Posted on 01/23/2008 8:02:07 AM PST by murphE
News
Ron Paul Draws Passionate Support
BY CHARLIE SPIERING
REGISTER CORRESPONDENT
January 27- February 2, 2008 Issue | Posted 1/22/08 at 10:16 AM
|
|
WASHINGTON — Presidential candidate Ron Paul’s campaign continues to win a portion of the Republican vote in early primary states, signified by his second-place finish in Nevada Jan. 19.
Although many consider his campaign a long shot, Ron Paul has built up a significant amount of enthusiastic supporters and raised substantial funds.
He beat frontrunner Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in Nevada and Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson in Michigan.
Numerous Catholics in America are among those that remain unsatisfied with the mainstream political candidates for president, and many have joined the vocal supporters of a campaign that is significantly different than his Republican rivals’.
Paul is a 10-term congressman representing Texas who has consistently held his strong political beliefs based on a strict interpretation of the Constitution.
Like many Republican presidential candidates, Paul is pro-life and has a congressional record to prove it. Supporters like to point out that he is an obstetrician who has delivered more than 4,000 babies and shares a personal conviction of pro-life issues.
“I, of course, never saw one time when a medically necessary abortion had to be done.” Paul stated during the CNN/YouTube debate last November.
Paul’s opposition to Roe vs. Wade stems from his strict interpretation of the Constitution. He believes the federal government should have no role in determining abortion rights.
Elizabeth Graham, director of Texas Right to Life, noted that as a Congressman, Paul took pro-life issues seriously, but noted that his approach was different.
“Ron Paul thinks that the federal government doesn’t belong in the abortion issue, so occasionally there is a vote that might appear anti life,” she said, “but it stems from his belief that it’s a states-rights issue rather than a federal government issue.”
In spite of his misgivings about the federal nature of the partial-birth abortion ban, heavily reliant on the Supreme Court’s decision, Paul voted for it.
“Despite its severe flaws, this bill nonetheless has the possibility of saving innocent human life, and I will vote in favor of it,” Paul stated on the floor of the House of Representatives. “I fear, though, that when the pro-life community uses the arguments of the opposing side to advance its agenda, it does more harm than good.”
In the same speech, Paul stated that, “Abortion on demand is no doubt the most serious sociopolitical problem of our age.”
Paul’s strategy to ban abortion is best revealed in a bill that he sponsored that would strip the federal courts of jurisdiction over abortion.
“By denying the federal courts’ jurisdiction, state laws banning abortion would stand and there would not be any Roe vs. Wade,” said Thomas Woods, Jr., a senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Woods wrote a letter to fellow Catholics supporting Ron Paul and making a case for his candidacy.
Anti-War and Anti-Death
Paul stands alone among the Republican presidential candidates as one who voted against the Iraq war, stating that it was unconstitutional, since it never received a congressional declaration of war. If elected president, Paul promises to withdraw troops from Iraq.
Thomas Peters, who runs the blog American Papist, contributes to a blog called Catholics for Ron Paul. He noted that since the Vatican hasn’t spoken magisterially about the Iraq war, Catholics can continue to debate the issue. “He [Paul] has philosophical and rational reasons for why he thinks that American involvement isn’t the best choice,” said Peters. “He examines the question using principles of just war theory, specifically speaking about the Christian tradition of a just war,” he added.
Paul mentioned the Vatican’s comments regarding the Iraq War when paying tribute to John Paul II’s legacy. “The Pope’s commitment to human dignity, grounded in the teachings of Christ, led him to become one of the most eloquent spokesmen for the consistent ethic of life, exemplified by his struggles against abortion, war, euthanasia and the death penalty,” he said on the floor of the House of Representatives on April 6, 2005, four days after the Pope’s death.
Although initially a supporter of the death penalty, Paul changed his position after studying the issue throughout his political career.
Some religious voters remain skeptical about a vote for Paul, as his strict interpretation for the Constitution pits him against federal legislation to ban prostitution, drugs and homosexual “marriage.”
Peters said, “Ron Paul voted against the marriage amendment, but only because he thought it was non-constitutional, not because he doesn’t think marriage isn’t a union of a man and a woman.”
“We cannot go to Washington to dictate to us how we improve our personal behavior,” said Paul, explaining his position at the 2007 Value Voters Summit in Washington D.C. “You don’t dictate; you don’t legislate virtue. In a free society, you do that from people, from your family, your friends, and your neighbors, but not in the federal government.”
Paul’s platform has drawn the support of several controversial groups, including those advocating legalization of prostitution, drugs and even advocates of race supremacy.
Woods said that he supports Paul because of his steadfast, long-held political views that ring true with the Constitution.
“The fact that Ron Paul is a man of integrity, who can’t be bought, and preaches his views thick or thin, good times or bad, fair or foul weather, appeals to Catholics who believe that there are unchanging truths,” he said. “It’s very rare to see politicians who stand by their guns in all circumstances, and this guy does it.”
Charlie Spiering is based in
Washington, D.C.
Copyright © 2007 Circle Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
He does indeed draw passionate support. And vitriolic hatred from some on this site. It really seems to be more and more just about that ‘Ring of Power’. People should read their Tolkien.
Let Freedom Ping.
I put this in the Religion forum...hmm why is it in the RLC Liberty Caucus?
Paul’s economics are the best course for America to follow to get the nation back on the track for the level of prosperity the middle class has become accustomed to and is now seeing slip away. That scares the hell out of Wall Street’s mega bankers who are dragging us down and expecting a socialist bail-out on our dime.
This Catholic will be voting for Ron Paul.
Welcome to the "out of sight, out of mind" forum.
You'll probably have to do a major Catholic ping if you want discussion about Catholics and their support/non-support of Ron Paul.
This one too.
The thing is, I did ping the Catholic ping lists, and the pro life ping lists, to this and the threads yesterday about the endorsement Paul received from "Roe" - my requests seem to have been ignored. Hmmm. Maybe I should ping the Reformed Caucus? ;-)
“I put this in the Religion forum...hmm why is it in the RLC Liberty Caucus?”
Admin Mods are trying to do to Paul what they complain about being done to Duncan Hunter and Fred Thompson in the MSM.
Pretty disappointing.
ping
He beat frontrunner Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in Nevada and Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson in Michigan.
worth repeating
**This Catholic will be voting for Ron Paul.**
Why?
He sounds more like a dimocrat to me.
I've seen you post this statement before. In what ways exactly does he sound like a Democrat to you? Please explain.
No, even most dims at least pay lip service to defending our country. TehRon wants to surrender to the jihadis.
Amen!
Constitutional Responses to Terrorism
It has been over 6 years since the atrocities of September 11 were committed and there are still some very basic measures that need to be taken to bring the perpetrators to justice and make America safer. I have proposed legislation to help with these efforts and will continue to fight in Congress for the safety and security of the American people.
My legislation entitled The Marque and Reprisal Act of 2007 (HR 3216) makes the surgical strike option available to the President in our mission to capture Bin Laden. Our military has been pursuing him without result for far too long now, and it is high time ALL constitutional tools were utilized in the hunt for this dangerous madman. As an American it sickens me to know that Bin Laden and top leaders of al Qaeda remain at large and thumbing their noses at us, while we unravel the sacred fabric of our constitution out of fear. It is Osama Bin Laden and the perpetrators of terrorist attacks that ought to be afraid of us, not the other way around. The answers are found in the Constitution. We should boldly root out the perpetrators and not let them get away with their crimes against us. As the home of the brave we should use Letters of Marque and Reprisal to bring Bin Laden to justice.
Also, we need to take serious steps to prevent terrorists from gaining easy access to targets on our soil. Quite alarmingly, even with the knowledge that the 19 terrorist hijackers entered our country legally, and that 15 of them were from Saudi Arabia , student visas from terrorist sponsoring countries are still far too easily obtained. In a baffling move President Bush struck a deal with Saudi King Abdullah in 2005 to allow 21,000 more Saudi young men into the US on student Visas. Of course, not all students from terror sponsoring countries are terrorists, but I place a higher premium on the security of the American people than the convenience of citizens of hostile countries. We should not be making the goals of would-be terrorists easier to accomplish, but rather should be vigilant about defending against enemies at every turn. They should not be slipping through our doors so easily, using our immigration laws against us, and that is why I proposed the Terror Immigration Elimination Act (HR 3217) to toughen standards for VISAS from countries on the State Department’s list of terrorist sponsoring countries in addition to Saudi Arabia . Just as you decide who to invite to a dinner party in your home, we should be in charge of who we allow in this country, without apology.
A lot has been done to fight the War on Terror and much of it has been misdirected, but there are some tools still needed and more progress to be made. My bills The Marque and Reprisal Act of 2007 and The Terror Immigration Elimination Act are logical steps in the right direction.
Ron Paul
I’ll be voting for Ron Paul as well.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.