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May 10, 2008
Paulite Invasion
Many of you are familiar with my reservations regarding Ron Paul.
I don't think it's prudent - or advisable - at this point to encourage competing currencies like gold and silver, although I do think the current monetary policy and Federal Reserve system need to be overhauled. I also think we should be in Iraq and have foreign bases but at the same time cut aid to foreign countries. On the flip side, I hate illegal immigration and Paul's old party - the Libertarians - have excoriated him on this. I tend to be Libertarian, but they really screw the pooch on stuff like that.
The Republicans don't do themselves any favours when they bully their own people and railroad the party. McCain has the delegate count for a number of reasons: there was a crowded GOP field; GOP leaning pundits hated people like Paul and Romney; and Romney dropping out too early are a few of them. But then the GOP has to further destroy confidence by interfering in the system.
When Mr. Man and I went to the caucus, we met many people who were voting for McCain because they were told - by pundits, by insiders - that McCain was going to win anyway, and it hurt the party to show disunity. So people we spoke to - many of them Romney supporters, a few Huckabee ones - voted for McCain, sealing the deal. We voted our conscience and the lone Paul supporter from our district did too, refusing to vote for McCain.
Now the party has taken it one step further and stepped beyond spreading FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) about McCain alternatives; they've actually cut a state convention short to prevent Paul delegates from getting elected.
When the Nevada GOP convention convened last month and it looked as if several Paul delegates would be elected to go to national, the state convention chair abruptly closed proceedings.
As much as I have reservations about some of Paul's policies, as I've stated above, he's right on many things and the GOP needs to move more in his direction on several issues. We need to stop pork and earmark spending, we need to lower taxes (corporate and individual both), and we need to use the Constitution as our guiding light. The GOP instead has been moving left and as I complained about in a previous post, refused to pledge no earmarks, despite the urging of several leading Congressional GOP figures. When 'contrarians' are blocked in the way Paulites were in Nevada, it really hurts the party and just furthers the feeling among many of us, that it's all a show and the party is just going to shove things down our throat whether we want them or not (the illegal immigration bill last summer was another such example).
We shouldn't be a party that fears poking, prodding and challenges. If we're strong and true, we will come out stronger and if we're not, we'll be forced to correct and re-examine. It's win-win, with the downside being the continued loss of confidence in us that the American people seem to be expressing.
Posted by hanyap at May 10, 2008 3:53 PM