04.14
First there was the CPAC straw poll where Ron Paul won handily. Next came the SRLC straw poll where he came in second only by one vote to Mitt Romney. Now, Rasmussen has put out the results of a poll that shows that if the 2012 election were held today, the results would be Barack Obama 42%, Ron Paul 41%. Folks, this is huge. Ron Paul has been denigrated by the Republican party wonks for years. The fact that he is in a statistical dead heat against Obama in a 2012 matchup is amazing.
He gets absolutely no play from the main conservative news outlets. The only time Rush Limbaugh even mentions him is when he refers to the rest of the Republican presidential nominee candidates as a bunch of “kooks.” That means that the 41% number is coming entirely from a grass roots surge from independents. People are talking, and they are sick of the same old crap coming out of the Repulican establishment. Romney is just a mini-Obama and Sarah Palin was campaigning for John McCain last month. Same ol’, same ol’.
It’s going to be interesting to see how the conservative talking heads respond to Dr. Paul’s popularity over the coming months. Will they embrace him as the man who can take down Obama? Unfortunately, I doubt it. More likely, they will probably just continue to ignore him or call him an isolationist and dismiss him like always. But, this poll gives me lots of hope, regardless.
Just to clarify for those who still don’t know much about Ron Paul’s positions. Here is a quick summary of his platform:
- Sound money – He wants to eliminate the Federal Reserve and return us to some form of gold standard in order to save the dollar from collapsing.
- Eliminate the income tax – He gives the statistic that we could eliminate the income tax altogether if we would just reduce the size of the Federal budget back to 2001 levels.
- Reduce the power of the Executive branch – He would return the presidency back to what it’s supposed to be constitutionally by eliminating most all of the executive branch departments like the Dept. of Energy, the Dept. of Education, etc.
- Bringing the troops home – He is a staunch advocate of a non-interventionist foreign policy, so that we would stop being the world’s police force.
- Free trade with all – He would push for unrestricted free trade with all nations, in the spirit of Jefferson’s mandate of “commerce with all countries, entangling alliances with none.”
- Liberty and private property – You can be sure that he would veto any bill that infringes upon our liberties or encroaches upon private property.
Obviously there is more, but those are the main points. If you read Hot Air, you will come away thinking that he is a lunatic 9/11 truther that believes in UFO’s. That’s complete nonsense. I’ve listened to probably 30 different lectures/speeches by the man, and read two of his books, End the Fed and Revolution. He is man that we should all want in the White House. Don’t take my word for it though. Do your research. Read his books. Listen to his lectures and speeches at Mises.org and decide for yourself.
