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Showing Original Post only (View all)Why Ron Paul attracts some liberals. [View all]
Loads of people wonder why a man with overall regressive stances on the issues attracts so many liberal supporters. The answer is really quite simple, on approximately 1/4-1/3 of the issues, Paul takes a hard, unabashedly liberal position.
These aren't on piddly little issues either, but big picture issues, war and peace, US imperial expansion, the War on Drugs, restoration of civil liberties. Nor does the man act like a typical politician and pussyfoot around his views, he comes out, loudly and unequivocally for what he believes in, hammering it home time and again.
For many liberals, this is a huge, tornado sized breath of fresh air. No time tables to ending war(do it now), no restrictions(such as Medical Marijuana), none of the mealy mouthed, equivocating stances taken by Democrats of the past and present, nope, Paul states it as it is.
This sort of frank unequivocation is hugely attractive. After watching this country suffer through the grind of decade long wars, and decades of imperial adventures abroad, to have a candidate flat out state that stopping such military involvement is his top priority, that's intoxicating. The same with those who care about legalizing drugs and restoration of civil liberties.
And that's the problem with Paul, he is intoxicating, to the point that you can easily overlook the insanity of the rest of his positions. It is such a relief to find a candidate willing to buck the MIC that one starts to either forgive, or forget what else Paul stands for.
Which is why I will never support Paul. I've been fighting these illegal, immoral wars for years and decades now, but I'm not going to elect a President who, on the hand, will end our imperial adventures while on the other hand trashes our economy. I'm not that foolish.
But hey, I understand the temptation to support Paul. Which is why we have got to start coming up with truly liberal candidates, not the center right equivocators that we've been putting up for the past couple of decades. Because if we don't, somebody just a bit less insane that Paul is going to come along and eat the Dem's lunch and dinner.