(ThyBlackMan.com) I like Obama. He is smart, promotes the values of family and what it means to be a father and a husband, but his policies leave a lot to be questioned. I am not fond of the republicans, or the Democratic Party, especially the true GOP candidates trying to become the next President of the United States. But I do like and respect Dr. Ron Paul – libertarian like me, who has been reduced to run under the Republican banner when the Republican Party hates him with avarice and conviction. So if it came down to it, I would select Dr. Ron Paul over Barack Obama, Esquire anyway and let me tell you why.
To start off, more than five years ago, before any of the current slate of GOP hopefuls or prior democratic contenders, he saw and said what would happen if government continued on its fatuous ways. Even before Obama, he described the current state of America’s Federal government as a philosophical danger that only represents the status quo. He described it as immoral because both republicans and democrats in the executive and legislative branches of government were destroying our personal and economic liberties. Five years ago he stated that they believe in internationalism over the constitution and that banking, the military industrial complex, the prison industrial complex, medical industry, the insurance industry and pharmaceutical industry interest are placed before the interest of the American people in the name of profits.
Many of us, as ill-informed as we are, forget that the austerity measures via stimulus as pronounced by Bush and Obama, and countries in Europe, are not what is needed to deal with the problems resulting from the financial crisis of 2007 but instead aid the speculators who brought the crisis in the first place. Paul is the only person who addresses this.
He speaks openly how the UN uses America to act against its own interest and how they took us to war after WW II in Korea and that we have been there ever since. He points out how our major trade agreements including NAFTA and our involvement with the IMF, WTO and World Bank drain US economic resources for other nations and not ours. He is against internationalism and believes most government should be local as well as speaks openly how democrats and republicans alike are weak on immigration and do not care about the nation’s borders based on past inaction.
To bring our budget under control he notes we needs to stop spending. Unlike Republicans, he will not cut domestic programs to do this but rather stop all foreign aid abroad, close all of our military bases abroad, and bring home all of our troops. If we don’t take such measure, not only will our sovereignty be questionable, but we will have an even bigger financial crisis and a collapse of the dollar is his view.
His observations are well supported as both democrats and republican administrations amass massive deficits that continue to grow annually. He attacks republicans for when Bush was elected, he doubled the size of the Department of Education, increased entitlements and implemented a prescription drug program, none of which were paid for.
He says that the federal government spends too much, tax too much, borrow too much and print too much. This has resulted in a currency and sovereign debt crisis. He would end the IRS and not replace it with anything using history as a framework saying that the nation lived without an IRS until 1913 when it was established (16th amendment). He would prefer tariffs and similar fees.
What makes him different from the Republican candidates and Obama is his understanding and approach to foreign policy. A common example of his is showing how Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein used to be our allies and then became our enemies. Our aid t these nations and our presence in Saudi Arabia for example fuel their hate. We give billions to Israel annually and three times as much to Arab states because of our global policeman stance and desire to want in roads to Middle Eastern oil. Cutting foreign aid alone would save hundreds of billions annually and would be sensible foreign policy if taking care of America was more important than policing the world putting military lives at risk. For as Ron Paul ask, who do US troops in Germany and Japan help America’s defense and protect our national interest? As it stands, the US military is in 130 countries and have more than 700 bases around the world at a staggering annual cost.
He believes we should become energy dependent, drill at home and develop alternative fuels here in our own backyard. Government from his perspective should not give any global multi-national corporation loan guarantees because it fosters malinvestment and obviates free-market. Why because from his perspective, welfarism and corporatism create more and more poor and hungry people.
Last but not least, unlike Obama or the GOP, Paul believes in legalizing freedom of choice to the extent of legalizing marijuana. His position is that it should be obviated from the jurisdiction of the federal government and that states should be left to decide to regulate it as was the case before 1937. This is both a 10th amendment and free market issue from his perspective.
Now I could speak more on his desire to get citizens to understand the importance of monetary policy to how the Federal Reserve is responsible for job destruction in the nation through fixing interest rates and expanding money, and not liquidating debt to let prices fall subsequently propping up bad debt, but I doubt if most folks take their politics to the same level as I do prior to selecting a candidate. Another reason why I like Paul over Obama, he is the only candidate talking about a return of the Gold standard since history shows us all great nations who went off the Gold standard eventually failed.
Bottom line is based on policy and position alone, Dr. Ron Paul is what I desire in a President more so than any of the GOP fanatics and President Obama. I do not select a person because he looks like me or is the same color or race. The way I see it a rapist, black or white is still a rapist. Unlike many black folks in America, I study the issues and do not vote based on trivial pursuits or because someone tells me I should. I am no Uncle Tom but for me it is Dr. Ron Paul over Obama any day. Im just saying – so call in tonight and let us know what u think.
RON PAUL 2012. The rest of the candidates are corporate whores and rich puppets
Welcome to the TRUTH more will come this is just the beginning. RON PAUL 2012
Well worth the read….
“He believes we should become energy dependent”
You meant independent?
excellent article.
Well let’s see.
Who will bring the troops home?
Who will cut the budget by half a trillion first day?
Who will prevent the million murders a year our government currently performs?
Who can free me from being accountable to my Creator for all those deaths?
Who will do their best to get the Patriot Act repealed?
Who really cares about ME, and truly believes that I own myself, NOT the government?
Who admits the dollar is now worth less than 2% of what it originally was?
Who wants to stop the current policy of robbing seniors by keeping interest rates artificially low?
Who wants to end the War on Drugs and use that money to actually HELP people?
You don’t need me to tell you to Vote Vertebrate to know which man in the room has the spine.
Vote Vertebrate – Ron Paul 2012!
Great Article! Very well articulated reasons, I would have preferred more of a contrast with specific Obama policies to illustrate the difference between Obama and Paul, but I understand you in the fact that you didn’t go into monetary policy because Americans don’t have that type of passion about politics or the attention span.
Great article!
Awesome read. You laid out your points in a clear and concise message all readers could undrstand. I’m an American who happens to be black who serves this country as did my Father before me. Ron Paul is the only option for me and my family. Call me an “Uncle Tom” if you like, just don’t call me brainwashed. . .
WELCOME TO THE REVOLUTION BROTHER!
Thank you very much for this article. I hope that you can see what I am seeing. The powers that be are trying to divide us all for a common goal. Black unemployment is really high as opposed to the rest of unemployment (which is also very high). The middle class is disappearing along with low income opportunities. Unconstitutional regulations are killing us all. I think that the common goal of the powers that be is slavery. I’m not talking about the injustices done to the black community as a result of lazy white men who were too lazy to do their own work or to cheap to pay for someone to do it for them. I’m talking about the slavery of us all. Slavery to debt. Slavery to dependence on the Federal Government. When this happens, the middle class becomes poor, the poor stay poor, the borderline wealthy become wealthy, the wealthy become super-wealthy, and the super-wealthy become gods who control us all. As an unemployed white guy, all I want is to work in a decent job and I’d imagine that a different color pigment in your skin doesn’t make you feel any different. If I want to start a business, I should be able to do so without interference from the government as should you. In fact, in my writing so far, I have drawn an invisible line between us and that’s wrong. There is no my kind or your kind. There is only our kind. The American kind. I love my country. In my opinion, there’s no place more beautiful. I want to save it for our children. I don’t believe that the president cares for any of us and I know that the mainstream republicans don’t care about us either. That’s why I support Ron Paul so strongly. I believe that he’s telling the truth when no one else is. Please tell the black community this. Help Dr. Paul get elected. Let’s all live united as Americans. The corporate media can go to hell. The crooked politicians can go to hell. Let’s take our country back.
Great article, sir.
Great article, well researched and written without any obvious biases, a rarity in modern media. I’ve been a Paul supporter since around 07 when I first heard him speak on the Fed, then I researched him and found that I agreed with most of his ideas regarding libertarianism and the role of govt. This time around I really think he has a shot, people just have to break the MSM paradigm that he cant win, that hes unelectable, because if people would just look him up, I think they’d find that they agree with him alot more than they think, and we might actually get a real president in office, instead of the puppets like we’ve had since they killed Kennedy. Vote Ron Paul in 2012, Vote for Freedom!!
Mr. Stephens, this has got to be the most thoughtful, substantive yet concise article I can ever remember reading on Ron Paul. Much thanks for the wonderful read! 🙂
I wish more people would actually care for their country and do their research! Please stop doing whatever the media dictates to you! Whatever candidates you support, please let it be well thought out and researched.
The media is controlled sadly. Great and refreshing article. To vote the same old smooth looking and slick talking people in office is insane! Don’t just look at their words, look up their records! Most of the GOP, espcially the media “top two” have squat to back up their promises! Let’s be crazy and elect the underdog who has an impeccable record, no corporate or lobbyist interest, honest, ethical and worked his way to represent us. He’s been predicting exactly what we are experiences for decades! I know Obama means well, but doing something over that didn’t work as good as it sounds will be just a bandaid on something that needs amputated! I was democrat, switched to be Republican to vote for RON PAUL!!! Our real hope for real change! Not these other last minute copy cats! Bring my family home to protect our real borders, not someone else’s when we weren’t invited!!
Good article. I like when you said “Many of us, as ill-informed as we are” because its so true.
Dell Gines, I hear your point about libertarianism inability to address past racial injustices. I am a libertarian and have struggled with this paradox. Basically, you are right but fail to see the big picture.
Libertarians value freedom of association to the point, in theory, that it would prohibit government from interfering with individual discrimination against others, subject to the caveat that the discrimination don’t harm the person and property of others. Paul being a libertarian should be against government policies found in the Civil Right Acts. Keep in mind, I don’t know what Paul’s actual position is.
So in all fairness, I am going to agree with you libertarianism as a philosophy does not appear on face value to level the playing field created by centuries of discrimination against blacks. However as a Libertarian, I disagree with your notion that government action is needed to level the play field.
The problem I have is that Slavery, Jim Crow, and segregation were caused by the government in the first place. The historical injustice, in my opinion, is not a white verse black thing, or found in racist sentiment, but in the laws pasted by the same group of elites trying to consolidate power by the force of government today at the expense of the individual liberty of the people.
Without the governments action and its laws, there would have been no historical injustice. And while correcting this past injustice is noble and just, too think that expanding the power of government to near absolute power to pass more laws to control people is the solution is wrong and misguided.
The difference between you and me is simple that you think you need the government to fix things, I don’t. In my opinion, the solution for black Americans, as well as all Americans, is freedom, not bending my knee to politicians, so they can tell me what rights I can or can’t have. I have faith that the people can resolve the differences and correct the past injustices far better than the politicians, if they only would get out of our way.
The TV people are happy to do the work for you, and tell you what notions are fit for public debate. Thinking for yourself is really, really hard, and it’s just easier to watch TV and listen to discussions about Bachmann’s hair.
And so on. Across the blogosphere, Paul’s media snubbing is ascribed to reportorial laziness and a fierce love of the status quo. There’s certainly some truth in that.
Ron Paul, like the other Republican front-runners, has deeply held convictions that most would consider extreme. (The probable exception is Mitt Romney, whose deeply-held convictions, if he’s got any, are unknowable.) Difference is, the extreme convictions of the other candidates are easy to talk about. Everybody’s got an opinion on Young Earth creationism, ‘cuz it’s occurred to everybody over the age of four that there’s an Earth and it must have come from somewhere. A reporter can file a story from that particular front in the culture war and not have to expend thousands of words on dense exposition.
Ron Paul might be a Young Earth creationist, but it’s not part of his platform, and he doesn’t want to discuss it. (In Pauline America, the government oughtn’t concern itself with how and why the Earth got here.) Except on the issue of gay marriage, Paul stays out of the culture wars whenever possible. His own publicly espoused extreme convictions are of a different order. He wants the U.S. out of the United Nations, wants to deregulate private schools, wants to kill the Fed, etc.
And here’s the problem: Ron Paul’s got reasons for desiring these things. He’s not some incurious yahoo. He may be wrong about everything, but his arguments are sufficiently well-reasoned to deserve a good, vigorous public discussion. And if he’s a serious presidential contender, such discussion isn’t just right. It’s necessary.
But that discussion cannot be had. Even most politically aware citizens are ignorant of the issues at hand, and mass media has no mechanism for informing us. How could any popular journalist tackle a question like the usefulness of the U.N.? An attempt to do so in a 10-minute Maddow segment, or even in a 5,000-word Times feature, would make a mockery of the subject. You’re talking about a body that employs tens of thousands, that has engaged the world in a million ways, both overt and subtle, with results both brilliant and disastrous. Maddow might as well debate the accuracy of string theory.
Journalists know they can’t make Paul’s pet causes intelligible; that the most they can do is portray Ron Paul as an extremely popular person with a few weird ideas. And I suspect they also know that it would be extremely irresponsible to help America to elect Ron Paul without first wrestling with those ideas. Which is true. So they ignore him, or dismiss him as a fringe candidate. Which he might be, even if most of us don’t know enough about diplomacy, monetary policy, or the vagaries of the education system to tell.
Lets put a man with morals and principals into office. Lets not forget the great men like King and Kennedy that died for their beliefs and wanting to make America a better country. Lets stand together as one against the evil. Peace be upon you all.
Great article – thanks for writing it and ditto to James Tiscione’s comments. Ron Paul 2012
I think your article is one of the most comprehensive discriptions of Ron Paul’s stand on freedom and prosperity that I have read. I cannot thank you enough from one patriot to another that the message of standing together for freedom and not falling prey to divide and conquer tactics is alive and well.
Standing together as Americans who believe that what binds us together is the Constitution and the strong desire to preserve liberty. The last time I looked liberty and the pursuit of happiness was not a color or religious persuasion. Thank you for this great article. Ron Paul 2012
I truly adore Ron Paul and I have for years. I just recently saw him speak at the Campaign for Liberty and I have never heard such passion. I walked out feeling hope in politics and America… something that had dried up inside of me.
My only deep concern here is the mainstream media’s complete and utterly blatant blackout of Ron Paul. Even this most recent debate was absolutely unbelievable. They had Perry and Romney centered right in front and only asked Ron Paul literally 4 or 5 questions total! Something about it is very unsettling to me… am I alone?
Thanks for the great article, Torrance
Ron Paul can’t win because he appeals to traditional conservatives who believe in small government, to leftists who believe in personal liberty, to ‘blue’ democrats who believe Obama has betrayed the party, to independents who voted for Obama but are disgusted with the Hopey-Changy that never happened, by gays who don’t want government dictating marriage rules, by straights who don’t want to be forced to live by a ‘gay agenda’. Gee…left, right, young, old, conservative, liberal, gay, straight…with all that support, he doesn’t have a chance!
ThyBlackMan! BrotherMan! You are on it. Ron Paul 2012.
The Army is behind RP and this institution includes all races and creeds.
All I can say is Thank You!
You said it, cousin ! This is the key message to the independents and disenchanted Dems. The bump in the road for many is to register Republican for the PRIMARY election.
I’m doin’ it. Some states will not get the green light from the Repub. party to vote in the primary with undeclared status.
This is info for CA primary… http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/npp.htm
Anyone can check for their own state. But safer to just register Repub.
It may hurt your ego and your social status at the yoga studio, but other than that you’ll survive it.
Congratulations are in order for the writer Torrance Stephens, for not only a find academic offering, but also for finding the key to attracting the highest number of Comments for a Ron Paul dog whistle article. Mr. Stephens has posted 10 articles since June. His highest previous comment number was for an article on Floyed Mayweather (sillyness) July 14 which received 14 comments. At the time of this article 53 comments have been made moving him into the dog whistle lead. The to the comment race is naming Ron Paul in the title, and the team will comment, if only sayin Amen. Sister Chrystal Wright held the dog whistle comment crown prior to this article. Out of the more than 50 comments on this article none addressed Ron Paul’s position on womans rights.
is the “USA TO DAY” also reading this information…..
if not, perhaps, some Americans who reacted on this article, must send a mail to that news paper to wake them UP…or… so….
(a friendly Duch boy) anton
Thank you Mr. Stevens for this well written, well researched article on Dr. Paul. Very well done.
I am so terrified what is going to happen with this country I’ve been taking the measures of stockpiling supplies, in absurd amounts. Nonetheless Ron Paul is not a marionette and has a clear, unswayed way of viewing the Jenga chaos that is unfurling. If he were to ever get to that seat then my worries and nights of sleep would be eased greatly. Otherwise, we’re fucked. Just royally, fucked.
What I like about Google News is I can skip all the make-me-vomit articles about media-annointed Perry-Bachmann-Romney, go to Advanced News Search, and type in Ron Paul, which is how I found this great blog entry.
I discovered Paul back in 2008, actually from Kucinich’s presidential campaign website. Had a 20 questions feature. You answered them about domestic and foreign issues, then it matched you up with whatever candidate best matched your answers.
The most notable thing about a President Paul would be the sea-change improvement in what voters want: NO MORE SETTLING FOR THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS!!! If Paul wins in 2012 it would be because a prevailing majority recognized then soundly rejected the status quo six-of-one, half-dozen-of-the-other republicans and democrats. The BS would walk — and never be welcomed back. There really would be no going back to either Bush or Obama types, nobody would want them back.
Congress would definitely improve under a President Paul. They would absolutely sh*t bricks if Paul wins because they’d then know we’re serious for something much better and we wouldn’t put up with any BS from either the republicans or democrats.
You’d think with Obama being the first black President that all the race-baiting from many quarters and counter-productive purposes would stop. But if anything, it has increased, everyone wants to play the racist card it seems. If Paul gets the republican nomination watch the race-baiting go to a whole nother level. And if Paul does become President I think that would do more to putting the kaibosh on race-based politiking and baiting than Obama getting elected in 2008 — for the same reason that Congress would sh*t bricks, everyone would know we’re serious for something better, and the race-baiting BS can walk with all the other BS.
Hey thanks for letting me chime in here. The way I see it the choice is between Paul and all the others. I’m going to vote for Paul in 2012. What happens afterwards is what happens
that Doctor has a lot of guts
Nice article, thank you author!
Go Ron Paul! Go America! Go Constitution! Go Job Creation! Go Economic Growth! Go Peace! Go Balanced Budget! Go Responsible Washington!
Bring our Troops home NOW!
God Bless America. God Bless Our Troops!
Ron Paul 2012