An unsettling realization about Ron Paul:

[Poll_Blind]

It seems to me, the reason why Ron Paul gets play in both conservative and liberal circles is because he is one of the few politicians who will absolutely tell the unadulterated, unvarnished truth about such issues as the failure of the Iraq War, our military adventurism in general and the real reason why Al Qaeda attacked us on 9/11- which, by the way, is the reason bin Laden/Al Quaeda said they attacked us. Not the "We must destroy them because of their bluejeans and freedom!" bullshit.

The majority of his ideas are odious to say the least but the fact that he will plainly speak about some matters which few politicians in Washington have the political guts to causes him to receive otherwise undue interest from voters.

Here's the kicker: In a politically healthy America, an asshole like Ron Paul would be lucky to get his ass voted into a position as a state senator but because there is so much wool-pulling going on in Washington, anyone who is actually calling a spade a spade about such major issues as I stated in the first paragraph gets the attention of voters as someone who allegedly "has a clue" and has the strength to be bold.

What they mostly don't get is he has some absolutely uncontroversially correct ideas and a whole boatload of less-explored, extremely sickening ones.

Ron Paul only floats to the top like this because the people who should be making the same bold statements about the state of things are too fucking afraid to. Voters know they're being lied to on a wide range of issues and they naturally turn to voices they think are telling the truth.

Ron Paul is a cancer which grows in political environments like ours. If we had a politically healthier country, his kind (I guarantee you) would never get the kind of attention he has. Ever. Popularity of him or his ideas is a symptom of an overwhelming dysfunctional political system in America and an America desperate for someone they view as a truth-teller, proponent.

And more like him are enthusiastically marching from Mordor every day.

I'm not so worried about him and his kind this year or next year. I'm worried about how many desperate American eyes and hungry American bellies will start to see such ideas and philosophies as "reasonable" in the next decade as this country continues to tumble down the mountain.

The way to stop that fungus from growing is to hold our politicians, our government, accountable now, today.

PB

[rurallib]

1. McCain was given the apellation "straight-shooter"

and he was one of the biggest lyingest mother-fuckers around.
I look at Paul the same way.

[Poll_Blind]

3. Oh yeah- and that's what's so insidious. You've got this kind of "truth vacuum" in Washington...

...and (IMO) most Americans are not oblivious to it and you have people like Paul throwing out tidbits of the Truth like baited hooks as a lure to snag people who are hungry for it. I was reading about Pauls' popularity on college campuses and kind of kicking around how that dynamic worked.

And then I realized Paul has such popularity among, say, college students because people who don't know better really think he's offering a healthy, "truthful", alternative to the mire everyone's aware of in DC.

It's so fucked up if you think about it, but in a lot of way I think this is arguably the "normal" way a person like him, or his ideas, gain a hoof-hold in a society.

I guess the analogy I'm thinking of is one where a person is so physically ill that they start turning to quacks and witch doctors for treatment, and that's obviously a situation which quickly goes from bad to worse.

PB

[patrice]

2. MIC CHECK! What is Ron Paul's support of the Keystone Climate Killer?

. . . or for that matter, TAX CUTS FOR THE MIDDLE-CLASS?

http://www.sctimes.com/article/20111214/NEWS01/112130038/Bachmann-Paul-miss-vote-tax-cut-bill-linked-pipeline

[Fumesucker]

6. What is Ron Paul's support of the drug war?

[opihimoimoi]

4. Stop the Fungus Among Us.....get out the Pauls before brain rot seeps in.... 86 the dudes

[patrice]

8. 86 the ones who work against your own motivators and let them know why, . . .

so they can make a choice and so that you can make a choice (with accountability) as to whether to trust them or not.

[opihimoimoi]

9. When in doubt...use the Reason and Sanity Filters....them 2 snags a lot....like Ryans plan

[patrice]

10. Abso- frakking -lutely !! The fundamental functionality test.

A good one!

[opihimoimoi]

11. They help prevent Disordered Pathenogenicical GOPers from entering public office and do us harm

with counterproductive programs and policies....

Public Servants serve the Community / Nation so as to be Healthy Wealthy and Wise....thats the real "Leaders" ...

The Psuedo Leaders are the ones who come to serve themselves as Peters....the climbers to

levels of ineptness/ incompetence.

Help...vote Blue

[patrice]

14. These descriptions pass all of my (very dearly held) Reason & Sanity filters, ergo . . .

More!

[opihimoimoi]

15. GOPers are Pathogens...germs.....diseases...lol

[MedleyMisty]

5. I think a lot of the people who like him

only know about the positions that they agree with him on. For instance - they don't know about how he's anti-reproductive choice.

Some of them might know about his plans to end several departments of government, but I think they still like that because to them - the entire government is dysfunctional so hey, why not throw it all away? And like you say - it's young people. I've also noticed with NDAA that a lot of young people don't remember Bush and the Patriot Act, and they act like this is some new thing and that it's all down to Obama.

I'm 30 (will be 31 Saturday) and older people say all this crap started the year I was born. People who are a decade or so younger than me - the post-9/11 era is all they know. To them, the whole system is rotten because it has never worked in their lifetime. So they might not see the greater ramifications of gutting the things that Paul wants to get rid of.

[patrice]

7. The system is rotten, at least in part, because our culture is IR-RESPONSIBLE.

I'm for doing what I have the highest chance of success in accomplishing, beginning with ourselves, in what Muslims refer to as personal jihad.

Externalization without internal ground will only repeat the cycles of oppression.

[thescreaminghead]

12. What are the sickening ideas?

I've heard some stuff I don't agree with about Paul, but hardly anything sickening. To the OP, what u talkinbout Willis?

[Bucky]

13. Besides "let 'em die" economic philosophy, he's said a lot of racist or dog-whistle racist things

If you google "Ron Paul +racist" you'll get a few hits from a few years back. He's done better at controlling his tongue in the past decade, but he's not an advocate of social equality.