Posted on 03/04/2008 2:37:50 PM PST by BGHater
Trailwatch reached out to each of the remaining presidential campaigns and offered them an unedited forum in which they could address voters. As he was when we requested information for our Candidate Screener, Ron Paul was the first candidate to respond to our offer. We asked each campaign to submit 500 to 1,000 words on the issues they believe are the most important ones facing the nation at this moment in time. Here is what Ron Paul had to say.
--Paul M. Murdock
America became the greatest, most prosperous nation in history through low taxes, constitutionally limited government, personal freedom and a belief in sound money. I decided to run for president because I am deeply concerned that the conservative movement has drifted away from these principles that we once so fiercely defended. Deficits have exploded, entitlements are out of control and our personal liberties are threatened like never before.
The current state of our economy drives home the hard truth that living beyond our means has caught up to us. Oil is over $100 a barrel, the housing market is in sharp decline and the dollar is in a free fall.
The national debt now stands in excess of $9 trillion, more than $30,000 per person. The total future debt obligations of the United States, including entitlements, are estimated at around $59 trillion, which equates to over $500,000 per household. Social Security and Medicare will likely consume the entire federal budget by 2040, threatening the average American with an impossible tax burden.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
It goads me this idiot is still “running” while better candidates have been kicked to the curb. The MSM deemed him no threat.
Paul is better than McCain on EVERYTHING except defense.
I wish he’d acknowledge that the Constitution permits military operations that are less than all-out war.
what can anyone say besides “R.I.P.”
Praise Jesus. Ron Paul is from the Government, he is here to help!
Soon to be ex-Congressman Ron Paul?
Maybe maybe not. We’ll know in about4-5 hours.
I wish people would stop telling me we're at war, when we aren't.
::Quote::
Ron Paul has allowed more wasted money than ANY member of congress from either party.
Everytime he had the chance to negotiate out a few billion dollars from the budget but instead chose to vote “no” on principal then he, the mighty postulator Ron Paul, wasted BILLIONS to try to advertise his principals. (I never get it right... principals or principles?)
He is elected to do a job and he has refused to do it. I am embarrassed that it took so long to see through this hypocritical “wild shrimp” minded phony.
He could have done the hard work of negotiating better budgets, better trade deals, better laws and the such. However he has chosen instead to lambaste the Republicans at every turn to prove how he is the most “constitutional” representative there.
Absolute crap.
Article 1, Section 8, Subsection 10- Congress is authorized to define and punish offenses against the laws of nations. Paul thought this was a fine clause to follow when he voted for the 'authorization to use force' in Afghanistan (after he said it was just for an oil pipeline, before he condemned it, then supported it, then condemned it again).. but ignored it when Iraq came up. He now plays semantic games over the word 'war' in subsection 11.. As Rush would say, all Symbolism over Substance.
No one (not even the MSM) made any of the others quit. Hunter and Thompson could have stayed in and continued to voice their concerns/issues: they chose not too. Maybe what they did was good for the GOP; maybe they got tired of campaigning or ran out of money. The MSM has pretty much ignored Paul as much as they did Hunter (and much more than Thompson). I respect Paul’s tenacity even as I do not agree with policy stances. I see nothing morally or legally wrong with his staying in the race.
All the candidates should have stayed in. The MSM should not have cut anyone out of debates.
The GOP is no better for Hunter and Thompson dropping out.
A Declaration of War is the way to unite the country. It worked in WWII. Without such a declaration, there are the divisions we had in Korea, in Vietnam and now in Iraq. The preparers of the Constitution appear to have been very aware of the difficulties of the President maintaining a private army to do as he wished. A President calling something a 'police action' or 'carrying out UN resolutions' to avoid a Congressional declaration doesn't cut it. Why not declare war?
Because a declaration of war as defined by international treaty (which Constitutionally we are required to honor if we agreed to it) ties our hands. It limits us to specific states and specific actors. An 'Authorization to Use Force' against violations of the laws of nations is Constitutionally sound (Article 1, Section 8, Subsection 10) but doesn't tie our hands in fighting a specific country, but instead, going against a movement that is not tied to a specific nationality and doesn't fight under a single flag.
..and just to expand on the previous comment, even Paul himself found the 'authorization to use force' instead of a declaration of war completely fine when it came to Afghanistan; he voted for that.
Call me a RINO if you like, but he was the only GOP candidate out there that made me seriously want to vote for him. I voted Republican in every presidential election since I could vote (even Dole in 96!), but I don’t see it happening this year. If Hillary’s the Dem nominee, maybe. He’d have brought in new voters to the GOP, but, considering how he was treated, those new voters did not seem welcome in today’s GOP.
He was basically running on the very same foreign policy W ran on in 2000, not being the policemen of the world, etc. That’s how crazy things have become, now he’s seen as a ‘loon’ for basically having the same foreign policy positions Bush did in 2000.
And he seems to understand the root of the economic problems coming down the pike, both because of an unsustainable foreign policy and profligate spending. The other GOP contenders barely talked about the economy at all, and none, not even Romney, to his level of depth.
Ron who?
“Maybe what they did was good for the GOP”
I totally disagree with that premise. This has been a scripted campaign season from the start.
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