McCain's campaign has imploded. Giuliani's the fading pro-choice contender, which is sort of redundant. People seem to be catching on to the fact that Fred Thompson is a one-term senator and lobbyist not Reagan 2.0. And that leaves you with Mitt Romney, the avatar of transcendent phoney-baloneyism.
Okay, I'm done.
The man can turn a phrase.
3 comments:
The fact that they were looking for a "savior" in Thompson so early tells you a lot.
They want to be "saved" from a Mormon.
One for the books.
From early on, I though that Barak Obama would energize people of my age and continue to build a strong base of 20-somethings.
While I could never jump on the Obama bandwagon wholeheartedly, I understood the reasons behind his early success.
Yet, amazingly, it is not Obama that has come to dominate the converstaion among my friends. It is none other than Texas Congressman, Ron Paul.
As you drive around campus, homemade signs for Paul are stuck to many light poles and electric boxes. Friends from both sides of the political spectrum are aligning with Paul in droves. They do this for a few main reasons, some of which are highlighted in posts on this blog. One, they do not believe in the two party system and desire a candidate who does not conform to party politics. Two, they want this war finished NOW. Paul continues to say that ALL troops would be pulled out, regardless of what would happen if we left. Three, they want their liberty restored. Ron Paul is a libertarian, disguised as a Republican to participate in national republican debates. He voted against the Patriot Act and he stauchly believes in liberty over war and "security", etc.
Many of these reasons for support are valid. Yet, I cannot support someone who believes the free market is perfect, that the local governemnt can ALWAYS do better than the federal, and economic and social inequalities are just snags of the market that will be resolved with less government involvement.
People have been quick to disregard Ron Paul as a formidable candidate, but I see his numbers building faster than any other-democrat or republican. It is almost certain that he could not win the general election---but stranger things have happened.
I think Carah Beth is on to something. There is a strong civil liberties tradition among Democrats that has wilted the last few election cycles. A distrust of government (that calls for accountability, not drowning the government in the bathtub), policies that keep an eye on corporations, not people's bedrooms -- these are important issues, and popular ones, at that.
Ron Paul is tapping into the same instinct with his libertarianism that Democrats appeal to when they talk about choice, gay rights, and other personal liberty issues. But they also champion the role of government in areas where individuals lack influence, like environmental protection, worker safety, food safety, securities laws, etc.
Dems need to get the conversation past pro-government versus anti-government, and onto the question, what kind of government do you want?
When that's the question, Democrats win.
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