Let me start by saying that I am not a Ron Paul Kool-Aid drinker. I have some concerns with a few of his policy positions, but this post is not about my disagreements with Ron Paul's platform. I write this post, however, to express my opinion as to why Ron Paul is the best hope for the Republican party to take back the White House in November.
We have probably the weakest Republican candidate field in recent memory. Every candidate in the field today (except Paul) is on record with major shifts in policy and/or social positions. I will go through a brief run through of each of the remaining candidates and give an explanation as to why I chose not to vote for them.
Newt Gingrich - My main opposition to Mr. Gingrich (other than the fact that I believe him to be somewhat unstable) originates from a variety of issues. Mr. Gingrich is on record multiple times supporting the individual mandate in the Obamacare healthcare reform law. Now, I do not disagree with his reasons, per-se, I do disagree with the individual mandate in principal and the fact the he has flip-flopped from supporting it to being totally against it. I can find no other reason for this other than that supporting an individual mandate is by no means a conservative position and is a betrayal of what he claims to stand for. The second main reason I will not vote for Mr. Gingrich is his recent attacks on Mitt Romney regarding his venture capitalist background. What I am not saying it that all of his attacks are unfounded but what I am saying is that all he is doing is giving Obama another angle to attack him come the general election and it is a betrayal of what he claims to be at the core of his conservative values. There are many other reasons not to vote for Mr. Gingrich but these are the two which are important to me and the consequently the loss of my vote.
Rick Santorum - Mr. Santorum was a candidate that I seriously considered backing but because of his history he lost my vote. I respect Mr. Santorum for his stance on many social policies of the day (though I do not agree with all of them). He has been consistent on the issues, of which the most important to me is abortion. However, he has so many flaws with his fiscal policy with a few social issues to boot, I cannot vote for him. He in many ways helped get us to the debacle we are in now through the Bush years. Debt ceiling votes and heinous earmark deals sealed the deal for me. I blame him no more for our current debacle than I blame President Bush, but he supported policies that put us, in my mind, in a weaker position when President Obama took office. For this I do not believe he can debate President Obama with honesty and integrity without making him look like a flip-flopper, which will be a huge issue with three of the four current candidates should they make it to the general election. A candidate who is on record saying that he is proud of his earmark votes, some of which were not votes to be proud of, is not a man who can honestly debate Obama on an issue which has become a hated practice in Washington.
Mitt Romney - I have many reasons to not vote for Mr. Romney because he is what we like to call a RINO (Republican In Name Only). However, until a week or so ago if you were to ask me would I vote for Romney in the general election I would have told you yes. If asked that same question now, my answer would be no. Forget that he authored the bill (Romneycare) which was used as a blueprint for the current Obamacare law. Both the President and Pelosi are on record saying that this bill was used as a starting point in crafting the law. This would not be an issue if Mr. Romney had the guts to stick by his legislation in his current policy blueprint. However, he completely opposes Obamacare which looks strangely like Romneycare implemented on the national level. Once again he cannot debate Obama with honesty and integrity which, in my opinion, will be a serious concern should he be the nominee in the general election. However, this is not the reason I will never vote for Mr. Romney. I will not vote for Mr. Romney because of his attack on Jon Huntsman in the New Hampshire debate a little over the week ago. He attacked Jon Huntsman for serving as ambassador to China under the Obama administration. I completely agree with Huntsman's response that comments like that are exactly what is wrong with our modern politics. I don't care whether the President is an open communist, if the President asks you to serve this nation in an official capacity and you are able, then you serve! We must respect the position first and the man second.Until recent history it was not unheard of for members of one party to serve in the administration of an opposing party. When did serving our nation become second place to holding the party line? Despicable.... Mr. Romney will never have my vote.
Ron Paul - As stated at the beginning this post I do not agree with Ron Paul on every issue. This, however, is not anything new. I did not agree with George W. Bush on all positions when I voted for him and I certainly did not agree all of John McCain's positions when I voted for him. Ron Paul is the only candidate that has had the guts to state his beliefs honestly, whether popular or not, and I respect that. He did not and has never supported the invasion of Iraq (a decision I supported even when 90% of America and Congress supported it... I say that takes guts. He did not support any of the bailouts in any form even when both parties were screaming that the sky was falling and Armageddon would ensue if they did not pass. I say that takes guts... He is willing to actually cut the size of government to get us out of our spiraling debt crisis; a crisis which out current president and legislature seem totally unwilling to do anything about. I say that takes guts... He is willing to make hard decisions to work towards getting our nation out of our current debacle. Another amazing thing about him is that he is willing to COMPROMISE! To some this is a slur but I have one issue with the no compromise position the Republican party has taken... It is destroying our government and its ability to governt. We all like to talk about what the Forefathers believed and wanted, supposedly. But we seem to have missed the part where (sorry for this) OUR ENTIRE SYSTEM IS DESIGNED TO ALLOW TWO OR MORE SIDES TO COMPROMISE!!! Once again sorry for that. All in all, Ron Paul will have my vote on Saturday.
Now I do realize this is by no means a complete and exhaustive list (one of which I do not have time to compile) but I have done my homework on the issues mentioned and believe them to be accurate. I could write a novel just on this topic alone. These issues are what are most important to me regarding these candidates. I say with hesitation that any of these would be better than President Obama (mainly because I do believe it) but a couple may be. All I ask in closing is that before you cast your vote on Saturday is that you look at all of the issues that are important to you as an American and make your choice based on those issues. Do not let the media or ads determine who will be our next candidate because if that is the case, then our system will be even more broken as a result of your vote. Vote your beliefs and your conscience as an American, not who someone else has told you to vote for...
I am Corey Wallace and I approve this message...
We have probably the weakest Republican candidate field in recent memory. Every candidate in the field today (except Paul) is on record with major shifts in policy and/or social positions. I will go through a brief run through of each of the remaining candidates and give an explanation as to why I chose not to vote for them.
Newt Gingrich - My main opposition to Mr. Gingrich (other than the fact that I believe him to be somewhat unstable) originates from a variety of issues. Mr. Gingrich is on record multiple times supporting the individual mandate in the Obamacare healthcare reform law. Now, I do not disagree with his reasons, per-se, I do disagree with the individual mandate in principal and the fact the he has flip-flopped from supporting it to being totally against it. I can find no other reason for this other than that supporting an individual mandate is by no means a conservative position and is a betrayal of what he claims to stand for. The second main reason I will not vote for Mr. Gingrich is his recent attacks on Mitt Romney regarding his venture capitalist background. What I am not saying it that all of his attacks are unfounded but what I am saying is that all he is doing is giving Obama another angle to attack him come the general election and it is a betrayal of what he claims to be at the core of his conservative values. There are many other reasons not to vote for Mr. Gingrich but these are the two which are important to me and the consequently the loss of my vote.
Rick Santorum - Mr. Santorum was a candidate that I seriously considered backing but because of his history he lost my vote. I respect Mr. Santorum for his stance on many social policies of the day (though I do not agree with all of them). He has been consistent on the issues, of which the most important to me is abortion. However, he has so many flaws with his fiscal policy with a few social issues to boot, I cannot vote for him. He in many ways helped get us to the debacle we are in now through the Bush years. Debt ceiling votes and heinous earmark deals sealed the deal for me. I blame him no more for our current debacle than I blame President Bush, but he supported policies that put us, in my mind, in a weaker position when President Obama took office. For this I do not believe he can debate President Obama with honesty and integrity without making him look like a flip-flopper, which will be a huge issue with three of the four current candidates should they make it to the general election. A candidate who is on record saying that he is proud of his earmark votes, some of which were not votes to be proud of, is not a man who can honestly debate Obama on an issue which has become a hated practice in Washington.
Mitt Romney - I have many reasons to not vote for Mr. Romney because he is what we like to call a RINO (Republican In Name Only). However, until a week or so ago if you were to ask me would I vote for Romney in the general election I would have told you yes. If asked that same question now, my answer would be no. Forget that he authored the bill (Romneycare) which was used as a blueprint for the current Obamacare law. Both the President and Pelosi are on record saying that this bill was used as a starting point in crafting the law. This would not be an issue if Mr. Romney had the guts to stick by his legislation in his current policy blueprint. However, he completely opposes Obamacare which looks strangely like Romneycare implemented on the national level. Once again he cannot debate Obama with honesty and integrity which, in my opinion, will be a serious concern should he be the nominee in the general election. However, this is not the reason I will never vote for Mr. Romney. I will not vote for Mr. Romney because of his attack on Jon Huntsman in the New Hampshire debate a little over the week ago. He attacked Jon Huntsman for serving as ambassador to China under the Obama administration. I completely agree with Huntsman's response that comments like that are exactly what is wrong with our modern politics. I don't care whether the President is an open communist, if the President asks you to serve this nation in an official capacity and you are able, then you serve! We must respect the position first and the man second.Until recent history it was not unheard of for members of one party to serve in the administration of an opposing party. When did serving our nation become second place to holding the party line? Despicable.... Mr. Romney will never have my vote.
Ron Paul - As stated at the beginning this post I do not agree with Ron Paul on every issue. This, however, is not anything new. I did not agree with George W. Bush on all positions when I voted for him and I certainly did not agree all of John McCain's positions when I voted for him. Ron Paul is the only candidate that has had the guts to state his beliefs honestly, whether popular or not, and I respect that. He did not and has never supported the invasion of Iraq (a decision I supported even when 90% of America and Congress supported it... I say that takes guts. He did not support any of the bailouts in any form even when both parties were screaming that the sky was falling and Armageddon would ensue if they did not pass. I say that takes guts... He is willing to actually cut the size of government to get us out of our spiraling debt crisis; a crisis which out current president and legislature seem totally unwilling to do anything about. I say that takes guts... He is willing to make hard decisions to work towards getting our nation out of our current debacle. Another amazing thing about him is that he is willing to COMPROMISE! To some this is a slur but I have one issue with the no compromise position the Republican party has taken... It is destroying our government and its ability to governt. We all like to talk about what the Forefathers believed and wanted, supposedly. But we seem to have missed the part where (sorry for this) OUR ENTIRE SYSTEM IS DESIGNED TO ALLOW TWO OR MORE SIDES TO COMPROMISE!!! Once again sorry for that. All in all, Ron Paul will have my vote on Saturday.
Now I do realize this is by no means a complete and exhaustive list (one of which I do not have time to compile) but I have done my homework on the issues mentioned and believe them to be accurate. I could write a novel just on this topic alone. These issues are what are most important to me regarding these candidates. I say with hesitation that any of these would be better than President Obama (mainly because I do believe it) but a couple may be. All I ask in closing is that before you cast your vote on Saturday is that you look at all of the issues that are important to you as an American and make your choice based on those issues. Do not let the media or ads determine who will be our next candidate because if that is the case, then our system will be even more broken as a result of your vote. Vote your beliefs and your conscience as an American, not who someone else has told you to vote for...
I am Corey Wallace and I approve this message...
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