Ron Paul 5

I am from Arkansas and I like Mike Huckabee.  I think he's a decent guy, but when he and Dr. Paul got into it at the recent debate I was forced to reconsider my true feelings.  He may have some unpopular views, even among the GOP, but I honestly believe he is the best hope for our country.

Huckabee mentioned that we should not return from Iraq until we can do so with honor, but I believe that is impossible.  The neo-cons sold this war to America and we (myself included) bought it.  The pretenses were questionable.  Yes, Saddam was a terrible dictator, but was he our responsibility?  Was he any more threat to us than Iran or North Korea?  No.  Yes, we have messed things up royally, and now a civil war is at hand.  It's happening right now, it's simply manifesting itself as insurgent fighting because we have machine guns on every second street corner.

Paul is simply the only candidate (republican or otherwise) who is ready to say that America was attacked, not because we are a rich nation, or because we have freedom for women.  Many other nations fit that description.  But because we have been meddling around in other countrys' affairs for the last half century.

He may have some outlandish views on taxation.  I think he wants to dismantle the IRS.  I know he wants to un-federalize education, which is fine with me.  My wife is an educator and I can attest to the ineffectiveness of "no child left behind".  But I believe the biggest threat to the United States its foreign policy.  We are blinded by our own hubris, and many of us would rather sacrifice additional young men and women of the armed forces, simply to save face in Iraq.

Republicans like to brag about defending the constitution.  They talk about the Framers as if the framers as if they were infallible.  Fact is, the Framers would have balked at the fact that the President can now wage a war without a declaration of war from congress.  Paul has never voted against legislation not expressly authorized by the constitution, and he has never, not once voted for an unbalanced budget.

Say what you will, I think Dr. Ron Paul is about the only honest man left in Washington.  Hope for America indeed.