The only country that has legalized hard drugs (Portugal) saw a reduction in addiction rates as a result. While I believe his stance is based on freedom of choice, I don’t think he’d be touting it for a minute if the stats weren’t backing him up….

Sets out the candidates negatives in a rational way. Good to see some well thought out points that may have a chance to convince rather than alienate.

Saw the Dick Morris poll on Fox with Paul in 2nd place after Romney amongst likely primary voters. Posts like this may shift some of these primary voters to another candidate. Do you have a candidate that you support?

Red State is regurgitating the soundbites from the NEOCON radio talk show host Mark Levin. Levin said on his show last Friday that the reason people call him a NEOCON is because they really want to call him a Jew.

Red State has no idea who is going to nominated, they are just being talking heads to garner favor with Mark Levin to help Erick’s radio show in Atlanta.

Reagan?

Spending and the deficit went up. IN THAT REGARD the administration had failed at one of its primary goals. Mind you, it had to deal with a majority Democrat congress at that point. However, Ron’s policies have never changed. It is one thing to say someone might think differently of someone if they have changed, but Ron is the same guy he was when he led the Texas convention in the 1976 Convention fighting for Ronald Reagan’s candidacy while the Rockefeller Republicans backed Bush. Those same Rockefeller Republicans now pretend to be Reagan Republicans. Rand has an amusing write up in his book of this.

There already have been responses to all the material above, and if you are open minded you will want to look further than an obvious hit piece or a supporter’s response, so I’ll let you look into it yourself. I will say that I never heard of Ron Paul before the last presidential election and was just looking for someone to vote for besides McCain whom I despise, and Romney whose sincerity I don’t trust. I heard of the newsletters and thought there must be SOMETHING there, so I looked into them when I was first thinking of voting for Ron Paul. The issue pops like a soap bubble and is the biggest issue that exists. The man has the integrity and record to inspire people, and I encourage everyone to look into it for themselves. Youtube search for Ron Paul by view is a good way to start, but google is obviously needed for his voting record.

Ron Paul will not be President. He’s too old. But the idea his foreign policy is liberal is absurd.

“Even if it were desirable, America is not strong enough to police the world by military force. If that attempt is made, the blessings of liberty will be replaced by coercion and tyranny at home. Our Christian ideals cannot be exported to other lands by dollars and guns. Persuasion and example are the methods taught be the Carpenter of Nazareth, and if we believe in Christianity we should try to advance our ideals by his methods. We cannot practice might and force abroad and retain freedom at home. We cannot talk world cooperation and practice power politics”——Howard(Warren’s Father) Buffett regarded as the most conservative member of congress in the late 40s early 50s

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Buffett#Political_philosophy

Buffet managed the campaign for Mr Republican Robert Taft in 1952 for the GOP nomination. The conservative wing of the GOP was behind Taft. The Dewey wing of moderate and liberal Republicans recruited Ike Eisenhower to stop Taft.

Ike turned out to be a very good President. One of our best!

For a more recent example look no to Ronald Reagan Mr Republican.

“The dirty little secret of Reagan’s foreign policy is that he was extremely reluctant to send U.S. troops into harm’s way—more reluctant, in fact, than every president who has followed him. When Reagan took office, conservative intellectuals like National Review editor William F. Buckley and Commentary editor Norman Podhoretz urged him to consider sending U.S. troops to Central America to keep communists from entrenching their rule in Nicaragua and exporting it to neighboring El Salvador. Conservative rhetoric about the consequences of communist rule in Latin America, in fact, was even more apocalyptic than today’s conservative rhetoric about the consequences of renewed Taliban rule in Afghanistan. Reagan wanted to defeat Latin American communism, too: He sent military aid to the government of El Salvador and to the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua. But he never seriously considered dispatching U.S. troops, even when it became clear the Contras couldn’t win on their own. Right-wingers complained, but Reagan didn’t budge. “Those sons of bitches won’t be happy until we have 25,000 troops in Managua,” he told his chief of staff, “and I’m not going to do it.”

Reagan, in fact, only sent American ground forces into combat twice. He invaded Grenada, an island with 600 troops. And he dispatched peacekeepers to Lebanon. Then, in October 1983, Hezbollah terrorists bombed the U.S. barracks in Beirut, killing 241 Marines while they slept. At first, Reagan played John Wayne. House Speaker Tip O’Neill “may be ready to surrender,” he declared, “but I’m not.” And then—five days later, with the polls showing Americans souring on the Lebanon policy—Reagan decided to pull the troops out. Midge Decter, Podhoretz’s wife and a prominent neoconservative herself, said she was “disgusted.” In America’s first major confrontation with Islamist terror, Reagan had cut and run. But for Reagan, the lesson was exactly the opposite. His final words as president were “the worst thing I ever did was send those troops to Beirut.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/06/20/how-romney-is-like-reagan.html

Well how about Reagan’s own words.

” Perhaps we didn’t appreciate fully enough the depth of the hatred and the complexity of the problems that made the Middle East such a jungle. Perhaps the idea of a suicide car bomber committing mass murder to gain instant entry to Paradise was so foreign to our own values and consciousness that it did not create in us the concern for the marines’ safety that it should have.

In the weeks immediately after the bombing, I believe the last thing that we should do was turn tail and leave. Yet the irrationality of Middle Eastern politics forced us to rethink our policy there. If there would be some rethinking of policy before our men die, we would be a lot better off. If that policy had changed towards more of a neutral position and neutrality, those 241 marines would be alive today.”

http://orangepunch.ocregister.com/2006/07/21/reagans-wisdom-on-the-middle-east-leave/619/

Dennis Kucinich, Walter Jones and Ron Paul vs Hillary Clinton, Barry Obama, Lindsey Graham and John McCain.

I think I’ll side with Kucinish, Jones and Paul over Obama, Lindsey and McCain.

He is a Rothbardian Anarchist, the man comes from a group you can read over at Lew Rockwell’s website(Paul’s closest ally), and they beleive the “Constitution is a Statist Document”

He is an Utopian ideologue of epic proportions and would do more harm to the United States than any President in our history.

This is who Ron Paul is in daily contact with, whose functions he speaks at all the time and have decades long ties together. This clown wrote the fwd to Paul’s dishonest American foreign policy book and other’s he’s wrote.

They are ANARCHIST and think the CONSTITUTION IS A STATIST DOCUMENT!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.redcounty.com/content/lover-constitution-how-well-do-you-know-ron-pauls-muse

Ron Paul tells students point blank he wants to get past the Constitution to a “Volunteerist” Anarchist Utopia often.

You’re one issue proposition is correct for more than just Paul. There are far more Pro-Life one issue voters than War on Terror one issue voters. This means Romney, Giuliani, Johnson, and Christi are all out as well.

The next issue is the drug issue. Paul is right on this. First the constitution gives no power to the federal government on this issue. Second, the so called drug war has made the problem much worse. In the 1930′s the federal government estimated drug use at between 300,000 and 1,000,000, including marijuana. That was between 1/4 of 1% and 4/5ths of1% of the population. Today estimates range from 15 to 50 million or 4% and 15% respectively. so a minimum 1600% increase in per-capita drug use.
The costs people speak of in terms of hospital care are already being paid. In addition we are also paying for an enormous Army of Drug warriors not just counting law enforcement but the judiciary and the penal system.. In personal liberty the drug war is the reason I can’t have an anonymous bank account. Which of course feeds the IRS as well. The drug war brought no knock drug raids, purchase limits on cold medication, in a round about way increased costs associated with firearms and threats to our rights to possess guns since druggie turf wars are a primary reason for attacking gun rights.
Alcohol prohibition was dropped when it became evident the cure was far worse than the problem. The drug war needs to die the same ignoble death.

Foreign policy is the area I agree with Paul the least on. I think both Iraq and Afghanistan were well justified but we should have been gone from both long ago. Nation building is dumb. When we do leave they will go right back to the 6th century because that is who they are.
But I do have a question, in 10 or 15 years, when some Libyan terrorist blows himself up in Times Square in revenge for our bombing his mom or dad last week will you be prepared to admit that we might have some culpability?
This ain’t video games. There really are real people dying over there and we have no legitimate reason for killing them.. When that guy does kill a hundred Americans I will be the first to say we should punish his backers. But better we should stay out of places unless we have a good reason to be there.

As I said, I agree with your premise that Paul can’t win the nomination. Given that, why write a blog designed to deliberately alienate a significant group of people who normally vote for the eventual Republican nominee?

I am not talking about ignoring obnoxious Paul supporters who are in any event well taken care of by Neil and other admins.

I am talking about people who will vote for Paul in the primary and then support the Republican nominee in the general unless you convince them they aren’t welcome even when well behaved.

Then they stay home.

Members of Congress to Introduce Historic Legislation Ending Marijuana Prohibition

http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/2011/06/today-members-congress-introduce-historic-legislation-ending-marijuana-prohibition

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) will introduce bi-partisan legislation tomorrow, June 23, ending the federal war on marijuana and letting states legalize, regulate, tax, and control marijuana without federal interference. Other co-sponsors include Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA). The legislation would limit the federal government’s role in marijuana enforcement to cross-border or inter-state smuggling, allowing people to legally grow, use or sell marijuana in states where it is legal. The legislation is the first bill ever introduced in Congress to end federal marijuana prohibition.

Not if the Mexican Drug Cartels are in control of the product.
The US government has been holding talks with the Taliban.
Maybe they are also talking to the drug cartels?

Ron Paul, Barney Frank – the new Cheech & Chong.

hearing the conservative talk radio shows today. I am only confirmed in my previous belief that ending the war on drugs is the one area where a majority of conservatives argue like liberals.

They argue for big government, for centralized government, they use ad-hominem against their opponents, and they argue from emotionalism and a distinct lack of knowledge and facts.

I am sorry if that upsets anyone, but it is the truth.

I am NOT saying that an informed opinion on this subject cannot differ from mine, I am only saying that I rarely encounter such.

President Reagan pulled US servicemen out after the attacks in Lebanon, which drew significant criticism from neoconservatives. Reagan also negotiated with commies like Gorbachev over the reduction in nuclear weapons. Did those policies make Reagan a pacifist ?

And it was conservative guru William Buckley who argued in support of the decriminalization of marijuana.

The point is, in politics, nothing is black and white, there are always shades of grey.

I don’t get it. Who cares about Ron Paul?

I don’t mean to be crude, but judging by the rec list, Red State cares about Ron Paul a great deal. !?!? Is there something to Ron Paul, or does the Rec List algorithm leave a lot to be desired?

Say a miracle happens.

Ron Paul gets the nod.

So….Ron Paul or Obama? Or sit it out?

I believe it was Ronald Reagan who said that” the very heart of Conservatism is Libertarianism”. The GOP used to be anti war, and took the isolationist approach, to where we didn’t get involved in foreign affairs. We are going bankrupt, and don’t have the money to fund the wars that we are already involved in. We are going to have to start making decisions soon, or we will be in real trouble.

Part of that problem is that we have”neoconservatives”insist we must have wars with Syria and Iran, and feel we have to “spread America’s greatness”. We need to return to the Constitution as our way of life in this country, and not get into arguments whether we should defunding NPR, or if Obama is an American citizen or not.I pray the GOP will start looking for real solutions, or else we will loose in 2012.

after 2012 no more paul in office. it feels like my birthday and christmas all rolled into one.