Why Ron Paul Should be the People’s Candidate in 2008

By Anastacia Mott Austin

One common complaint heard loudly from constituents on both sides of the political aisle is that the people are tired of politicians. Tired of the same ol' television sound bytes, the made-up faces, the hollow-sounding promises of change. In some ways, the candidates all seem the same, and those currently serving in political office are accused of being so concerned about their own images as potential Presidents that they won’t or can’t vote their consciences.

Not Ron Paul. A Republican Congressman from Texas, the 2008 Presidental candidate has a record that shows he has never been afraid to be the lone voice of dissent in the House…and he often has been.

He is against: big government, gun control, illegal immigration, the draft, taxes, and interventionist foreign policy. He supports: free trade, individual and states’ rights, habeus corpus, and the constitution. He is pro-life and against the death penalty, but believes that there should not be federal jurisdiction over abortion. He claims to have never voted for a bill that violates the Constitution, has refused a Congressional pension, thinks that many federal agencies are needless bureaucracies (including the IRS), and won’t vote for bills he thinks are a waste of taxpayers’ money. He says when presented with a bill in Congress, he asks himself, "Does the Constitution authorize Congress to pass this law?" If the answer is no, so is his. He voted against the war in Iraq—the only Republican in the House to do so—and the Patriot Act.

But who exactly is this candidate, and why are we starting to hear about him now? For starters, he shook up the Republican debates and garnered more votes in recent polls than any other candidate. After the California Republican debate, MSNBC took a poll of viewers: 48% of watchers said they preferred Paul over any other candidate. Coming in second was Mitt Romney with 19%, and third was Rudy Guiliani with 14%.

It wasn’t a fluke. ABC’s poll of the debate put Paul firmly in the lead with 87% of the votes. In second place was the choice, "It doesn’t matter. I would never put America in another Republican’s hands," with 7% of the vote, and third place went to Mitt Romney with 1.5%.

Paul also handily won over voters after the South Carolina debate.

His anti-Iraq war stance and anti-torture views had fellow Republicans claiming he did not "fit in" with the Republican party, to which he replied that he wished to lead the country, not the Republican party, and that the majority of Americans are against the war in Iraq.

Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Paul almost became a Lutheran pastor like his father, but instead chose medicine. His medical training was interrupted by a draft into the service, and he served in the Air Force as a flight surgeon during the Vietnam war. After the war he became an obstetrician in private practice, and has delivered over 4,000 babies during his career. During most of his earlier Congressional career, Paul continued to deliver babies on the weekends and served in Congress during the week.

He decided to become involved in politics after Richard Nixon promoted the idea of the United States’ dollar departing from the gold standard, which he thought was a terrible idea.

He served in Congress during the late 1970s and early 1980s, but returned to private practice after a failed Senate bid in 1984. He is known for his parting comments before he left Congress: "Special interests have replaced the concern that the Founders had for general welfare. Vote trading is seen as good politics. The errand-boy mentality is ordinary, the defender of liberty is seen as bizarre. It’s difficult for one who loves true liberty and utterly detests the power of the state to come to Washington for a period of time and not leave a true cynic."

Paul ran for and won the Libertarian Party’s nomination for President in 1988, and came in third behind George H. Bush and Michael Dukakis (albeit with a paltry .47% of the vote).

He returned to Congress in 1996, again as a Republican, where he has been voting his conscience ever since. His nickname is "Dr. No," for his record of voting "no" on so many bills, especially spending bills. In fact, of approximately 165 spending bills in the past ten years, he has voted against 160 of them.

He sometimes votes "no" on bills that his constituents would support. For example, he has voted against farm subsidies despite his large rural constituent base because he believes most of the money goes to large corporations. He opposes federal flood insurance because the buyers wouldn’t be able to choose their own insurers. But his constituents like him anyway. He spends a lot of time making personal visits and reaches out to help people individually.

And in a move that might seem to baffle the experts, this 72-year-old Republican has become just about the most popular Presidential candidate from either party with online users. Though seen as a young person’s domain, Paul has outscored Barack Obama on sites such as Facebook and Youtube. Ron Paul is the single most-requested candidate on Youtube, and recently has been the most popular candidate with search engines as well.

Online opinion columnist Vox Day has this to say about Paul: "Ron Paul threatens the notion of politics as a team sport; his focus on actual constitutional principles makes him equally appealing to anti-occupation, pro-border Democrats as to anti-occupation, pro-border Republicans. That's why he is the only candidate in either party whose support ranges from devout Christian conservatives to gay, peacenik Ralph Nader fans."

No matter what side of the aisle you’re from, it’s hard to argue that at the very least, Paul is a candidate who seems to have the rare quality of actually seeming to be that which he says he is. No slick, processed media image here, no sound-byte robotic blah-blah-blah-ing. No fear of standing alone for his beliefs, even if that might cost him some votes. No lemming tendencies.

For that reason alone, I just donated money to the Ron Paul campaign. And I’m a left-wing, liberal Democrat.