Fantastic article! You are correct, and it feels like a leap of faith to return to our Founding Father's ideals. We, like no other generation, are mortgaging our children. For the first time, it appears that the next generation will not do as well as the present one. That is sad!

Vote Ron Paul 2012, and at least get us on the right track.

Like most conservatives, I agree with Rep Paul's devotion to the Constitution. In our republic's early days, avoiding foreign entanglements was sound advice, protected by time and distance from those who wished us subjugated. However, this time has dwindled from months to minutes, requiring a prudently wider engagement.

As conservatives, we should not forget the importance of focus; concentrate our efforts where they will bring the most result. Since the national defense and diplomatic relations are by law the specific responsibilities of the federal government, we should focus like a laser on the remaining 75% of the federal government which is of questionable Constitutional authority, reeks of vote buying corruption and is a sure path to national bankruptcy and tyranny. Let us negotiate no more to reduce the growth of spending, but of ending the programs that violate the law. This would result in a federal government consuming 10% of resources and corresponding tax levels with a balanced budget, and without even touching national defense. Effects on the private economy, job creation, balance of payments would amount to a boom of unprecedented strength and duration. Further, the IRS goons would no longer be needed to extort high levels of taxation from the citizens. Remember, "creating" one public worker job costs as much as creating two private workers' jobs, not to mention the fact that the public worker's effect on personal liberty and economic development is usually negative.

THEN, we could look at making the national defense more efficient, such as downsizing the European's free ride at our expense and getting the feds out of energy policy to make us independent of the fascist islamist dictators. International diplomacy would be a lot more effective if we did not shovel out billions in "aid" to people who will hate us regardless. Any aid should be from private agencies who help at the individual level rather than government to government which encourages corruption and depends on the discredited socialist model.

It isn't nearly enough to focus on the structure and size of government. That misses the mark almost entirely since the greatest unnecessary expenditures come from entitlement programs that are rife with fraud and waste. Those costs are not the cost of the federal bureaucracy, they are on top of it and are the source of the crushing debt and deficit spending, but who do you hear talking about reforming them? To my recollection, no one. Those costs are killing the future but reining them in is a problem so vast that no one wants to even think about tackling them.

Charlie

Re: "If we come to agree with Ron Paul's perspective -- a shift back to the original intent of the constitution.."

That sounds well and good, to anyone who has not read the Founders. Then, well, Ron Paul is worse than a crank, and his paradigm is hardly theirs by a long shot.

For some reason, a whole lot of his followers think he is actually an anarchist who wraps himself in the Constitution as a means to an end.

Ron Paul says "We take voluntaryist positions"...other voluntaryists say:

"In this video, using Ron Paul's own words from his books and interviews, it is shown that Ron Paul's goal is voluntarism. He adopts limited-government positions and appeals to the U.S. Constitution as part of a long-term strategy for achieving a completely free society, absent any State."

John Adams said: Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private, and public virtue is the only foundation of republics. There must be a positive passion for the public good, the public interest, honor, power and glory, established in the minds of the people, or there can be no republican government, nor any real liberty: and this public passion must be superior to all private passions. --John Adams, letter to Mercy Warren, April 16, 1776

Ron Paul: “You wanna get ride of drug crime in this country? Fine, let’s just get rid of all the drug laws.”

The Founders said: "We may be tossed upon an ocean where we can see no land nor, perhaps, the sun and stars. But there is a chart and a compass for us to study, to consult, and to obey. The chart is the Constitution." -- Daniel Webster

Ron Paul, End the Fed: In reality, the Constitution itself is incapable of achieving what we would like in limiting government power, no matter how well written.

Interesting you brought it up though.

God bless

Wizard of Oz: Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

In our founders time the jihadis were riding camels from wahdi to wahdi, and were concerned more with which sheep to spend the evening with and are the dates ripe. Talk about a paradigm shift, with the discovery of Oil, they now have the means to buy explosives to bomb innocents, and knives to behead folks on TV, in the name of thier evil Koran. They have money to move into the infidels midst, where they can plan more acts of terror and mayham. Ron Paul thinks they can be reasoned with, and that itself is insane. Islam would gladly send martyrs to die for their cause of world domination, they accept death in the insane belief of some otherworldly supply of virgins. They lie to the infidel. They should be dealt with like the vermin they are, and no Mosque should be allowed to function anywhere in this country. Ron Paul needs to retire and go away, he is a nut case.

wjmccrindle

Good posts.

At your convenience check out these websites re Ron Paul:

First: view this video "Ron Paul is a Volunteerist" at http://mises.org/Community/forums/p/25612/431256.aspx

Read the caption and make sure and follow the comment thread. See how these guys at the Mises institute, founded and CEO's by Lew Rockwell, Paul's former Congressional Chief of Staff, see him and what he is doing and his strategy. The video caption is simply:

"In this video, using Ron Paul's own words from his books and interviews, it is shown that Ron Paul's goal is voluntaryism. He adopts limited-government positions and appeals to the U.S. Constitution as part of a long-term strategy for achieving a completely free society, absent any State."

See what you think. Again, take a look at the comments.

Is this Ron Paul, or just his followers?

Then, take a look at the Wiki article on Voluntaryism at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voluntaryism

And note that you can reach this site from a like to Ron Paul's quote that says: "We endorse the idea of voluntarism" at this link: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ron_Paul

Now, do a google search on Ron Paul and Voluntaryism and see what you come up with. Again, go to some of the videos and read the comments by Paul's followers.

Paradigm shift---you betcha....the wrong way.

God bless

Wizard of Oz: Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

Anita

Re: "Like most conservatives, I agree with Rep Paul's devotion to the Constitution. In our republic's early days, avoiding foreign entanglements was sound advice, protected by time and distance from those who wished us subjugated. However, this time has dwindled from months to minutes, requiring a prudently wider engagement."

You are right on the money. Ron Paul has completely twisted the Founders' intent and would make the Constitution a suicide pact. They never did that.

Seems like he conveniently forgets about the War with the Barbary Pirates that Jefferson jumped into that was never declared by our congress. Why, because it was common sense that hostilities already existed from the other side, and didn't need to be declared by us.

George Washington paid tribute to the miscreants because he had no navy to do anything about it, but he made his sentiments known:

""Would to Heaven we had a navy to reform those enemies to mankind, or crush them into non-existence."

Hmmm...same people attacking us now as then. Must have been our foreign policy of having ships on the open sea. If someone is of that mindset,one excuse is as good as another.

God bless

"It is a principle incorporated into the settled policy of America, that as peace is better than war, war is better than tribute." --James Madison, letter to the Dey of Algiers, 1816

Wow! I thought MOST people that frequented this site were patriots that loved the Constitution and the philosophies of the founders like SMALL limited Gov, property rights, self determination, liberty, freedom etc. It is very discouraging to see how many fight against a statesman (DR PAUL)who has taken his oath seriously and voted against EVERY piece of legislation that violates the constitution. Maybe its the 12 years of Gov institutionalized indoctrination that makes people willingly ignorant of the truth. In 1776, the terms "PATRIOT" and "LOYALIST" were antonyms. Today we are told that they are synonyms and your only a patriot if you are willing to donate your property in the form of taxes to the benevolent STATE. Along comes a veteran that challenges the system that is FAR MORE despotic than King George ever was toward the colonies, and citizens that are supposedly patriots turn out to be loyalists. TRUTH IS TREASON IN THE EMPIRE OF LIES