.
I guess you could say, I am willing to roll the dice on the things in
which I disagree with Ron Paul in favor of supporting him on the
things in which he is right. While the greatest need in our country is
a Spiritual awakening toward Biblical Christianity, the manifestations
of that need are our rotting culture and the growing tyranny of the
state and more particularly the federal government.
While Ron Paul may not be the best leader for a Spiritual awakening,
he is the person willing to fight the tyranny of excessive and immoral
government. I will be voting for Ron Paul, regardless of whether or
not he has a chance to win! Many will disagree and that is fine with
me. Citizens tend to make their minds up on a Presidential election
based on their own research rather than the endorsements of others.
That is because there is so much opportunity to evaluate a candidate
on their own. If Romney wins in South Carolina, I believe he will
probably be the Republican nominee, not that South Carolina does such
a good job at picking the candidate, they don’t. Other than Ronald
Reagan, they chose George H Bush, Bob Dole, George W Bush and John
McCain. Other than Reagan, what a bunch of establishment Republican
moderates.
I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.
Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com
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