Ron Paul Wins CPAC Straw Poll. Is His Vision the Vision This Nation Needs?

For my disclaimer, I am not endorsing Ron Paul as the Republican nominee. I am however endorsing MANY, not all, but MANY of Paul's visions for this nation.

Ron Paul is a back to basics Constitutional type. Some may characterize him as a libertarian or an arch conservative. I don't think either of these monikers is dead on accurate. Paul is an amalgam of all of these concepts. He is a Constitutionalist; he is libertarian in many aspects; he is a strong conservative, but to just throw out a moniker to sum up a complicated man and the even more complicated concepts he forwards is the tool of detractors and denigrating types in an effort to negate his power, influence and vision.

Doctor Paul is not a stupid man. Many, and we know who they are, will not agree with most of Paul's ideas and as such will call him stupid or worse. Frankly I have used such terms to describe Howard Dean, a physician too. It isn't possible for one to be a physician and be stupid, so I must pay my props to Dr. Dean - I don't agree with any of his politics, but stupid he isn't. Nor is Dr. Paul a stupid man.

Dr. Paul favors a much more strict interpretation of the Constitution than has lately been embarked upon. As such he is a true Tea Party favorite. I and tens and tens of millions have come to see that we have drifted way too far from the Founder's vision and intentions. It is time to get back to basics. Just like a sports team that has lost its way, we must return to the fundamentals and leave go with all the egg-headed nuance. Nuance is fine when things are good and one wants to try a tweak or two, but when the ship is listing so badly the most important things are to right the ship, pump the ballast that caused the list and then repair the damage.

Cutting the budget is paramount. Without major and substantial cuts all the rest is just egg-headed nuance. Republican's vary between cutting $30 Billion to about $100 Billion out of the current proposed budgets. Dr. Paul's son, Senator Rand Paul, has advocated for cutting up to $500 Billion, and that sounds about right to me. Yep, $500 Billion is drastic...about 1/7th of the Federal budget, but when things are as out of kilter as they are now drastic is the order of the day. For analogy, when one is bleeding to death, that is not the time to be discussing elective surgery, right? Stem the bleeding, close the wound and nurse the patient to health first and foremost.

Of course there are many who will scream "$500 Billion is insane!" and such things. While unsettling, it IS NOT insane. Insane is spending 40% more than we take in at current Obama budget proposal levels - that is the dictionary definition of insanity - to repeat past mistakes and expect a different outcome this time. It is a leftist concept that money will fix all ills. It's BS is what it is!

Lefties have one hope - big government and the resulting control that holding the purse strings entails and allows. As Dr. Paul is not one of them, is it any wonder his concepts are denigrated as stupid, unwise, unworkable and all the rest by the MSM media and their lefty supporters? The leftist denigrations of Paul and his concepts fit like a hand in a glove, but honesty demands we acknowledge that leftist complaints are self-serving, for without big government and the inherent power therein, leftists have no power at all.

The Department of Energy is a waste of money and resources. The Department of Education is another. Educational standards in the US have drastically declined since Jimmy Carter came up with this brilliant idea...another leftist effort at throwing money at something in order to grow government and thus grow government control. The Department of Energy is another Jimmy Carter brain child. So, how are our energy fortunes since the peanut farmer implemented that one? The Department of Energy is yet another effort at growing government control and for what good end? NONE!

But the left and their media sycophancy will scream that to do away with either of these dead weights will somehow kill millions. It's BS. We were one of the world's leading energy nations before the Energy Department and we were one of the world's leading educators before the Education Department. Ipso facto folks. Stop allowing the egg head to nuance one into thinking that these two horrible ideas are sacred cows. They are only sacred cows to leftists who need big government and the resulting power for their ideology to have any sway whatsoever.

Ron Paul's concepts are not weighted down with the dead weight of sacred cows and thank Heavens for that! And I would go further than many might initially believe wise, but stick with me here.

Foreign policy is another area where the US wastes more money and good intention than we will ever receive on the back end. It's a damned poor investment of precious financial resources as well as American good will. If we give to one faction, we anger another. No matter what the nation, if we support any regime there are always sizable numbers of people in those countries that hate the US for supporting those they disagree with. It's a lose/lose situation. Support the Shah and we're the bad guys. Support Mubarak and we're the bad guys. Support the House of Saud and we're the bad guys. It's a recipe for continual failure.

No matter what we do in the world of geopolitical machination we are hated, so the only practical solution is to not get involved. I know that sounds drastic and perhaps it is, but what does history show us? No matter what the US does; no matter who we support there are a plethora of others who find fault with our choice. What part of repeating the same mistakes and expecting a different outcome is sane and rational? What part of it is responsible to our future? NONE OF IT!

The concepts of world governance and supranational legislative bodies are so much malarkey of wasted time, effort and money. Why do we still spend billions and billions with troops all over Europe? It has been very persuasively argued and empirical evidence supports the arguments that the US spending our future to secure the world is one of our fundamental fiscal shortfalls. But then in the past it was cheaper to prepare to defend than to have to go to war. Now is a different time.

We need to toss the UN. We need to pull in the sidewalks and tell the world "since no matter what we do someone is pissed off, we'll do nothing and be better off for it." Sure the lefties will scream bloody murder, but remember, they need big government to have power. Do not allow their partisan driven argument to sway one from common sense. If your neighbor fights with you every time you see them, how long does it take a wise person to cease trying to appease those for whom nothing is ever good enough?

In a shock to the progressive system, now is the time to save the life of the patient and not for the patient to be concerned about the lives of others for whom nothing is ever right and never enough. It's time to throw off the yoke of progressive thought. If one had an honest bone in their body and a head for historical review without the encumbrance of partisan ideology revising the hows and whys of history, it would be crystal in clarity that our only possible saving grace resides in returning this nation to its Founding.

Small government. Mind our own business. Leave off the fantasy of imagining an impossible pipe dream of a future. Instead let's keep our own counsel. Let's right this ship of state and let history be our guide. Do not let the historical revisionists of progressive thought convince one otherwise. America was greatest before progressivism had entrenched itself in our lives.

Government generally lived within its means in those days. People were more free to live as they saw fit and America was seen as the light and hope for a world and not so much by our intervention, but by our ideals; our mere existence was the example of the Framer's concepts and they were so well founded and practiced that people the world over yearned to be one of us. Since the entrenchment of progressivism in the last 70 or so years what have we?

A meddlesome nation hated by many, unfairly or not. A nation that forgot what made us great. A nation, as I wrote last week, that has lost our Grail. But we needn't go searching for it...it is right before our very eyes. We just need to shed the childishness of their stilted visions and all will become yet again right in America.

The vision of Ron Paul is the proper one although I am not sure Dr. Paul is the proper bringer and doer, but in terms of general beliefs, Dr. Paul is dead on right. To save this nation we need to return to our Founding principles. Failure to do so will be...well, failure. Don't let those whose political agenda demand otherwise convince one of any other reality. The Framer's had it right and progressives and Republicans without backbones and conviction have screwed it up - big time! Believe it!