He's Not Jesus

I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but Ron Paul is going to save the world from itself. No, it’s true. He’s going to collect all the nuclear weapons in a big fishing net, fly 93.4 million miles into space and throw them all into the sun. He is! Don’t give me that look. I can see you through the internets and you’re giving me either “something smells in here… someone needs a diaper change” look, or it is your basic disbelief.

Well, it would appear to be true if you listened to Ron Paul’s flock. You see, Ron Paul is this politician who is attempting another run at the White House. He’s doing covert work for the Libertarians while disguised as a Republican and he’s the Internet’s Most Popular candidate. He’s raised quite a bit of money for his campaign, or so the blindingly annoying ticker on his website says.

He’s secured $13.4 million dollars in donations.

Paul has this incredibly rabid following on the internet and it’s down right disturbing. These people are vocal in their support to the point of fanaticism. You can post an anti-Ron Paul entry into your blog and it will act like chum in the internet seas. After a short while, the internet killing machines will swim up to your blog and thrash wildly against it. It’s pretty interesting. You should try it sometime.

I envision these folks, huddle up to their PC’s, with the Ron Paul website up, repeating a mantra and watching the campaign donation numbers soar over and over again. When I say Paul is being played up like he was the messiah, I’m not joking. There are countless blog comment posts that say these words (or similar): “Ron Paul is America’s last hope. I really think that.” That sentiment is expressed in various different ways on the web.

And don’t try to question Paul’s politics. It’s heresy. A Ron Paul worshiper sticks pretty close to the Church of Ron Paul’s dogma. It could cost you your internet soul.

So let’s get down to Ron Paul’s politics – he’s against big government and he’s for allowing the private sector to fill in what the government will leave behind under him. He backs the Constitution. He wants certain issues to be left up to the state, as opposed to the federal government.

Some highlights –

He’s against regulating the internet.

He wants to pull the U.S. military out of Iraq and everywhere else (including Germany) today.

He wants to disband the IRS – that’s right, he wants to get rid of the IRS.

He wants to eliminate the Department of Education.

You could also drink the Kool-Aid after reading that, right? No IRS? Wow!

So let me have a crack at the Ron Paul politics – he sucks. He wants to disband any government office that does not have a role in the Constitution. That’s pretty fanatical as far as I’m concerned. It’s similar to a Conservative Christian who only does what the Bible says. Is it a good idea to dictate your current condition based on a document written hundreds of years ago?

I’ll expand this a little further – if you’re a NASA employee or contractor, Ron Paul threatens your livelihood. NASA has no “Constitutional role” because NASA didn’t exist in the time of Thomas Jefferson. Ron Paul would eliminate the agency toot-sweet if he was given the power. He believes that the private sector is better equipped to explore space. It’s a damn shame that private space agencies don’t care about science. They care about putting the rich into orbit for thrills.

Science doesn’t make money. It’s not about the bottom line… thankfully.

Paul makes a lot of “it sounds good” claims but has yet to show a plan to make them all work. Trimming government is a great idea, but hacking at it with a massive legislative cleaver is dangerous – where do all the people on the government payroll go when their office no long exists?

It’s foolish to think that the private sector will quickly hire them.

And let’s be real here, the private sector isn’t all that great. It doesn’t work as well as you’d think and if there’s any lesson to be learned over the years, the private sector is not good for one’s well being. There’s a reason why we don’t live as long as the average European. There’s a reason why our quality of life is well below the EU’s. It is because of our need to be productive first and healthy second. That’s all due to the private sector’s influence on life.


Ron Paul will enhance that… and we’ll all probably die as a result. Well, that’s probably an unfair claim, but I’m going to make it anyway. Do we really need MORE capitalism? Shouldn’t we temper our incredible productivity with some… social programs? Such as socialized medicine? Perhaps a 35 hour work week? What about more holidays? Government sponsored nanny and home keeper programs for new parents? Anything?

I won’t get into the fact that David Duke and many white supremacist groups back Ron Paul (I don’t think Paul is a racist, but I think his ideals empower them).

So, Ron Paul has some good ideas, but the rest of them are ridiculous and silly. I can’t fault him for having imagination. He’s the Willy Wonka of Washington. I will fault him for not balancing his views with reality.

Ron Paul Blows 2008 - $13.4 million thrown into the crapper. But countless bloggers inspired.