The best article on Ron Paul I have ever read

A Non-Voter's thoughts on Ron Paul

Like many of his supporters, I don’t agree with Dr. Paul on all of his positions. We part ways on abortion and immigration. But the issues where we do agree are so important and there is so much at stake that our differences are not an impediment to my support.

More importantly – and I believe this is one of the greatest keys to his success – I know that his stance on each issue is the product of his genuinely held beliefs. He does not choose his words based on opinion polls or on the fundraising successes they have earned other candidates, but on his own understanding of what is right and what is wrong. Because of this I have unending respect for the man.

I don’t think I am alone in this. People are beyond fed up with empty political promises. They are tired of meaningless "choices" at the ballot box. They are rightly cynical about the entire process. Ron Paul has spent over 30 years of his life demonstrating that his promises are not empty and that he is utterly devoted to the pursuit of liberty in this country. Even people who have just been introduced to him see that he means what he says.

And this changes things. People are accustomed to voting for the lesser of two evils. What happens when someone who is not evil shows up? Integrity is not generally an ingredient found in presidential elections and its presence here now changes the entire nature of the game.

Ron Paul is not playing by the same rules as everyone else, and by playing by his own rules – by committing the political cardinal sin of meaning what he says – he changes the rules for everyone else. Candidates are now no longer measured against other politicians whose words mean nothing, but against a man of integrity, and in order to succeed they must rise to his level. But they can’t. A reputation earned in over thirty years of dealing with people is not something that can be bought. Nor can it be "spun" out of thin air. Quite simply: Ron Paul has something none of the other candidates have or can get in time for the elections. This fact alone could very possibly win him the Republican nomination and even the presidency.

Hello there world, and welcome.

Somehow the really profound changes in the world keep happening in ways that catch the smartest of us by complete surprise. I think there is something deeply important in this, as a reminder always to be humble about what we think we know. Relatedly, it also speaks to the frequency with which getting what we think we want can prove to be be more a curse than a blessing, and how the greatest good often seems to be stumbled upon by accident.

For me as an Australian citizen, born and bred in this country, there are few more exciting things about the possibilities for the future of this world than if Ron Paul were to be elected the President of the United States. It seems as if the existing configuration of things has been stuck on automatic for a long time, all cause and effect and action and reaction, going around in soullessly mechanical circles forever. What would happen if America ceased being the world's policeman/bully, and dramatically wound back its coercive presence in military, political and economic matters? What if the world's most televised politician and head of State had the habit of publically saying things he actually believed, with intelligence and integrity? What if the most powerful man in the world chose the path of the wisest throughout history, by limiting his own power?

Have no doubt that the entire world as we have come to know it, and the path it has been on, would change. Ron Paul's vision proves the Daoists correct in their advocating of "non-action" as the ultimate creative challenge... and opportunity.

Not just "Hope for America", Hope for the world!