“What is truth?” Pontius Pilate.

It continues to be one of the most haunting questions known to mankind. And, like Pilate, the ruling class believes political expediency always trumps truth.

For the rest of us, the answer is elusive mostly because we either don’t want to know the truth, or, uncertain that we really could handle it, we turn aside and allow ourselves the distractions that, like comfort foods to the body, dull our conscience and give the illusion that we are serious seekers.

The current political process for vetting candidates illustrates one type of distraction: we listen to their “solutions” to the “problems” divined by analyzing polling data, watch with fascination the mudslinging, check our own emotional-intellectual response against the political pundits. Rarely do we take the time to measure candidates’ ideas, vision, character and record against the standards that truly matter: the constitution, our Judeo/Christian heritage, the meaning and results of our founder’s faith and wisdom or the unintended consequences of well-intentioned but flawed political policy.

For Ron Paul, however, there is an entirely different dynamic. Paul has been in the background of political discourse for many years adding, what seemed like, nothing more than white noise to the hoopla. In the past, when Paul made assertions that shook our sensibilities, we would (and could for the luxury of time) dismiss him as a “right-wing” crank who seemed more interested in being contrarian than conciliatory in “getting things done”. But this time around the stakes are much different. The underlying sense among a serious citizenry is that we must get it right for time is not on our side.

Having elected a man with dubious qualifications, serious shortcomings and questionable allegiances; who has done serious damage in shifting the national conversation away from our historic roots of rule of law, right to property, self-determination and humble gratefulness, the time is right for a serious look at a man with a consistent message and a lifetime record of being the prophetic “voice in the wilderness” calling us back to those roots!

A paradigm, by contemporary usage, is a way or model of thinking and doing. The US Constitution and its underlying principles is a paradigm. Paradigms “shift” all the time; at a faster rate now in our communication rich world. With each new scientific and technological breakthrough comes a new shift and a chance for society to debate, experiment, and judge; to embrace the good and reject the bad. Sometimes we forget to reject the bad, especially when we are heavily invested in it financially, emotionally, physically. Worse yet, sometimes we don’t realize – until it’s too late – we should never have shifted!

The paradigm of being the world’s policeman, for example, and intervening in every conflict in the name of “American national interest” creates much discomfort for us when Ron Paul challenges us to consider the shift from the founders original policies avoiding foreign entanglements to meddling in nearly every conflict we can find (or promote).

More difficult still, are the questions about policies and actions by previous presidents from fifty years ago that have had a debilitating effect on the trust people of the world today have in the USA. We still want to believe that we are good, driven by Manifest Destiny to be a shining city on a hill. It is hard to accept the fact that maybe our policies in the past were, indeed, driven by financial interests, military pride & power, prejudice and an inordinate reliance on our own strength rather than a firm reliance on Divine Providence; that we are paying a heavy price for abandoning those principles that made the USA the greatest agent of good in the world. And, in the process, we are growing weaker, more vulnerable to attacks from without and within. Weaker because, as Ron Paul reminds us, we are borrowing from future generations to pay for unsustainable policies now! Weaker because the paralyzing effect of fear clouds our judgment and shapes our actions today and the next paradigm tomorrow!

If we come to agree with Ron Paul’s perspective – a shift back to the original intent of the constitution – we then face a more daunting question: should we put the weight of our trust in him to win the election, change our paradigm, change the direction of the country, restore American integrity and fearless faith in the principles that got us here, and become strong once again?

The greatest challenge then is letting go of where we are – an unhealthy trust in human institutions – and, ultimately, restoring a dynamic trust in God, in one another, and in our Constitutional limits on government.

Sometimes the paradigms need to shift back!