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Six months ago I glanced at the political
campaign sign of this little known candidate on the corner of my
street and thought he was running for the local school committee. A
few weeks later I learned that the man is a doctor and military
surgeon. He is 72 years old and a ten term Republican congressman
from Texas running for President of the United States in the 2008
election.
As I look at the state of the Ron Paul
campaign today, the fact is that his public opinion poll numbers
represent no current threat to the hierarchy in either political
party. By almost every measure he is a fringe candidate. Every
measure that is except one. The campaign of Ron Paul has what every
other campaign does not have. It has genuine grass roots support
and passion.
His supporters believe in the man and his
message. His campaign has been on fire on the Internet throughout
2007. Now, it looks like he has raised more campaign money than any
candidate of either party in the fourth quarter of 2007. His
campaign war chest grew by over 19 million dollars. In fact more
than 130,000 contributors gave to the Ron Paul campaign during the
fourth quarter of 2007, including more than 107,000 new donors. On
December 17, 2007, his campaign raised a record six million dollars
in a single day.
Meanwhile those public opinion polls
continue to show Ron Paul's national base of support at just 7%
(Rasmussen). So what is going on here? There are several possible
explanations: The intensity of support behind the Ron Paul campaign
may well indicate the beginning of a future political movement. It
also may be support for the only candidate that in 2008 stands for
a real change of direction in Washington D.C.. Even though he is
running in the Republican primary, Paul seems to be attracting a
protest vote about the way government is being run by both
political parties in the nation's capital.
With the damage to the Republican brand of
smaller government, less taxes and less government intrusion, there
does not seem to be a real important choice between the Republican
and Democratic party candidates any more. Everything between the
two major parties now seems to be a difference of degree not in
policy distinction.
The message of the Ron Paul campaign fills
the issue void of both major parties. It does not promote business
as usual in Washington D.C. In fact, it is a platform that promotes
radical change. In general, The campaign of Ron Paul promotes
smaller government and individual civil liberties. It even has some
different political positions that have appeal across the broad
political spectrum with different ideologies.
The message of his campaign is a strong
national defense that deals with our safety and our borders. Paul
believes that the government, neglecting a Constitutional
responsibility to protect its borders, has concentrated instead on
unconstitutionally policing foreign countries. He is against the
Iraq war and a foreign policy of nation building.
Ron Paul advocates withdrawal from the
United Nations and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for
reasons of maintaining strong national sovereignty. Paul supports
free trade and rejects membership in the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organization. (WTO). He
supports both tighter border security and ending welfare benefits
for illegal aliens.
Paul believes the size of federal
government must be decreased substantially. He supports the
elimination of the Internal Revenue Service. He wants to eliminate
most Cabinet departments and the Federal Reserve. He prefers a much
smaller federal government to be funded through excise taxes and
tariffs, not through an income tax.
Paul has asserted education should be
handled at a local and state level. He opposes the federal "No
Child Left Behind Act" and voted against it in 2001. Instead, Paul
has proposed the use of education tax credits, included in his bill
the Family Education Freedom Act (H.R. 612), which provides a
$3,000 tax credit to families to choose their own schools.
Ron Paul will not be the next President of
the United States. His campaign probably will never receive more
than 10% of the national vote. At the age of 72 , he likely will
never run for President again. However, his campaign has shown that
there is a passion for a message of change that will only grow if
it continues to be "business as usual" in Washington D.C.
There is a growing audience and the
foundation of a political platform here for a future charismatic
presidential candidate to harness. Indeed, the 2007 Ron Paul
campaign may well have ignited a political movement that may not go
away any time soon.
About the Author
James William Smith has worked in senior
management positions for some of the largest financial services
firms in the United States for the last twenty five years. He has
also provided business consulting support for insurance
organizations and start up businesses. Mr. Smith has a Bachelor of
Science Degree from Boston College. He enjoys writing articles on
political, national, and world events. Visit his website at
http://www.eworldvu.com
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written by Mike Pukmel on February 06, 2008
It should be no surprise that the poll numbers are 'fudged' to make certain candidates that are not backed by traditional sources, e.g. big Wall Street banking, Big Oil, etc., appear off the map. Ron Paul is the only candidate backed completely by non-traditional sources. Expect a very *large* write-in count at polls in November, in the likely event that Dr Paul does not recieve the Republican nomination.
If you can imagine that his campaign was able to fetch more money than other candidates, even the billionaire from Massachusetts, then think again that the polls are even slightly believeable.