Why I Support Congressman Ron Paul for President

Presidential candidate Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX), MD

There are a plurality of reasons why I support Ron Paul and oppose the rest of the candidates. I couldn't possibly enumerate them all in this one commentary. However, I will begin by pointing out a few of the reasons why Ron Paul appeals to me.

Ron Paul is a true intellectual who didn't get into politics looking to score personal gain and fortune. Running for office wasn't a perfunctory thing for the Congressman. He has devoted his life to learning and understanding issues that escape the opportunists in Washington, D.C. Ron Paul is a very intelligent man, and he isn't some "fringe" candidate like the establishment tries to portray. He is a medical doctor who has delivered many babies throughout his life.  I believe Ron Paul is the only electable Republican, since he doesn't come with the Iraq war baggage that the rest of the candidates have. 

One issue that Congressman Ron Paul understands is inflation versus sound money. Ron Paul understands that there is a nexus between the present monetary situation and the expansion of government. Ron Paul also understands how government power comes at the expense of individual liberty.

Nobody can favor inflation - i.e., an expansion of the money supply - while being against big government, the war, and a police state. When Ron Paul calls inflation a tax, he is absolutely correct. There is no objective difference between the government taking the money you have in your pocket and the government duplicating the money you have in your pocket, consequently devaluing what you do have. Inflation is a much more sinister tax, since it is a stealth tax that is difficult to trace and account for.  We feel this tax with higher prices of goods and services. 

People get fooled into spending even more money with inflation, unwittingly spending their savings. Inflation itself penalizes savers and makes saving objectively impossible. You certainly have the freedom to save money, but saving the value of the money is impossible with the government devaluing it to finance its spending orgies. Trying to save money that politicians are constantly tampering with is a lot like trying to save milk for a few months.

Inflation also discourages any attempt to save, artificially speeding up consumption. There should be no surprise that with the expansion of government, more and more elderly people find themselves unable to retire and have to remain in the work force. I can think of no position more friendly towards the elderly and retirees than being in favor of sound money.

Especially with rising gas prices, I believe the country is ripe for Ron Paul's message.  Congressman Ron Paul would actually do something to curtail this abuse of our money, whereas the rest of the candidates wouldn't.

Ron Paul is also opposed to the war, unlike the establishment Republicans and Democrats. Ron Paul correctly amalgamates the antiwar position with the paleoconservative position. If being against the war is such a "left wing liberal" position, then why is it that Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, et. al., have consistently voted to keep funding the war? Even the recent bill which Democrats passed is a war funding bill, which was camouflaged with antiwar sounding rhetoric and platitudes. The withdrawal provision in the bill is a pseudo-withdrawal provision.

What I appreciate about Ron Paul's truly antiwar position is how this is, itself, a good thing for veterans. While the big so-called veterans' advocacy groups grade candidates by how much money they throw at the Department of Veterans' Affairs, there are more ways to support and help veterans than merely throwing more money at the bureaucracy. Supporting veterans should not be conflated with throwing more money at the VA, especially given the VA's rampant misfeasance.

As a disabled veteran, I notice how almost every politician will engage in grandstanding by saying how much they care about veterans and then claim accolades for handing more money to bureaucrats at the VA - very little of which actually helps veterans. Author's note: Government programs are about helping those in the bureaucracy, while making the masses that much less self-sufficient. Hoping that money trickles down from the government is trickle down economics at its worst.  Ron Paul will point out the obvious: viz., that government isn't a philanthropic institution.  When politicians spend money, it isn't their money being spent.

While those same politicians say how underserved veterans are, they will simultaneously vote to appropriate more funds to keep a war policy going, which will create even more disabled veterans. You don't have to be an expert in calculus to see a paradox there. If veterans are underserved as it is, why would you wish to create more disabled veterans? Getting help from the VA is akin to trying to win the lottery. How dare any politician who votes to keep funding the war - i.e., creating more disabled veterans - turn around and claim accolades for "helping" veterans.

This leads me to the following axiom: There is an inextricable nexus between opposing policies that are creating even more disabled veterans and supporting veterans. Being opposed to the war policy is merely a different way to support more per capita funding for veterans. When will the big so-called veterans' advocacy groups realize this?

Drawing the two issues of inflation and the war together, I would like to point out to those who are opposed to the war on the left: There is a nexus between the government's power to inflate and the war policy. As long as government has the power to print money, it will be able to get us into wars. The government's power to spend money is directly related to its power to act. This makes Ron Paul the only true antiwar candidate and friend of liberty in the race for President.

While the establishment tries to sterilize the debate with personality related issues, Ron Paul is addressing real issues, such as habeas corpus. When I heard Ron Paul say that he wouldn't abuse habeas corpus during the debate, I was hearing the voice of a man who loves his country and its inhabitants. With the growth of government has come a crowding out of citizen cognizance of issues such as habeas corpus, and the importance of jury trials, and the need for warrants before conducting a search. The establishment does its best to misdirect us by talking about Mitt Romney's looks, or whatever else we can be distracted with.

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