Rep. Ron Paul - Ideologue Or Man Of The People?

Given the way the facts are skewed by news outlets, do you ever wonder how to make a good decision at the polling place? Consider this suggestion: Look at what the professional politicians, CEO’s and mainstream media oppose, and vote for that.

For example, it appears the mainstream media can’t quite decide what to do with Ron Paul’s recent surge in popularity. Since there’s no doubt he is popular, and not only among Republicans but also among Independents and even some Democrats, publications like Time magazine seem to have decided to damn him with faint praise.

In the OpEd piece which we have linked above, Joe Klein grudgingly admits, “Whatever you might say about Paul, this is not politics as usual.” But bad habits are so hard to break. Just when it seems Mr. Klein might offer an evenhanded analysis, he brings up Social Security and opines: “There was nothing unconstitutional about that — just as there’s nothing unconstitutional about requiring people to have medical insurance now. The deal was made with the consent of the governed.”

This is nonsense at best, and outright propaganda at worst.

The subtle purpose of this misinformation is to convince readers Ron Paul is out of step with both the U. S. Constitution and the American people on social programs. Meanwhile, a federal court has already ruled that it is an unconstitutional violation of the commerce clause for “Obamacare” to require Americans to purchase any specific product, and that lower court’s ruling was upheld by a federal appeals court, as Mr. Klein surely knows. Also, virtually every poll taken both before and after the passage of the health care act shows a strong majority of Americans oppose the act, as Mr. Klein also surely knows.

Klein’s piece would amount to yet more proof that the MSM is nothing but a propaganda arm for the status quo if it wasn’t for some of his other comments, such as the following:

“There is vast frustration with . . . with . . . everything right now. And so, it’s not a bad moment to review the most basic assumptions of our public life, to question the most basic functions of government. It may well turn out that we’ve tried to do too much.”

And:

“I suppose, the real story here is, finally, the total discomfort with the sort of no-risk, no-sacrifice nonsense that politicians have been selling for the past 40 years.”

These comments are somewhat surprising coming from a mainstream source like Time magazine. Have things finally gotten so bad that even the media establishment is having second thoughts about supporting the crony capitalism in Washington?

Doubtful.

It’s far more likely that Klein is offering those grudging comments because in the end, news outlets have to attract readers to survive. He knows Ron Paul’s ideas appeal across party lines, so he admits the man is different. But different in a good way? Not so much. Klein seems to be afraid to come right out and insult Paul, so he implies he is an “ideologue” (impractical idealist) instead.

What would Klein offer as an alternative to Paul’s allegedly impractical ideas? Should we elect yet another in the long line of presidents who are bought and paid for by the back room power brokers in Washington and New York, another professional who panders for our votes with yet more of the same “no-risk, no-sacrifice nonsense that politicians have been selling for the past 40 years”?

Klein is trying to have his cake and eat it too. He pretends to acknowledge what all of his readers know (what we’ve been doing for the last four decades isn’t working, and we clearly need real change) while belittling the notion that change would actually require, you know, change. He’s echoing Barack Obama, who based his 2008 campaign on the slogan, “Change we can believe in,” and then delivered a continued decline in exactly the same directions already established under George Bush. Klein is also ignoring the fact that all the Republican front runners are cut from the same professional politician cloth, and would essentially keep doing what Obama has been doing.

For real change, we’re going to have to actually try something completely different.

Ron Paul’s ideas are different. They don’t support the status quo. That’s why Ron Paul is the only candidate in the running today who attracts the displeasure of everybody in power, Democratic and Republican alike. And when everyone in professional politics, Wall Street and the mainstream media oppose someone, you can be sure you’ve finally found a person who is actually for the people.