My vote goes to Ron Paul

I have made my support for Ron Paul no secret and I can’t think of a compelling reason to change direction now that the time has come to cast my primary ballot.  Paul prevents a striking contrast with the other candidates from both parties.  He has been an ardent champion of the Constitution.  He has never – not once – voted for a tax increase.  He is a steadfast proponent of free markets with minimal regulation or other such government interference.  His support of 2nd Amendment rights is second to none.  No other candidate can seriously challenge Paul for the high ground on these, and other, issues.

The sole issue that has stood in the way of him being seriously considered for the Republican nomination has been his foreign policy beliefs, to include his opposition to the Iraq War.  I don’t claim to share the same degree of vehemence on the topic.  In many respects I remain indifferent.  I do believe that our actions abroad – even ones we undertake with the best of intentions – can have adverse effects on our security.  To argue otherwise is foolish or dishonest.  Also, our decision to provide security for myriad foreign countries places our businesses at a disadvantage since they bear the embedded costs of mutual defense while their foreign competition does not (although their governments may choose to levy high taxes for other reasons).  While I understand and am sympathetic to Paul’s foreign policy arguments I am not completely sold, but they most certainly do not preclude him from being my candidate.

After Paul my current candidate ranking is as follows:

• Mike Huckabee
• John McCain
• Mitt Romney

Starting at the bottom, Romney is the least conservative GOP candidate standing.  That’s right – the least conservative.  Romney says a lot of the right things, no doubt.  His problem is that he has not convinced me that any of them are deeply held core beliefs.  Romney campaigned for governor of Massachusetts not as a conservative, but as a moderate to liberal anti-Republican.  Don’t take my word for it, read his words.  Now that he is facing conservative Republican presidential primary voters he is miraculously a conservative.  I am not convinced.

I certainly admire Romney’s business success, but coupling a successful businessman with a politician who has no core beliefs is dangerous.  Businessmen – managers to be more specific - are problem solvers and mediators.  Romney approaches contentious issues with that mentality.  His primary focus is solving the problem, not standing up for fundamental beliefs even if it means a solution cannot be brokered.  I just don’t want that kind of unpredictability in the White House.

One also shouldn’t look past the pander-fest that was Romney in Michigan.  He eschewed conservative principles and chose instead to espouse Democrat policies to win over his home state electorate.

Romney proposed increased government spending [$20 billion] for research on advanced fuels and vehicles, aid to automakers to deal with the costs of health care and pensions for retirees, and tax cuts for most taxpayers to help them buy new cars.

Increased government spending.  Bailing out an industry.  Manipulative tax cuts aimed at propping up an industry.  Those are not conservative positions.  Those are things that a desperate politician says.

I’ll be honest.  I don’t buy the whole “McCain is a liberal” thing one bit.  The man is a strong, reliable fiscal conservative – on both taxes and spending.  That is not even debatable.  National security?  He owns that regime.  The immigration thing was not good, but then again Reagan did the same thing and no one holds it against him the way they hold it against McCain.  McCain-Feingold?  An affront to our free speech, although not as much as the limit on personal contributions.  Don’t forget our supposedly conservative president George W. Bush signed the bill into law and conservative fave Fred Thompson was instrumental in getting it out of the Senate.  I’ll take McCain over Romney any day of the week.

A lot of the reasons I like Mike Huckabee are intangible, which is rare for me.  I think he is an earnest and effective communicator of conservative ideals.  Yes, he raised taxes as governor.  Reagan also passed the largest tax increase in his states history when he was a governor.  I don’t hear conservative talking heads calling for the exhumation of his body so they can paint an “L” for liberal on him.  Governors face different challenges, such as balanced budgets, that presidents aren’t encumbered with.  Alabama has a “conservative” governor who tried – very hard I might add – to pass the largest tax increase in our state’s history.  Huckabee’s support of the FairTax soothes any concern I have with his tax record.  My biggest qualm with Huckabee is that I believe he would attempt to interject religion into government.