Why Ron Paul Is The Only Candidate That Matters in 2012

2012 is shaping up to be another uneventful election.  The breakdown of candidates are all uninspiring:

1.  Romney--Empty suit, looks presidential, top 1 % that has no concept of the working class, sold out to large corporate interests, is a Wall Street insider, waffles on important issues like abortion, offers no new ideas or concepts.

2.  Gingrich--Failed as Speaker of the House, three time adulterer with no morals, wacky ideas ("i.e. we will build a colony on the moon"), subservient to corporate interests and Wall Street, incompetent in every job he has ever held.

3.  Santorum--Right wing extremist, hater of gays, also sold out to corporate interests, climate change denier, unelectable, and mean spirited.

4.  Obama--All words and no action, more Republican than Democrat, approved the bank bailouts, appointed Robert Rubin insiders (the architects of the banking meltdown) to run his economic team, betrayed his promises on closing Gitmo, advocates presidential assassination of private citizens, indefinite detention, and has cracked down on immigrants for political purposes.  Is currently looking to cut Social Security and Medicaid to balance the budget on the backs of seniors, and of course has absolutely no spine or will to fight for anything.  Tempermentally incompetent to lead.

If you want to see where the above candidates stand on any given issue, just look to who their campaign contributions come from.  All of them are favorable to Wall Street, the big banks, and large corporations.  The system gives us the false illusion of choice--Obama vs. Romney, for example.  Yet this really isn't a choice because both generally subscribe to the notion that Wall Street is more important than Main Street.  People have the illusion of choice because the Republicans are so far to the Right that it scares the hell out of people on the Left.  Yet Obama is more of a moderate Republican from thirty years ago than he is a true Democrat.  He bears no resemblance to the Democrats of the New Deal era, who would have never considered cutting Social Security or Medicare to balance the budget while offering massive tax breaks to billionaires and millionaires through the Bush tax cuts.

The bottom line is, we are being sold a lie.  This is where Ron Paul comes in.  Ron Paul has never been given a fair chance by the media, who basically exclude him every chance they get.  They dare not utter his name, no matter how well he does in the polls.  Paul isn't a corporate candidate.  In fact, he speaks against the corporatist policies of the government perpetrated by both parties.  He has integrity and can't be bought off by special interests.  He advocates positions that might imperil the corporate welfare and socialism for the rich that the top 1 % favor.  This makes him dangerous.

Ron Paul is the only one who has been making substantive arguments during the race.  Romney and Gingrich are busy offering platitudes about "creating jobs" and favoring "job creators", which means nothing.  Paul is actually talking about how the bailouts hurt Main Street and how the foreign wars are bankrupting this country.  He is the only one bringing a dose of reality to the situation.  If not for Paul, this election would be 100% farce.

Now I don't agree with Paul on many issues.  He is too libertarian for me.  But the difference is that he isn't a sell out.  He has integrity.  With Obama, Romney, or Gingrich, essentially you would be getting more of the same.  The illusion of choice designed to placate the rabble in the pit would be fulfilled.  Ron Paul is a real choice.

In 2000, Ralph Nader ran for president.  By running, he helped to bring substantive issues and discussion to the race.  This was important because it meant the advocating of real civic dialogue.  Without people like Nader and Paul, the corporate dog and pony show would continue unabated.

That's why it is my hope that Ron Paul runs as a third party candidate for president and is able to remain in the debate.  I would love to see him up against Romney and Obama.  If that were the case, this nation would see how ridiculous the choices between Democrat and Republican are.  On the issues of the Afghanistan War, indefinite detention, bank bailouts, Wall Street policy, Gitmo, and monetary policy, Romney and Obama are in complete agreement.  Paul has the opposite views on these.  A three way race would show us the nature of the illusion--that our corporate overlords don't want us to see.

Thank God for Ron Paul and his integrity.  It's the only thing that matters about this 2012 election, regardless of whether he wins or loses.