Why Ron Paul in 2 Minutes

This editorial originally appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer Editorial Page on Feb 26, 2012.

Job Opening: President of the United States.

Requirements: Someone who predicted our recent economic collapse and wasn’t pretending to be an expert AFTER he made the wrong decisions. Someone whose political life and decisions reflect their personal commitment to a philosophy of liberty. Someone who has a spotless record of voting against the growth of government, and can’t be bought by special interests.

Quite honestly, I assumed this person didn’t exist. I assumed the citizen statesmen was all but a legend. In my personal quest to stop our Republic from being pushed off a cliff – I found a strangely humble, 50-year married, Texas obstetrician turned Congressman named Ron Paul.

I learned that during these many years when both Republicans and Democrats embraced a view that only government could fix what ailed the Republic, there was one man in DC pleading with Congress to pursue a different course. I learned that Ron Paul spent a lifetime defending the premise that our Constitution was a document written to define and limit government power and abuse.

Dr. Paul stood for fiscal restraint as Santorum and other big government Republicans brought us a 104% increase in federal spending during the Bush Presidency alone. These self-proclaimed “true conservatives” voted to raise the debt ceiling again and again, voted for the largest government healthcare expansion in 30 years, the largest stimulus plan in American history to date with Bush’s “Economic Stimulus Act,” the largest infringement on the free market system in world history through corporate bailouts and one of the largest federal overreaches in American history in No Child Left Behind.

Ron Paul voted against all that government growth, but that wasn’t enough for him. He warned of the pending financial collapse which would come from a mortgage bubble. He warned that we would decimate our economy because we were printing too much money and accumulating too much debt. For a number of years, Ron Paul was thought to be the academic type who should just be ignored. Now we know his words are were eerily prophetic, and have become the dominant discussion points of our time.

But the final proof that Ron Paul was truly unique came in looking at his record. He is the only candidate who has never voted for an unbalanced budget or to raise taxes. He has never taken a lobbyist paid trip or supported a bailout. He does not participate in the congressional pension program and he returns part of his congressional office budget to the taxpayers every year. For this consistency, many have come to support him.

In March of 2010 when Ron Paul came to Ohio State University I learned that an ideological revolution was sweeping college campuses across the US. I watched as students lined up for blocks to hear Dr. Paul deliver his message of freedom. How could it be that this older and seemingly academic man was inspiring America’s youth?

And it all became crystal clear – he was articulating what most Americans believe – that we simply want economic freedom to provide for ourselves and our families and personal freedom to choose the life that we want to live.

This was rare. This was different. This message was truly inspiring and provided a stark contrast to those big government Santorum style Republicans and Obama style Democrats who have been delivering a message to the American people which basically said – Give us more influence in your lives, and we’ll make things better.

And now I finally understood what Ron Paul meant when he has said that no army or government can stop an idea whose time has come. That idea was freedom, and it was long overdue. In the words of Dr. Ron Paul, “The goal is liberty. The results of liberty are all the things we love, none of which can be finally provided by government.”

PS – If the only thing holding you back from supporting Ron Paul is his foreign policy. Please do some research. An abbreviated summary of his founders’ approved and constitutionally consistent foreign policy can be found HERE.