Yeah, Paul makes a good whistle blower, but I cant ever see him as the president because of his views on Isolationism. As you can see by Obama's foreign policy, even the Democrats don't agree with Paul on that one. I definitely like him in congress though.
But do you think he will run? When you say Isolationism, what do you mean? If I understand him correctly he want to do business in a free market but not interfere(or worse) in other nations internal problems. Instead of making wars and try to force nations into the US policy, let trade help nations.
He will probably run, but like Sarah Palin, I doubt he'll even come close to winning. Ron Paul on the Issues He opposed the first Gulf War as a "War of the UN", while opposing the second Gulf War as "American Imperialism". Can't have it both ways. Not sure where he stands on WWII, but one could argue we had no need to be in Europe either by his logic. Regarding Iraq, every president since Kennedy has had the policy that any threat to Middle East oil supply is a direct threat to the US. The US has not exactly been secretive about this policy. When Sadaam rolled into Kuwait, he had to know he had essentially declared war on the US in the same action. If he didn't he was an idiot. Personally, I would love the US to become oil independent. Then we could sit back like we did with Rwanda, as Mr. Paul advocates, and watch a couple million innocent civilians get butchered by their countrymen with machettes. After all, who elected us the worlds police.
Will he run, possibly. I don't think he will be as big as he was last time though. He stands no chance of winning the election if that is what you are hoping for.
Good point! However, he did have quite a few supporters around these forums and even around here locally around me. I just can't see him holding all of those supporters as he did last time. I think at this point in time you have to select the lesser of two evils... Obama or whoever Republican candidate will be this go around.
Look at the majority of the people on these forums. If one spends enough time in P/R they could conclude that Islam is the biggest, bestest religion on the planet. A few RP lovers on DP is not exactly what I would use as a metric to gauge popularity or support for that matter.
I like Ron Paul. The only thing I don't like is that he gives a bit too much credit to Muslim countries as innocent victims (if he hates big government theirs are worse than the United States government by far). The guy who I agreed with most when running was Peter Schiff, though that was for Senate. Schiff had the same domestic policies but wasn't shy about the idea of air strikes and other non-occupation military actions against countries which posed a threat. That said, nobody in the primaries/main election for the presidential race would come close to Paul in terms of ethics and knowledge of how economics actually works. I would call him a "non-interventionist" more than an "isolationist," since he is not opposed to free trade. I wouldn't describe him as the lesser evil, so much as I would describe him as almost perfect.
The primaries are not the same as the general election and RP would have a bedrock of support to build on. How he would do against Romney, their best candidate in the primaries would be interesting and a contrast among equals in having little to offer with plenty to show for it.
It seems most of you agree that he will not have a chance. Yet he polls nicely in several polls and seems to finally get some media attention. What he said in last election is now reality. OK, this is a video promoting him but there are some facts about polling results etc. [video=youtube;L6D3uPLlCu8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6D3uPLlCu8[/video]
Here come the Paulistas . I like the part of that promotional video where he talks about the US standing up to Russia and their 40,000 nukes. Many of the "interventionist" activities Paul complains about were taken in prosecution of that "undeclared war". Perhaps he is still waiting for a formal "declaration of war" from the folks who brought down the twin towers, but if he is, he shouldn't hold his breath. I like his skepticism, his badgering of the Fed, and I think the questions he asks about our foreign policy are important to ask. With the information available to me at the moment, I still think his spin on foreign policy is lunacy. Not sure if you are from Sweden, but if you are, what is your take on the extradition of Assange to your country?
Yes, I'm from Sweden. I really don't know what to answer you. I don't know about the details in his case. I hope he will be treated fair and according to the law. I fear that Sweden will bow down to US pressure as "we" have done before. I support the release of the cables.
Hehe. Simple question. Support the extradition or no? It is according to the law, or do you disagree on that. Not surprising for someone from the home of the Pirate party . From all I can tell, Sweden does a very good job at resisting US pressure. I always get a kick out of reading the responses to legal threats at piratebay.org. [Sorry dont want to hijack the thread.. just wanted a quick personal opinion and we can go back to talking about Ron Paul ]
I don't know if this is normally how cases like this are handled. That's why i don't have an opinion. I'm not an expert in law. The case seems a bit vague to issue an international warrant like this...but that's only my feelings.