The Empty Suit
In the wake of the recent New Hampshire debate televised on Bloomberg
October 11th, one has to conclude that Rick Perry's star is not just fading;
it has crashed into that horrible fate known as FIP (flash in pan). He
desperately needed to throw several ideology-policy bombs to the country
intertwined with a charismatic assertiveness that demonstrates gravitas and
political leadership. Instead, what came forth was mild-mannered folksy
boilerplate that one finds in talks to Rotary groups and Kiwanis meetings.
His vibrant Texas charm that carried him to the governor's mansion in Austin
during the past decade is simply not enough to impress the national media and
the dominant power brokers of Washington so crucial in achieving credibility
as a serious presidential candidate. Perry is too light on substance with an
embarrassingly weak grasp of the fundamental issues at stake in the
national-global arenas, or at least an inability to express his grasp of such
issues in clear forceful orations off the top of his head.
In addition, as governor he callously enacted statist policies of the most
fulsome kind such as sidestepping the legislature and issuing an edict to
force inoculate 11 and 12 year old school girls with Merck's Gardasil HPV
drug. Big dollars in profits were the motive for Merck, big campaign
donations were the lure for Perry, and Big Brother gratification was the
drive for the statist cheerleaders in the media that tolerated such an
outrage.
As governor, Perry also offered shameful bribes to win Hispanic votes by
granting discounted college tuition breaks for illegal immigrants in Texas,
which exacerbates this tragic problem all the more. Illegals come to America
in droves because of a slew of magnets that we allow to exist (jobs, welfare
services, dual official languages, state assistance for college, etc.). With
this handout, Perry has placed himself in the "hypocritical
conservative" camp, and consequently the voters are in the process of
consigning him to second-tier status.
The Pizza King
The political rights latest fancy, Godfathers Herman Cain, would quite
frankly be a disaster as President with his combination of an income tax and
a national sales tax. European VAT here we come with Herman at the helm. Have
any of these GOP aspirants ever studied the world to see what is stultifying
other societies? Have any of them (other than Ron Paul) studied history to
gain a perspective on what works and what fails in political systems? Have
any of them contemplated what is ethically correct in a political context for
a free society? Apparently not.
In addition, Mr. Cain exuberantly praises the Federal Reserve and says
that Alan Greenspan did a terrific job, and that if he were elected President
he would seek a Fed Chairman that emulated Greenspan. My god, one might just
as well say Bernie Madoff did a superb job in running his Wall Street
investment fund! Thankfully in rebuttal Ron Paul tore Cain apart on his
Greenspan beliefs. If you were watching the Bloomberg debate, you saw the
astonished but wise smile on Pauls face as Cain pronounced his childish
views regarding the Federal Reserve and who he would like to promote as a
replacement for Ben Bernanke.
Cain surely lost ground among the right-wing intelligentsia with that
spate of idiocy, and in my opinion will soon join the fading Perry in the FIP
camp. Cain presently is being gushed over by a vacuous press, he has sent Tea
Party troops into ecstasy as a top-tier candidate, and according to the
latest Rasmussen poll, he has risen to leader status with 29% to
match Romneys 29%. Third place goes to Gingrich at 10% with the rest of the
field drawing single digits. But in my opinion, Cain has now shown his true
colors with his dangerous tax and monetary proposals. He is basically a
naive, big government, Keynesian statist that is far more neo-conservative
than real-conservative. He does not have the bona fides to be President, and
GOP voters will eventually abandon him.
The Charlatan
Newt Gingrich is certainly the smartest pol in this motley crew. He
possesses a razor sharp ability to poke the pompous press right where its
the weakest in its obsession with gotcha journalism and its reliance on
pitifully superficial analyses of the issues. Unfortunately Gingrich is also
a charlatan advocate of freedom and Americanism. He is the ultimate power
junkie that populates political capitals the world around. He stands for
freedom like Orwells OBrien and the Thought Police do its something for
the State to dole out when needed to manipulate the masses, but always a temporary
expedient to crush and lessen over the long haul in modernitys march to
global collectivism. Gingrich is neoconservative all the way on both domestic
and foreign policy issues, relentlessly poisoning the electorate with
paranoia over Islamo-fascist armies allegedly threatening to take over the
world.
The Islamic theocracies of the Mideast with their antediluvian cultures
will never be a force in the modern world. They have no answers, no rational
vision, and no capability to provide legitimate inspiration to humanity. They
are wracked with internal problems that will keep them mired in primitivism
for centuries into the future. Yet neocons like Gingrich are shouting from
the rooftops, amidst hosannas to the Patriot Act and the TSA, that we must
militarize our society and initiate aggressive war against radical Muslim
countries in order to protect America. Alarmism is far too mild a term to
describe such distorted advocacy. Gingrichs time has come and gone in the
political arena; he is a male version of Gloria Swansons Norma Desmond in
Hollywoods 1950 film, Sunset Boulevard.
The Flip-Flopper
Thus surprise, surprise, Mitt Romney will be the eventual choice as GOP
nominee. After all, the Republican Party almost always picks statist
establishmentarians such as George Bush or plodding loyalists such as Robert
Dole. Mitt, who is the son of the 1960s Michigan governor George Romney, has
been cultivated by the establishment for two decades now as Reaganesque
presidential material. Possessed of rugged good looks with an engaging
personality and a mellifluous ability to articulate ideas, Romney is a
political operatives dream candidate (at least appearance-wise) in the
television age.
The problem that keeps holding him back, of course, is the conservatives
distrust of him because of his Eastern seaboard liberalism and compulsive
flip-flopping on core issues important to the traditional right. Its his
egregious expediency that discourages most support from conservative
observers. He seems to have no center, no inner core of convictions on which
there is no compromise. He has the backbone of an eel, and any intelligent
libertarian-conservative senses that his administration would be that of a
glib, handsome Jimmy Carter awash in mealymouth mediocrity that encourages
the globalist usurpations of the CFR and pushes America ever further toward
Brave New World. The chances are very good that Romney will pick the RINO New
Jersey governor Christie as his VP, which will give us still another
tweedle-dum, tweedle-dee campaign with the Democrats. Ugh! Gloom and
monstrous depression sink into ones brain at the thought of such tedium.
The Patriot
We do surely need Ron Paul to challenge this frightful sellout of America
as an Independent. I for one would like to see Paul declare immediately as
such; but my guess is that, if he does entertain ambitions to run as an
Independent, he will still remain in the GOP nomination race until after the
Iowa and New Hampshire primaries. No doubt he feels obligated to his
followers and campaign staffs that he has established in those two states to
make a strong attempt in their primaries. But after a third or fourth place
showing, he can legitimately say to his followers that only a small amount of
Republicans will ever accept him, that his real constituency is broad based
throughout the general population and includes Independents and disenchanted
Democrats, thus justifying an Independent run. On this point, he is quite
correct. His appeal cuts a wide swath across America with Republicans,
Democrats, and Independents liking him. A recent Harris poll on September 28th actually has Paul besting
Obama by 51% to 49% in a head to head match.
Why such strength in national polls when Paul garners at best 12% in GOP
primaries? Because he is the lone voice of principle in the political arena
today, he has the backbone of a steel girder, and millions of Americans sense
it even if many Republicans dont. Also the latest Rasmussen polls in September show that only 33.9% of
Americans declare themselves to be Republicans while 33.7% declare as
Democrats. These figures are near the all time lows for the major parties
reached earlier this year, which leaves a whopping 32.4% that identifies as
Independent, and Paul is quite popular among this group because of his
integrity and refreshing adherence to principle.
Such a strategy of staying in the GOP fracas until New Hampshire and then
launching as an Independent gives him time to still get on the ballot in all
50 states and make it into the big show, which is the National TV
Presidential Debates. I am certainly not privy to his present intentions, but
he actually formulated this scenario as his strategy for a possible
Independent run back in 1992. However Pat Buchanan jumped in to take on
George Bush that year, and Paul graciously agreed to stay out because both he
and Buchanan would have been going after the same voters.
Some big money will have to pour into Pauls campaign for this to come
about (it costs about $20 million to get on the ballot in all the states as
an Independent), but his supporters throughout America have shown remarkable
willingness to pony up the bucks when needed. So there is precedent and hope
here. The big government mealymouths and foreign policy alarmists of the GOP
might not be the only flag flown to challenge Obama in the 2012 presidential
race. There just might be an insertion of patriotism and principle via an
Independent run by the Texas doctor, Ron Paul.