Why I'll Vote for Ron Paul: 5 Reasons

This post is in response to a meme successwarrior suggested on Daily Paul. His response is here.

Since this entire blog is a very long essay on why I will vote for Ron Paul, I'll make this post a summary version, and emphasize the points most important to me.

1. Ron Paul would balance our budget.
When a household budget is not balanced, they run up credit debt. Generally, a household can continue going deeper into debt for many years without serious effect. But for a saddening number of people, the debt payments become overwhelming and they may lose their house, be refused medical care, and any number of other devastating consequences.

When a country's budget is not balanced, it runs up credit debt. Our country's debt currently amounts to $30,000 for each man, woman, and child in the United States. We have been running up this debt for decades without serious effect. But now our interest payments alone are $217 billion per year - that's 8% of the total budget. Almost 1 in 10 tax dollars pays not for any government service, or even bureaucratic waste, but for interest on the debt. This is becoming overwhelming, and continuing on this path - as almost all other candidates propose - will have devastating consequences.

2. Ron Paul would make us safer.
Ron Paul supports peace-promoting diplomacy between governments and economic ties between countries. He opposes spreading our military ability thin in attempts to further U.S. policy - which compromises the military's ability to respond to true threats to our security and spreads the "hate America" meme.

3. Ron Paul would be a President to all America.
When 49% of Americans voted against him, President Bush saw a mandate to forge ahead with an unmodified agenda. By contrast, Paul values national consensus-building as expressed through America's Congressional representatives. Ron Paul's agenda is very wide, but his presidential platform consists of only two things: balance the budget, and withdraw troops from Iraq as quickly as the military believes reasonable (Paul suggested within six months). Everything else he would promote and lobby for, but ultimately respect the decisions of Congress. Not only would this foster political goodwill from both parties in Washington, I believe it would result in a more productive government. Paul did not get elected to Congress ten times by not getting anything done!

4. Local governments are more accountable.
Higher levels of government are more likely to abuse power. While many candidates promise to reverse the abuses of power committed by the current administration, only Paul proposes reducing the power held by the federal government. Should Paul be elected I believe there would be the national and political will to pass measures supporting a portion of his agenda, and also any Supreme Court justices he appointed would have a narrow interpretation of the U.S. Constitution's Article I, Section 8. I believe that is the only effective long-term solution: as long as the current levels of power go unchecked, the path to Big Brother's creation is uncomfortably clear.

5. A vote for Paul will advance his agenda within our political system.
While I believe a Ron Paul Presidency is a real possibility, I understand the more likely outcome is some other candidate receiving the Republican nomination. But even in that case, every vote for Paul will have a positive effect on the direction our country is going. Paul is a respected member of Congress, and the more people that vote for him in the primaries, the more traction he will have on Capital Hill and within the Republican party.