Ron Paul Supporters Should Switch Parties, Become Democrats and Support Barack Obama

I watched Ron Paul’s rally on Sunday. I heard about the Paul delegates to the Republican convention not being allowed a seat by the GOP leadership. I saw the video where the Paul delegates were pushed aside by the GOP establishment in Louisiana. I listened to Ron Paul being booed in the primary debates. I heard his statement being twisted into something he never said.

Now, I am watching as the Republican Convention speakers talk about smaller government while their platform statements reach into the bedrooms of America to legislate what is and isn’t acceptable in our private lives. I’m watching as billionaires purchase the Republican Party, lock stock and barrel. To keep the votes of the Ron Paul wing the leadership pays lip service to Paul’s libertarian principle while making promises and following priorities that absolutely contradict those principles.

I’m not really a libertarian, even though I was at one time in my life. But with the preceding information in mind I have to ask; Why are you still in the Republican Party?

Now I can understand that it would be better to co-opt an existing major party than to try to build a 3rd party. I can see that having a funding mechanism in place is a better idea than to try to woo funders away from people they already support. The question is, did you choose the right party? I would like to offer a comparison of the two.

First, the Republicans say they want smaller government, and that statement agrees with what Dr. Paul would ask for. Unfortunately, when they’re in power, the Republicans build government bureaucracies at least as fast as the Democrats. They just lie about it. Republicans also talk a good line about individual freedom. Then they oppose LGBT rights, and they oppose freedom of choice for women, and it seems from the perspective of this atheist that every other bill they introduce is an attempt to turn our country into a theocracy. Then there’s the drug war. Started by a Republican – Richard Nixon -- and every attempt to shut down medical marijuana has been pushed by Republicans.

Now lets talk about the Democratic Party. We don’t espouse the concept of smaller government, but we’re willing to listen. Come up with a good reason to eliminate a department of the federal government and at the very least we’ll weigh the damage of keeping the department against the damage of eliminating it, and you can have a voice in that discussion. As for personal freedom, the Democrats support LGBT rights, they support women’s choices regarding their own health and they scream like banshees when theological precepts get proposed as law. You want to be rid of the drug war? Tell your Democratic congressman and get your neighbors to join you in a petition and the chances are that the bill will at least be proposed. And finally, if you should succeed in getting representatives elected to the national convention, they’ll be seated and they’ll get a vote.

As I’ve been writing this, I’ve been listening to the GOP convention. Many times they have accused President Obama of acting as though the law doesn’t apply to him, but what exactly are the GOP leadership doing when they change the rules of the party to disallow duly elected representatives from participation in the convention? YOUR representatives.

Will the Democrats agree with everything you have to say? Absolutely not. But what you will find is intelligent discussion of your views and fair treatment for your organizing abilities. And if you can get a large enough minority going to the national convention, the very least you can expect is a plank on the platform. Get a majority and you’ll get a libertarian presidential candidate. After that it’ll be up to you to get them elected, but you’ll have the help of the whole party.

I don’t agree with all of the proposals Dr. Paul espouses, but I agree with many of them. I don’t agree with all that the Democratic Party is trying to do either, but I agree with enough to support them. If you weren’t with the GOP, I might have been arguing in your favor a lot more than I am.

So if you still think you can co-opt the GOP, it’s a free country, stay with them. But if you want to actually effect a change, go left young person, go left.