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Sept. 29, 2008 Updated Oct. 5, 2008 To read Punditty"s recent political columns, one might thinkhe has been a supporter of Democratic nominee Barack Obama from thebeginning. Not so. Punditty came around to the Obama camp after the race narrowed totwo major candidates, Republican Sen. John McCain and Obama. Duringthe primary season, Punditty supported GOP candidate Ron Paul(R-Texas) for three major reasons: 1. Paul"s grasp on economic matters, especially the role of theFederal Reserve in creating and perpetuating so many facets of thefalse economy deteriorating so dramatically before us today. 2. Paul"s wise, Constitution-based, non-interventionistapproach to foreign policy, especially his correct view that theinvasion and occupation of Iraq have been and continue to betremendous strategic blunders by the Bush Administration. Hisrecognition that blowback - unintended negative consequencesresulting from covert operations - is a factor in how America gotto where it is today also showed that he was willing to talk toAmericans as adults, not as emotional beings to be played andswayed by feel-good, "patriotic" sloganeering. 3. Paul"s recognition that the War on Drugs is a total failure,and that an entire re-evaluation of both the Drug War budget andthe (morally and economically) bankrupt philosophies behind it arein order. Paul, needless to say, voted against the costly, unfair bailoutpackage on Monday, Sept. 29, when it failed. He voted against itagain on Oct. 3, when it passed. The odds were stacked against Paul's truly maverick candidacy fromthe beginning, as he was mocked or ignored by know-it-all mediafunctionaries who dismissed him as irrelevant. Other GOP candidatesalso ridiculed him, as evidenced in the way he was treated by RudyGiuliani, Mitt Romney and other, less successful Republicancandidiates. GOP voters chose style and name recognition oversubstance and integrity in choosing McCain over Paul, to detrimentof the party and the country as a whole. Whereas McCain rushed backto Washington push for a bailout, Paul would have been leading thefight against it - and likely surging to a lead over a pro-bailoutObama in the process. Barring a political miracle, it is too late for Ron Paul to mountan independent candidacy for the presidency. Despite hisendorsement of Constitution Party candidate the Rev. Chuck Baldwinof Florida, Punditty believes Baldwin"s qualifications fornational elective office (Baptist minister, GOP political operativein Florida) are roughly on par with those of Alaska Gov. SarahPalin. He may have been endorsed by Paul, but Baldwin does not havethe heft -- nor will he develop it between now and Nov. 4 -- to betaken seriously as a presidential hopeful. Both Obama and McCain are so beholden to Wall Street and thefinancial giants gaining from the bailout that the best they can dois offer vague assurances about "protections" for the taxpayers. Byvirtue of his voting record and consistent support of regulatorysafeguards, however, Obama wins on integrity when it comes to whohas Americans' best interests at heart. The fact remains that theeconomic mess we"re in now accelerated under the currentPresident Bush, and in the larger sense, with the deregulatoryideology set in place by President Reagan in 1980. It may seem odd for someone who supported Paul in the 2008primaries to blame Reaganomics and trickle-down theory for thecurrent economic woes, but as well-intentioned as he was, Reaganoverlooked or downplayed one very important factor: Greed. The 1987 film "Wall Street" epitomized the darkunderbelly of Reagan"s economic approach, highlighting theclash in values between working class Americans who were losingtheir livelihoods and financial speculators who were gaining clout.Meanwhile, Americans across the board were manipulated by allmanner of deregulatory smoke-and-mirror games and financialdog-and-pony shows (wait until Americans wake up to the monetarymonster known as derivatives) as they lived large under theillusion of paper wealth or eternal credit, both of which have nobasis in reality or in a "sound money" system as espoused by Dr.Paul. This trend began under Reagan, continued under the firstPresident Bush and President Clinton, and finally reached itslogical conclusion under our sitting president. Unlike Reagan, the Bushes or Clinton, Paul said he would go rightat the No. 1 systemic flaw that allows for such greed to not onlyflourish but become institutionalized: the arguablyunconstitutional role played by the Federal Reserve System.* HadPaul been the GOP nominee instead of McCain, voters would get athorough explanation from him on why America needs to eliminate itsreliance on this public/private amalgamation and return to what heterms sound money. Sound money is money backed by something otherthan thin air and the Treasury Department's printing presses.Something, for example, like gold. But the potential for a much-needed, far-reaching debate on themonetary system faded when Republican voters chose McCain, a manwho by his own admission is weak on economic matters. "The issue ofeconomics is not something I"ve understood as well as Ishould, " McCain said in December of 2007. "I"ve gotGreenspan"s book." In Paul, the Party of Lincoln had a rareopportunity to nominate a man worthy of Honest Abe's legacy.Instead, it chose McCain, a man who is looking less suitable forthe presidency at every turn. On the other hand, Obama has the potential to be a profoundlyeffective reformer in the tradition of Franklin D. Roosevelt.Rather than campaigning on the premise that governmentdoesn"t work so no one should expect government to getanything right, Obama knows that government can get things right - like Social Security - when the people who makeup that government believe in the integrity of their mission andtheir ability to carry it out. Lest we forget, Reagan himself was agreat admirer of FDR, even going so far as to tell otherRepublicans not to denigrate Roosevelt in his presence. In 1932, America needed a strong leader like FDR; in 1980, itneeded a strong leader like Reagan. In 2008, it needs a strongleader like Paul or Obama (depending on one's political views), butthe last thing it needs is someone unstable, erratic and given tomelodrama and grandstanding when it suits his whim. True to form,we saw President Bush do that once more with his gun-to-the-headpanic speech of Sept. 24. McCain also played the panic card when he"suspended his campaign" and tried to play the hero in some shamcon being foisted on the American People. To behave that way as thenominee of a major party is bad enough - the last thing Americaneeds is John McCain in the Oval Office. Given the choice between McCain"s reckless, "now Idon"t see a problem, now I see an economy about to crater"approach and Obama"s long-established understanding thatthings have been in bad shape for many years; betweenMcCain"s overly dramatic tendencies toward grandstanding andObama"s intelligent, rational decision-making processes;between a political party that exhibited a collective ignorance inrejecting their best and brightest candidate and a party that chosethe candidate that best represents its values, Punditty sees it asa no-brainer. Sen. Barack Obama will be a much better, more effective 44thPresident of the United States than Sen. John McCain could everhope to be. Perhaps their looming election loss on Nov. 4 will inspire theRepublican Party to reinvent itself in the mold of someone likePaul, which is to say a party that embraces the three underlyingprinciples Punditty cited for his support of the Texas congressmanin the first place. * "A system of capitalism presumes sound money, not fiat moneymanipulated by a central bank. Capitalism cherishes voluntarycontracts and interest rates that are de termined by savings, not credit creation by a central bank." - RonPaul. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as China Mini Tin Cans , Metal Tin Container for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Square Tin Containers.
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