Just found myself chatting up some of the attributes of Ron Paul (R-Texas), who is running for president. He's still one of 10 in a crowded field, but he stands out in a very important way. He's a Libertarian. And he's very much a throwback to what the Republican Party once represented, particularly as it stood under Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater.
Paul favors abolishing a laundry list of federal agencies and departments, everything from Education to Energy to the IRS, all in favor of state control. I fear he's the last of a dying breed of true Republicans. Sadly, evidence of this comes in his dismissal by his fellow Republican presidential candidates as the kooky comic relief; the Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel of the right.
No one has been more complicit in his marginalization than Fox News, which hosted the GOP's second debate, added a text-message poll at the end of the event, then downplayed the fact that Paul actually led their (completely unscientific) poll immediately afterward, and ultimately finished second.
My cynical side tells me the big networks - not just Fox, but all of them - want to maintain the Left/Right status quo, as well as wars in Iraq and everywhere else, because conflict makes good ratings. I think my cynical side happens to be right; as right as Ron Paul.
(Gas today is $3.09/3.19/3.29/Diesel 2.99 ... no bitching about 'Big Oil' gouging us today.)
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