Several election cycles back, I was quite enamored of Steve Forbes as a Presidential Candidate. Forbes ran to give visibility to the Flat Tax - an idea whose time has come in my opinion - and ran a tough campaign, picking up two states and a significant percentage of votes. But when Bob Dole was chosen as the nominee, he had the good grace to step back and realize that his time on the stage was done. His ideas continued to be talked about - even in the general election - but he himself knew when to bow out.
Not so Ron Paul. Dr. Paul has decided it is not enough to be given respect by the candidate - despite not having won a single state in the primary - but that he is important enough to warrant his own Convention, which will be held in the same city at the same time as the Republican Convention. He claims to not want to hurt the party, but is eager to keep his face on the evening news.
I respect Dr. Paul's tenacity, but question his methods. If the Republican Party is so antithetical to his ideals, why remain part of it? And if it is truly a party he wishes to remain a part of, why all this grandstanding? Parties exist to form power coalitions. If you're unwilling to join any coalition, do you really want to call yourself part of it?
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Ron Paul: "I'll throw my own convention... with blackjack... and delegates..."
Posted by Nomad at 7:55 AM
Labels: party, presidentialcampaign, republicans, ronpaul
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4 comments:
I agree Nomad. Ron Paul is now just interested in getting attention. He would argue the attention is for his issues, but I would say it is for himself. If he were asking for a more prominent role at the convention, that might be reasonable. But to do anything the week of the convention that will obviously distract from his parties nominee for president is wrong. There is a time and a place for everything, and that is neither the time nor the place.
P.S. Go Steve Forbes!!!
i still don't understand why he didn't leave the party and become the nominee for the libertarian party. he would be significantly better than the person they have running now. plus he's got name recognition, which the other person doesn't have.
After much thought, I think the reason he did not defect to the Libertarian Party is that he knows he will never be President. Too many of his views are too at odds with most of America. So instead, he is hoping to be the Barry Goldwater of this generation of Republicans and initiate a new Conversative(ish) Movement which will consider him their father. It is a way to make history without actually having to get elected. In the Libertarian Party, he'd get more votes overall but his voice would be lost among the noise.
Ron Paul is actually very humble and is not seeking attention for himself. Look at how he conducted himself in the debates. No, his campaign is ALL about the message. His supporters, however, are very loyal to him because he is the anti-politician; that is, he speaks the truth and reason about what is fundamentally wrong with this country. The two main issues are the need to change (1)our foreign policy (no preemptive war, no policing the world, no nation-building) and (2) our economic and monetary policy ($9.2 trillion debt and fiat money controlled by the Federal Reserve, which causes economic bubbles, debasement of the dollar, and inflation, which confiscates savings and disproportionately hurts the poor and middle classes). Ron Paul would have loved to have addressed his fellow Republicans at the national convention, but he was turned down cold. Already, he has begun a new organization, "Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty", which in only two days, has attracted over 40,000 members! Won't you join us in fighting for peace, prosperity, and liberty?
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