Ron Paul Rolls On Despite Super Tuesday Primary Results
There is a reason this campaign Rolls on.
by John Armstrong
I’m sure most political experts expect Ron Paul to drop out after Super Tuesday. They expect this because they mistakenly believe Ron Paul is simply a politician who wants to be President; they don’t realize that he is actually the leader of something much bigger. The 90+% of people who didn’t vote for him today don’t understand this either. But there is a chance they will by the brokered convention if the message I attempt to explain below gets out to them. And if it isn’t this year, or the next, or the next, it will happen as long as we who do know why we vote for him don’t get caught up in politics.
How often have you heard someone say, “I don’t really pay attention to politics” and then follow it up with a meager “but I probably should”? The reason often given for not knowing more is that it is just “too complicated.” And there is a reason it is complicated:
People vote based on their personal beliefs.
If you believe in the right of a woman to choose, you vote Democrat.
If you believe in the right of an unborn child to live, you vote Republican.
If you believe that the government should provide universal healthcare, you vote Democrat.
If you believe that spreading democracy is the best way to protect us from terrorists, you vote Republican.
If you believe that gay people and minorities have collective rights, you vote Democrat.
If you believe that Christians have collective rights, you vote Republican.
How often have you heard that as an educated voter you should study the issues and then vote for the candidate who most closely shares your beliefs as you on those issues? How many people have told you that they voted for someone because that candidate believes in what the person talking to you believes in?
The paradigm shift that must occur for our country to be what it was intended to be is to stop asking this ridiculous question and start voting on the one and only issue that should matter: which candidate has the best ability to do what they are sworn in to do? I have asked about 50 people over the last week if they knew what it was that an elected federal government official was supposed to do–what they swear they will do–and not surprisingly not a single one so far has known.
Why? Because the discussion for so long has been based on voting based on what you believe, and there are so many different beliefs, that the whole thing has become “complicated.” Do you know what these officials are supposed to do? If you do, congratulations, you are probably already voting for the one candidate who stands out above all the rest because of this candidate’s proven ability to do it. If you don’t, read on, and if you are intelligent you will come to the same decision other people already have.
The reason voting for your beliefs is the wrong way to go about voting is that your candidate’s actually following through on his/her campaign commitments may ultimately lead to a future where your beliefs may not matter at all. Huh? Let me explain.
Despite popular belief, the Constitution does not grant us our freedom or rights as American citizens. These “self-evident truths” are part of (depending on your personal beliefs) derived either from your Creator or from natural law. A person born in a place where no government existed would indeed be free, but his freedom would not be protected against another’s freedom. It was with this concept in mind that our nation’s founders drafted the Constitution. It wasn’t to give us freedom, which would necessarily imply that we aren’t free unless the government allows us to be; it was to create a government that not only allowed a person to keep his natural state of freedom, so long as it didn’t interfere with another’s; this by turn protected his freedom against the use of theirs to deprive him of his. Therefore, the government as established by the Constitution was created for one reason: to protect the freedom with which we are all born.
Because the people who created this document had just pledged their “lives, fortunes, and sacred honor” on the line in order to regain this freedom from an oppressive government, they made sure when they wrote it that if it was followed no such government could ever exist in our country. It’s not that these men were infallible demigods (although they were pretty dang smart), it was that they understood how much freedom cost and how much it was worth. They wanted to make sure that their sacrifice didn’t go to waste.
Just as a successful progenitor will create specific rules for the trust he leaves his family, which if followed will ensure their wealth; our founders created a trust for our freedom. And much like the heirs who have little appreciation for the sacrifice of the person who created this wealth for them take what they have for granted and sometimes squander it all by not following the rules; we are doing the same thing when we ignore the rules of the trust fund of freedom left for us.
It is this freedom that allows you as an individual to believe what you choose to believe, to freely express your beliefs as long as doing so does not interfere with other individual’s rights to believe what they choose to believe. The founders were also intelligent enough to realize that times and situations would change. That is why the document came complete with easy to read instruction included on how to change it should times demand it. This process is called amending the Constitution, and the change is called, duh, an Amendment. And while changing the Constitution is not complicated, it is not easy.
That is by design. The founders knew from personal experience that the greatest threat to freedom was the government which is why the power of the government is incredibly limited in the Constitution. They realized that every law passed, regardless of how good the intention, could potentially damage the freedom of the individual since the enforcement of that law would require a sacrifice by the people (either in money or personal liberty).
Yet they also knew that there could be an idea or philosophy that came along which would gain the support of enough citizens that they would decide to allow the government to adopt and enforce it as law. This is why free speech is so important. It allows a way for these ideas to manifest. If enough people think it’s a good idea, then the Constitution can be amended. But unless the people decide to allow the government to make such laws by amending the Constitution, the last line of Article 1, Section 8 clearly states that the federal government has no power to do so, and the 10th Amendment further solidifies this.
Unfortunately, most people hated history class. And the Constitution is something they learned about there. Each time the government decides to do something that is a “good idea” based on some “belief of philosophy” in order to solve some problem that pops up, the power of the government increases, and the freedom and rights of the individual decrease. Because most people slept through history class and don’t realize how important the Constitution is the government has become incredibly powerful by creating laws in order to solve problems that they have absolutely no right to create to begin with.
What most Americans don’t realize is that the the Constitution isn’t an archaic document that was written for “back then”; it is a Contract between we the people and our government. And we the people dictated the terms of that Contract. Every time the government decides it wants to do something in the best interest of the people that it isn’t allowed to do, it violates that contract.
Think of it like this: If you had a contract with someone to build a house for you, for a set price you would expect to receive exactly what you agreed to for exactly the price agreed upon. If the builder knew that you hadn’t read the contract he could give you less; he could also charge you more, and you would never know. This would benefit the builder but it would harm you. Similarly, if the builder just decided that your house would look better with brick instead of vinyl and decided to build it that way although you didn’t ask for it, you would be outraged when you were expected to pay for the additions he made without authorization. If the builder decided that you should have a brick house, and explained that to you, and you agreed; you could then make that change–by changing the contract. If you wanted something else added that was important enough to you to give up something for it, you could then go to the builder and ask him to do it (he would likely oblige since he would receive more money) and once again, you would change the contract. But anything done without changing the contract would without question be detrimental to the party giving up something and be exploited by the party that gains something, regardless of the intent. Which brings us back to voting based on your beliefs.
When you vote based on your beliefs instead of voting based on who is most capable of doing the job they swear they will do, you are essentially saying, “I’m okay with having my contract violated as long as the government thinks it’s a good idea; since the person I voted for claims to believe what I believe, it probably will be a good idea.”
But what happens when your candidate doesn’t win? Well then, you blame the other people who voted based on their beliefs for ruining your country. If you are a Republican, you blame FDR’s “good idea” called the New Deal for creating the welfare state. If you are a Democrat, you blame the Republican’s “good idea” of democratizing the Middle East for the war in Iraq. The thing both of these “good ideas” have in common is that there is absolutely nothing in the Contract that allows them to begin with, but that matters little if the people haven’t read it.
Of course, neither party points this out because if the people actually understood that their Contract was being violated when the party out of power got their turn to be in power again, they wouldn’t be able to exploit the Contract themselves. That’s why winning elections by getting you to vote your beliefs is more important than getting you to vote on the one thing that should matter: the person with the best ability to do the job they were sworn in to do. Still wondering what it is they swear to do?
It’s the last sentence of Article 2, Section 1 of that Contract. If you still don’t see why it’s important for you to read it, I’ll just put it here for you:
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Pretty simple, huh?
There’s only one candidate who can say that he has done this without fail for 20 years. Congressman Ron Paul. Of course, both parties want you to think he’s crazy because if he were elected the people would see how simple this government thing really is, start paying attention, and regain their freedom and power (which would take it from the politicians) because he would honor the people’s end of the Contract.
If you watch every debate, he has never criticized the Democrats for America’s problems and sometimes seems to blame Republicans. And despite what Republicans would have you believe, it isn’t because he’s a pacifist liberal in disguise. It’s because he knows it’s not the Democrats who are the problem. It’s both parties. And it’s because they violate the Contract between we the people and our government. And we seem to tacitly endorse this because we voted based on our beliefs instead of voting for candidates who would ensure we had the right to hold those beliefs.
If you are a Republican/Democrat first, Conservative/Liberal second, and an American third vote your beliefs. If you are an American first, vote for someone who will defend the very thing that protects your right to be what an American is supposed to be: Free. That choice is as simple as government was supposed to be before politics got in the way. Don’t sacrifice what you want most (freedom) for what you want at the moment (someone to solve your problems). It may be too late for Super Tuesday, but as long as the GOP remains divided this will end in September at the brokered convention which gives more time for the message to spread.
Your fellow American,
John Armstrong
strongarmedjohn@yahoo.comComment, it’s fun
As always, unlike the NFL, you have the author’s permission to rebroadcast, retransmit, reproduce, or do anything else you’d like with this article to promote the Restoration of our Republic.
February 6th, 2008 at 9:51 am
One of the reasons I am so disappointed in the vote on “Super Tuesday” is because I saw the people choose to give away more of our freedoms by that vote.
When I choose a candidate to vote for, I look for the person that does have a chance to be elected and who also is a protector of those freedoms. My view of being a republican is less government, less taxes, and more individual power to the people. But there is more to it than just that. If that was all there was to it, then why even unite as states back in the beginning of our country. It is because there is more power and protection in those greater numbers and unity.
Protection not just from outside forces such as dictators or terrorists, but also from those things that would destroy our civilization from with in, like selfishness and the erosion of values such as work, individual responsibility, freedoms, compassion for others, etc.
We need a president who sees the world as it is today, not the same world that was at the time the constitution was first written. We have different things that threaten our civilization now. We need a president who unites and inspires us, one that will untie our hands from all the government red tape and take off the suppression of over taxation. One who will encourage our resourcefulness so we can be competitive in a worldwide economy. One who understands the value of the individual family in the role of civilization and the training of our children for the sake of the future.
The only candidate that I see that comes close to that description is Mitt Romney
Reply to This
February 6th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
I really like how John laid out the points in this article, of course I am a Ron Paul supporter (probably wouldn’t have liked that big banner on our website otherwise…) I feel I have a right to my own personal freedoms and choices, just like everyone else does, the Libertarian ideal as defined in the constitution. I personally feel Ron Paul is the only candidate who stay true to his issues (and rises above the mudslinging and flip flopping.)
Reply to This
February 6th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Interesting read, but do you have any way of LJ-cutting? This thing ate half my friends page.
Reply to This
February 7th, 2008 at 6:11 am
Not really. The livejournal crosspost is an automatic thing. I do excerpts for the post (in theory that’s all the software should crosspost… I’ll have to look deeper into that) and that’s what shows up on our website front page.
Reply to This
February 8th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Ron Paul may have the last laugh so to speak on the Republicans who
mock him now. Because, come November, he probably will have gotten the
Libertarian Party nomination (he’s run on it before) and if he accepts
he’ll probably end up with 2%-5% of the popular vote across the board…
which in most countries would get the party seats in Congress but that
would be too much democracy for here. And won’t those Republicans have done anything to get that percentage back because they probably won’t be able to win without it.
Reply to This
February 8th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
A bit of a P.S. here…the only thing I’ve enjoyed in this election so far is
that the myth that ‘Conservative’ talk radio spoke for the Republican Party
has been shattered. They went after Ron Paul, John McCain and yet the
only guys who have been knocked out of the race are they guys they
were pushing for like Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson. So maybe after
this, people will begin to realize that just because talk radio says something,
it don’t mean a thing.
Reply to This
February 12th, 2008 at 8:18 am
I *was* a Ron Paul supporter. But to be honest, his ideas just don’t work in practical application. One cannot dispense with the IRS and then make healthcare free, expecting the professionals who work in that system to go along with that. Not to mention I very much enjoy going to my public and state/federal funded school. Public university would be a thing of the past, which in turn would mean a rising cost in education and a fall in the amount of people getting a college education. John, the author, makes a point, our rights are not laid out in our current constitution, and it concerned the original citizens of our country to. The thirteen states were apprehensive to ratify our current constitution until they knew a bill of rights was in order. Some were faster than others, some, like Rhode Island, waited until George Washington was in office and they saw the new constitution in working order before they ratified, and even then it was a close vote. Our first ten ammendments are our bill of rights, those “inalieanable rights” that are not laid out hand and foot in the constitution. The reason we have yet to replace our countries constitution is because it is broad and general, able to adapt to the times, unlike state constitutions, which tend to be long, detailed, and carry the issues of the times in which they are written. Most states have their constitutions rewritten a number of times, and it is a trying task, taking many experts and people who do not have a vested interest in the current constitution. On top of that, the constitution then needs to be ratified, which involves passing it in the legislature, and amongst the people, depending on the state’s laws. People are resistant to change, and a new constitution is a big change. The Federalist papers convinced people to ratify our current constitution, a hero of a similar sort is needed to convince people of a constitution if one were to be rewritten. Sorry if i’m rambling on, were currently learning about this in PoliSci, which I am taking alot of this semester. My .02 ^_^
Reply to This