The Canadian Spin on Ron Paul

Let me start by saying that I love Canadians. Really - I do. I lived in a small Canadian town (Belleville, Ontario, which is about two hours from Toronto) for almost three years. I enjoyed my life in Canada. I had a great job, made lots of friends, and drank lots of Tim Hortons coffee (I was especially hooked on Double Doubles - Tim Hortons - The Best Coffee That You Might Not Have Heard Of)

I happened to live in Canada during the turbulent 2000 Presidential Election. Since I wasn't in the states, I sent in my absentee ballot like a good American should and I waited for the results to come in. Like all Americans, I waited for a long time to see who the next president would be.

Work was not fun the day after the election. The next day wasn't a lot of fun either. Actually, the entire month or so after the election was fairly painful. My cohorts in the manufacturing plant had no mercy in making fun of America and our political process.

OK, so what does this have to do with Ron Paul (not that everything on the internet today doesn't have something to do with his run for president). Well, I recently reported that a Canadian company, Free-Market News Network, was the leader in recent Ron Paul coverage (Canadian Company Leads in Ron Paul Coverage). The Ron Paul internet phenomenon has been intriguing and the lack of mainstream news coverage has certainly not been congruent with the buzz that Ron Paul has created throughout the online world. The Ron Paul buzz (considered spam by some) caused my original piece to be turned into a satire on Wonkette (Evil Canadians Behind "Ron Paul Fever.").

Free-Market News Founder Anthony Wile recently published a pseudo-rebuttal to my original piece, stating his belief that they should provide a lot of Ron Paul coverage since Ron Paul is the "free-market" candidate (Anthony Wile on Ron Paul). He goes on to give Ron Paul some good advice about how he is being perceived by Americans, in fact saying that Ron Paul should market himself as an "American" instead of as a "constitutionalist" since he is "the best kind of American."

I think it's great that Free-Market News Network is covering Ron Paul, although the multiple Ron Paul news stories being released daily can be deemed as overkill. This strategy is certainly working for them - they've been getting lots of hits and are setting site records, so there certainly is a lot of demand for the information that they are providing. It turns out that Ron Paul is a fan of the Free-Market News founder too, as he says in this quote regarding Anthony Wile's book High Alert: "High Alert should be read by everyone who wishes to educate themselves about the dangers fiat money poses to American liberty and prosperity. I wish I could get every member of Congress to read this book."

Here's the rub: no where in Mr. Wile's Ron Paul opinion piece does he disclose that he is a Canadian. It's not that I don't think that Canadians can have opinions on the United States' political system. To the contrary - I've had many a discussion with my Canadian friends regarding politics and I always like to hear their opinions. I hate the fact that the U.S. has effectively alienated the entire world under the current administration. I want to get back to a strong but peaceful America. My only complaint about Mr. Wile's piece is that he did not disclose anywhere in the piece that he is not an American, that his interest in the Ron Paul campaign is on an indirect basis since he is not an American.

So, why would the Canadians be so interested in who becomes the next American president? And why would they be so supportive of Ron Paul in particular? The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) may have something to do with it. Ron Paul wrote about this little-known act in his congressional newsletter last year (A North American United Nations ). In it, he describes his thoughts against the perceived attempts of this "partnership" to create a "supra-national organization to 'coordinate' border security, health policy, economic and trade policy, and energy policy" for Mexico, Canada, and the United States.

Any threats to Canada's sovereignty won't be taken lightly by our friends to the North ... not that Rudy or Fred would be looking to annex Canada anytime soon. Is that the reason for Canada's interest in Dr. Paul's campaign?

Or is it page views?

You make the call.