About Me
1997
I arrived in the United States almost 10 years ago. In those 10 years, my political views have undergone several metamorphoses. I started out on the left side of the political spectrum, shifted to the right side, and ultimatelly ended up on the correct side: the side of liberty.
Online discussions and real-life experiences showed me that government was not a tool that should be used as much as possible to improve our lives, as I had always believes, but was in fact a necessary evil that should be used as little as possible.
Neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party seemed to share my newfound ideals, and the Libertarian Party just didn't seem to be able to make any inroads in US politics (yet?), so I found myself in a peculiar situation: the more passionate I became about politics, the more disillusioned I became at the same time.
Then we were attacked.
I had not yet fully developed the core of my political beliefs, and was, along with many of the citizens and residents of the United States, caught up in the strong emotions of retaliation that the attacks brought forth. To my biggest shame, this meant not only that I supported the actions our military undertook against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, but also the invasion of Iraq.
2004
A chance for change. It was pretty clear to me early on that the Democratic Party would not provide the answer for my newfound home. Kerry or Bush? Is that the best that a nation founded on such great principles could come up with? I supported Badnarik, the Libertarian Party's candidate, but I doubt that any non-Libertarians even knew of him when they cast their votes.
2007
Though I still hope the situation in Iraq will improve, that hope is slim. I've developed (online) friendships with many Iraqis over the past few years, and when I think about what I now belief to be the right thing, pulling out of Iraq as soon as possible, it hurts me to think of what will happen to the ones that live in Iraq, and to their families. "If I go there will be trouble, and if I stay it will be double." It's just a lyric, I know, but it sums up what I believe to be true: we aren't helping ourselves or Iraq by staying.
April, 2007
I got home late from work. My wife was watching the debate. More of the same, I thought, as I listened to what the candidates had to say. The more McCain and Guiliana said, the more I dreaded the day on which we'd have to choose between one of those two and the candidate selected by the Democrats.
And then, everything changed. "I'm suggesting very strongly that we should have a foreign policy of non-intervention." Did I just hear that right? "I tried very hard to solve this problem before we went to war by saying, 'Declare war if you want to go to war. Go to war, fight it and win it, but don't get into it for political reasons or to enforce U.N. resolutions or pretend the Iraqis were a national threat to us." Is this candidate suggesting that he voted against the Iraq War? "...the principle, the moral principle, is that of defending liberty and minimizing the scope of government." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Well, it wasn't so much the words, because I had heard similar promises of limited government from Bush in 2000, and of the Republican Party in general, but those promises had turned out to be completely hollow, if not outright lies. This candidate, on the other hand, struck me as sincere, as someone that still believed strongly in the principles on which this nation was founded.
In the weeks that followed, I spent pretty much every free minute researching this candidate. The more I read, the stronger my conviction that this candidate may be able to lead this country to realize its full potential. I don't agree with everything he believes in, and have some questions that I'd like to ask him, but I will do everything in my power to support him in his campaign for president.
If you're tired, like I was, of the same old politics, play the below video. Perhaps it will convince you, like it did me, that there is still hope.
Ron Paul in Debate at Reagan Library (May '07)
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If you'd like to learn more about Dr. Ron Paul, please visit the following sites:
RonPaul2008.com
Ron Paul on the issues
Ron Paul articles on LewRockwell.com
Ron Paul's MySpace
Ron Paul forum
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