reply to post by semperfortis
Originally posted by semperfortis
There is arguably no person on the planet that has a better proven record of managing a budget then Romney...

OK. I will admit that I know little about Romney... as much as one can glean from seeing him in the debates and the typical media coverage. I know
that he has been successful in the corporate world. I know he is a governor; and I know that he has many more views that I disagree with than Ron
Paul. I tend to look at more subtle language than what is actually escaping people's mouths. I mean the words are important, but the delivery, tone,
and body language are much more important to me as far as judging if someone is shooting me straight or not. I'll admit, I haven't been into
politics heavily before this election. Never seen a reason to. I inherently knew that no one running had
my best interest at heart, no matter
the policies. I could tell they were phony; that they would -- and did -- say whatever the people wanted to hear rather than what they really felt or
believed about a given issue.
Paul is the only one that stirkes me as honestly concerned. I mean he's been saying the same things for 30 years... and now we are seeng the results
and consequences tha he predicted all this time. It's happening. Maybe you are well enough off that such trivial things as day-to-day expenses are
not a worry for you; maybe you have enough dollars that the value doesn't really matter; you have the buying power you need. You have enough so that
the taxes (the income tax in particular) don't affect your ability to properly care for those who depend on you.
You have already demonstrated that you are financially secure, and you have also said that you were once dirt poor. Well I have only seen one side of
that spectrum; however, thankfully I have the skill set and ability to have remained employed throughout my teens and adult life, but it's only ever
been just enough to get by. I now have a technical job that not everyone can do; I am not a laborer or an unskilled factory worker. However, I have no
college education. I have no inheritnce or anything of the sort. I have no assets. I have no security beyond what my next paycheck and our struggling
dollar can provide, and that's getting less and less by the day. Now, if I actually was allowed to
keep what I have exchanged my time and my
life for, being my wages, then I might be able to have something, anything, left over when all the bills and expenses are done to save or invest.
Instead, I give the government an interest free loan every year that, in effect, complicates my ability to feed my family. I make too much money to
qualify for the tax cuts for the poor that you found so humorous before, but that doesn't change the fact that I support a family of five on my
income alone.
A sob story it's not; I love my life and we get along OK but you'll never catch me saying I wouldn't change it if I could. False hope or true, hope
is something that is in short order these days, and I'll take it where I can get it.
Personally I believe it is true.

It is his definition of those traditional conditions that worry me...

I fail to see how his definition of traditional is flawed. Honest money; small government that exists to pretect the citizens' rights and property; a
non-interventionalist foreign policy; controlled immigration; legal taxation rather than illigal; states' rights; i could go on and on.
I don't know what America you grew up in, but these are the things I was tought
define America. IMHO you don't get any more traditional than
that.

Using that argument, Osama BenLaden wants traditional conditions as well.. I wont back him either...

Nor would I. But there is an all-important difference: Bin Laden's "traditional values" are traditional to a theocratic totalitarian State. Paul's
"traditional values" are based on the founding document of the greatest country ever to exist on planet Earth; not formed based on religion, but
based on secular policies laid down by some of the greatest thinkers of our age.
The American tradition is in black-and-white for all to see. It's called the Constitution... the document that all our service men and women, as well
as out public servants, are sworn to protect and defend against ALL enemies,
foreign and domestic.

It's the common human decency lacking here... The Myrtle Beach fiasco where they were shouting obscenities to drown out other candidates
interviews. One they were a crowd of people with maybe 1/3 old enough to vote. Two, they even had an instance where some threw things.

I haven't seen any stories like that; at least people throwing things. Pardon me if I request a source for that claim.

The constant flooding of other peoples posts on ATS is a prime example... Instead of the intelligent and mature discourse about candidates that
ATS is famous for, we get a flood of half formed, almost unintelligent posts about RP that have little to do with the thread...

LOL.
If you're any kind of ATSer, then you know that is just business as usual around here.
Don't believe me? Type the word "Freemason" and watch them converge.
Paul is bringing people out of the woodwork... all kinds. I mean damn, some of these people probably haven't seen the light of day in years... I mean
he is the tin-foilers' hero! He wants to get rid of big government and that's what they're all afraid of!

It's awesome!

Class is what I am talking about I guess... As a whole RP supporters lack it...

I think you have based this conclusion on an unrepresentative group of RP supporters. For example, I went to a RP meetup group meeting tonight, and
you couldn't ask for more class. We aren't freaks, we aren't nutters. We are people who believe in what RP says and we've been lied to, betrayed,
and our leaders have run amok and made us the most hated country on the planet, when we should be the most respected and emulated country. We have
become bullies, and the world has taken notice. So should we [you].

Check his voting record and do it without making excuses for the vote as so many have...

I have. And I'm sure if you are active in politics then you know that bills often include parts intended to pass "under the radar," and it happens
often. RP actually takes the time to understand what he is voting for, how and if it applies to the Constitution, and if it violates others' civil
rights and then votes according to his conscience. I couldn't ask anything more of my president than to know what he's signing and why, and to not
be afraid to stand up for the people's rights, even when it is easier to do the wrong thing. I want a leader who actually
has a conscience.
I'll make no excuses, and I have no problem with his voting record. If you have a specific cite or issue you would like to discuss, I am more than
happy to do so.

His votes trouble me... Nothing wrong with being a non-interventionists, I am somewhat one myself. But the radical way he justifies some votes
as the Feds. staying out, is just plain silly and any one informed can see it if you look...

I'm not exactly sure what you are saying here. I will reserve comment and ask that you clarify this statement.

Also there is the issue of the war.... and 9/11
I frankly differ 180 degrees from him on both accounts...

Ah yes. 9/11. Well that's a whole other can of worms and another debate, so I will tip-toe by that one. The war? It's been botched. We have to face
it. I think he said it very well when he said at this point we are saving face, nothing more. We are best to admit as a nation that we were in the
wrong and start taking steps to rectify the situation, not continue to aggravate it.
I am 110% behind Paul's foreign policy/national defense policy. 110%.

I support the war, and I know what happened on 9/11... There was nothing like what he infers...

So, by your logic, I can just walk up and punch people in the face at random, and then when they hit me back or key my car... it's not my fault.
Rrrrrrrrright...
Dude, we have been all up in their business, poking around in their back yards, using our CIA to manipulate their governments, playing the left hand
against the right hand, and bombing or otherwise attacking thier soil for
decades, and you believe there are no consequesnces for that.
Check.

He has all but come out and blamed the US for what happened and what is happening... I can't stomach that.. That is why I am seldom on those
threads.. I have trouble with people that will believe just anything that fits in their politically correct lives and do no research into the facts..
So I stay away from them...

That is such a contradictory statement that I don't even know where to begin. Hence, all I will say on the issue is we seem to differ on our ideas of
what constitutes a "fact."

So, there are just too many things about him and what he stands for that I can not support and have lived my life totally against...

My friend, I can understand and respect that, but you are again contradicting yourself. You said in an earlier post that you would have considered him
if it were not for his "rabid" supporters, yet here you claim that you do not support him on principle.
So which is it?
I'll get to the others tomorrow... It's late and the screen is fuzzy.
[edit on 1/18/08 by The Axeman]