Posted on 02/22/2010 6:28:24 PM PST by presidio9
Over the weekend, Ron Paul won the CPAC straw poll for president. Many pundits immediately dismissed the win, for a lot of reasons. (The Atlantic did a roundup of all the "he's irrelevant" comments.) My take on Ron Paul is this: He says a lot of off-the-wall stuff, but his bottom line is that he's a limited-government libertarian. And he's not Mitt Romney, the establishment GOP choice. I think that's why he won.
Joe Scarborough likes to say that if you look at where Ross Perot did well in 1992, those are the same places that tea party candidates are doing well. That may be, but I think there's some overlap between Ron Paul supporters and the tea partiers, at least some of the younger ones. Ross Perot has a website, PerotCharts, that illustrates the government's fiscal responsibility; but Ron Paul supporters have an interactive site for those who want to meet up at campaign rallies (with over 100,000 people either already members or interested), and according to the timeline posted, it looks like many of them have joined in the last two years.
I came across a bit of a tea party manifesto, if you want to call it that, in Politics Daily on Sunday: "A Grassroots View of the Tea Party," written by Roy Nix, a golf pro in Florida. Here's how he describes the average tea partier:
"They don't dream of power, and they don't dream of telling their neighbors how to worship, how to spend their money, what kind of car to buy, what kind of food to eat and how to save the environment. They expect their neighbors to decide all of those things for their own families.
"They don't want big government, they don't want socialistic policies and they don't want to spend more money for things they don't need. They don't see Washington as Robin Hood, robbing the rich to help the poor, but as the Sheriff of Nottingham--taking their tax money and giving it to big business while we starve.
"They don't want to have to march in the streets, and they don't want to be 'activists' in politics because they have lives to live.
"They don't hate immigrants, but they don't like lawbreakers who come here illegally. They don't mind helping people, but they are out of money and want to help those closest to home first until their bills are paid off ...
"These lawmakers have forgotten what 'representative' means, and they end up in Washington doing what their party tells them to do, rather than what their constituents tell them to do ... And that's what's motivating so many who've joined the Tea Party movement."
Nix hits the nail on the head, in terms of the anti-Nanny State, limited government message of the tea partiers, and how all incumbents, not just Democrats, are at risk: "The Tea Party is sending a genuine grass-roots message to both Democrats and Republicans. And they'd better listen up and learn fast," he concludes. A New York Times/CBS poll from earlier this month supports this: Only 8 percent of respondents think that most incumbent members of Congress deserve to be re-elected; a whopping 81 percent said it's time to "give new people a chance." That's putting it nicely--I think if the election were held today, it would be a tidal wave against incumbents.
“How about people who want to banish the IRS, banish the Fed Reserve (the dems favorite tool to pay for social programs), get us out of the U.N. (and the U.N. out of America), eliminate most or all firearms laws, eliminate all federal agencies/admins and cut the depts to the bone, eliminate the native born citizenship clause for illegals, defend our SOUTHERN border, draw down and eliminate all social welfare programs, eliminate welfare for illegals, etc. etc.”
All that’s fine. Good common ground with small Government conservatives who want to defend life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Just leave the isolationism, drug legalization and conspiracy stuff outside - it messes up the carpets in our ‘big tent’.
BTW, the Fed doesnt pay for programs - TAXPAYERS DO.
I know Barak Obama. Ron Paul is no Barak Obama.
The current RNC leadership refuses to vote along their professed beliefs. They ignore the Constitution. They no longer deserve our dollars or our votes.
I see the Great Republican Hope, Scott Brown, decided to support a useless jobs bill today.
It's time for real change, and not the kind we got stuck with in 2008.
The anti-libertarians can stop being chumps, or we can lose another election. What's it gonna be?
Karl Rove made an interesting point on WLS-AM this morning: CPAC should drop its straw poll altogether, when out of 10000 attendees, 2000 vote for Ron Paul and call it a victory.
Multiple votes are allowed and the students manned the voting table(s). Ron Paul's brats stuffed the ballot boxes. The straw poll is meaningless, except to the media
Ron Paul has been pulling this stuff for years, bussing in supporters to vote for him in straw polls. But when the real elections come around, he’s never gotten more than 2 or 3% outside of his home district
Part of the ongoing FAILING effort to portray the Tea party Patriots as loons and extremists. Except that the people they are trying to convince...is US.
The author made quite a jump by assuming that CPAC = Tea Party, especially when CPAC jumped the shark this year.
Listen, since you have no idea about geopolitics and parrot out nonsense due to indoctrination, let me quickly explain it to you. Supporting Islamofascists is for idiots and this is a fact, not an opinion. Of course, not all people are fools, many of us opposed supporting Islamic nutters before 9/11. I guess you get your verbiage from the RINOs and the establishment folks at the Republican Party and get indoctrinated by them easily. Supporting Islamofascists before 9/11 is not a virtue. I opposed it even then, why couldn't you?
Mindlessly parroting out the establishment memo and defending logistical support for Islamic terrorists is not conservatism.
Oh yeah? The original discussion was about two "political philosophies." Anyway, I don't see any reason to support those who assist Islamofascism and give laborious reasons for doing so.
That wouldn’t surprise me.
Actually, the neocons conned the people. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan are the places from which 9/11 was planned and executed.
Absolute laser on target!
LLS
“Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.”
Thomas Jefferson
oy vey .... thanks for making my point!
Most of America blames Al Qaeda. The taliban hosted AlQaeda’s leader and training camps. And you blame ‘neocons’.
Once again, the media picks our candidate, just like the last election. They will push Rommney or Paul to try to splinter us.When will we have enough?
Thanks for posting those facts!
The media wants to link Ron Paul (whom they consider a kook) with the Tea Partiers. That’s just not true .. the Tea Partiers DIDN’T EVEN VOTE IN THE STRAW POLL.
Who’s going to break it to the media ..?? Or .. should we just keep silent and let our votes do the talking ..??
I started reading about him way back when I disagreed with him on foreign affairs and was bored by budgets. I don’t admire his ideas because they’re his, but because they’re from the Founders. The Founders weren’t perfect, but the stuff they got right resonated through the ages and around the world.
I’m sincere only because I want individual liberty for me, my friends and Family and everyone on FR, of course! The only time I ever hear any pols talk about individual liberty anymore is when some feminist talks about the liberty to have an abortion. Imagine if the Founders knew that it was reduced to that.
RP talks about it all the time, and that’s what I look up to.
You seem top ignore the fact that drug use is one of many ways that people pursue their God-given right to pursue happiness. As long as we use them responsibly, what kind of a threat are we to you???
None at all.
That's nuts. Libertarians didn't exist in 1941.
I would like to know how many posting have actually spoken with Ron Paul? I have and not because I am a Ron Paul advocate or Paulbot. He was the Congressman for the district where I lived at the time and he made a point of going to towns in the district and meet with his constituents over lunch. It didn’t matter how small the gathering was he showed up to talk to the people in person. When was the last time anyone posting has sat and had lunch with their Congressman without being at a paid fund raiser? I didn’t agree with all he said but he took the time to drive himself to meet the people.
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