It wasn’t too long ago that I really didn’t know too much about Republican candidate Ron Paul. Aside from the constant Digg spam, I knew little to nothing about his politics and, at the same time, I had decided not to vote in this presidential election - the year before I decided to write in Don Mattingly as both a joke (although this year makes more sense, comedy-wise) and as a political statement that my views just are not expressed among the “superstars” of the political world.

Before I begin this long tirade, I want to preface this with something very important: I was there on 9/11/2001. In New York City. Hell, I’ve lived there for most of my life (up until recently when I moved out here to Seattle).

With that in mind, the current crop of political superstars - for both the Democrats and Republicans - disgusts me to no end. Their message is pretty much the same, and they are only very nuanced in their differences: continue the aggression in Iraq, keep a very close eye on Iran (and don’t rule out war), support the Patriot Act (and the continued spying on of American citizens), screw FISA, let the government run your life.

In my eyes, the three major candidates only differ because of their paths in life. Clinton is still riding the wave from Billy-bobs blowjob, Obama is a black man in politics, and Guilliani is a drunk Irishman who happened to be in NYC on 9/11/2001. Because of these minor differences, I’ve decided to refer to these candidates as the legendary beast Hillianiama.

All three candidates, I believe, would leave the country worse off than it is with George Bush. If you thought a declining dollar and trillions in foreign debt was bad, just wait until the Hillianiama monster fails to pay back that debt (pissing China off), the current market bubbles pop, and the value of the dollar reaches parity with the Yen. On top of that, Hillianiama would, in the long run, continue to decrease personal freedom in the name of national security. A national ID card? Why, because my drivers license was too easy to get?

It’s bad enough that I have to take my shoes off at the airport - although I do get a laugh out of it because my feet stink so badly, just ask Chris Pirillo ;) - but what happens when some radical group decides to blow up a bus, or a shopping mall? Will I have to get stripped search every time I want to pick up a stick of RAM? When does this shit end? Will I have to use a government sanctioned computer to access the Internet - with content filters attached that the RIAA, MPAA, and a bunch of right-wing Christian lunatics lobbied for - because the Department of Homeland security thinks I might, in some drugged up parallel universe, be a terrorist?

While this is only a theoretical path - and some of it does sound absurd now - it’s a path that I can see the current Hillianiama monster taking. It’s a path that makes me sick to my stomach. In fact I had considered - and continue to look into - moving to another country. Not because I’m personally oppressed, but because my political views, apparently, are.

I have, for the longest time, been a fiercely independent person: I do things on my own accord. It’s not necessarily “my way or the highway,” it’s more like “here’s the idea, let’s get this shit done.” This, I believe, is true personal freedom: the ability to do what you want, when you want to, as long as it doesn’t harm another human being. Of course, this personal freedom comes with personal responsibility.

I started a business with venture capital funding. That business failed, and I ended up with the debt on my personal behalf. This was my fault, my responsibility, not some evil VC who was hoping to make a quick buck, or use me as a scapegoat: I made the call, signed the documents, and helped the business fail. Me. I believe that your freedoms come with the responsibility of answering for your own actions - YOUR actions, not those of someone else.

So, when I see the proposal for a national ID card, when the TSA searches me because they “can’t be too careful,” or when AT&T and Verizon help the NSA tap my phone (and cellphone) conversations, I see that as answering for the actions of someone else. When Hillianiama proposes that we increase taxes to help fund the aggression in Iraq, I see that as me answering for the monkeys mistake.

I also hate bullshit. Hillianiama only fortifies their arguments with three things: oppressed blacks, oppressed women, and 9/11. There is no substance behind their arguments - it’s only a point of view riding the personal emotion attached to an issue. That, my friends, is what salesmen like to call “bullshitting the customer” - tell the customer what they want to hear and get their cash. The same holds true in politics: tell the audience what they want to hear and get their donations.

It’s for all of Hillianiama’s bad points that I fell in love with Ron Pauls political message: personal freedom with personal responsibility. Don’t spend money you don’t have. Don’t start a war that Congress did not authorize. Don’t bullshit the American people.

The political position Congressman Paul has taken is radically different than that of the Hillianiama candidates; however, his position is not, in it of itself, radical:

• Dissolve the IRS? Come on, who doesn’t get a grin out of this idea!
• Bring the troops home? We walked into Iraq, we can walk right out. We made a mistake, there’s no shame in admitting that.
• Don’t build nations? There’s no reason to occupy a nation. Never has been, never will be.
• Foreign policy of no intervention? It has been my firm belief that we, as a super-power, have no need to extend our political reach.
• Eliminate the Department of Homeland Security? What have they done, besides giving the TSA the authority to strip search you at their discretion, and a color-coded graph?
• Eliminate the Department of Education? While it sounds radical at first, you have to remember that among developed nations, we’re the dumbest.
• Eliminate the Department of Energy? The same department that, from what I can tell, doesn’t actually DO anything?
• Eliminate the war on drugs? About damn time they stopped locking up people who smoke weed.

Eliminate the Patriot Act? Force the government to use the FISA courts? Destroy government granted monopolies? Let the market do its thing? Let States govern themselves? Let individuals control their own lives?

Everything Ron Paul has said has agreed with my own personal philosophy: be who you are, not who others say you should be. Do what you want to do, not what others say you should do. Interact, but don’t interfere, with others.

I do have some points of contention, especially when it comes to drugs, alcohol, and prostitution. I find no fault in the recreational use of drugs and alcohol; however, people do become addicted to these substances. While he has said that if you want to use it you can, he has not provided an answer for people who become addicted. On the position of prostitution he has stated that it’s a persons business if they want to engage in it, but he has never taken a firm stance in enacting laws to protect that behavior.

Overall, in the fight of Hillianiama vs Ron Paul, I choose Ron Paul. Yes, he is a bit radical compared to the other candidates, but he is the only candidate - Democrat or Republican - whose message includes “personal freedom with personal responsibility.”

Tags: ron paul, hillianiama, 2008 election