Ron Paul for President!

Today I voted in the Virginia primary. I was torn between voting for Barack Obama in the Democratic primary or Ron Paul in the Republican primary. A few months ago, the two candidates I most favored were Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson. They seemed to me to be people who would govern in a practical yet conservative manner. I was impressed with Rudy's performance as mayor of New York where he was able to keep a lid on spending and cut taxes in one of the most liberal places in America. Fred was a consistent conservative who emphasized the need to reform entitlement programs before they bankrupt the country. Unfortunately neither made it to the Virginia primary. I'm not ready to support John McCain because I still am upset of his pushing of campaign finance reforms. His bill was a big-government monstrosity that blatantly violated the first amendment. A vote for Ron Paul is a statement of principle that I want the Republican party to move in a more libertarian direction and to once again stand for small government and lower taxes in a meaningful way.

I was tempted however by Barack Obama. However, this temptation was mainly a negative one. I want Obama to win in order to block Hillary Clinton from coming any where near the White House. On a few substantive issues, Barack is superior than Clinton in my opinion. He opposes the mandating everyone to buy health insurance and the five year interest rate freeze on mortgages. On these issues he is standing for freedom against heavy government intervention in the marketplace. However, on the whole, his program is clearly a big-government left-wing one. Larry Kudlow last night went through his tax proposals and showed how he would raise taxes significantly - doubling the capital gains tax, for example. So, while I still hope he beats Clinton and prevents the dragon lady from winning the nomination of a major party, I couldn't bring myself to vote for him. If a Democrat is destined to win this year, I would prefer it be him than her, but, as a Republican, I am not going to vote for it to happen.