A True Conservative (the Republican Party's worst nightmare)

Recently Republicans met in Iowa to start the process of deciding who their candidate for the upcoming presidential candidate should be. As is usual in all recent Republican conventions on the subject, it was a contest to see which candidate could prove themself to be the most conservative, the most fundamentalist Christian leaning, and the most fiscally confused. Unsurprisingly, Michelle Bachmann wound up winning the straw poll. Her victory was probably aided by the fact that Mitt Romney didn’t officially participate and Rick Perry of Texas waited until immediately after to announce his official candidacy. However, the whole process was probably an accurate microcosm of what is to come. Republicans believe that best path to the office in the coming election is one of showing just how different from our current sitting president they are; a kind of contest to see who differs the most from the policies of Barrack Obama.


There was something very interesting that happened in Iowa last week but it isn’t something that Republicans like talking about. Unsurprisingly, none of the candidates are making many statements that might in any way be seen to be unpopular with anyone remotely thinking of voting Republican in the next election so we are in effect getting a lot of coded answers to questions meant to reassure the far right without actually upsetting the moderates within the party. In other words, we are now and will be for the foreseeable future getting a lot of fluff and not much in the way of actual plan or position from all the candidates with one notable exception. Ron Paul has been a member of Congress for many years and has run as a straight libertarian for much of his political career. He is seen by many as the true philosophical leader of the Tea Party movement as he was espousing and standing by many of the convictions they hold dear since the early 1970’s; long before there was a Tea Party. In truth, Ron Paul has voted his conviction and his conscience for many years when it was not remotely popular to do so.


The debt ceiling debate was probably the first proof that the Republican Party could not actually control the Tea Party faithful that recently were elected to Congress. One doesn’t have to watch too closely to surmise that this is a problem for mainstream Republicans. Republicans were perfectly willing to ride the Tea Party wave of enthusiasm into office but they were unprepared for the tenacity that the Tea Party congressmen have displayed in refusing to compromise once elected. There is currently a movement afoot within the Republican upper tier of financial control in the party to bring these people under their influence and I expect this will continue for quite a while but Ron Paul is a problem that even the Tea Partiers themselves don’t exactly know how the deal with. The fact that he finished number two in the recent straw poll in Iowa is deeply disturbing for the Republican Party leaders as the one thing they are absolutely certain of is that they cannot control Ron Paul.


In short Ron Paul is more conservative than the Tea Party. He did not come to the Tea Party like so many of their also ran suitors such as Bachmann, Palin, Pawlenty, Perry, Cain, and Santorum. Ron Paul was exactly what he is today when he first stepped into the halls of Congress 40 years ago; a libertarian constitutionalist self educated politician who believes in what he preaches and votes his conscience whether it is popular or not. In other words, the difference between Ron Paul and the candidates listed above is that he didn’t come to the Tea Party; they came to him. He is the rarest of politicians, an idealist who has no fear of losing an election. He is honest and forthcoming with his beliefs whether they are popular or not and he always has been.


Ron Paul is a self educated economist who fervently believes in the Austrian School of economic thought. While this school of thought is relatively complex, probably the best way of describing it is to say that proponents of this school of thought reject mathematical modeling or laboratory type projections in favor of logic based upon direct deduction of the human reasons for people’s actions. They are extremely critical of artificial or governmental influence in markets as inefficient and inevitably damaging and believe that only an absolutely free market is efficient. This puts them in direct conflict with at least 90% of the world economies as they currently operate. Ron Paul himself is no accidental proponent of the Austrian School of Economic thought; he has studied it intently for many years and written several books on the subject. While much of the conservative media gives lip service to the idea of non interference in markets, Ron Paul and proponents of the this school of thought are averse to any sort of interference with the market; no matter who is to profit from such interference. In other words, Ron Paul doesn’t just favor non-interference where it most profits Corporations and the wealthiest Americans, he favors non-interference in all stages of the economy no matter who is profiting.


On the surface this might seem ideal to the far right and the talking heads of conservative radio, but in truth since they are simply paid propagandists to corporate interests who are profiting obscenely from the current economic system in this country they are running a little scared right now. This puts them in direct opposition to Ron Paul’s election which is exactly why Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Mark Levine are so determined to paint Ron Paul with the brush of lunacy. In effect, he has stolen their thunder by not only giving lip service to economic theories they propose to hold dear but acting upon them at every opportunity during his whole political career. If they actually believed in what they are saying one would think they would be overjoyed at Ron Paul’s recent success. In truth, they are terrified that he might actually get elected and are actively doing everything possible to attack every position Ron Paul has ever taken that doesn’t jive with the Republican ruling party and there are many of these.


To list a few, Ron Paul voted against the invasion of Iraq despite the fact that he was the only Republican to do so. It seems he believes we have no business telling other countries how to run theirs no matter what their ideology happens to be. According to the American Journal of Political Science he owns the most conservative record of any of the 3320 congressmen who have held office from 1937 to 2002 in an active political career in Congress that spans over 20 years. As a practicing obstetrician Ron Paul has delivered literally thousands of babies and is a lifetime opponent of abortion. He has publicly stated that he believes life begins at conception. As a congressman for a largely agricultural district he has repeatedly voted against farm subsidies that would enrich his constituents because he believes they are unconstitutional. He has continually voted against legislation that is not strictly supported by direct Constitutional authority. He has proposed term limits for congress on numerous occasions and drafted legislation that effect with no success whatsoever in getting it through congress. He has consistently refused to sign up for congressional health care or pension plans because he says he doesn’t need them.


Ron Paul has also been a frequent and constant critic of US foreign policy that involves us in military conflicts anywhere outside of the territorial US; whether they are put forward by Republicans or Democrats. He has offered legislation to repeal the War Powers Resolution and force Congress to declare wars which is in his view the only constitutionally correct process by which the US can declare war.


It should be interesting to watch the pseudo conservatives attack Ron Paul in the coming months. Granted, Ron Paul has given them plenty of ammunition over his years of public service but he is undeniably the most conservative candidate to actually have a following in recent history and they will have to be very careful how they deal with him without making obvious the hypocrisy of their own positions. We are already seeing the first stages of the effort to derail his campaign by the news media at large that has chosen to largely ignore his accomplishments so far. What makes this so interesting is that Ron Paul is actually who most of the far right claim to be, a true conservative. Beyond that he is that most rare of commodities in politics these days; a man of principle. Of course that puts him on a direct collision course with most of the Republican party financial supporters whose only principle of note is personal greed.