Monday, November 5, 2007

Remember, remember the fifth of November

Today is the anniversary of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot to blow up the English Parliament building. Guy Fawkes was tortured and executed for his roll in the plot. Guy was the inspiration for the terrorist/patriot anti-hero in V for Vendetta. V is a spectacular movie and I'd encourage everyone to see it. Many art theaters will having a one day only re-screening today.

The fifth of November has been adopted by the grassroots supporters of Ron Paul 2008. Paul is presidential candidate running as a Republican, though he is getting support from people who describe themselves as libertarians, constitutionalists and conservatives. He doesn't get nearly the press that the "machine" candidates like Clinton, Giuliani or Romney but his campaign has been slowly gathering steam and donations at the grassroots level. He doesn't hold fancy corporate fund-raising events or let special interest groups dictate his campaign. He just says it like it is, whether people want to hear it or not. He voted against the Iraq war when even most Democrats just went with whatever Bush wanted. He votes against spending more then we've collected in taxes. He does what's right, not what is popular.

I find both the Republican and Democratic parties to be hopelessly corrupt. Congresspeople of all stripes are only interested in getting reelected. The Democrats won both houses of Congress in 2006 largely in protest of the handling of the Iraq War. What has changed since then? Though I previously had no particular leaning I now get chills even hearing the word Republican. The ideals of limited government and being fiscally conservative have been replaced with evangelical meddling, nation building, financial recklessness, gross incompetence, 100,000 dead Iraqis, entrenched political divisiveness, and the erosion of our rights as American citizens.

In the early 90's I watched intently as billionaire Ross Perot came on the scene and shook up the '92 election. He ran on fiscal responsibility and a disgust of the corrupted two-party system. He led the polls at times before making a blunder due to threats to his family. He ended up with a still impressive 19% of the popular vote. In '93, though too young to vote, I joined Perot's United We Stand - a precursor to the Reform Party. As the presidential primary for North Carolina approaches, I intend to register as a Republican so that I can vote for Ron Paul in the hope that it will help bring end to this sad era in American History. I think Paul can succeed, where Perot fell short.

In memory of Guy Fawkes, the grassroots supporters of Ron Paul have organized a one day fund raising drive. So far it has raised $2.5 million (by 5pm) including a donation by yours truly (chart). I encourage you to check out ronpaul2008.com and consider voting for him in your state's primary. The likely alternative is more party machine politics and business as usual.

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