Ron Paul 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mrstickball]

Kantor said:

I used to like Ron Paul, but the more I learn about him, the more I think he's completely insane.

• He wants to leave NATO (leaving Western Europe to be destroyed)
• He wants to remove troops from every other country in the world
• He wants to abolish the Federal Reserve. Just what the fuck.
• He also wants to abolish income tax. We all do, but that would pretty much cause economic collapse. The government can spend pretty much nothing if it doesn't collect income tax.
• He is ridiculously in favour of massive state power. Sure, he likes the idea of liberty, but if states feel otherwise, it's their choice
• He voted against civil rights. Against civil rights. And he said he would do the same today.
• And to top it off, he wants to get rid of the Department of Education and leave millions of poorer Americans without schooling (I can only assume)
• Basically, he has this veneration of the Founding Fathers akin to worship. He sees the Constitution as his Bible, and if anything is even hinted at as being undesirable by the constitution, he will not hear a word about it.

For now, my cross-Atlantic support (if that counts for anything) goes to Gary Johnson as a less sociopathic, more sensible version of Ron Paul. I wouldn't mind Obama being re-elected (sure as hell better than Ron Paul, Mitt Romney or Sarah Palin being President), but I would like somebody who will take a stance on debt reduction. Britain is already heading for collapse, and I don't want the USA to do the same.

Few notes about America that may help you understand some things:

1. Pretty sure the NATO issue with Ron is that most NATO members in Europe aren't adhering to the terms of the treaty. NATO mandates that a certain percentage of GDP is spent on military & defense. America spends well within the margin, while few European nations do.
2. The US hasn't always had an income tax. I believe his idea (as is most anti-income taxers) is to institute a national sales tax, or other sort of flat tax system.
3. The DoE is a federal office that does nothing to help students or schools become better. Every state has a very strong education department that do a far more effective job of taking care of the needs of students. The federal level adds undue burden to the system, and costs us hundreds of billions a year.

But then again, you like Gary, so thats cool. Gary is a little bit more moderate Ron Paul, who is smoother around the edges, and has a track record of getting stuff done, which is great.

Oh, and if you or anyone cares: Mike Huckabee, who was #2 in GOP polling behind McCain in the 2008 election has dropped out of the race Horray!