Help me Answer This!

[paulaholic]

This question was posed to me by a friend.

Question for you guys: I've been paying a lot of attention to the candidates for the Presidential Election and I have a question about Ron Paul. So since Senor is a fan, maybe he can answer. I understand that he is actually registered as a Republican but ran as a Libertarian in 1988. He's in the running again as a Republican Presidential Candidate however there was speculation he'd run as a Libertarian. So am I safe to assume he's really a Libertarian who's also much of a political opportunist? (Not trying to bash the guy, don't know much about his policies, just the parties he's ran for).

 

[Spike Kojima]

don't know much about his policies

I find that hard to believe

He has said if he doesn't get the republican nomination he will not run for a 3rd party.

 

[Cowlesy]

Well he's been elected to Congress as a Republican 10 times.

I have little knowledge of his 1988 campaign, but I think a lot of core values of truly conservative republicans originate from libertarian principles, so if you can't battle the Bush machine and believe Bush isn't a true conservative, getting on the ballot and sticking to your core principles is much more important than the party flag that represents you.

 

[Chester Copperpot]

This question was posed to me by a friend.

Question for you guys: I've been paying a lot of attention to the candidates for the Presidential Election and I have a question about Ron Paul. So since Senor is a fan, maybe he can answer. I understand that he is actually registered as a Republican but ran as a Libertarian in 1988. He's in the running again as a Republican Presidential Candidate however there was speculation he'd run as a Libertarian. So am I safe to assume he's really a Libertarian who's also much of a political opportunist? (Not trying to bash the guy, don't know much about his policies, just the parties he's ran for).

He's been a Republican in congress since the 70s.

The confusion comes about because libertarian is an ideology as well as the name of a party. Libertarianism just means someone who is for liberty.. you can be a libertarian republican.. just like you can be a conservative republican, or a liberal republican, or a statist republican (neo-con)

 

[W.J. Hammond]

To get elected.

The only way to get elected in the U.S.A. is to be a member of one of the two major parties. Remember if Ron Paul does not make it the first time around, there is always the write in on the ballet. God Bless

 

[bcmiller]

Help me respond to this one... it's the mother of all attacks

edit... nevermind he got it on infowars and the rebuttal is right below it... hahahaha

http://www.firesociety.com/forum/thread/17124/Why-most-conservatives-dislike-Ron-Paul/

Here is the cut/paste repetitive post... I know the answers but if anyone else wanted to pitch in it wouldn't hurt.

edit....
I deleted the quoted text since I provided the link. I slammed the guy for just doing a cut/paste smear and having no intellectual honesty for not quoting the rebuttal or addressing the rebuttal.

 

[Bossobass]

If Ron was a political opportunist, he would definitely have:

1) Accepted the lucrative Congressional Pension Plan (which he refuses to do)

2) Taken many, many government paid junkets (which he has never done in his 10 terms in Congress)

3) Never returned a portion of his Congressional Office Budget (which he has indeed returned a portion of every year of his 10 terms in Congress)

4) Voted to raise his Congressional pay (which he has never done in his 10 terms in Congress)

Bosso

 

[paulaholic]

This is what I told him:

Ron Paul is registered as a Republican. He ran as a Libertarian in 1988 despite having had no prior involvement with the party. Despite not belonging to the Libertarian Party, he has worked with them at certain points in his career. He has been endorsed by prominent figures in both the Libertarian and Constitution parties.

Dr. Paul's policies are similar, but definitely not identical, to the Libertarian platform. He voted against the Iraq War, the National ID Card and the horrible Patriot Act. He supports same-sex unions and the legalization of medical marijuana. On the flip side, he's the only candidate, in my opinion, who will lower government spending. If elected, he will abolish the income tax and the IRS (he has never voted to raise taxes). He will privatize social security, disallow amnesty for illegals, and gradually phase out public health care. In addition, he strongly supports states' rights and will drastically reduce the role of the federal government.

And he responded with:

Out of candidates I like the most, I agree with you on both parties. After you brought Ron Paul to my attention I looked him up (because only Democrats are really focused on in the media), watched some of his speeches/debates on YouTube, I think Paul would make a great President. He seems like he actually knows what he is talking about and isn't afraid to actually do/say what is right -- something that I don't see with basically any of the candidates.

as well as:

I think Giuliani is a crooked, crooked politician and I think he could be somewhat disastrous to the country's image. On the flip side of parties - and no offense to those of you who support - but I think Hillary Clinton is an absolute whackjob. I have no understanding of how she is a frontrunner, makes no sense to me. She just seems like she wants power and can obtain it because of her money and her husbands name.




BTW, this person is Canadian.