Can someone answer this question for me please? Ron Paul for change. Ron Paul rEVOLution. Strippers for Ron Paul. The list of bizarre, hippy, tree-hugging groups goes on and on. Let me put this out there: Ron Paul is an internet phenomenon and that is all. Some activist bloggers, tree-huggers, and 'compassionate' conservatives who spend more time in internet cafes than at work are turning Ron Paul into the talk of many internet sites. The fact of the matter is this: no matter how hard these Paul-lovers try, this Texas Congressman does not stand a chance at winning the Republican nomination. He'd be better off running as a third party candidate as a Libertarian. But then again, he knows he wouldn't win that way either. He'd rather run on the Republican ticket and get in the spotlight with the other top-tier candidates like Thompson, Romney, and Giuliani, as a way to get his name out there. For this I cannot blame him, but he's got to understand that while he is getting his name out there for a future rerun for the presidency, he stands no chance with his political stances as they are. The liberals aren't going to vote for him because of his very conservative social views (which by the way, is one area of Paul's politics I support). The true conservatives aren't going to support him because of his cut-and-run antics. Even the true Libertarians won't vote for him because of their traditionally strong stance on National Security. Many libertarians are backing Giuliani for President.

Now don't get me wrong, Ron Paul is not my least favorite candidate. Paul still beats out any Democrat candidate currently running. As I mentioned earlier, I am a fan of Paul's social conservatism - supports gun ownership, is pro-life, wants amendment to allow school prayer, and supports secure borders, to name a few. Even some of his economic concepts are good - free trade supporter, his support of abolishing the death tax and income tax (although I must say his failure to completely back the FairTax Act is a little disenchanting). But when it comes to National Security he gets an 'F'. He's against the domestic surveillance programs, is against declaring war on Iran if the nuclear threat heightens to an unfortunate level, wants to simply get out of Iraq without considering the consequences, voted against and does not support the Patriot Act. He also is calling for the elimination of the Department of Homeland Security, NASA, the FBI, and the IRS (I have yet to hear him make a concise statement as to how he plans to collect taxes without the IRS mandating it).

So after reading this you might be saying - "well smart guy, who's your favorite candidate?" To be honest, I'm not crazy about many of the candidates, but there is one candidate who I'm a big fan of and that is Colorado Representative Tom Tancredo. His strong conservative platform is exactly what this country needs after having a moderate Republican in office for 8 years. Unfortunately, I know that Tancredo does not stand a chance of winning. It's pretty sad that if you're unable to raise millions of dollars for your campaign you're automatically disqualified. And maybe you're saying "if he had enough support he would've raised the money." I would have to disagree with this statement simply because the majority of Republicans and Libertarians in the entertainment world are backing Giuliani with their big bucks. The small families who support him can't afford to make thousands of dollars in contributions, not to mention the media only talks about the top 4 runners and never mentions the other candidates. For Americans who get all of their info about the election from TV and newspapers, the chances of them even knowing who Tom Tancredo is are slim. So, being a realist, I'm not going to waste time talking up Tancredo instead I decided to pick a candidate who's doing well in the money/polling world and actually stands a chance. And that man is Fred Thompson. I hope you'll support him too. I'll be the first to tell you he's not as conservative as I would like, and that he's made some questionable judgments in his past, but I honestly think he's America's only hope at this point. Don't listen to all the negative on Thompson and there's plenty coming from both sides of the isle. I find that funny since the Republicans comments are usually saying how he's not a true conservative, he's just posing as one, yet these are the folks voting for Giuliani - a war-supporting Democrat with an R next to his name. I hate to say this about Giuliani, but I really don't think he'd even be in support of the war if 9/11 hadn't occurred in his city, it seems to me he's out for revenge more than for the reason of securing America and making a democracy out of Iraq.

So to close, I would like to urge you to really look into what all of these guys stand for. I recommend going to Wikipedia and searching for "Political Positions of (Candidate Name)" and also at "www.ontheissues.org". Also, check all of their stances on the FairTax since my next post will be about the FairTax and how amazing it is. Thanks for reading!