Is Ron Paul Electable? by Merwin

Me ~ FB status posting...
Q: Why is it that both the Liberal AND Conservative Media and Parties, are trying to portray Ron Paul as "unelectable"..?

A: Because Big Government and its propaganda Machinery is very afraid.

Les... B: Because he is neither?

I only say that because I love some of his ideas and dislike others. He possesses deal-breaking qualities for the majority of Americans.

Me... LOL Les... deal breakers like..?

Les... Well, for the conservatives, it's obviously his foreign policy (one of the things I like about him so, you know he's in trouble there ;) and for the liberals/ progressives, it's education and healthcare.

And so... we may be left with the question, with these "deal breakers", Is Ron Paul Electable?

Before answering that, I would like to state that I don't think that Les meant this to be the only things about Ron Paul that he considers deal breakers. I think this may have been an off the cuff response to my FB status posting. I have a lot of respect for my good friend.

If we are speaking of Ron Paul's appearance as being much less than the seemingly mandatory, polished and micro-manage Hollywood visage, with the ever pleasing comfort of a deep baritone voice... then no, he would not be electable.

But lets have a look at Les' off the cuff, yet lucid points and pretend as though they were the only... "deal breakers" preventing Paul from being electable.

1. Paul's foreign policy and the perspective that the GOP would not nominate him because of his position of removing our foreign presence.
2. Paul's stated position of dissolving the Department of Education. (my assumption that it is Les' issue)
3. Paul's position on Federal Health Care.

I will take each one of these in turn.

Paul's foreign policy is more appealing to the rank and file GOP member, than a Democrat might think. As Paul has mentioned on more than one occasion, "G. W. Bush was initially elected on a non-interventionist platform".

I think Paul's mandate of calling all our troops home is probably the one most unifying policy he has. It has an across the board, bipartisan enthusiasm among rank and file voters, that yes, "The Machine" of government may not like, but everyone else loves. We have no business being the world bully, or, self appointed Daddy to settle the third world's childish affairs.

That last paragraph is being too kind, and if the truth be told... well, that needs its own Hub.

Suffice to say that, nearly all they that vote, agree with Ron Paul's perspective on a foreign policy of non-intervention.

Paul's declaration that he would dissolve the Department of Education, may be where I start getting into trouble with the Dems.

The Democratic party is famous (especially in recent years) for being socially progressive, and turning that into a Federal Mandate of which they consider themselves champions. These concerns are genuine and legitimate, both for the voters and a few of those elected. After all, Jimmy Stewart's character, the Mr. Smith that went to Washington, was idealistic in a most endearing way, and he portrayed very genuine social values that were inspirational.

We were motivated by Stewart's wonderful portrayal and did not question the values for which the character became a hero. The movie also revealed to the scrutiny of the masses, the monstrous villain that is the D.C. Machine. But I digress.

It is these moments of genuine, social need portrayals, that tempt us all to do things that produce results that are less than what the man on the street Democrat would like to see happen. They (understandably) would like to see every Federal tax dollar that is allocated for any certain social need, go to that need and dispensed appropriately.

But that has never been what has happened. And the Department of Education is one of the worst offenders, that system is corrupt.

I will not (because of your time) provide a list of examples of corruption, we should all be able to write volumes, of how, out of all the billions of dollars, precious few pennies trickle down to the child at the desk. Instead let us take a tiny look at what may become of education should the engorged, and arrogant Juggernaut of the Federal, Department of Education be dissolved.

• It would result in local State and community controls, and therefore pronounced and immediate accountable adjustments for those that utilize these new local facilities.
• This new local oversight would result in much less waste, and thus greater wages and benefits for the instructors.
• With the schools being operated more like businesses that are producing a product (good education), competition rather than apathy will be the standard.
• New methods of assessing what has been learned by an individual, rather than the defensive "dumbing down" that is presently employed in order to show "how well" their curriculum is doing. It is very easy to pull down a 4.0 when that used to be a 2.5..!

These of course are my perspectives and my assessments that I have thrown together here in an "off the cuff" manner, I would really like to investigate what Ron Paul sees, as a result of his change.

Ron Paul on healthcare, this is much harder to reason with healthcare proponents about because...

• The person that has even the slightest tone of detraction regarding Federal Health Care may be auto-esteemed to be a heartless bastard, and as such dismissed before he is heard.
• Healthcare proponents may have already sold their farm, and bought this "Brooklyn Bridge" and cannot be convinced that their purchase is not a wise one.
• The proponents have gained momentum, and once the Bandwagon is rolling it is hard to stop, even when it should be.

I have nothing against socialized medicine per se, what I have much against is the example of our Government's handling of healthcare for decades. I cite as the premier example, the atrocious record of our nation's VA hospitals. Were our representatives and our POTUS serious about socialized medicine, they would have taken the Veterans Administration Hospitals and made them the example to the world of what should be done in regard to socialized medicine. They should have taken the VAH's and made them their Flagships of Medicine in the U.S.

Then once it was made the largest most sophisticated system in the world... they then should have opened its doors to every U.S. citizen. This still, should be done, until then, shut up about value of government run health care.

Presently, this "Federally Run Facility" is much worse than a black eye indictment against our government running anything. It is an example of our government, OUR REPRESENTATIVE'S shameful willingness to lie to us.

Ron Paul has made it very clear that the Federal Government interference in the private sector's charitable efforts and organizations, has been a travesty, a bane, and not a boon.

Our citizenry is famous for being the most generous, giving nation in history. It is this, that we should rely on for helps in preventive medicine and catastrophic care. I hope we are given a modern and progressive opportunity to do so.

Me ~ FB status posting...
Q: Why is it that both the Liberal AND Conservative Media and Parties, are trying to portray Ron Paul as "unelectable"..?

A: Because Big Government and its propaganda Machinery is very afraid.

Les... B: Because he is neither?

You're right Les... he is neither.

Neither Liberal nor Conservative or at least what they are... instead of what we believe them to be, or wish they were.

Is Ron Paul electable..? No not really, he does not resemble the polished Hollywood model.

But his consistent policies and consistent voting records are! They, have a very keen resemblance to that character... that, Mr. Smith who went to Washington and found himself fighting against the Corrupt Machine.

The Machine mobilized all its forces to isolate Mr. Smith from those that elected him and marshaled their propaganda abilities to smear his good name and message. But his constituency caught wind of his plight and while Mr. Smith filibustered on the floor of Congress at the waning moments of his endurance... letters, baskets and bushels of letters of support, arrived from they that had elected him.

WE THE PEOPLE have to stop The Machine, and though our Mr. Smith does not have the charisma of Jimmy Stewart, he does have reality, he delivers real hope, real solutions, and a real record of consistency.

Ron Paul is very electable... really.