Outsiders Like Ron Paul

Ron Paul was recently astute enough to suggest he is a lousy politician. This is not a self-deprecation when you consider the braggadocian candidates out there currently running for the nomination. You can count outsiders like Paul on one hand who are blunt and not beholden to special interest groups or brazenly assume it is ethical to use the "Jesus Factor" to rob pews of votes, as the remaining contenders for the Presidential nomination are doing.

First, let me get this out of the way. I like Ron Paul but his foreign policy ideas are dubious if not naïve. With potential nuclear conflicts brewing around the world between the followers of different faiths, it seems like the inevitable showdown has made the world more dangerous and deaf to reason; a ratio of paranoia being proportional to the increase in weapons of mass destruction. Recently, missile-ready China has made it known they have no qualms about making threats of their own. So historically, Paul´s ideas of non-interventionism and diplomacy working without the threat of a big stick to back it up is a fantast´s dream regardless of how much more civilized this approach may be. In another time, maybe, the sanction of the victims would make sense .

Now what I really like about Ron Paul is his insensitivity to his party line for which he has paid the price as has Kucinich, both cultish truth tellers of a sort.

Here´s one that resonates with some half-truths and in this case a hint of the absurdity of multiculturalism:

"We quadrupled the TSA, you know, and hired more people who look more suspicious to me than most Americans who are getting checked," he says. "Most of them are, well, you know, they just don't look very American to me. If I'd have been looking, they look suspicious ... I mean, a lot of them can't even speak English, hardly. Not that I'm accusing them of anything, but it's sort of ironic."

Understatement? Or sort of ? Any U.S. citizen, might easily fall prey to this kind of thinking especially after one has been questioned, belligerently, as I was, by a foreign looking TSA employee with a heavy accent requesting the purpose of said citizen´s "visit" to the United States, and I was positive my flight had landed at Kennedy instead of Cairo.

Ever since Giuliani, the self-proclaimed hero of New York City, requested an apology from Paul for saying, rightly or wrongly, our military presence in the Middle East motivated the September 11 attacks, Ron achieved just enough nationwide recognition to reach the talk-show level of ´Real Time With Bill Maher´ and the ´Daily Show´ and for some to revel along with him in his revolt against the current and un-mastered condition of our country.

Among many things, Paul revolts against the unsustainable $3 billion a day our government must borrow to stay afloat and a government that is seemingly being more and more run by tyrants. Is it not true that to travel today from state to state on the airlines, you must "show your papers", and so wouldn´t controlling the Interstate and the Internet highways be not far off should this trend continue?

Outsiders, under my definition, are always revolting and reminding us of the real issues, and like Ron Paul, have serious and well considered viewpoints that bear consideration.

Once, during a debate hosted by Chris Matthews on MSNBC, Ron was asked about national ID cards to which he answered a "hell no", reminding the other Republican debaters of the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Of course, the other Republican candidates quickly backpedaled. Thus, a need for the outsider to step in and remind the viewing audience of the disingenuous and smarmy politicians out there.

Whether we agree with them or not, outsiders always perform a valuable service in a debate and for the national dialogue. Not surprisingly, a petition was circulated to the sponsors and broadcasters for the removal of Ron Paul from the debates who don´t appreciate this service. This phenomena occurs within both Democratic and Republican parties and without it we would actually have a free exchange ideas in this country. As it is, there is really no debate at all in the primaries or in the run-ups to Presidential elections. Outsider´s opinions are attacked as nutty conspiracy theories, most of which are not true. Ron Paul never said 9/11 was a conspiracy which Michelle Malkin who continually lies for a living, said he has. Not having a great faith in government investigations, is a point which Malkin tries, simplistically, to conflate with being a 9/11 conspiracist.

Although I´d never vote for Ron Paul if he were to, theoretically, run against Hillary Clinton, he still has a lot of valid points to contribute to debates and represents, in parts, the views of many people.

Paul would rid us of the Department of Homeland Security, overturn the Patriot Act, stop federal prosecutions of obscenity, eliminate the IRS, and reestablish the gold and silver standard, points I agree with and are ideas the next Democratic president should consider. As to Paul´s dubious idea of phasing out Social Security, I´m certain it would meet the same resistance the time President Bush tried to push it. This is a solution that relies too much the kind of luck you would expect from a Las Vegas casino vacation and puts the your "Social Security" into the hands of brokers and a random volatile market.

It was outsiders who started America on this country´s grand experiment creating a Constitution unequal to none when it separated church and the state. It was supposed to allow a free voice to all citizens to air their thoughts without fear of reprisal from churches or the powerful. But our politicians are still making it difficult for the rest of us when they use religion to get the vote. It also perpetuates America´s inability to come to terms with the deepest and most penetrating ideas of our civilization. Consider the following:

In December of 2007 Obama was addressing a crowd in Columbia, S.C. and opened his politicking by saying, "Giving all praise and honor to God" then quoted Psalm 118: "Look at the day the Lord has made!"

Even Hillary Clinton quoted the same biblical passage as Obama: "This is the day the Lord has made."

Then, John McCain stated on Beliefnet.com that "America is a Christian nation" and "I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles, personally, I prefer someone [as president] who has a grounding in my faith." This is either stupidly narrow-minded or a ploy to get the Christian vote and he obviously doesn´t know the difference between a deist and a theist . And it is highly debatable whether America was founded on primarily Christian principles. This sort of talk subverts the Constitution implying there is a requirement to be a Christian in order to hold public office, and insults all practicing Jews as well since they don´t consider McCain´s Christ the Messiah.

Supporters of Ron Paul must know he will never win and yet he continues to resonate and draw applause from so many people, mostly at universities these days.

This is because the Bush Dogma has lost much of its credibility even among Republicans. As a whole American citizens have suffered from a flurry of heavy blows from every direction during the last seven years that have left them bruised and fed up and so would naturally be sympathetic to anyone with views like Paul´s. Another reason is the Internet itself (which the Pentagon has been hard at work to gain control over) where independent opinions create buzz which can translate to the polls.

Ron Paul, though, is out of his weight class as a contender for President because he is mostly ignored by the status quo establishment, and so he continues as a hopeless voice in the wilderness beating against the winds of major media and the smears from light-weight media clowns like O´Reilly and Ann Coulter who are continually presented as legitimate voices of the American public.

The political class doesn´t want to hear it from outsiders like Paul or Kucinich if they cannot think of a reason to use them for their cause – don´t blow a good thing, they are saying, and leave us to the traditional drama we have always played out for a gullible American public and they will be none the wiser. Politicians like Ron Paul may not change things this time around but people are beginning to listen more and understand.