Why Every American Citizen Should Care About Ron Paul

The buzzfeed post linked in this blogs description places quotes attributed to Ron Paul on top of unflattering pictures of him, in an attempt to discredit him and portray him as a racist nutbag. His actions as a congressman and doctor paint a much different picture. Ron Paul has repeatedly denied writing these controversial and bigoted statements. He has clearly stated that he doesn't support any of them, nor does he agree with their message. Many people are still trying to link him to them. While Ron Paul admits to being the editor of the newsletter these statements were published in, at the time they were published he was uninvolved in the day to day publishing, and working in his medical career. Ron Paul deserves far better than the portrayal buzzfeed gave him, so I wrote this letter in his defense.

Dearest fellow Americans,

Please, don't be frightened off by the wall of text that follows. It's possible you might hate reading anything longer than a misquote on a bad picture, and thats exactly why I felt I had to write so much. (referencing the buzzfeed post that inspired this little rant). I'm begging you to keep on reading because my future, your future, the future of our country, and the future of your children and my not yet conceived children depends on you taking the time to read. To educate yourself, to examine reality, to think, and to vote for a presidential candidate that won't just give you more of the same.

I qualify as an African American (My dads half black so I'm 25% despite my white skin. I don't judge based on skin color, I judge based on character) so I would care if Ron Paul was actually a racist, as so many thoughtlessly claim. He is not. I'm agnostic, so I would care if  Ron Paul wanted to force me to worship his God. He does not. How do I know this? I read Ron Paul's ACTUAL quotes. You know, the ones he says in debates, the ones he says on the congressional floor? Not these "quotes" that are attributed to him because his name was on the newsletter they came from, not as a writer, but as an editor. Ron Paul is not racist, he's not a bigot, and he believes that a woman's "right to choose" should be left up to the states, despite his own personal belief that human life begins in the womb, and every human life is entitled to protection. He wouldn't mandate that abortion be made illegal. In fact, Ron Paul has stated numerous times he would never use unconstitutional executive mandates to pass laws. If the American people would take the time to read more than just a shocking "quote" attached to a silly picture, maybe they would find Ron Pauls actual view points aren't so crazy. American people, I'm begging you to watch just one half hour of Ron Paul talking. Not pundits on Fox/CNN/MSNBC "quoting" Ron Paul or discussing him. Not this trite and misleading buzzfeed nonsense. Please, I beg of you, take one half hour out of your busy life, and watch Dr. Paul talk. Not just watch, but listen. Go to youtube, look up Ron Paul addressing congress, listen to any of his speeches or lectures. I know CSPAN isn't as flashy or entertaining as modern "news" shows. Get over it pretty please. The future of your country depends on you making a real and educated vote for our next president, not voting based on knee jerk reactions to journalistic smegma such as this.

This is serious business. Do you want more SOPA/PIPA (internet censorship)? How about NDAA(indefinite detention of American citizens on American soil)? Do you like the Patriot Act? How about sending our sons and daughters to die in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan, only to withdraw three years, later, accomplishing NOTHING? Do you want America's military to continue to be used as a tool to make independent contractors and weapons manufacturers wealthy? Do you think it's no big deal that HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT CIVILLIAN LIVES have been blown to smithereens by the United States military due to our involvement in Iraq/Afghanistan/Pakistan? Do you care that we spend over a TRILLION on our military every year, as compared to seventy billion on education here in the US? Half of a percentage point of our national budget on making our kids smarter, seven percent on killing kids in other countries, claiming it makes us safer. In reality every civilian we kill indiscriminately causes every human being that cared about that person to hate America. Do you believe that SWAT teams raiding wrong houses and killing many innocent men, women, children, and pets is a good way to keep your kids safe from Drugs? Do you think someone should be ripped away from their spouse and children and thrown into a prison cell because they grew a plant(cannabis) that has zero fatalities to it's name, while Philip Morris rakes in billions selling a product that is proven to kill, yet federally legal (cigarettes)? Do you think heroine addicts should have to resort to buy from a black market, exposing them to deadly doses, violent crime, and impure product, spreading infectious disease through dirty needles? Do you want your tax dollars to pay to lock up said heroine addicts, defining them as a criminal and denying them any hope for help, treatment, or a better life? Do you think it's right that the failed drug war allows our government to wage a racist war on blacks and other minorities by discriminating against them and jailing far more minorities than they do Caucasians (A black man is 12 times more likely to be arrested for a drug crime than a white man, yet no statistical data exists to prove that black people actually use drugs more often than white people)? Do you like seeing the black community in America's ghettos progressively decaying because fathers and mothers are being taken away from the children that need them, because of non violent drug crime, causing the children to grow up without that important parental influence, making them more likely to be sexually abused, dependent on drugs, or involed in violent crime? Do you want to keep paying to stuff our prisons full of people that haven't hurt anyone?  Do you think the government should decide what marriage means for you? Define your closest personal relationships? Do you think the government has the right to tell a human being they can't marry whomever they'd like? Ron Paul is opposed to the foreign wars, as well as the domestic "war on drugs".  He's opposed to overreaching laws that take away your liberty. He's opposed to the government deciding that marriage is only between a man and a woman, and rather believes that it's none of the governments damn business what you call your love and how you officiate it. He's been opposed to government craziness since the seventies. He is the ONLY candidate that hasn't changed his story. 

If, after reading that all you can think is "No no no, Ron Paul's a lunatic, he wants to dismantle the IRS, the EPA, the DoE, and all those other government acronyms! He'd leave our kids uneducated, our taxes uncollected, our rivers polluted! That nut job is unelectable!"
Please, take the time to watch Ron Paul discuss his positions on these subjects. He doesn't just say those things to be controversial. He says it because the government continues to try and convince us  of the lie that without them, citizens would be lost and helpless. The government continues to promote the false premise that we can't take care of ourselves. I live near Camden, New Jersey. It's one of the most dangerous and run down cities in the country. I work in the area frequently, and see first hand the quality of education the children there are receiving for $17,000 dollars yearly, per child. It's not pretty. The government can throw as much money at education as they want, it won't help. Our education system is flawed, obsolete, broken, brain washing, dangerous. It kills creativity, and tries to mold your happy curious children into stressed out cogs in a corporate machine. All of the worlds information is available online, for free. Websites like www.khanacademy.org will teach you everything from 2+2 all the way through advanced trigonometry, free (as well as every other subject you could ever need for a well rounded k-12 education) MIT offers free courses online, same level as the courses you pay for. Upon completion, you get a certificate rather than a diploma. You don't have the pretty piece of paper, but if the course taught you mechanical engineering, you can still use that knowledge, that knowledge that is far more powerful than a piece of paper, to accomplish great things. To change the world, to make money, to inspire. MIT isn't even the only college teaching the world for free... So why do you and I still readily give our government ridiculous amounts of money, trusting that they'll educate our kids? Why do we place the minds that will define our future in the hands of the State? I'd like to believe it's because people don't know that another option exists, not because they want their kids to grow up learning next to nothing for six hours every day sitting in a bland classroom, subject to a teachers tyranny, thinking Snooki and Tim Tebow are the most important things in the world, never reading a book. Public education tries to convince our kids that without college, they are worth nothing. They get their  A's, or maybe they just have parents with money, and higher education begins. Kids continue the obsolete "education" they've been getting since kindergarten, and graduate clueless and in debt. But we need the Department of Education? Give me a break. As far as Ron Paul abolishing the EPA and America devolving into an industrial revolution style polluted smog-fest, I call bogus. If Ron Paul abolished the EPA, he would also be instating the individual rights and liberties he so fervently defends and believes we all deserve. If your friendly neighborhood corporation starts polluting the local watering hole, they would be violating your individual and property rights, and would be ACCOUNTABLE in the justice system. We have a huge bloated bureaucratic system set in place that's supposed to protect our environment, yet the big corporations with big money are able to skirt it because they have government lobbies. We don't need the EPA, we need clearly defined laws, transparency, and accountability. We are human beings living in an unprecedented age of communication and technology. We have the means to monitor our air and water quality, to detect impurities, and to report the findings around the world in seconds. We have the means to educate every person on the planet using nothing but an internet connection and a $25 dollar PC (Yes, they exist!) The government would have you believe that you are powerless without them, that you need to pay them for protection. Our government is naught more than men tricking men into believing that their shit don't stank. Government officials are flawed just like you and I, and we don't need them. We can privatize, we can come together in corporations to accomplish mutual goals, we can monitor our own air and water, we can organize ourselves. Ron Paul wants to shatter the illusion the government has created, and return to you your autonomy.

Obama has continued the bush policies, the corporatism, the wars, the abuses and degradation's of personal freedoms. I'm sorry if you love the man, I understand his charisma and his progressive rhetoric is impressive. But look at his record, look beyond his smooth talk, and see that Obama doesn't care about you, he cares about the special interests that keep him in power. He can claim credit for taking the troops out of Iraq, because people don't think about how modern warfare is fought. We don't need boots on the ground anymore, we can continue to fight our wars with drones flown comfortably by an operator on U.S. soil. Obama isn't ending any wars, he's escalating them (Libya, drone liaisons into Syria and Pakistan, and, if things continue on the Obama path, Iran next) . He's not ending the war on drugs, he's furthering it. He denies science, reason, and sensible economic policy. Vote for Obama if you want more of the same. Romney is just another shill. Vote for Romney if you want more of the same.

Vote for Ron Paul if you want to end the wars, regain personal freedoms, end government control of your life and liberty, and bring America into a new age of technology, economic growth, and freedom. 

Thanks a million for taking the time to read if you got this far, and I hope that this little word-spew may help you  decide for whom to vote. I'd love to hear and discuss opposing viewpoints so comment away!

Much love, 
Luke Murry