Recently, the man that I hope will become America's new President (and the man who doesn't have a shot in hell of doing so), Ron Paul, requested (through CNN) that Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani read a few books. Paul requested that Rudy read “‘Imperial Hubris' by Michael Scheuer, ‘Dying to Win' by Robert Pape, ‘Blowback' by Chalmers Johnson and the 9/11 Commission Report” (Source: feeemarketnews.org).
I think that's funny.
For years, the Republican party has been stating that the reason that terrorists attack us is because they hate our freedom. Well, lots of countries have freedom, but we're the only one that continually bombs the Middle East and funds Israeli attempts to eradicate Palestine (and you thought I never read the news), but Ron Paul has gone and stated that the US is hated for our actions against other countries and not for our freedom. This statement makes so much sense that the Republican party flat out denied it and then tried to ban Ron Paul from their Michigan debates.
After Paul stated this, Giuliani decided to prop up that tired old, “they hate our freedom” line, which has about as much believability as the Flat Earth Theory.
So Ron Paul got on TV and suggested that Giuliani read a few books.
So. Fucking. Core.
Whether he wins or not (and believe me, he won't even get nominated) Ron Paul is going to remind the American people of something very important: the motherfucking constitution.
As a senator, Paul voted against the Patriot Act because he didn't get to read it (no one did?the four hundred page bill was released the day they voted on it), voted against the Iraq War because it was unconstitutional and voted against every congressional pay raise because his constituents didn't want to lose more money. Paul is here to remind everyone what our government should be and why it used to be better than any other government in the world.
Ours was a country founded on creeds of freedom and individualism, not collectivism. Our country was founded on the idea that we be allowed the pursuit of happiness and the right to privacy, not the right to be wiretapped without a court order (Patriot Act). And you know what? I had forgotten all that.
Before Ron Paul tried to get nominated, I had given up on my government. I used to make jokes like, “The Clinton Administration: Brought to you by the Asian Markets and the Tech Industry” or “The Bush Administration: Brought to you by Halliburton and Exxon.” I thought government existed to help spread world socialism and push the agendas of the rich. I had forgotten that there was a reason that we had a government: to look out for our freedom.
Hell, I had forgotten about freedom pretty much altogether.
But now, Ron Paul is here. And, at the very least, he's gonna remind us what we used to have to be proud about.
And just maybe, we'll get a chance to be proud again.
Labels: ron_paul