Ron Paul supporters are ecstatic that he actually got mentioned on MSNBC. I find the following quote ironic:
"Joe Trippi, a 25-year veteran of Iowa caucus politics who served as Howard Dean’s campaign manager in 2003 and who’s now a top aide to Edwards, said, “From what I see, Ron Paul is doing much better than his better-known opponents think he is doing. He is at that stage of the Dean campaign when all the other campaigns are laughing at him and have no idea of how strong he really is.”
We all remember how Howard Dean's run for the White House ended up. While I am confident that Dr. Paul is much more mentally stable than Howard Dean, I'm equally as confident that he will be, at best, a footnote to the 2008 Presidential Election, or at worst, the spoiler who siphons off enough conservative votes to put Hillary Clinton into the White House.
It's not the Dr. Paul's policy statements are necessarily wrong. They are just naive. He may say what a lot of people are thinking, but a lot of that is wishful thinking. I agree 100% with Dr. Paul on the income tax issue, for example. But in the real world of Washington, no Congress; Democrat or Republican, is going to support his plan. And since the President is not a dictator and Congress writes the laws, it's a no-starter. As for "the people" forcing their elected representatives to follow a Paul agenda, we can't even get Congress to enforce, let alone enhance, the existing laws on illegal immigration. And polls show a majority of the American public are anti-illegal immigration!
Most of Dr Paul's supporters are young, idealistic college students. And the truth is, as much as they rally and cheer, they just don't vote.
The rest of America has had it's idealism burned out of it by Bill Clinton and his scandals, Newt and his "revolution" that went no where, and the Republicans who demonstrated that, once in the majority, they are as corrupt morally, sexually, and as full of hot air as the Democrats ever were. We conservatives thought we had finally won in the 1990's and instead were left with dust in our mouths. And as weak a President as Bill Clinton was, George W. Bush has proven to be a loose cannon with policies impossible to justify; who, like the Captain of the Titanic, refuses to change course or even slow down.
The only thing that has mattered in Washington for the last 30 years was who had enough power to stack the courts with activist judges to their liking. These judges, especially the 5th Circuit, routinely make up there own laws and impose injunctions against laws passed by the will of the people. Again, illegal immigration is a prime example.
We, the over 40 crowd who do (or used to) vote are coming to grips with that and while Dr. Paul may be a pleasant fantasy for all of us, come election day, we're either going to stay home, vote against someone (like Hillary), or waste our vote on the "flavor of the day"; in this case, Dr. Paul so we can "feel better".
We're tired of trying to change an entrenched bureaucracy and political quid-pro-quo that has existed since.....probably the early 20th century. Something happens to idealists who go to Washington: they become politicians. Then it's all about the next election and the election after that. Career politicians. The desire overtakes all of them sooner or later.
Every 20 or 30 years, the people get riled up and make a lot of noise, but nothing changes except the people we elect: they become Politicians bent on becoming Career Politicians. And every so often, someone dangerous shows up. This time its Hillary Clinton. Stopping her is my only agenda, because in the end, Rudy or Fred or John or the whole list of Presidential want-to-be's will be no different than their predecessors.
The status quo marches on and America continues it's slide from greatness to 2nd-world status. We can bluster and yell and demand change, but the handwriting is already on the wall. China will be the premier Superpower of the 22nd century and America will be a balkanized, politically correct, low income parody of itself.
The dollar is sliding towards worthless against the Euro and even the Canadian dollar, oil will be over $100 a barrel any day now, and we're not drilling for more because it would upset the caribou in Alaska.
So kids, don't waste your time. Excel in school. Get your Masters and your PhD. Work to be in the future elite because the middle class is already collapsing and that just leaves being poor. Or do all the preceding and learn Mandarin Chinese so you can be an immigrant looking for a better life.
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