When It Matters: Ron Paul

When my wife said she liked hearing me talk about politics, I knew whatever apathy I had toward politics had finally stopped.

Lynné said she noticed a definite change since we married. I pushed this year to register us to vote - rather than shrugging it off. I pose government questions at the dinner table. My ability to pull up anecdotes and history from college years gets exercised whenever Lynné asks a question. My enthusiasm is coming from the prospect of change. We just mailed out our presidential primary votes for Texan Congressman Ron Paul.


While chipping two-inch-thick ice from our walkway and driveway, I started to think about those supporting Ron Paul who run under the banner of "Ron Paul Cured My Apathy." I fall under that category. But why? Because it feels like this election matters. Hearing Ron Paul talk about ceasing the growth of the federal government - and diminishing its role in we citizens' lives - makes me feel encouraged about the presidential menu, even more than the Bush vs. Gore election, (which, in some circles translated into Christan president vs. Secular president.)


There are videos on his Web site that go through his stance on several issues. You cannot deny he is well-informed, if not one of the most substantial statesmen in the race, after reading his work. That's one thing I'm always watching when people talk: nonsense vs. actual communication.

Real nonsense: I, Youssef, will focus my attention on the financial well-being of my family.
Real communication: I gave my wife the responsibility of paying our bills and budgeting while it's my responsiblity to file the statements.


I hope you, readers, see the difference. Ron Paul commits at least every other statement to actual communication. The other candidates navigate their answers through questions. Listen to a few of his Youtube videos to see the difference I'm talking about. Ron Paul gets compared to MLK and JFK in this film clip, while he gets compared to Ronald Reagan in others.


Recently, he stopped at the hotel not more than 20 blocks from my house. Seriously. How often does a presidential candidate visit Spokane?


Now why do people talk about Ron Paul as if he won't win?
I want some people to really think about this. The media (TV largely) refers to the mass crowds of people (think: groupies) who flood areas. The San Francisco straw poll - one of the few straw polls that mean something - was canceled when Paul supporters overwhelmed their room. Does that mean a cross-section of American voters wasn't found? Think about this: what does it mean that a presidential candidate has groupies, particularly in a country that typically has the lowest voter turn-out? I guarantee that each person who has donated at least $25 to Ron Paul will register to vote.


Now, it's not like I'm going to throw a snowball at Sean Hannity or anything like that. But when it comes down to it, I find myself sitting squarely in Paul's camp than any other candidate because of his central position of being a constitutionalist. My education in history/politics is definitely off the beaten path, when it comes to your average public schooler, deviating even further when I went to college. The headmaster of my last school spent most of a semester talking about the evils of Abraham Lincoln in the civil war.


One of the most important shifts in my early government thinking came from a professor named Iachetta (EYE-uh-KEH-tuh) who was teaching early American history, showing how it related to present events. We studied the constitution hard, even better the Federalist Papers. The idea of states' rights fell hard. However, no presidential candidate has stood for states' rights, much less the idea of returning to the gold standard. The mainstream media, determined as it seems to black-out Paul, has dubbed him the "libertarian minded long-shot," but if we do get him as a president, it's going to matter.


Why am I voting for him?

• I am sick and tired of fighting an uphill battle with my money to provide for my family. Getting a better job every three years because my dollars are devaluing is idiotic and - in essence - devaluing my work.


• I'm just tired of the business of tax preparation. Do you realize that TurboTax and TaxAct and H&R Block's Tax prep would fold overnight if the IRS was dissolved - not to mention the job supplements of several accountants? There is a site where you, yes YOU, can earn extra dollars by learning to prepare people's taxes - without a degree? That just goes to show how, in many ways, it's just a form.


• What if the government entanglements in education disappeared? The video isn't that descriptive, but this text is invaluable in generating the hope that one day 55.33% of my property taxes won't go to an educational system I'm not going to use (home-schooling is for me and mine.) Here's the county's own graph of my property taxes for 2007-08. Add up "State School" and School District 81 (SD81)... Use the link, if you're in Spokane county, to look up your own.



• Social security is one of the biggest $150 a month wastes out of my paycheck I can imagine, and Ron Paul's plan is the only one that actually sounds like it would work.
  
• I'm just sick of the stories of people my age being sent to the war in Iraq. I'm not sure I trust any of the Democratic candidates to make good on their promises to pull-out (not that the party is incapable, just the people who make it to the White House). Ron Paul's consistency over the years of the war makes me trust him to stop my generation's future problems with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. I ride the bus every weekday with a man who has PTSD from Vietnam and continually affirms that the present soldiers in Iraq are going through worse.
  
• I'm hoping for a real change to this country.

There are people talking about the Ron Paul Revolution as something that will go on after the Presidential Election, but I'm not sure what form that would take. However, if he is elected, he needs to follow through on those promises he's getting so popular for... If he doesn't follow through, the voting public may go numb or march on Washington, D.C.
If Ron Paul doesn't get elected... the very next person to run on Paul's platform will.

Post-logue: The Free Market Answer
Those of you readers who have watched your way through my video tour de force above will notice how often Ron Paul references "the free market." I believe statements like "I think the free market should decide" really deserve a little more treatment. While there are people who fear a corporatized world born of the market, that merely is one image of a thousand possible.

In the last video, a young woman stands up and asks about getting America off of its dependence on foreign oil for energy. Ron Paul gives his free market answer, which makes sense in the context. However, there's more to it when he says he'll let "the market" decide.
First of all, who is the market? Are they oil companies? Are they the stockholders on Wall Street?
The surprising answer is that it's us. The people. Inventors and thinkers -- people who can think their way out of the problem of oil-dependence. A friend of mine, Mr. X, has an idea - costing less than $1,000 to manufacture - that would effectively raise the miles per gallon of any vehicle by 50% at least. What's he doing about it? Working a job because he can't otherwise afford to provide for his family. There are people who have gotten further: water cars, electric cars, biofuel, downsized cars - these people introduce competition to the market. Lower prices win consumers, driving all market prices down.
What will Ron Paul do to pull America off of foreign oil dependence? The one thing he can do: a wise, strategically structured nothing.
By dropping taxes, people can start businesses or pursue businesses more easily.
By pursuing business more easily, innovators (otherwise ignored) enter the market place.
By introducing competing creativity, businesses that survive introduce solutions.
By competing solutions, the average consumer (also able to purchase more with gold-standard money) can purchase American-made cars. After all, when will it be in Iraq's business interest to offer an electric car?