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The Id and Ego of Ron Paul

Each year that we have men and women running around the nation for the office of President I think to myself, I say, "Self, wouldn't it be great to have a candidate that opposes NAFTA, WTO, GATT, and those types of programs past and future (it would help if this person voted against them while in office, because truly, these days only a fool votes for a 'campaign promise")?"

And then I add, "Oh, and Self, would it not be great if there was a candidate that would go to nationally televised debates and speak bold truth in the face of such clear slick political positioning and repositioning?"

Then I retort, "Self, wait a tick, this person should also want to secure Social Security/Medicare and it would be nice if they have never voted to borrow against Social Security to pay for war or anything else for that matter. And it might help if they also were opposed to the drug war and were willing to say why on national TV."

Then I pause in great desperation and think of our current state of affairs and as I exhale I sigh, "Self, would it also be fly if this dreamy person was opposed to the war in Iraq and also the military trillion dollar expansiveness that wastes our environment and our resources across the globe? This person should want to use some of this dough to instead secure Medicare and Social Security."

Exhausted I blurt as if belching, "This chap or gal had not better be a corporate shill who gets special interest money but instead looks at our civil rights as the only special interest. In fact let this person rant against corporations and the power they have today, and do it to their face in the debates and in interviews on live TV."

"Sheesh!" I gasp, "Demanding too much these days, aye??? I suppose next you will want this candidate to not partake in the lucrative retirement program that all the D.C Fat Cat politicians have voted in for themselves? Oh, maybe you think he should turn in part of his paycheck for his public service in DC??? Huh, HUH??? Would that make you like this person more??? Ya Prick!"

"Look!", I reply, "All I am asking is that we have someone that does not want to monitor our daily lives. Someone who opposes the National ID card and wiretapping and the abandoning of long held rights like habeas corpus."

"Oh, you've done it now."

"What?"

"Gone and expected the impossible!!!"

"You are crazy!"

"Anything else on this laundry wish list for 2008?"

"Let me think a sec. . ."

"Are you done?"

"Inflation!!!"

"What are you talking about . . . ?"

"I think this person should be addressing the inflation that attacks the poor. You know the printing of billions of dollars out of thin air making our middle class and poor suffer and keeping the rich rolling in it."

"You can't be serious?!? I suppose you want them to still have a fighting chance in the running?"

"Well now that you mention it, I also think it would be great if this person had a campaign that has raised a lot of money and is getting some national press and actually was still in a position to have a fighting chance with grassroots support and a whole new level of support from people both online and offline."

"Do you also want this candidate to be hostile to federal programs like 'No Child Left Behind?"

"Yep!"

"CIA intrusion into other countries' governments?"

"Yep!"

"Opposed to subsidies and handouts for huge corporations including agriculture, big oil and the like???"

"Uh Huh!!!"

"You demand the impossible!!!"

"Maybe I do. Maybe this is why so many of my friends are so cynical about politics these days. Some walk around like a blown fuse, doing nothing much about the issues out there because there is no one taking on all these issues."

"What do you expect?"

"An ounce of perspective?!?"

Just then I burst into the room, "HEY!!! I just found our candidate!!!"

"What???"

"Ron Paul!"

"Who is Ron Paul???"

"He is this Republi. . ."

"Wait a sec here, he is a Republican? I HATE Neo-Cons are you nuts?"

"No, He is not a Neo-Con. Would Fox News keep a Neo-Con out of the debates when he was getting higher polls than others they included and raised more money last quarter than any other Republican candidate (and more money in one day than any other candidate ever has)?"

"No. but. . ."

"But nothing! He is not perfect, but he is for many of the ideas we are promoting all the time and he will gladly smackdown all the other war-mongering Neo-Cons live onstage."

"When did he promise to do that?

"He already did!!!"

"Aah, maybe that's why Fox does not want him in the debates?!?"

"Yeah, well, whatever reason he deserves a look."

"Where do you suggest looking?"

"Well, YouTube for one if you want to see him go off on the Neo-Cons. I put some of his best videos on my vlog www.abandonvehucularisms.blogspot.com and there are other places to look, like on the PBS interview 'NOW' and the recent Bill Moyers interview."

"Okay, I'll take a look, but it won't change my mind."

"Whatever?!?" --Scott Lindsley, Seattle

Geov Parrish replies: "Self," I said, excitedly, "It's dtrue! Ron Paul is all that and more! So much more!"

"Did you say too much?"

"Absolutely!!! Private property rules!!!! And enough of administrative positions being filled by these chickenhawk posers!!! Some of the people Ron Paul has surrounded himself with are real brownshirts!!! Militia members, avowed racists, neo-fascists, the works!!!"

"Ha! Maybe, but Bush pretends. Ron Paul's the real deal. You'd never catch him spouting dreck like 'compassionate conservative"! Self, we need a leader who will honestly appeal to people's basest instincts toward Self-interest and greed ... and Self, if you ever run into trouble, rely on me, cuz nobody else, especially corporations or the government, is ever going to help!!" Confused, I then tried using my wi-fi to access http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2007/06/man-of-hour.html for more of the skinny on some of the many reasons Ron Paul "is not perfect." But I'd been standing in the intersection muttering incoherently for a while now, people were honking, and it was time to move on.