Ron Paul - An unheralded Presidential Candidate
I don’t agree with all of Ron Paul’s stances but, in general, I think he is on the right track in how he executes his job as a congressman. He is trying to win the Republican nomination for President and, while he probably doesn’t have a good chance, I would support him over any of the other candidates I have heard about. Paul is a Republican as I understand the term far more than any other congressman I have heard about.
Ron Paul seems to believe congress should do the job it was entrusted with by the constitution and that the federal government should get it’s noses out of the business that should belong to the states. He opposes the drug war, he opposes the Iraq war, he opposes a lot of different taxes, he is opposed to federal welfare (believes this is the state’s job), he does not support changing the constitution willy-nilly for the cause of the month (gay marriage, flag burning, etc). He does believe in gun ownership, not getting in the way of the courts, legal immigration, and far less spending by the federal government.
I have read some of his voting record and looked at how various groups “rate� him and overall I like where he stands. I like the fact that he wants the federal government to take care of federal issues and wants the states to take care of their issues. I wish more Republicans were like this (maybe even more so) then I wouldn’t have minded having a Republican controlled government.
I doubt he will stay in the running for the whole deal - but I hope he is around for a long time in the primary races. His stance on the issues will at least bring his position to the forefront and, perhaps, will force some of the other candidates to adopt some of them.
Paul isn’t exactly in compliance with the constitution but, based on the powers explicitly granted the federal government by the Constitution I can’t think of anyone else who is closer. What do you think of Paul? If you leave your ideological desires at the door and judge him just as a congressman against the powers granted by the Constitution (left column) what do you think of him? Is there anyone else I should be looking at who has a similar stance - or an even more literal Federalist?