Radikal Updates #4

The Stafford Jones Interview has been received and Edit 1 is complete. Edit 2 is sitll being worked on and I'm in the process of setting a day for photos. Expect the interview to be released between September 1-5.

Why I Do Elect Bureaucrats?

What's Going On Here?

This is just too weird. The Radikal, the leftist (despite arguments posed to the contrary by the trailor park mutants in Alachua) has grown quite fond of Congressman Ron Paul. For a liberal-democrat it's quite hard to come to grips with supporting a small-government advocate like Ron Paul, only Ron Paul is talking about his Libertarian-meets-Republican vision in a far more detailed and acceptable way than most libertarians or fiscal conservatives have before him. At least with Paul, as a liberal and generally harsh critic of economic liberalization, I at least feel that I could trust him to steer America in the right direction. Who knows, lowering taxes and key government subsidies may in fact (even as an experimental phase) kickstart private sector to deliver better services at lower costs to Americans.

I for one have issues with school vouchers, because I think they reward the children of the rich and otherwise condemn the youth of the lower middle class and poor to substandard educations. However, who can honestly say the current model is the best way to go. Anyone that's familiar with the advent of the FCAT and the emphasis on school ratings and the work in Tallahassee to tighten contractual loose-ends can attest to the fact that schools are in trouble and the old system could surely use an update - or maybe we could just test out a whole new approach? I mean why not?

As a leftist I believe in taxation to keep a nation afloat and prosperous, but what how did the U.S. do it before the income tax, an income that's barely been with this nation for a century? Understand that I do believe in the state serving in a citizen's welfare, I believe that government should have programs to assist citizens in distress or economic hardship. However, in many cases where the State offers assistance, the assistance becomes abused and the former laid off worker, for example, becomes a dependent of the taxpayers.

I believe gov't should retain certain policies and programs, but what I think many American don't realize is just how large the Federal government actually is. Even making the giant bureaucratic, tax, and military-spending cuts envisaged by Paul, we would still have a fairly well-suited government that could and would meet with the real-needs of its citizens. A gov't that would help those citizens falling to hard times and truly offer them an opportunity to fully re-integrate into the workforce, an opportunity that would be required of able-bodied and emotionally-stable Americans. We need a State that offers welfare programs, but I agree with Paul in that having a Welfare State (not the same thing) is quite detrimental given the U.S.' economic model.

Also, there's the fact that Ron Paul voted against the Patriot Act, against the Iraq War, and that he believes in diplomacy over military aggression as a means to settle international disagreements. I mean here you have a presidential candidate that if elected, would treat Iran with basic respect, would treat North Korea with basic respect... basic respect is by no means political capitulation or politically-weak, for goodness' sake it's probably the basis of maintaining proper diplomatic channels -- when's the last time anyone treated Syria, North Korea, or Iran with respect? You sanction a country you disagree with? You threaten it with military aggression?

Out of all the candidates out right now, Ron Paul is the only man that realistically could bring about positive change in this country, others worthy of mention are Mike Gravel and Bill Richardson (but the Dems won't give them the time of day). The most experienced Dem in the running, foreign-policy-wise, is the governor of New Mexico and look where they have him? Second, arguably third-tier standing with no hope of breaking into the Clinton/Obama/Edwards/borderline-Biden camp, but Ron Paul, I believe, can pull a lot of the Bible Belt that Rudy nor Romney have a prayer in getting...LOL..., I think he's going to get Democrats switching Republican NOT just to vote for him in the primary -- Dems that will stay loyal till '08! Dems that in many regards resemble Smith Dems that remain Crist-loyal, and he will make a KILLING with U.S. Service Personnel - NO ONE IS SAYING THAT, NO ONE, NO BLOGS, NEWS, NOTHING.

My prediction is Ron Paul will get a massive response from the military. And mind you, when Ron Paul talks about deescalating globally, I don't think this should be misconstrued as an advent to the Clinton-era base-reductions and military cuts, I think it simply means military spending will tap off and jobs will be secure in the defense sector, only those jobs won't be in Iraq or Afghanistan but more than likely back in South Korea, Germany, and the Pacific where they were pre-2001.

Main Idea: I like Ron Paul. Comments?