Posted on 07/12/2011 9:20:57 AM PDT by sunmars
LAKE JACKSON — After serving almost 24 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Ron Paul told The Facts this morning he will not be seeking another term for the District 14 seat.
Paul, 75, will instead focus on his quest for the presidency in 2012.
“I felt it was better that I concentrate on one election,” Paul said. “It’s about that time when I should change tactics.”
His announcement will give enough time for anyone with aspirations for his seat to think about running, he said. Paul didn’t want to wait for filing in the 2012 primary to let people know he wasn’t seeking reelection.
“I didn’t want to hold off until in December,” he said. “I thought it shouldn’t be any later than now.”
Paul has served 12 terms in Congress. District 14 encompasses a 10-county area along the Gulf Coast.
(Excerpt) Read more at thefacts.com ...
Pot is in noway more dangerous than Alcohol. Alcohol related deaths are much higher than pot related death. That’s why you hear BS like pot somehow being a gateway drug any more than Alcohol. Most people know it’s not the same as heroin or meth. I don’t smoke pot, but I’m not stupid enough to believe in those stupid lies that aren’t supported by facts. It’s not heroin or meth, and it’s no more of a gateway drug than alcohol.
> Ron, buddy, just go away...
> Why don’t you run on the Libertarian ticket like you should?
I hope he doesn’t but I think he will. And he might get a bigger percentage of the vote than some of the Republican candidates. Depends on who is nominated.
“If it wasn’t for Dr. Paul, there’d be no Tea Party movement in this country.”
Did he start it? I can’t ever remember hearing him or OF him speaking at a rally. Except for the fact that the TEA Party folks are Constitutionalists and Paul uses that document as a prop, what do the two have in common?
No. But his cult members are always trying to convince us that he did.
His views don't even line up well with those of the tea party movement's.
Lets just stick with the government we got...
The Republican and Democrats have given us great leadership...
We're only 1.9 zillion in debt to Communist countries, we have an endless conga-line of millions of cheap labor imbeciles willing to work for 7 bucks an hour, we have tens of millions of Americans out of work, while exporting tens of thousands of American companies off shore and the dollar is becoming worthless...
Look how well it's all working!
Lets give the insider Republicans a chance!
Just like the re legalization of alcohol was the death for America? Sorry, but the failure of prohibition should be a lesson. I’m getting tired declarations of “fact” based on the limited scope of personal experience. “I knew a guy who drank alcohol one time, and got in a fight, therefore all people who drink will also fight; so alcohol should be illegal.” Take a logic class... saying pot leads to anything is a causal fallacy. For example, coffee leads to pot, because lots of people who started out drinking coffee went on to smoke pot. Utter BS. The arguments been refuted, and studies have shown otherwise. The argument that pot leads to harder things was literally made up without any basis in fact. It’s propaganda, open your eyes.
Don’t consider them Libertarians? Why? Because they oppose massive spending on failed government programs; like the war on drugs? Seems about as Libertarian as it comes; unlike the socialists in conservative clothing so prevalent in our crumbling society.
There are better approaches to the drug problem, and changes in policy are necessary if we want to survive. We could, for example, get really tough on users. They are truly the base of the drug pyramid. In the process we’d lose a little more freedom/ liberty in exchange for security, and be more like Singapore than America (America from 1776 to the Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914, that is). However, this approach would probably fail due to the massive amount of resources it would require to “get tough” in a country this size.
Another option is to legalize drugs completely, make it a legitimate private business. There are far more people in this country that would never use “harder” drugs, and there always will be. There will be some problems from this approach, like there are currently from prescription drugs and alcohol (drunk drivers, child abuse, lost jobs, etc). That doesn’t mean we need mommy government holding our hands and cradling our heads, while simultaneously fueling modern day mafias; who killed 15,000 people in Mexico last year. In perspective, 4,475 American soldiers died in the entire span of the Iraq war.
Your ostrich approach isn’t working. The drug cartels are better armed than our police and have far more money. Their industry expands everyday. We WILL have to deal with this as it creeps across the border. A comprehensive drug reform policy IS necessary. We need more “crazies” like Ron Paul; men who are willing to take on issues, which all the other castrated politicians will not touch. Saying we need to reform drug laws, Medicare, and social security is political death.
I’m not a Christian, but this is how I feel when I look at people like you so entrenched in hypocritical self-righteousness. Like you can just pick your poisons, and lord it over people’s heads (Alcohol, coffee, and prescription drug users who support the status quo). Even worse are the Bill O’Reilly neo-con types, “I’ve never smoked, don’t drink even coffee…” Therefore, drugs should be illegal because YOU have no frame of reference? Lastly, are the people who have seen people’s lives destroyed by drugs, and their crazy solution to the problem is to continue locking them up without treatment. How does throwing addicts in jail with rapists and murderers solve anything? Drugs are available on the black market in prison too. Don’t be a whore of Babylon.
6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
Revelation 17
Paul could be counted on to foster Constitutionally-consistent policies even when the specific outcome was unpopular. That kind of principle, and ideological consistency, is sorely lacking in a place too often governed by ‘grand bargains,’ and ‘across the aisle’ partnerships that always resort in an expansion of federal power. I didn’t always agree with Paul, but I very much liked him being in D.C.; I for one will miss his voice.
I agree.
As I further from the pulican party, the more sense he makes. I am getting more and more small l libertarian.
...and I with you.
No. But his cult members are always trying to convince us that he did.
Exactly. It's one of the most popular lies used by Paulistas when defending their loony leader.
Leni
I know two veteran sheriffs personally, one from a county in Florida and one from a county in northern Illinois.
They both told me emphatically that Mary Jane IS a gateway drug.
They stated that virtually ALL the hopheads and hard drug addicts they tossed in the county jails started their illustrious careers as marijuana users....in fact, almost without exception.
It's not necessary to cite alcohol addicts as being equal to or more dangerous than druggos. I don't think anyone disputes that. But why add drug addicts to the alkys on the road? It's adding insult to injury. Are libertarians nuts or something? Two wrongs don't make a right.
Leni
I’m moderately surprised. Lots of people are gonna be chomping at the bit for that seat.
Untill they are bussed in for a speech, or straw poll.
I don’t know how much weight the arguments of two sheriffs (even veteran sheriffs) have on the argument of whether or not pot is a gateway drug. Such a question can only be determined by nonbiased studies... probably not so easy to come by.
However, if you consider the historical evidence: the scientific revolution, the industrial revolution, the political revolutions of democracy and freedom all came about in western societies where alcohol use was high and drug use repressed or low.
What I’m saying is, the history of western advancement was not impeded by the fact of highly prevalent alcohol use.
If you look at societies where cannabis is prevalent and tolerated, you don’t find revolutions in science, industry and political freedom.
I believe there is a negative correlation to western development and marijuana, at least historically.
My personal hunch for this negative correlation is that it has something to do with the fact that unlike alcohol, which is water soluble, cannabis is fat soluble and accumulates in the body with regular use. Just a hunch on my part.
But whatever the reason, the historical record is clear.
Vacating the marijuana seat.
They aren't anymore qualified than anyone else to be saying what is or isn't a gateway drug. Alcohol is just as much a gateway drug. Do you seriously think that hardcore drug users smoked anymore more pot than they consumed alcohol? Just because one drug is legal and one is illegal doesn't make in any less a drug.
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