No, it doesn't. For one, I know for a fact that there isn't much of a chance of abortion getting banned, for example, California, most if not all of New England, and a number of Great Lake states. I agree it's risky, but I'm tired of every new Congress or President talking about blanket banning it. Do you think if Huckabee becomes president, he wouldn't try to federally ban it? It's not like the choices are all that great, but at least at the local level I don't have some douche bag from Arkansas in DC telling Californians how to live. As far as things like segregation, such basic rights are covered in the constitution, which is NOT up to the states to follow or not.

stof, even if Ron Paul wants get rid of the Dept of Education, Dept of Energy, etc, it doesn't mean he can. Only the Congress has the power to do that.

The reason why I support Ron Paul is because he is right on terrorism and spending. He also has impeccable ethics like you've already mentioned. The lobbyists don't even want to deal with him because they know he can't be bought.

The other Republican candidates would basically be George W. Bush Part 2. They would all continue the ridiculous foreign policy we currently have and would do nothing to stop the spending.

 Which is another reason I like him, and something I feel others forget. For all his talk, the Presidency has only so much power. And under Paul, he would roll back some of the ridiculous executive privelages that have come about over the Bush presidency. Ultimately though, Congress will keep him in check, and he in turn will be the one that delegates our foreign policy so we won't be doing anything Dubya batshit insance. 

He is also very very knowledgeable about healthcare and the medical field. Of course this isnt surprising. He is an OB/GYN and has delivered 4000+ kids.

 Actually, it's:

Fool me once, shame on you.

Fool me twice... a...a...a...foolma can't get fooled again. 

This thread reminds me; I dreamt that Obama was murdered last night.

white devil, I completely agree with you. What the U.S. really needs is to re-balance the federal government's powers. What Bush/Cheney have done is erode the balance of power and we really need someone that wants to reverse the trend. I don't see that happening any other Republican except Ron Paul.

I don't know why people feel like they have to go so far over-the-top to make their point.

Yes, the Constitution has been interpreted in ways not originally intended, but that's a far cry from suggesting that half the Bill of Rights has been repealed by fiat (by the current president, no less – he has so much power, not even the Congress, controlled by the opposition party, can stop him). Give me a break. Lincoln suspended habeas corpus and FDR engaged in extreme censorship of the press. Extreme times call for extreme measures, but we are hardly living under martial law.

Quoting some random comment on Digg is probably not the strongest way to make a point either. I’m not a backer of Ron Paul, but that statement is clearly unfair.

If the abortion issue were left to the states, it would not be banned across the country just like it was not banned across the country prior to Roe v Wade. The truth is most of “progressive” Europe has more restrictive abortion law than the US. All Roe v Wade did was take the decision out of the hands of the people and left it a gaping wound to be rehashed over and over again election after election. Democracy is a better way to handle these sorts of moral issues.

The federal reserve and taxes are the SOURCE of a lot of our economic problems, along with over-regulation.

When the Fed sets interest rates low, people gain buying power beyond their means. When they print money, it devalues currency, and those on a fixed income lose wealth. The Fed is run by the banks, and checked by Congress and the president, and so it mostly protects bank and political interests in all of this. That's just not a healthy system; it is what has led to the current housing bubble crash and the looming potential recession. And when we're taxed, we have less money to spend, period.

The problem is, we're not living in extreme times. It's only extreme because of the shit in Iraq that shouldn't have happened anyway. The biggest triumph of the neocons is that ppl still believe we live in mortal danger above and beyond what we've always lived under, and that has given them unprecedented power for a time when the survival of the nation wasn't at question.