By DR. LARRY MOSES
No one asked me but… The Republican Presidential debate in Arizona took an interesting turn as the candidates toned down the personal attacks and, for the most part, seemed civil to each other.
It is fun to watch Romney, Santorum and Gingrich each try to distinguish themselves one from the other.
Ron Paul has no such problem. As the answers to various questions take on a similar tone amongst the first three, when it is Ron Paul’s turn to answer, one begins to wonder what he is doing on the same stage as those three. Not that Ron Paul’s answers are not well thought out and well presented, it is that they are from a different world.
Ron Paul is no Republican, he is a Libertarian. I am not suggesting this makes him bad only that it makes him stand out like a thorn among roses when he is in a debate among candidates seeking the Republican nomination for the Presidency of the United States. I am not criticizing Mr. Paul’s politics, I am merely pointing out he is no Republican.
While the Republicans at the table want to argue whether or not the President’s health care bill should require a religious organization to provide its employees with a benefit that violates the principles of that religion, Ron Paul goes to the crux of the issue. What in the world is the government doing requiring an organization to provide health care at all? Each time the Republicans present an argument for or against a government program, the old Libertarian refers to the Constitution and asks what is the government doing involved in the issue in the first place.
This got me to wondering as to where Libertarian Party stands on the issues of today. I found a synopsis; the crux of which is listed below.
The Libertarian Party opposes taxation in almost all forms, and deals with the revenue loss by opposing entitlement programs in almost all forms. This means that people keep more of what they earn, but it also means that there is no social safety net. They would eliminate all federal subsidies to private corporations and end all antitrust laws. They would deep-six the Postal Service. Libertarians are in favor of transferring all government services, from public schools to landfills, into private ownership. They would sell or give away most public property to private owners.
Libertarians favor the elimination of all anti-drug laws but favor the legalization of prostitution, and the ending of random police roadblocks. They would end the FCC and oppose all restriction of free speech, including free speech in the name of national security.
Libertarians are for a reduction of IRS regulation and for the monitoring of tax-exempt churches. They strongly oppose all gun control as well as regulation of alternative weapon technologies (mace, Tasers, and so forth).
They would immediately abolish the Selective Service System and grant amnesty for any citizen who has ever resisted the draft.
While Libertarians are pro-choice, they oppose all federal funding of abortion and most federal entitlements for women who choose to carry their pregnancies to term, including the child tax credit.
They oppose involuntary or fraudulent sterilization. They oppose “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Libertarians believe that marriage is a private contract, and should yield no government benefits regardless of the gender of the partners.
The Libertarian platform argues that borders should be open but surveilled; everyone who does not pose a threat to public health or national security should be allowed to enter the country legally. They would also eliminate all federal benefits to undocumented immigrants.
That is a quick summary of what the Libertarian’s Platform contains. When you listen to the answers of Ron Paul, you will clearly see this philosophy displayed. Ron Paul has in the past run on the Libertarian ticket. But finding that futile, he has decided to try his luck as a Republican.
Mr. Paul’s problem is that he cannot shake his Libertarian roots. The problem for the Republicans is that when Ron Paul officially drops out of the race, his voters will not migrate to one of the other three candidates. They will return to the Libertarian Party and those votes will be lost to the Republican Party. President Obama will not receive those votes but neither will the Republican candidate.
Nearly 10 percent of those people voting in the Republican caucus and primaries are in actuality Libertarians and those are votes the Republican candidate can ill afford to lose.
No one asked me but… A few months ago, I noticed that the road in front of the water district office was being torn up. I watched in fascination as beautiful mature trees were taken down and the shoulder of the road was scraped and prepared to be resurfaced.
The most amazing thing of all was the curb and sidewalk that was put in. I would ask that you take a walk on the sidewalk; it leads to a brick wall. Alaska may have its bridge to nowhere, but Overton has its sidewalk to nowhere. Maybe we can sell it as a tourist attraction. Maybe this new sidewalk will divert our visitor’s attention from the burned out building one encounters at the edge of town.
I know times are tough and we do what we can to beautify the town. But maybe we should be a little less concerned about parking at the side of the health food store and turn our attention to the eyesore as we enter the community.
On the other hand, we could just raise the speed limit and get people past it as quickly as possible.
Still, the new sidewalk does look nice.
Thought of the week…A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.
Thomas Jefferson (1801)
