There’s some folks out there who seem a bit confused about this whole thing, so I want to clear up a couple of small details. I’ve heard many people express opinions about the Iowa Caucuses and the New Hampshire primaries which vary from “they mean nothing” to “they mean everything”, and anything you can imagine in between. I’ve heard every ridiculous opinion of Ron Paul that you can imagine being spurted forth by more people than I could believe. Time to clear the air.
First, Iowa and New Hampshire ARE important. They are NOT everything. The reason they are important is the same reason why polls are important. It’s a gauge. You can see how much support each candidate has in a state setting. Mitt Romney won both states this year. We haven’t had a GOP contender take both states since Gerald Ford in 1976. He barely beat out a relatively unknown ex-governor by the name of Ronald Reagan. Similarly, Mitt barely beat out Santorum in Iowa, but beat the snot out of his competition in New Hampshire. Ron Paul had a strong showing in both states, taking 3rd in Iowa and 2nd in New Hampshire. Santorum shocked everyone in IA, and did slightly more than nothing in NH.
A lot of people are saying Romney has it in the bag. I don’t believe that for a minute. A lot can change, in very little time. I think Romney is the inevitable GOP nominee, but it could easily be lost if the right (or wrong, depending on your perspective) circumstances present themselves. Then there’s Ron Paul. I’ve heard people call him an Isolationist. I’ve heard them saying he wants to make abortion illegal. I’ve heard them saying his foreign policy would leave us vulnerable to attack, and without the ability to defend ourselves effectively. To those people, I say read between the lines and stop regurgitating the crap that’s fed to you by liberals and morons. He would do none of those things, and likely none of the other horrible things that scare you so much (unless you fear Government and your tax bill both shrinking).
Ron Paul wants to lead this nation in doing the right thing, by the law and Constitution that Presidents are sworn to uphold, and so often fail at. The abortion issue is him saying that the Federal Government has no right to deal in abortion at all. He’s right. It’s a state issue. Isolationist nations have no dealings with other countries. They close their borders and don’t participate in trade or diplomacy. He want’s us to stop butting in to other nations problems, stop telling them what to do, and stop telling them how to do it. We would still maintain foreign relations and trade, and we would still defend our allies, or assist them in joint ventures that they/us/we may be interested in. That’s not isolationism. Check the dictionary.
Lastly, the rumor that Ron Paul would consider a 3rd party run. While there has been no definitive answer on this from Paul, there are two schools of though. First, most people I know believe it would be like the Clinton/Bush/Perot debacle of the 90’s. Paul would suck up part of the GOP vote, while the Dems laughed and elected their guy. I don’t believe that. Others say that Ron Paul would kick some butt, take some names, and draw enough support to win it. I don’t believe that either.
Here’s what’s going to happen for sure. Romney is going to be the GOP nominee. Romney is not capable of beating Obama. What’s the difference between the two? An R and a D? That’s not enough to get people out of their house to pretend to care. It simply does not matter. Obama will have a second term. BUT, there are two ways this election can go.
With just Obama and Romney, the Republicans come out looking like fools (face it, Romney makes the GOP look stupid). Additionally, nobody really learns anything. The debates suck, because it’s two Liberals poking at each other. People don’t tune it. Nobody cares.
OR, Ron Paul runs as a third party major candidate (yes, he’s got the funds to do this – Paul still has a ton of support) and makes things interesting. While I strongly believe that Paul as a third party has a chance of winning, more so than anyone ever has in the history of this nation, I don’t believe he will, but I think he would have a very strong showing and a semi decent chance, because he would be taking some votes from Dems and some from the GOP candidate, as well as a large block of swing voters. Even better, Ron Paul would continue having his message heard. His message is “get the Federal Government out of the things it has no business in, and run this nation according to the laws of this nation.”
Oh, what a grand notion. Following the Constitution, the governing document, the highest law of the land. Instead of just ignoring it like every other politician. As shocking as that would be, I would love to be alive to see it happen.
Hopefully that clears up something, but if you only take one small piece of information away from this article, take this. You need to prepare yourselves, because Obama is going to be a 2 term President, but be ready for 2016. I doubt Ron Paul will run again, but Rand Paul will be President someday, and I strongly believe that he will at least make an attempt in 2016.
