Heterodox Views on Politics and Public Policy from Michael Blaine

Saturday, September 8, 2007

'Rudely Stamped's' First Political Endorsement: Ron Paul for Republican Presidential Nominee

Ron Paul (right) Stands Up to the Jingoists of the Republican Party

Republican Congressman Ron Paul of Texas, a candidate for president in 2008, has shown that his political party still has some integrity, vigor and sanity left in it. With the nation suffering through some of the most noxious times in its history -- due in large part to incompetent, cynical and sadistic officials in Washington, DC -- Representative Paul stands out as an eminent exception. He has refused to bow to his party leadership's insistence on patriotic platitudes and capitulation before the military-political-industrial complex.
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"When we (Americans) make a mistake, it is the obligation of the people through their elected representatives to correct the mistake, not continue the mistake," Paul says during a September 5th debate, asserting that the US government should end the lethal legacy of neo-con warriors and withdraw its invading forces from Iraq. Paul thus courageously punctures on national television the vacuous bravado of his fellow presidential candidates. In Ron Paul's candidacy, Republicans and Americans have the chance to put US foreign policy back on a sustainable and moral track. With truth-telling in the national discourse increasingly rare, it is an opportunity wasted at our peril.

4 comments:

Richard Cretan said...

Well said as usual, Michael.

Ron Paul may be the most courageous politician in America. For him to make his case -- broadly, the anti-imperial case -- within the sewer of the Republican Party is little short of astonishing.

It's one thing for a Kucinich to do peace stop-and-chats over pinot and Pilates in Marin County, quite another for Paul to speak his mind in the fetid right ventricle of the military-industrial heart.

And people love it. If Edwards or Obama were to stake out as enlightened a non-interventionist position, they would tap a mighty vein.

But it looks as if the visionary will be this nob-eared Texas obstetrician.

Anonymous said...

If someone put a gun to my head and forced me to vote in the Republican primary, I would definitely vote for Ron Paul.

Anonymous said...

I am ashamed to be a Ron Paul fan after seeing YOU endorsed him. This site is so full of meaningless drivel it makes me sick.

Anonymous said...

Ron Paul is at best an enabler of the worst impulses in our society - homophobia, racism, and anti-semitism. Now that his old newsletter have been brought to everyone's attention, do you still support him for President?