Today is Super Tuesday! Today, several states will be holding their primaries and caucuses, as we work to select the next Republican candidate for President of the United States. This year’s crop: Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and Alaska. Given that great excitement today and the importance of the results from this day’s voting, here is a rundown of why I fully support Ron Paul.
Subsidiarity
This concept holds that government should be handled at the lowest level possible; higher levels of government hold a “subsidiary” position, dealing only with those things the lower levels couldn’t handle. This is reflected in the Constitution itself; the Framers chose those things they doubted a state’s ability to handle (inter-state commerce, foreign relations, military defense from foreign invasion), and a few that were too important to allow the states to decide (protection of natural rights from government interference). These things were given to the federal government to administer; everything else was given, in the 10th Amendment, to the states to deal with. Ron Paul is the only candidate with a bold plan to actually begin returning the federal government to its Constitutional authority, and allow the states to resume their responsibilities.
Ron Paul is one of the outstanding leaders fighting for a stronger national defense. As a former Air Force officer, he knows well the needs of our armed forces, and he always puts them first. We need to keep him fighting for our country. – Ronald Reagan
Just War
This doctrine holds that the only just war is a reactive war – a just government shall never be the aggressor. Unfortunately, American politicians tend to disagree: Every other GOP candidate, and even our nominally anti-war Democrat president, are in favor of preemptive war against Iran, or any other country they think might have nuclear weapons, or that they think might, maybe, attack the US (or Israel). Ron Paul is the only one who thinks that maybe, just maybe, it would be intrinsically morally wrong to attack a people who have yet done us no harm. This is probably one reason Paul gets more donations from active duty military service-people than all the other candidates combined; our soldiers know they shouldn’t be where they are, and don’t want this trend of senseless, illegal wars to continue. Ron Paul is also, quite rightly, in favor of a strong military for national defense; in the occasion where we must defend ourselves, we should be able to do so.
Right to Life
Ron Paul is a career OB-GYN. He has delivered over 4000 babies. He is staunchly pro-life, and has actually legitimately worked to end abortions, and return the power regarding them to the states. Abortion is a criminal issue, just like any other murder, administration over which the Constitution says goes to the states.
Government out of Marriage
Ron Paul personally believes in marriage between a man and a woman. However, he also recognizes that the government has no business interfering with an inherently religious institution. What business is it to Washington who you “marry,” regardless of who recognizes the marriage? If government must have some record for taxes, or HIPPAA, or what have you, then fine: there are ways to do that without interfering in this institution.
Racist Drug War
The US incarcerates more young black males than any other country. In fact, the US incarcerates more people of any type, in proportion, than any other country (this includes authoritarian states like China). This stems from the fact that the US prison population is about 75% made up of non-violent “criminals,” guilty of “crimes” in which there was no victim at all. Drug crimes. The federal government’s 4-decade-long “War Against Drugs” has wasted billions of dollars. It has swelled our prison population to the point our prisons cannot handle it; California recently just let a bunch of people go, since there was no room for them. It has directly given rise to violent inner-city gangs, who could not support themselves if there was no black market in drugs. And finally, it has produced no reduction in drug use whatsoever, while giving rise to ever-more-unhealthy drugs as the safer ones are made illegal. Ron Paul will work to end this senseless “war” on substances, reducing government expense and waste as he reduces the pointless prison population, increasing your personal freedoms in the process.
Economics
I confess: I am not an expert in economics. I could not sit down to a debate about the finer points about Keynesian and Austrian economics. However, I can see that Ron Paul predicted the housing collapse way back in 2003. I can see that he is the only candidate who convincingly argues against living beyond our means (and backs it up with his voting record). This is what the American people have been seeking for decades, and politicians have paid it mere lip service. Ron Paul is the first one who shows a history of actually trying on this subject. He’s on to something – note how any economics questions in debates have the other candidates parroting the things Paul has been saying for years.
Electability
This is the lowest of my priorities, but luckily it favors Ron Paul as well. Of all the GOP contenders, Ron Paul consistently polls the best against President Obama — he has the best chance of winning the general election of them all. He pulls in important issues for Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, and Constitutionalists, rather than meekly toeing any one party line for the votes. He can be trusted to act according to his principles and stated beliefs, because he has already been doing so for decades (check his voting record). He won’t drop his campaign promises on the floor as soon as he wins the election, like so many presidents seem fond of doing.
The bottom line is this. If you love everything our presidents have done for the past twenty-plus years (Clinton, Bush, and Obama), then by all means vote for Romney or Santorum or Gingrich. If, on the other hand, you would like to see meaningful change in the way your government deals with you, if you want to see a visible decrease in government interference with your natural rights, if you actively want a smaller government, and the lower taxes and increased freedom that entails, then you must, in good conscience, vote for Representative Ron Paul.