My Political Head Exploded!

I have a very dear friend, confidant and mentor. She supported Obama, and though I can't find it now, she wrote an essay why she supports Obama, and I posted it in this blog before the election. Another view...which I can appreciate if done with civility. Her's was. Can't remember the title so I can't post the link here. What caused the cognitive dissonance is that we were going to and fro on Facebook about politics. There was a quiz, 'What Kind of Republican are you?' I took it, and of course came out Libertarian. I challenged her; there were lots of Liberal positions stated in the quiz, so I figured she would would come out as some Lib RHINO. She scored Libertarian. What??

She said, when I followed up, that if Ron Paul were the face of the Republican Party, she'd vote Republican. What???? If there are two more diametrically opposed political and economic philosophies, I can't think of them. She also said Obama wasn't a Statist. What??? Apparently using borrowed and printed money, with ever increasing taxes to buy and control auto companies isn't socialist. Controlling insurance companies and financial institutions isn't Statist. Nationalizing health care isn't Statist. Using 'environmentalism' to control the energy industry isn't Statist. What???

So here's some Ron Paul (I'm not a supporter of...)

Health Care: Obama wants the government to control. Ron Paul-the key to effective health care reform lies not in increasing government control, but in increasing the American people’s ability to make their own health care decisions. Thus, instead of forcing Americans to purchase government-approved health insurance, Congress should put the American people back in charge of health care by expanding health care tax credits and deductions, as well as increasing access to Health Savings Accounts. Therefore, I have introduced legislation, the Comprehensive Health Care Reform Act (HR1495), which provides a series of health care tax credits and deductions designed to empower patients. I urge my colleagues to reject the big government-knows-best approach to health care by cosponsoring my Coercion is Not Health Care Act and Comprehensive Health Care Reform Act.

Taxes: Obama wants to increase, even floating the idea of a Federal VAT up to 25%. Ron Paul-supports the elimination of the income tax and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). He asserts that Congress had no power to impose a direct income tax and has called for the repeal of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified on February 3, 1913.An income tax is the most degrading and totalitarian of all possible taxes. Its implementation wrongly suggests that the government owns the lives and labor of the citizens it is supposed to represent. Tellingly, “a heavy progressive or graduated income tax” is Plank #2 of the Communist Manifesto, which was written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and first published in 1848.To provide funding for the federal government, Ron Paul supports excise taxes, non-protectionist tariffs, massive cuts in spending.

Education: Obama is against school vouchers, private education (except for his own kids), and home schooling. He wants yet more massive spending for education. Ron Paul- “First, the Constitution does not authorize the Department of Education, and the founders never envisioned the federal government dictating those education policies.Second, it is a huge bureaucracy that squanders our money. We send billions of dollars to Washington and get back less than we sent. The money would be much better off left in states and local communities rather than being squandered in Washington.Finally, I think that the smallest level of government possible best performs education. Teachers, parents, and local community leaders should be making decisions about exactly how our children should be taught, not Washington bureaucrats. The Department of Education has given us No Child Left Behind, massive unfunded mandates, indoctrination, and in come cases, forced medication of our children with psychotropic drugs. We should get rid of all of that and get those choices back in the hands of the people.”

Global Waming: Obama is a true believer. Will not allow nuclear energy, more mining, or oil drilling. He is totally on the side of Al Gore on this one. Ron Paul- Rather than taking a “sky is falling” approach, I think there are common-sense steps we can take to cut emissions and preserve our environment. I am, after all, a conservative and seek to conserve not just American traditions and our Constitution, but our natural resources as well.We should start by ending subsidies for oil companies. And we should never, ever go to war to protect our perceived oil interests. If oil were allowed to rise to its natural price, there would be tremendous market incentives to find alternate sources of energy. At the same time, I can’t support government “investment” in alternative sources either, for this is not investment at all. Government cannot invest, it can only redistribute resources. Just look at the mess government created with ethanol. Congress decided that we needed more biofuels, and the best choice was ethanol from corn. So we subsidized corn farmers at the expense of others, and investment in other types of renewables was crowded out.

Those are some of the biggies. I didn't want to get over long. I got these off Ron Paul's website. I'm still putting my head back together. How a Statist, an advocate of government control of everything, in the process of implementing a government takeover of everything, is not seen as a Statist, and matched to Libertarian ideas... ohhhh, I need a couple Advil.