Wrong Paul
Fantasy, fallacy and factual fumbles from the Republican insurgent.
Summary
Ron Paul doesn't have much of a chance of winning the Republican nomination, but he persists with his well-funded campaign and even talks of turning it into a permanent "Revolution" that will continue far beyond 2008.
We've given his statements little attention until now. But here we look at some of his more outlandish claims:
* Paul claims that a secret conspiracy composed of the Security and Prosperity Partnership and a cabal of foreign companies is behind plans to build a NAFTA Superhighway as the first step toward creating a North American Union. But the NAFTA Superhighway that Paul describes is a myth, and the groups supposedly behind the plans are neither secret nor nefarious.
* Paul says that the U.S. spends $1 trillion per year to maintain a foreign empire and suggests that we could save that amount by cutting foreign spending. Paul gets that figure by including a lot of domestic programs that he isn't planning to cut, like the U.S. Border Patrol and interest payments on the debt.
* Paul has run television ads touting an endorsement from Ronald Reagan, but he fails to mention that, in 1988, Paul wanted "to totally disassociate" himself from the Reagan administration.
Analysis
Ron Paul's candidacy is something of an enigma. His impressive fundraising and his legions of dedicated volunteers suggest that he could be among the front-runners in contention for the Republican nomination. Yet his national poll numbers hover consistently just above the margin of error, and on Super Tuesday, he finished last in 17 of 21 contests, including California, where he lost to a candidate who had already withdrawn from the race. He admits he has little hope of winning the nomination.
"Ron Paul" is the most searched term on our site, and until recently, those searches revealed only that Paul had participated in a whole lot of Republican debates. We applied our efforts to candidates with odds of becoming the nominee.
Yet Paul says he will not drop out of the race, and indeed talks of a perpetual campaign. In a message to his followers Feb. 8, he said:
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Member Comments
Posted By: Nins @ 03/13/2008 9:23:14 PM
Comment: A blogger named Edson writes "Did the word Democrat really come from democracy?"
Here is a derivation of the words "Democrat" and "Republican."
The United States of America is a republic, that is to say, a Federal government in which the people are represented by elected officials from the various states. Before we were a republic, we were a democracy made up of 13 individual states that were not united. A democracy is a form of government where the individual citizens have the right to speak their minds and influence the political discourse. Democracy was named after Demosthenes, a citizen of ancient Greece with a speech impediment who practiced talking with his mouth full of pebbles to overcome his disability. Demosthenes later became a great political orator. This is where the Democrats derive their name.
The original Republicans were in favor of the states joining to form a republic (which is how that party got it's name). The original Democrats were opposed to this idea, they represented the individual states and were worried that the republic could gain too much power over the states, and through the exercise of tyranny, deny individuals their freedom. Trust me, people were pretty passionate about their liberty in those days, having just fought for independence from England. The Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were all hammered out by serious-minded men who sought to balance the need for individual freedom with our shared common cause, the needs for united strength and social order. Balancing the rights of the individual against the rights of the whole society is what America is all about. This is not only a great achievement for our nation, it is one of the greatest achievements of mankind. And we have, by and large, been true to our ideals over the past 227 years. The system of government we initially established, although needing occasional revisions, has stood the test of time.
Let's not forget where we started from, that impulse towards equality and freedom.
America is, with all it's faults, a meritocracy. Most of our founding fathers would never have had a voice in the 18th century English government they rebelled against, a monarchy where you had to be born into power. In America it was different. If you had intelligence, passion, ambition, drive, talent and a little luck, you could change the world.
This is the real secret to Obama's popularity, his ability to touch this archetype in our souls. This is why a white, conservative middle-aged female Republican like me wants to vote for him. He's got that blend of intelligence, passion, ambition, drive and talent. I'm giving him my vote to proffer him the last ingredient, a little luck, so I can watch our Republican Democracy in action, and once again change the world.
IN GOD WE TRUST
Posted By: johnsmith123456 @ 03/03/2008 5:47:20 PM
Comment: No matter what these so called "reliable sources" say, the American People will not go down without a fight!! Even if Ron Paul does not get nomination, more and more people are becoming aware of the ever growing control of the federal government and I for one will not be a part of a nation where its citizens are enslaved. People of the United States it is time to take hold of our Second Amendment and take back our nation by force. I will not fight for a war of OIL but I will give my life in defending this nation from the real terrorists "THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT".
Posted By: GuitarFreakStyle @ 02/26/2008 2:29:59 AM
Comment: Goto SPP.gov see for yourself. The Government's own website with the layed out details of the North American Union. The CFR Counsel of Foreign Relations are negotiating the merge. Secondly last year at the Canada Builderberg meeting it was the main discussion. The NAFTA superhighway is real Mr Miller. and Last but not least get this through your head.. RON PAUL IS NOT DROPPING OUT OF THE RACE. You are Posting false information. Newsweek is just as bad at posting fake Ron Paul info just Like Fox, and MSNBC cause you don't want people to know Dr. Ron Paul is the only true Candidate who's never flip flopped.