Nov. 19, 2007
Retirements Push GOP To The Right
Politico: Of 17 Retiring Republican House Members, Eight Have Built Moderate Reputations
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Republican Reps. Jim Ramstad, Minn., left, Deborah Pryce, Ohio, center, and Mike Ferguson, N.J., are among 17 Republicans retiring from the House after next year's elections. (CBS/AP)
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110th Congress
The balance of power shifts and new leadership takes control as the latest session convenes.
The unexpected retirement of Rep. Mike Ferguson (R-N.J.) marks the latest in an exodus of moderate Republicans that is pushing the caucus in a rightward direction and could potentially cripple the party’s chances of winning back seats in swing districts next year.
Of the 17 Republican House members to announce their retirements this year - Ferguson joined the club on Monday - eight have built reputations on Capitol Hill as centrists willing to work with Democrats to get legislation passed. Political observers warn that those are exactly the type of candidates the GOP needs to regain its congressional majority.
“It should be an area of deep concern to Republicans of all stripes. Once you lose the vital center, then you begin to lose the claim that you are the majority party,” said former Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, a moderate Republican who retired in 2006.
He said that in more than four decades in political life, he’s never seen “a higher degree of partisanship or a higher level of intolerance for another point of view.”
Most of the moderates who have decided to leave Congress have won their districts comfortably, even in last year’s Democratic wave. Their reasons for leaving range from wanting to spend more time with family - Ferguson’s explanation - to a simple desire to do something else.
But each also faced a growing ascendancy of conservatives in both the House and Senate GOP caucus as well as a national environment that would seem to favor Democrats.
“It’s not a good time to be a moderate in American politics,” said Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.). “Ask Joe Lieberman.”
“The money has moved away from the parties, who used to be the enforcement mechanisms, to groups on the extreme right and left, and it’s killing us,” Davis said.
Davis said moderates were increasingly frustrated about their ability to make a difference in the current partisan age. “And they have to fight even harder to hold onto these seats,” he said.
In 2006, moderate House Republicans took the brunt of the Democratic congressional landslide. Former GOP Reps. Nancy Johnson (Conn.), Rob Simmons (Conn.), Gil Gutknecht (Minn.), Joe Schwarz (Mich.) and Charlie Bass (N.H.) all were ousted by Democratic challengers.
Ferguson, who represents a suburban district in the Garden State, has been known for siding with Democrats on issues like raising the minimum wage. He has a strikingly similar profile to some of the other Republican retirees.
Retiring Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.) worked with liberal Democrat Patrick J. Kennedy (D-R.I.) to promote legislation to ensure greater coverage for mental illness. Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio), despite being part of leadership, took centrist positions on social issues, such as abortion rights and stem cell research.
And Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.), one of the first Republicans to announce his retirement, is well-known for his collegial attitude toward his colleagues across the aisle.
With all the seats now open, Democrats are making a concerted push to win over districts that they view as newly winnable - as well as trumpeting to moderate voters that these retirements show that the GOP is lurching rightward.
“Moderates know if the Congress is going to be in Republican hands, it’s going to be through broadening the party and winning back the districts we lost in the last election,” said Bass, the former GOP congressman from New Hampshire.
On the Senate side, the majority of the retirements come from longtime members who maintained independent credentials. Three of the five retiring Republican senators- John Warner (Va.), Chuck Hagel (Neb.) and Pete V. Domenici (N.M.) - have publicly split with the Bush administration on key issues, most notably the Iraq war.
Both Warner and Domenici are leaving behind seats that the Democrats are aggressively contesting and have solid chances of winning.
Meanwhile, conservative clout is rising in most recent Republican battles - both on the Hill and on the campaign trail.
In the House, the conservative Republican Study Committee has grown nearly 50 percent in the past five years, and now has more than 100 members.
Twelve of the 15 freshman Republican House members joined the organization this year, a clear sign that the small rookie class of 2006 Republicans still believes in a conservative future. The RSC has taken the lead on GOP appropriations strategy, successfully upholding President Bush’s veto of the children’s health insurance bill and the Labor, Health and Human Services spending measure.
The RSC’s Senate counterpart, known as the Republican Steering Committee, is seeing its influence on the rise now, meeting regularly to plan spending strategy with GOP leaders. They also have turned a once quixotic crusade against earmarks into a party-wide effort.
In contrast, the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership has seen its membership decline 20 percent, from 59 lawmakers in the last Congress to 47 this year.
And seven of those moderates are retiring, further diminishing the power of the middle.
Meanwhile, on the campaign trail, the anti-tax, fiscally conservative Club for Growth’s political action committee has successfully spent millions to help elect ideologically uncompromising Republicans in competitive primaries.
Club for Growth Executive Director David Keating dismissed the suggestion that his group has pressured any of the retirees to step down. “We haven’t made any noise yet,” he said.
“I don’t think there is a question that economic conservatives are on the upswing,” Keating said. “The American people don’t want any part of raising taxes.”
But Boehlert said that with the exodus of longtime moderates, polarization is on the rise and less legislation is getting passed.
“You’ve got the Club for Growth, you’ve got MoveOn.org. What does that produce? Not much,” Boehlert said. “You’ve got a lot of heat being generated but not much light. And the polarization’s still there.”
Patrick O’Connor contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 POLITICO
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See all 52 CommentsThis is where they''ve been heading for years. They''ve been squashing the voices of reason and moderation withing their own ranks for a long time. Republicans have become a fascist lot. Real conservatism is dead in the Republican party. Small, unobtrusive government is out, fiscal responsibility is out, integrity and personal responsibility is out, ethics are out, states rights are out, avoiding unnecessary foreign conflicts and nation building is out, follwing and preserving the Constitution is out. People don''t even recognize the new Republican party. As Carl Rove once said, "the only thing in the middle of the road is road kill". This is why real conservatives have been abandoning the party and going Independent or voting Democratic.
I don''t even see any gray hair on the three in the picture.
How will they survive until their social security kicks in?
I hope they don''t loose any of their retirement benefits for retiring early!
LATEST GALLUP POLL: Approval for Bush = 34%, approval for the Democrat Congress = 20%.
It is time to take out the garbage in Washington... and if a bit of it resigns ahead of time...so much the better! Good riddance to foul refuse...
These are obviously the worst of the lot...Between the noble aspirations of peace and freedom...and the Neo-conservative aspirations of a totalitarian police state to hold up the Oligarchy and fight endless wars of aggression...they would compromise...YOU CANNOT COMPROMISE WITH THE FORCES OF NEO-CON, OLIGARCHY-FIRST TOTALITARIANISM! Let us draw the lines honestly for once--devil take the mealy-mouthed fence sitters...the equivocators...those who would rather be under the heel of Trotskyite totalitarians running a New World Order than to risk all to maintain a free Constitutional Republic. Long Live the Constitution! Down with the Washington Regime! Troops Home Now!
Pelosi and Reid have very little power compared to the far right wing neocon nutjobs who were in total control for six years and set our country back twenty years. Start paying for your boys, then worry about Pelosi and Reid.
-Posted by marcodele at 12:30 PM : Nov 20, 2007
I''m sorry, but you''re an idiot. The far-left Pelosi/Reid/MoveOn.org-types are in control of the Democrat party, and are moving that party further to the left. As such, the opposition needs to move further to the right to counteract them.
www.ronpaul4all.com
For the sake of argument I''ll concede your point that the MoveOn.org "vast left wing conspiracy" has taken over the Democratic Party and is sending it teetering over a left wing cliff.
So why does that mean the Republicans should drive off a cliff to the right? Aren''t most people looking to the middle?
Wouldn''t a better way to counter left wing extremism if it really exists be to offer a moderate alternative?
Let''s be honest, these retiring reps recognize what most people today do. The Republican party is controlled by the right and that''s why it''s losing its middle.
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The dumb animals who support Hillary should listen to her words the other day...the essence of which was...''we can''t get anything through the Senate because of the filibuster rule and that''s why we need to elect more Democrats''.
Obviously, this means that Bush could not have gotten anything through the Senate without Democratic support...Hillary and the rest of the ''left'' in America support the police state and support the war...they are backed by the Establishment...the Anglo-American Imperialists, the Israel firsters and the War Pig industries...save for Kucinich and Gravel...
The leadership of the Communist Party, the epitome of the ''whacko left'' supported Bush in his war of aggression against Iraq--in Iraq and the United States...The Clintons people on Bill''s first day in office came in wearing pins with mass murderer Vladimir Lenin on them...the creatures around Bush are disciples of Lev Trotsky, distilled through Professor Leo Strauss who had the recommendation of the father of Nazi jurisprudence...
The dumb animals who support Bush are in bed with the the ghost of Lev Trotsky...to hear them, to paraphrase Lev, is ''like breathing the air of pure stupidity at a pressure of twenty atmospheres.''.
The retirement of a few Republican Bush enablers is irrelevant. Ron Paul stood firm against Bush and the Neo-Cons when the Democrats and Republicans were marchng in lock step behind Herr Bush and Frau Clinton.
This election is between those who support the old Republic and those who hate it...between the forces for peace, freedom, the Constitution and the forces for empire, oligarchy, war and corruption. The party label doesn''t matter...Democratic leader Clinton has the support of much of the War Pig establishment... Bush rode into office on the ignorance and stupidity of the ''right''...Clinton is trying to ride into office on the ignorance and stupidity of the ''left''...behind both are the same sorry dogs.
They say he SOLD OUT the american people. What does that
tell you??????? McCain also stated he would accept help
in his campaign from Karl Rove...Nice huh???????
IF IT IS GOOD THEN THEY HAVE A CHANCE OF GETTING MY VOTE!
RON PAULS ACCOMPLISHMENTS ARE 0
THIS GUY IS A ROARING JOKE!
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Great. Good news. I hope they move so far to the right that they fall off the edge of the flat-earth.
-- No more meddling in other country''s political affairs
-- No more aggressive military actions overseas
-- No more torture prisons
-- No more pseudo-wars like the "War on Drugs"
-- No more IRS and unconstitutional income taxes
-- No more Federal Reserve (the group of private banks which owns our government)
-- No more erosion of Social Security to pay for militarization
-- No more U.N. (one world government) participation
-- No more NAFTA, CAFTA, WTO or GATT (globalist trade cartels)
-- No more North American Union (loss of U.S. sovereignty)
-- No more federal gun control laws
-- No more illegal aliens pouring-in over our country''s borders
-- No more illegal aliens allowed to roam freely in our streets
-- No more national ID cards (Real ID Act)
-- No more government invasion of your privacy
-- No more federal Laws which force you to take unwanted injections
-- No more federal Laws which are not authorized by The Constitution
-- No more federal erosion of State sovereignty
-- No more unlimited federal government
They don''t call him "Dr. No" for no reason. The Doctor is in! Find-out what CBS hides from you, and join us in this 21st Century political revolution at ronpaul2008.com
"Those who expect to reap the blessing of freedom must undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
- Thomas Paine
"Ron Paul doesn''t represent your Father''s school of political thought. He represents your Founding Fathers."
- Me
Posted by denn034;
I would say this may be true for the those who blindly follow talk radio and Fox news. However, I would believe that the reverse will be true for Democrats and Independents who have been following the events of the last 7 years.
It does not matter who is running for the GOP. The fact is the GOP has proved that they are every bit as dangerous as the tax and spend democrats. I mean the federal debt was 4.5 trillion 6 years ago and its approaching 9 trillion. Under the GOPs watch it has nearly doubled and they have the nerve to call the Democrats on increasing spending for health insurance for the uninsured? Come on! Give me a break!
I have a good memory and I plan on voting a straight ticket just to protest the GOPs lack of concern for America. I urge everyone else out there to do the same. Lets call it a contract with our children and our future as a nation.
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Oh, yeah, He''s the moderate REPUBLICAN senator from Connecticut.
"Jumpin Joe" used to be a democrat but he lost the democratic primary in his state for being a Bush Toady. So "Jumpin Joe" ran as an "independent" and the republican party backed him in the election for the senate instead of their own republican party nominee.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Posted by the74blaster at 06:18 PM : Nov 20, 2007
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OK, lets shake on it! You know, 2006 was the first time in my life that I voted a straigt Democratic ticket. Many years ago I voted straight Republican, almost all of the time. Then the Republican party got worse and worse, and by 2006, I would have cut off an arm before I would have voted for a Republican.
As we all know, freedom isn''t free in this country. Therefore, in the wake of our successful fundraising event of November 5th, in which we all came together to raise $4.2 million dollars for Ron Paul''s campaign, we''ve set yet another date for an even bigger fundraiser. This one will take place during on December 16th: a very important date for people who love freedom and hate tyranny to ring the Liberty Bell, and let our sold-out, globalist, political ****** and their mainstream media enablers know that good Americans are mad as hell, and that we''re not going to take it anymore. December 16th is the 224th aniversary of The Boston Tea Party: an act of protest by the American colonists against the tyranny of Great Britain where the Sons of Liberty boarded British ships and dumped crates of tea overboard into Boston Harbor. It was a key event which helped to spark the American Revolution, and we hope this event will, likewise, add additional spark to our own 21st Century political revolution to restore peace, prosperity and freedom to our Republic by helping elect a President whose record of adherance to The Constitution is unmatched by anyone in American politics. Please join us this December 16th for the largest one-day political donation event in history. Our goal is to bring together 100,000 people to donate $100 each, creating a one day donation total of $10,000,000. The time to act is now. The time for Ron Paul is NOW! TeaParty07.com
America is tipping back way too far in her easy chair. Something BIG is about to happen, and I predict this upcoming 2008 election will be extremely pivotal. I''m not going to name any candidates. You probably already know who my favorite is. But let me make my point absolutely clear: If you think times are boring, think again. If you think the future is predictable, think again. My advice to everyone who reads this is to be thoughtful. Trust only that wisdom which is your own. 90% of mainstream media in this country is controlled by fewer than 20 different organizations. Unfortunately, they, like our sold-out political ****** in Washington, were bought and paid for by the military-industrial-pharmacutical complex decades ago. Therefore, they will paint pictures they want to paint, and people will open their minds to pictures they want to see. So, be skeptical. Be wise. Research issues and talking points on your own, and share what you learn with those you love. The future of your family tree may lay in the balance.
Voter disenfranchisement and apathy infects the heart of our Republic. Get off your couch, put your remote control down, and become active in your nation''s political process. The pathetically few people that do vote in this country, a.k.a., "the ruling class", who currently get to decide under what kind of conditions (and Laws) you and your family will live, are certainly involved. I can assure you of that. In fact, the ruling class would be much happier if you would just continue to stay home and watch TV in your pleasantly distracted and brainwashed, stupor. That way they can continue to elect their political ****** to office, and continue to maintain their grip on 100% of the political power they currently own in this country. If you voted (God Forbid), it would cancel-out their vote, and they would lose control. They can''t have that. Now can they? If you don''t vote, my friends, you''re nothing but an unwashed "Pleb" to those that do, and the ruling class should rightfully consider themselves superior to you in every way. They do, after all, have all the power, while you have none. If you''re too apathetic and powerless to do anything for yourself more time-consuming than driving down to Mickey D''s to buy a milk shake in order to sieze control of your life, and your country''s destiny, then perhaps you deserve to be ruled over like the "Pleb" that you then are. The time to act is now. The time for political revolution has come. The time for Ron Paul is NOW!
The results of a nationwide telephone poll, announced by Zogby on November 19th, reveals that Americans want to vote for a candidate who protects liberty; who wants to shrink government; and who wants to immediately withdraw our troops from Iraq - positions of Ron Paul. As part of a blind, spread poll, 1009 likely voters [from all parties] were provided with descriptions of four different candidates and asked to choose who they would vote for based on each one''s attributes and political platform. 33% of pollees chose Ron Paul, 19% chose Rudy Giuliani, 15% chose Mitt Romney and 13% chose Fred Thompson. The results clearly illustrate that the country is crying out for Ron Paul, which is why mainstream media has launched a PR offensive to marginalize his accomplishments and suppress the Congressman''s name recognition. In a seperate question, over 49% of pollees said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who would begin an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. In fact, Ron Paul won in every demographic in this poll (religious voters, NASCAR fans, military families, etc.) except amongst 503 preselected Zogby pollees, which identified themselves as "extremely conservative," which Guiliani won when they were only presented with the candidate''s name rather than his biography and platform. In spite of Paul''s resounding win, Zogby "spun" these poll results to make it appear as if Giuliani won, when he actually only won in a small subset of the poll.
Ron Paul breaks fundraising records, wins phone-in and Internet polls, yet why are his national poll numbers so low? A Zogby pollee recently revealed what happened to him when he took part in their national, 2008 presidential election poll. Upon confirming Ron Paul as his choice for President, the poll then branched out into a myriad of bizarre and intrusive questions which would discourage most people from completing the process, and thereby making their vote for Ron Paul null and void. "The first part of the poll was about which candidate one prefers, with candidates from both parties being available as choices. Great! However, after I finished answering positively for Ron Paul, the poll got very interesting," he writes. "As anyone who is familiar with how polls work is aware, polls are branching in their structure. Answers you give to one section of the poll will determine what questions you will receive in the next section of the poll." The pollee then relates his confusion about the fact that the poll threw up 20 questions about cooking rice before another extensive set of questions regarding personal sexual behavior. "This went on for a number of pages and was rather intrusive," he said. "It dealt with sexual positions, sexual fantasies, sexual preferences and similar intimate subjects. Of course neither rice cooking or sexual behavior have anything to do with presidential elections or politics in general. Or at least it shouldn''t!"
kansas1946, its a deal! Here is my online hand shake.
Have a great holiday season.
Most people can see right through the prejudice CBS News obviously has towards Ron Paul. In the few times they''ve covered him at all, I''m suprised they didn''t have one of their graphics artists Photoshop some devil horns on top of his head in that worst ever photograph they always use of him. CBS obviously thinks that if they pretend Paul isn''t a top-tier GOP candidate, then their readers and viewers will eventually think so too. Whenever they are forced to do a story on Paul, because some other mainstream source is covering him for some reason, the fact that their editors work overtime to slant their stories in such a way as to either marginalize his accomplishment, or present Paul in the most negative light possible, is obvious to anyone with a modicum of intelligence. "What about their polls?," you ask? As far as the CBS News poll is concerned, they don''t even include Paul on the list of GOP candidates which pollees can choose from, and then afterwards, report to you that Paul doesn''t even rank in their final tally. Ron Paul is getting major grass roots support nationwide. He has over 81,700 meetup group members in 1,218 Groups from 945 cities nationwide, with another 8,189 people more folks just waiting to hear when a new meetup group will start-up near them. He''s won ALL of the viewer phone-in polls in ALL of the GOP debates he''s been in, and has raised more money ($4.2 million) in one day than any other GOP candidate ever. Go Ron Go!
Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul is gaining momentum in New Hampshire and Iowa, according to a poll released November 13 by the New York Times. The Texas congressman has garnered an estimated 8 percent in New Hampshire, surpassing former GOP front-runner Fred Thompson, and is now tied with John McCain in Iowa. Polls released over the weekend by the Boston Globe in association with the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, and the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, both confirmed Congressman Paul%u2019s support to be higher than Thompson%u2019s as well. "The polls confirm what we already know: Congressman Paul is catching on in the early primary states," said Paul campaign spokesman Jesse Benton. "His unifying message of freedom, peace, and prosperity is resonating strongly with voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, and we%u2019re rapidly gaining support nationwide." The New York Times poll was conducted November 2-12. On November 5, the Ron Paul campaign brought in a record-breaking $4.2 million online, and an additional $1 million to end the week.
Texas congressman Ron Paul won the South Sound Ronald Reagan Republican Club (SSRRRC) 2008 presidential primary straw poll with 38 percent of the vote at their October 26 meeting in Pierce County, Washington. This is his third SSRRRC win; Dr. Paul won their August and September polls with 28 and 48 percent respectively. Fred Thompson placed second in all three polls. This latest one of many straw poll successes nationwide for the GOP presidential candidate and leading war opponent. "Dr. Paul enjoys great grassroots support in Washington and across the nation," said Paul spokesman Jesse Benton. "His numerous straw poll victories show that Americans embrace his message of freedom, peace, and prosperity, and are ready to put a real Republican in the White House." Dr. Paul''s September 14 rally in Seattle, Washington drew over 1,300 supporters.
Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul continued his trend of straw poll victories in Springfield, Missouri on October 30. The Texas congressman placed first in the Springfield Metropolitan Republican Club straw poll, in the conservative Ozarks region. He earned more than 77 percent of the vote, polling higher than all his opponents combined. Mike Huckabee placed second with 10 percent. 110 Republican Club members participated in the poll. This is just one in a string of straw poll successes for Congressman Paul. A straw-poll frontrunner, Congressman Paul has the largest number of supporters of any presidential candidate on popular internet social network sites Meetup.com and Youtube.com. "Dr. Paul is bringing the Republican Party together," said Paul campaign chairman Kent Snyder. "Supporters in Missouri and nationwide know that only Dr. Paul can beat Hillary in 2008." The Springfield Metropolitan Republican Club is a Republican grassroots organization in Greene County, Missouri.
Ron Paul can win the GOP nomination. If he does, I predict a landslide victory in November of 2008. Even the oddsmakers in Vegas aren''t willing to discount his chances. They''re currently giving him 2:1 odds to win against Hitlery if he gets the nomination. Romney, McCain and the globalist, sell-out Giuliani aren''t given anything better than a 45:1 chance of winning if they get the GOP nod. All it takes is for formerly apathetic individuals to get off the couch and nominate him in their local Republican primary or caucus process. Political parties are nothing more than tools. Those who read the manual and use the tools properly will win the nomination for their candidate. For the past 20 years, many good people have stayed at home and accepted whatever candidate they let others select for them. This year, those people are learning how to use their vote to make a difference. In order to do so, you must participate in the Republican primary election or caucus process in your county, precinct or district. Nothing else matters. If we do this, we win. If not, we lose. The GOP has been suffering from declining participation for decades. Fewer than 10% of registered voters have ALL the power because they actually participate. Now the remaining 90% must surge to use their vote as a tool to bring about positive and long overdue political change in this country. The time to act is now. The time for political revolution has come. The time for Ron Paul is NOW!
Have a great holiday season.
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Posted by the74blaster at 07:37 PM : Nov 20, 2007
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You too, blaster!! Maybe after getting their socks beat off, Republicans will start acting normal. :o)
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You know, even though I am not a Hillary fan, using rhetoric like "Hitlery" is off-putting to most people except the ditto-heads. I would like a source about the 2-1 odds.
Keep hope alive!
-- No more meddling in other country''s political affairs
-- No more aggressive military actions overseas
-- No more torture prisons
-- No more pseudo-wars like the "War on Drugs"
-- No more IRS and unconstitutional income taxes
-- No more Federal Reserve (the group of private banks which owns our government)
-- No more erosion of Social Security to pay for militarization
-- No more U.N. (one world government) participation
-- No more NAFTA, CAFTA, WTO or GATT (globalist trade cartels)
-- No more North American Union (loss of U.S. sovereignty)
-- No more federal gun control laws
-- No more illegal aliens pouring-in over our country''s borders
-- No more illegal aliens allowed to roam freely in our streets
-- No more national ID cards (Real ID Act)
-- No more government invasion of your privacy
-- No more federal Laws which force you to take unwanted injections
-- No more federal Laws which are not authorized by The Constitution
-- No more federal erosion of State sovereignty
-- No more unlimited federal government
They don''t call him "Dr. No" for no reason. The Doctor is in! Find-out what CBS hides from you, and join us in this 21st Century political revolution at ronpaul2008.com
"Those who expect to reap the blessing of freedom must undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
- Thomas Paine
"Ron Paul doesn''t represent your Father''s school of political thought. He represents your Founding Fathers."
- Me
Ron Paul can win the GOP nomination. If he does, I predict a landslide victory in November of 2008. Even the oddsmakers in Vegas aren''t willing to discount his chances. They''re currently giving him 2:1 odds to win against Hitlery if he gets the nomination. Romney, McCain and the globalist, sell-out Giuliani aren''t given anything better than a 45:1 chance of winning if they get the GOP nod. All it takes is for formerly apathetic individuals to get off the couch and nominate him in their local Republican primary or caucus process. Political parties are nothing more than tools. Those who read the manual and use the tools properly will win the nomination for their candidate. For the past 20 years, many good people have stayed at home and accepted whatever candidate they let others select for them. This year, those people are learning how to use their vote to make a difference. In order to do so, you must participate in the Republican primary election or caucus process in your county, precinct or district. Nothing else matters. If we do this, we win. If not, we lose. The GOP has been suffering from declining participation for decades. Fewer than 10% of registered voters have ALL the power because they actually participate. Now the remaining 90% must surge to use their vote as a tool to bring about positive and long overdue political change in this country. The time to act is now. The time for political revolution has come. The time for Ron Paul is NOW!
Ron Paul represents a different Republican Party from the one that Iraq, deficits and corruption have soured the country on. It''s ironic that other GOP candidates are scared to death of his message, because his positions are more conservative than theirs. Being anti-war; pro-life; pro civil liberties; pro Second Amendment; pro States rights; pro secure borders; and in favor of a sound economics policy IS TOTALLY CONSERVATIVE. The Republican party has "lost its way," Paul said during a recent GOP debate. Like the limited federal government principles espoused by Dwight D. Eisenhower, his school of Republicanism stands for a certain idea of The Constitution that much of the power asserted by modern Presidents has been usurped from Congress, and that much of the power asserted by Congress has been usurped from the States. Though Paul acknowledges flaws in both The Constitution (it included slavery) and The Bill of Rights (it doesn''t go far enough), he still thinks a comprehensive array of positions can be drawn therefrom: against gun control; for the sovereignty of States; and against foreign-policy adventures like the ones currently being played-out in the Mid-East. After ten terms of service as a U.S. Congressman, Ron Paul has demonstrated a consistent track record of adherance to The Constitution unmatched by anyone in either party. Ron Paul does not represent your Father''s school of political thought. He represents your Founding Fathers.
What we need is a President who will show us the way. Not the old way. Not the same way, but a NEW way. Think about this for a minute. What if we pulled all of our troops out of South Korea? They''ve been there for 50+ years. What if we quit worrying about Iran, but instead, realized that its having a nuclear weapon will not mean the end of the world? What if we pulled all of our troops out of the Middle-East, and brought them all home? What if we realistically addressed the National Debt, and paid attention to REALLY DOING SOMETHING about stopping illegal immigration? These are the ideas of Presidential candidate, Ron Paul. He''s a ten term Congressman and a physician who has delivered over 4,000 babies. He''s an intellectual who''s published four books, three of which are devoted entirely to sound economics and one to foreign policy. He was raised on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania as a pious Lutheran, but now he attends a Baptist church. Paul is given to mulling things over morally. Whenever he recollects the helicopter pilots he treated as an Air Force Flight Surgeon (Captain) during the Vietnam War, a war which he now says was "totally unnecessary and illegal," he laments, "They were gung-ho. I''ve often thought about how many of those people never came back." Candidates with the high level of personal integrity and proven track record of adherence to The Constitution, Congressman Paul has always demonstrated only come around once in a lifetime, if we''re lucky.
The talk must stop. We must secure our borders now. A nation without secure borders is no nation at all. It makes no sense to fight terrorists abroad when our own front door is left unlocked. Ron Paul has a plan: (1.) Physically secure our borders and coastlines. We must do whatever it takes to control entry into our country before we undertake complicated immigration reform proposals. (2.) Enforce Visa rules. Immigration officials must track Visa holders and deport anyone who overstays their Visa or otherwise violates U.S. Law. This is especially important when we recall that a number of 9/11 terrorists had expired Visas. (3.) No amnesty. Estimates suggest that 10 to 20 million people are in our country illegally. That''s a lot of people to reward for breaking our Laws. (4.) No welfare for illegal aliens. Americans have welcomed immigrants who seek opportunity, work hard, and play by the rules, but taxpayers should not pay for illegal immigrants who use hospitals, clinics, schools, roads, and social services. (5.) End birthright citizenship. As long as illegal immigrants know their children born here will be citizens, the incentive to enter the U.S. illegally will remain strong. (6.) Pass true immigration reform. The current system, and those proposed by ALL other candidates, is incoherent and unfair, and would allow up to 60 million more immigrants into our country.
All of the trade deals and world government organizations, which all of the presidential candidates support (except Ron Paul), such as the ICC, NAFTA, GATT, WTO, and CAFTA, are all a major threat to our nation''s sovereignty. They transfer power from our government to unelected foreign elites. The ICC wants to try our soldiers as war criminals. Both the WTO and CAFTA could force Americans to get a prescription to take herbs and vitamins. The WTO has forced Congress to change our laws to meet their needs, and not our own. If anything, the WTO makes trade relations worse by giving foreign competitors a new way to attack U.S. jobs. The NAFTA superhighway, being built by a Spanish company, is just one part of a plan to erase our borders and create the North American Union, a single nation State like the EU, out of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, with a new, unelected bureaucracy and money system. Forget about controlling immigration under the NAU scheme. There won''t be any borders anymore, or a free America. Our limited, constitutional government will be gone forever. Let''s not forget the UN either. It wants to impose a direct Carbon Tax on us. Ron Paul successfully fought this move in Congress last year, but if we are going to stop ongoing attempts of this world government body to rule over us, we need someone in the White House who knows how to say "No." We must withdraw from any organizations or treaty that infringes upon our nation''s sovereignty.
All of the other presidential candidates want to continue our illegal police action in Iraq indefinitely, and they do not rule out a preemptive (nuclear) first strike against Iran. Conversely, Ron Paul voted against our (undeclared) war in Iraq, which was sold to us with lies. The area is more dangerous now than when we entered it. We destroyed a regime hated by our direct enemies--the jihadists, and created thousands of new recruits for them. The war in Iraq has cost more than 3,500 American lives and almost a trillion dollars. We need a leader in the White House who will ensure this never happens again. Both Jefferson and Washington warned us about entangling ourselves in the affairs of other nations. Today, we have 750 foreign bases and troops in 130 countries. We are spread so thin that we have too few troops defending America. And now, there are new calls for a draft. We can continue to fund and fight no-win police actions around the globe, or we can refocus on securing our borders against illegal aliens who are invading us from the South. No war should ever be fought without a Declaration of War voted upon by the Congress, as required by The Constitution. Under no circumstances should the U.S. again go to war as the result of a resolution that comes from an unelected, foreign body, such as the United Nations. Too often, we give foreign aid and intervene on behalf of governments that are despised. Then, we become despised.
Like Ron Paul, I believe the biggest threat to your privacy is the government. We must drastically limit the ability of government to collect and store data regarding a citizens'' personal matters. We must stop the move toward a national ID card system (e.g., The Real ID Act). Under this new Law, states are currently issuing new driver''s licenses embedded with standard identifier data (RFID chips). Although, many states are refusing to comply. A national ID with new tracking technologies means we''re heading into an Orwellian world of no privacy. Ron Paul was one of the few members of Congess who voted against the Real ID Act. Also, under current medical privacy protection rules, which Ron Paul also opposed, insurance companies and other entities have access to your personal medical information. Finally, there''s the so-called Patriot Act, which Congressman, Ron Paul also voted against. As originally proposed, it expanded the federal government''s ability to use wiretaps without judicial oversight; allowed nationwide search warrants non-specific to any given location, nor subject to any local judicial oversight; made it far easier for the government to monitor private Internet usage; authorized sneak and peek warrants enabling federal authorities to search a person''s home, office, or personal property without that person''s knowledge; and required libraries to turn over records of books read by patrons. Ron Paul sponsored a Bill to overturn the Patriot Act.
The results of a nationwide telephone poll, announced by Zogby on November 19th, reveals that Americans want to vote for a candidate who protects liberty; who wants to shrink government; and who wants to immediately withdraw our troops from Iraq - positions of Ron Paul. As part of a "blind-bio", spread poll, 1009 likely voters [from all parties] were provided with descriptions of four different candidates and asked to choose who they would vote for based on each one''s attributes and political platform. 33% of pollees chose Ron Paul, 19% chose Rudy Giuliani, 15% chose Mitt Romney and 13% chose Fred Thompson. The results clearly illustrate that the country is crying out for Ron Paul, which is why mainstream media has launched a PR offensive to marginalize his accomplishments and suppress the Congressman''s name recognition. In a seperate question, over 49% of pollees said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who would begin an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. In fact, Ron Paul won in every demographic in this poll (religious voters, NASCAR fans, military families, etc.).
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