I haven’t posted in ages and how do I break the fast? With a post about politics, of course :)

Earlier this week, I was watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (live, which is pretty hard to believe considering how crazy busy and exhausted I’ve been lately) and Jon interviewed Congressman Ron Paul, (R) Texas, one of the Republican candidates for President of the United States. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t typically pay much attention to politics, but Congressman Paul caught my attention right away with some of the things he said. He said:

  • he stands for the liberty of the free people of the United States and that we should spread that liberty by setting a good example, not force
  • he believes government should follow the Constitution; if the Constitution doesn’t give government the power to do something, it shouldn’t be done
  • he wants to get rid of the government excess; for example, he believes the market can deliver any service better than the government (not counting defense) and he would legalize competition against the United States Postal Service

I made a note to do some research on Congressman Paul and fell asleep listening to The Colbert Report.

The next day, during my lunch hour, I searched the web for legitimate sources that summarized Paul’s political positions. Fortunately, Wikipedia had an entire page on his political positions. I went through each issue and compared his stance with how I felt. Here are just some of his political positions:

  • Nonintervention: wars must be fully approved by Congress with a complete declaration of war, which would allow total resources to be dedicated to victory
  • Free trade: proponent of free trade but opposes some “free trade agreements” (namely, CAFTA, which he believes is unconstitutional)
  • Secure borders and immigration: opposes illegal immigration because of the tool they take on the welfare rolls and Social Security; opposes amnesty for illegal immigrants because it undermines the rule of law and grants pardons to lawbreakers; children born in the United States should not be granted automatic citizenship
  • Abortion: is pro-life (personally, this is a topic with which I really struggle, as I personally am pro-life, but I have a hard time telling someone else what they have to be/do)
  • Consistent life ethic: opposes all forms of killing not done in self-defense
  • Domestic surveillance: opposes the domestic surveillance program conducted by the NSA on American citizens, believing the government should protect American citizens’ privacy, not violate it
  • Gay rights: is personally opposed to gay marriage, but believes that marriage is an individual matter more than a function of the government (because marriage existed before governments did); citizens should not look to the government for moral guidance, because morality is primarily a religious or personal matter
  • Health care: has called for passage of tax relief bills to reduce health care costs for families

There are many more positions that I culd have listed, so if you’re interested, check out the Wikipedia link above.

After reviewing his positions, I found another web site (I can’t remember the name or URL) that listed Congressman Paul’s voting record. When comparing his stance with the way he votes, I was amazed at how true he is to his positions.

At this point, I had done all the research I could think of, so I came to the conclusion that I’m going to support Congressman Paul’s efforts to win the Republican nomination. If you’re interested in doing the same, I encourage you to visit his campaign web site. Also, he’ll be on The Colbert Report on June 13 at 11:30 p.m. Eastern, as well as the following day at 1:30 and 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 and 8:30 p.m.

If you don’t support Congressman Paul, that’s fine, but I encourage you to do some research on the candidate you’re currently supporting. You might be surprised (either positively or negatively) with what you find.