Ron Paul?

Discussion in 'The Thunderdome' started by Tenacious D, Jan 16, 2012.

  1. Tenacious D

    Tenacious D The law is of supreme importance, or no importance

    I just saw a video clip where Jon Stewart was lamenting that the big networks - notably, including Fox - were outright ignoring Ron Paul. I was neither surprised that they may be, nor cared to be honest, having myself long ago decided he was a nut job. While uncertain as to why I believed as much, I was no doubt certain that he was, in fact, a nut job. And then I heard Stewart mention that not only did he endorse him, but so did the likes of Bill Maher, Ann Coulter, Occupy Wall St., the Tea Party, etc. - or more simply, polar political and ideological opposites.

    He also mentioned that his greatest groundswell of support was coming from young people, Veterans - and the Holy Grail of national elections, the long-time absentee voter (read: apathetic voters).

    Ultimately, I landed on Ron Paul's homepage, and learned the following:

    1. Healthcare:

    • Repeal ObamaCare and end its unconstitutional mandate that all Americans must carry only government-approved health insurance or answer to the IRS.
    • Allow purchase of health insurance across state lines.
    • Provide tax credits and deductions for all medical expenses.
    • Exempt those with terminal illnesses from the employee portion of payroll taxes while they are suffering from such illnesses or are incurring significant medical costs associated with their conditions.
    • Give a payroll deduction to any worker who is the primary caregiver for a spouse, parent, or child with a terminal illness.
    • Ensure that those harmed during medical treatment receive fair compensation while reducing the burden of costly malpractice litigation on the health care system by providing a tax credit for “negative outcomes” insurance purchased before medical treatment.
    • Guarantee that what is taken from taxpayers to pay for Medicare and Medicaid is not raided for other purposes.
    • Make all Americans eligible for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and remove government-imposed barriers to obtaining HSAs.
    • Stop the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from interfering with Americans’ knowledge of and access to dietary supplements and alternative treatments.
    • Prevent federal bureaucrats from tracking every citizen’s medical history from cradle to grave by prohibiting the use of taxpayer funds for a national database of personal health information.


    2. Faith
    He is a Christian who professes Christ, but refuses to discuss it....for fear of it appearing as contrived or pandering. Odd. I know that this is not important to most, but it is to me.


    3. Abortion
    • Immediately saving lives by effectively repealing Roe v. Wade and preventing activist judges from interfering with state decisions on life by removing abortion from federal court jurisdiction through legislation modeled after his “We the People Act.”
    • Defining life as beginning at conception by passing a “Sanctity of Life Act.”

    [video=youtube;MkAsLPrnJGc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkAsLPrnJGc&feature=player_embedded[/video]

    4. Economy

    As President, Ron Paul will lead the way out of this crisis by:
    • Vetoing any unbalanced budget Congress sends to his desk.
    • Refusing to further raise the debt ceiling so politicians can no longer spend recklessly.
    • Fighting to fully audit (and then end) the Federal Reserve System, which has enabled the over 95% reduction of what our dollar can buy and continues to create money out of thin air to finance future debt.
    • Legalizing sound money, so the government is forced to get serious about the dollar’s value.
    • Ending the corporate stranglehold on the White House.
    • Driving down gas prices by allowing offshore drilling, abolishing highway motor fuel taxes, increasing the mileage reimbursement rates, and offering tax credits to individuals and businesses for the use and production of natural gas vehicles.
    • Eliminating the income, capital gains, and death taxes to ensure you keep more of your hard-earned money and are able to pass on your legacy to your family without government interference.
    • Opposing all unfunded mandates and unnecessary regulations on small businesses and entrepreneurs.

    5. Defense

    • Make securing our borders the top national security priority.
    • Avoid long and expensive land wars that bankrupt our country by using constitutional means to capture or kill terrorist leaders who helped attack the U.S. and continue to plot further attacks.
    • Guarantee our intelligence community’s efforts are directed toward legitimate threats and not spying on innocent Americans through unconstitutional power grabs like the Patriot Act.
    • End the nation-building that is draining troop morale, increasing our debt, and sacrificing lives with no end in sight.
    • Follow the Constitution by asking Congress to declare war before one is waged.
    • Only send our military into conflict with a clear mission and all the tools they need to complete the job – and then bring them home.
    • Ensure our veterans receive the care, benefits, and honors they have earned when they return.
    • Revitalize the military for the 21st century by eliminating waste in a trillion-dollar military budget.
    • Prevent the TSA from forcing Americans to either be groped or ogled just to travel on an airplane and ultimately abolish the unconstitutional agency.
    • Stop taking money from the middle class and the poor to give to rich dictators through foreign aid.

    6. The Fed
    • As President, Ron Paul will work for passage of comprehensive audit legislation, and he will also fight to legalize sound money so Americans will have alternatives to the Fed’s inflated paper money.
    • Ultimately, he will lead the charge to end the dishonest, immoral, and unconstitutional Federal Reserve System, enabling America to take a giant step toward economic security, financial responsibility, and lasting prosperity.

    7. Taxes

    He likens taxes to "stealing" and looks to repeal the income, death and capital gains taxes, respectively - oh, and he also wants to get rid of the IRS, too.

    8. Immigration
    • If elected President, Ron Paul will work to implement the following common sense reforms:
    • Enforce Border Security – America should be guarding her own borders and enforcing her own laws instead of policing the world and implementing UN mandates.
    • No Amnesty - The Obama Administration’s endorsement of so-called “Comprehensive Immigration Reform,” granting amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants, will only encourage more law-breaking.
    • Abolish the Welfare State – Taxpayers cannot continue to pay the high costs to sustain this powerful incentive for illegal immigration. As Milton Friedman famously said, you can’t have open borders and a welfare state.
    • End Birthright Citizenship – As long as illegal immigrants know their children born here will be granted U.S. citizenship, we’ll never be able to control our immigration problem.
    • Protect Lawful Immigrants – As President, Ron Paul will encourage legal immigration by streamlining the entry process without rewarding lawbreakers.

    9. Energy
    • The free market – not government – is the solution to America’s energy needs.
    • Remove restrictions on drilling, so companies can tap into the vast amount of oil we have here at home.
    • Repeal the federal tax on gasoline. Eliminating the federal gas tax would result in an 18 cents savings per gallon for American consumers.
    • Lift government roadblocks to the use of coal and nuclear power.
    • Eliminate the ineffective EPA. Polluters should answer directly to property owners in court for the damages they create – not to Washington.
    • Make tax credits available for the purchase and production of alternative fuel technologies.
    • It’s time for a President that recognizes the free market’s power and innovative spirit by unleashing its full potential to produce affordable, environmentally sound, and reliable energy.

    10. Would End (Do away with) five (5) Cabinet-level departments:
    • Energy,
    • HUD,
    • Commerce,
    • Interior,
    • and Education.
    • He has called for elimination of other federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,and the IRS

    He was a veteran, he's a medical doctor, a 12-term member of the House, so what am I missing about this guy?

    To be honest, I agree with everything he is saying and am curious to hear from those of you who likely know far more than I.

    Is he being ignored (and why)?
    Most curiously, why do Republicans seem to hate him so much?
     
  2. Snakeonia

    Snakeonia Active Member

    his stance with Iran having nukes is enough for me to say no
     
  3. IP

    IP Super Moderator

    Way too many deal breakers in there for me. Life at conception? His schizophrenic policies on gas and energy? Collapsing departments simply because he doesn't know their function? Dismantling the Fed right now is also like putting a gun to our economy's head and pulling the trigger.

    If he gets elected, it is the end of the USA as a world super power. Book it.
     
  4. CardinalVol

    CardinalVol Uncultured, non-diverse mod

    I think he's got some great ideas that should be looked at very strongly regardless of who wins this election.

    I also think he's got some bad ones that neutralize his good ones.

    I cringe as to think what he would actually say/do as President.

    Finally, I just don't like the guy. He's the crazy uncle at Christmas that you avoid at all costs because, quite frankly, he creeps you out.
     
  5. bigpapavol

    bigpapavol Chieftain

    surely not serious.
     
  6. Tenacious D

    Tenacious D The law is of supreme importance, or no importance

    I am unaware of his schizophrenic policies on energy....but if that's the criteria, we can eliminate all candidates.

    How do we know that he's only collapsing them because of a lack of understanding as to what they do? What vital function do any serve which could not be done infinitely better, and undoubtedly cheaper, by a private firm or the market, in general?

    I'm only beginning to read up on the Fed, and don't know enough to comment with an informed opinion.

    Why is he the crazy uncle? What specifically makes him crazy? Serious question.
     
  7. CardinalVol

    CardinalVol Uncultured, non-diverse mod

    What makes any uncle the crazy uncle? I'm not sure there is a definite thing I can pinpoint. It's just who he is.
     
  8. Tenacious D

    Tenacious D The law is of supreme importance, or no importance

    Fair enough.

    But is it who he IS, or who he is MADE to be.

    Again, I know little about the guy - but anyone who can align both Bill Mahr and Ann Coulter warrants close examination.
     
  9. CardinalVol

    CardinalVol Uncultured, non-diverse mod

    It's the him that comes across every time I see him speak, whether an interview, debate, etc.
     
  10. Volst53

    Volst53 Super Moderator

    I think he looks and sounds crazy when you put him on stage with what we expect a politician to be
     
  11. OrangeEmpire

    OrangeEmpire Take a chance, Custer did

    No idea why, he reminds me of Rev Flavel from Porkys.
     
  12. IP

    IP Super Moderator

    Don't call me Shirley.
     
  13. Tenacious D

    Tenacious D The law is of supreme importance, or no importance

    He was the one who stumped Perry on the three things he himself had suggested to cut.

    He's also the one who told Giuliani (in '08) that he was in error on the cause of 9/11, and when Rudy demanded he withdraw the comment, instead told the former mayor that he didn't sound as if he had even read the 9/11 report. Right or wrong, that took sizable balls.
     
  14. IP

    IP Super Moderator

    Paul just got booed for questioning our foreign policy in regards to war and breaking international law.

    That says a lot more about the Republican party than Paul, that they would boo even a conversation concerning how we have conducted ourselves.




    Because damn, do we need another war amirite?
     
  15. Volst53

    Volst53 Super Moderator

    I'm a fan of his. I'd love to see him against Obama.
     
  16. Jewbaccah

    Jewbaccah New Member

    Ding Ding Winner.

    The Party is in Self Destruct. A large block of voters have no home in American Politics. We have gotten too big and too diverse for the two party system. It has to go. The problem is people are afraid of the change that is necessary nor has anyone stepped forth to lead a new party. There is a need for a party for the Christian Zealots and one for more moderate small government states rights types. The dems have the same issue with their left wing radicals and middle of the ground labor party types. I would say 4 parties are needed at this time. It will involve a radical change to our election process. I cannot understand why people find this so distasteful it will be so much better.

    The people who show up for these debates right now are generally zealots to some degree.
     
  17. IP

    IP Super Moderator

    This has been Ron Paul's worst debate I have ever seen, btw. Usually I think he does very well, despite me not being a fan.
     
  18. LawVol13

    LawVol13 Chieftain

    To me, Ron Paul operates to force the Republican Party to take into account what he's saying. There's a lot of validity to what he says. There's also a lot of garbage. That's typically what you get from a fringe candidate. One thing I'll give him is that he's totally consistent. He doesn't back down that he'd vote against the Civil Rights Act. I think that's stupid. But, he's consistent. He also favors an isolationist foreign policy, which in my opinion is totally impracticable in today's world. In the end, he forces both sides to take into account his position because he's been so good at advocating it. And, I think that's really his goal in running for President. So, kudos to him.
     
  19. CardinalVol

    CardinalVol Uncultured, non-diverse mod

    I think your next to last sentence sums it up for me. Its time for him to hand the baton to younger members of this particular movement.
     
  20. IMISSTHEBOWLBROS

    IMISSTHEBOWLBROS Contributor

    Guy's Ron Paul, just seems to good to be true. Doesn't he? Well he's a libertarian laughing as he rides the Republican Titanic. He's awesome!
     

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