Republican Presidential Debate: Ron Paul's the only one not sweating

I caught a little bit of the republican presidential debate last night and for the most part it just confirmed what I already know. These guys are all politians for sure, but amid all the mudflinging and accusing going on and scampering to explain why they voted a certain way, Ron Paul stood out as the only one not worried about how his answers would be percived. He always seemed calm and confident in what he was saying. I don't think I heard any of the other candidates call him out once. Admittedly that coudld be due to the fact that he's never been viewed as the frontrunner but perhaps it's also due to the fact that Ron Paul has continuously been very consistent in his beliefs and actions making it hard to find things to nit pick on. To be fair I don't always agree with him but I find his resolve to lessen the federal goverments involvment in our lives and to uphold our Constitution refreshing. He's obviously a man of conviction and not at all interested in pandoring to any groups in the way that Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum or Newt Gingrich continuously do.

So why is Ron Paul seen as an extreemist with no realistic chance of being ellected? He obviously has a lot of supporters and I for one think his stark contrast with President Obama may be the most realistic chance for the Republicans to take back the White House. That probably scares a lot of people in the media who favor bigger goverment and more goverment programs. Even the other republican candidates I think are a little frightened by what Ron Paul stands for.

Now I need to be honest, if Ron Paul were ellected president it wouldn't magically fix anything. And I suspect that any of the other republican candidates would actually act very similar as comander in chief and would work to reduce goverment. Ron Paul however, represents a desire to return to our hertiage and what made this a great country in the first place. That's what makes him different. When Ron Paul speaks it never seems to be about him but instead is all about upholding the constition. I like that in a candidate and that's why I like Ron Paul.

Voting for Life

You know what’s great about our country is that when this election is over in a couple days we’ll all still be friends. Obviously there are some very differing opinions on who the best candidate is to lead our country and I’m glad people feel open enough to share there views with everyone. With that being said and having read many of your emails, I’d like to add my thoughts to conversation.

I’ve always considered myself pro-life since my early upbringing and I think much of that can be attributed to growing up in a family that cherishes and loves life so much. A year ago when the campaigns were just getting started, I questioned many of the same social justice issues that have been brought up by some of you and wondered if these could out way the importance of the abortion issue. Then my wife and I conceived our first child and I saw his heart beating in an ultrasound when he was only three weeks old. As the pregnancy continued my wife and I got to see and feel him kicking and waving….hiccuping and definitely growing inside her. Then the morning of September 8 we got to hold our baby boy for very first time. I know many of you have experienced this feeling before but what an amazing moment that was. It was at this moment and in countless others since then as I’ve stared into the eyes of my child, that I knew without a doubt that the greatest cruelty or injustice possible was that we as a society would turn our heads and let millions of innocent children die.

Think about it this way….You see two people on the street. One is a child being brutally murdered. The other can be a person facing whatever other evil or social justice issue you can think of. If you can only save one which would save? Looking at it this way makes the answer blatantly obvious to me.

Recently Dr. Alveda C. King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, stated that, “The fight against abortion is a new frontier in the Civil Rights Movement…We are not following Martin’s dream if we do not stand up for the voiceless.” I wholeheartedly agree with her and truly feel that abortion is the civil rights issue or out times. There are many issues that affect us more directly as individuals and perhaps that is why many people choose to give more importance to them. As a society though, there can be nothing more terrible then the thousands of babies who are legally slaughtered each day. Whatever struggles and injustices my son will face in this life at least he will get to experience them. Friends and family, the way I see it the war overseas is terrible and our economy is a problem, but let’s not forget that there is a bigger war taking place right here in our own nation. Sacrifices need to be made but innocent children should never be the price.

So I guess you can probably guess who I’ll be voting for tomorrow. Obama and McCain are so far apart on the abortion issue that it’s not even close decision. I’ll gladly cast my vote for the millions like my son who don’t get a say in the matter. I’m voting for life.

"It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."
-- Mother Teresa

Confusion on the War in Iraq

For the most part I just try to avoid politics all together. I usually vote mostly republican as I’m definitely for smaller government and am pro-life, but it’s fairly obvious that both parties lie and that there are good and bad people in both. Now with all the presidential chatter in the news I figured I should start figuring out who I want to support. Most of the issues I can go down the list and I have a fairly good idea where I stand but the War in Iraq leaves me scratching my head.

At the start of the war I thought it was necessary but as no weapons of mass destruction were found and it started to become clear that we were in a messy situation I changed my mind and started agreeing with people who said we shouldn’t have gone to war in the first place. That doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m convinced we should pull out now though. After all, we started this mess so it seems only fair that we should take some responsibility for it. Plus I think there is some truth to the fact that if we pull out, the Middle East becomes a bigger problem for our country to deal with then it already is. However, on the flip side of that if establishing a peaceful government there is not an attainable objective then we are basically just putting off the inevitable by remaining there not to mention costing lives and adding to our national debt. So for me the question comes down to, can we accomplish our mission there?

Getting a straight answer on this seems to be nearly impossible. The media has an agenda, the Republicans have an agenda and the Democrats have an agenda. Of course everyone is so passionate about their position that most discussions you can find on this topic make it totally impossible to separate fact from fiction. Hopefully as we get closer to Election Day I can get a better grasp for this complex situation though I don’t really see how. It would be great to get an unbiased report directly from the people making the decisions and those in Iraq but I doubt that is likely to happen.

Part of me thinks that with public opinion so against the war, the only logical reason for a presidential candidate to say he supports it is because it is truly in our nation’s best interest. One has to look deeper though as this could just be a front to create separation from the other candidates or to follow the company line. Still if someone is trying to sell themselves to the public, why take the less appealing position?

Up until now I’ve been happy to think (whether it’s true or not) that the people making the decisions know more about it then me, but now I along with the rest of America may be making the choice between staying or pulling out of Iraq. I don’t trust the politicians and now I don’t even know if I can trust myself.