San Francisco straw poll for the GOP...

Disgusting. I'll be donating on the 16th.

 

I think Hillary will make a fine president. I'm disappointed that the straw poll was shut down like that. I can't stand to see people disrespecting other people's opinions and ideas like that.

disagreeing with each other is fine, but disrespecting is how wars begin.

 

Yeah, I'm pretty disappointed by this.

 

I respect your *opinion* and the fact is: that is your *opinion* and I am entitled to my own opinion.

 

http://www.teaparty07.com/

http://ronpaulblimp.com/

 

I don't know about that -- I think Paul has some chance of getting the Republican Party nomination, albeit a small one. Six months ago, I would have said he didn't, but now, I'd have to say he has a shot at it. He's the only one generating any real enthusiasm, after all.

How he would do in the general election is harder to predict. I guess it would depend in large part on who the Democratic candidate is. Given the Democrats' knack for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, I'd have to give him a non-zero chance there, too.

If nothing else, I think his popularity may show future politicians that there is a significant voting bloc with libertarian views, which they may try to appeal to. Certainly not a bad thing. It strikes me as a little odd that the libertarian bloc gravitated to Paul when, for example, Dennis Kucinich is actually much more libertarian, but history is full of such little oddities.

I just want a relevant political party, not just a few rogues who are laughed at and undermined by mainstream society, to support which supports increasing personal freedom (in their actual legislation, not just their blathering), and has a good chance of getting elected. The Democrats do on a few mostly irrelevant issues, and the Republicans never do anymore, they've moved on to directly undermining some of our most important Constitutional rights, which is what caused me to leave the party. I like Paul for this reason, which is also why I like Kucinich and Gravel on the Democratic side (who, incidentally, really do have a zero chance of winning their party nomination). The rest of them can't seem to conceive of doing anything but further restricting our private lives, even though we're already to the point where any activity that deviates much from the 1950's 'Leave it to Beaver' lifestyle carries stiff legal penalties if you're caught doing it. The Constitution was a great start, but it doesn't go nearly far enough in limiting government power.

I couldn't care less about the Iraq war (yes, it was a mistake to start it, anyone thinking straight in 2003 could have told us that, and did, but the damage is done now, whether we stay and finish the job or pull out really isn't going to change much of anything in the long run). I couldn't care less about the tiny changes in taxation that various candidates are proposing (honestly, by using the government's monetary system, we consent to taxation of it -- if we don't like paying taxes, we can still use another system for the exchange of goods and services; Ithaca, NY actually has an interesting system that they've used for a number of years). I couldn't care less about "Family Values", which, though the definition is increasingly nebulous, seems to increasingly be an issue for the morally bankrupt to hide behind. I don't care about Hillary's corruption (though I dislike her stances on several issues), the only president we've had in the past half-century who wasn't corrupt was Jimmy Carter, and he didn't work out very well because the corrupt in various government agencies undermined him at every turn. A great man, but the system failed him. I don't care about the abortion issue, I think both sides have reasonable arguments, I just have no strong feelings one way or the other about the issue. I wish that legislators would stop passing laws about it, but only as a byproduct of my wish that legislators would stop passing laws in general. Did you know that, for a supposed free country, we have more laws restricting our activities than all other countries in the world put together? There's more to freedom than the right to select your leaders and complain about them, though those are certainly important rights.

 

I'm planning to go to Boston next weekend for the rally (and the Tea Party 07) if anyone is in the area or would otherwise like to go.

 

Well they're floating the ron paul bimp out to the spot to dump the tea... =P

www.ronpaulblimp.com