Winning Campaigns : Learn From The Experts Articles : What We Know About Young Voters.

The article also shows that women, African-American voters, and Hispanic voters are much more Democratic than white men. These groups were the key to President Obama’s success in 2008 and will be again this year.

Following are some core principles of Ron Paul, which I’ve taken from a Wikipedia article entitled “Political Principles of Ron Paul”.

“The proper role for government in America is to provide national defense, a court system for civil disputes, a criminal justice system for acts of force and fraud, and little else.”

Paul will “never vote for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized by the Constitution.”

What’s wrong with that?

Government today performs many functions that can’t be performed as well by anyone else.

Many of those functions aren’t spelled out in the Constitution, but the broad principles of the Constitution (like “interstate commerce”) authorize them.

For example, the interstate highway system connected America, and is an essential part of our transportation system.

The VA, Medicare, and Medicaid have provided care to millions in ways no state could.

The Federal Government prohibited racial segregation, which the southern states resisted (and still resist).

The economy and the world are far more complex than in 1789, and the position of the US is much more critical.

We can’t return to some mythical past.

Specific positions

Paul would eliminate FEMA and the Departments of Energy, HUD, Commerce, Interior, and Education and cut the federal workforce by 10%.

Those agencies perform important work. It’s simplistic to say that all of those functions wouldn’t be missed.

A conservative economist said, “At the scale he’s talking about, it’s unlikely you could have an immediate reduction in government without hurtling the economy into recession.”

Paul would completely eliminate the income tax and the IRS. He would permanently extend the Bush administration tax cuts, eliminate capital gains and dividends taxes, and eliminate estate and gift taxes.

The income tax is the most progressive tax in our system. Eliminating it would make the tax system far more regressive, and it would require elimination of programs that are critically needed by the majority of Americans. Eliminating the IRS would give wealthy people a license to cheat on their taxes.

Citizens would be able to opt out of all government involvement if they simply pay a 10% income tax.

Most of us need government services. If we don’t now, we’re one job loss, divorce, or medical emergency away from needing them. Only the wealthy can say they’ll never need help from government.

Paul considers Social Security unconstitutional, and he has sought for many years for the program to be phased out.

Social Security has eliminated poverty among the elderly. It’s efficient, and it’s solvent as long as we make a few minor changes.
Paul would repeal the new healthcare law (“Obamacare”) as well as the Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley financial services and banking regulations.

Those laws were passed to protect the majority of Americans. How would Paul solve the problems they were designed to solve? Repealing Obamacare would leave 40 million Americans without health insurance and return us to pre-existing conditions and lifetime caps. And young people couldn’t stay on their parents’ health insurance to age 26.

Paul would eliminate mandated hospital emergency treatment for illegal aliens

Whatever you think of illegal immigrants, most of us wouldn’t let them die at the door of the emergency room. Ron Paul would.

Paul would eliminate almost all foreign aid and would withdraw the U.S. from the United Nations, the International Criminal Court, NATO, the WTO, and the Law of the Sea Treaty.

This is old-fashioned isolationism. The US is too much a part of the world, and the world depends on the US, for us to withdraw to “fortress America.”

Paul voted against bank bailout.

President Obama had the courage to take this unpopular but necessary action. We would be in a prolonged depression without it. Ron Paul would have let the banks fail. They deserved it, but the effect on our economy would have been disastrous.

Paul would abolish the Federal Reserve and would eliminate money that’s not backed by gold.

Eliminating the Fed would make it impossible for the government to stop prolonged downturns.

The president’s salary would be cut from $400,000 to approximately $39,000 per year (the median personal income of the American worker).

Only very wealthy people could afford to be President.

Paul opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act. He opposes laws against sexual harassment unless force is involved.
Civil rights is one of the greatest accomplishments in our lifetimes. It’s an example of something only our Federal government could do.
Paul supports abolishing all federal financial aid for education. He sought to abolish all public schools (although he later moderated that position). He supports prayer in public schools.

Public schools prepare students for the knowledge jobs of the 21st Century and allow working people to move up in society. Public schools and the separation of church and state are critical to our “melting pot” culture.

Paul supports all corporations having the same rights to participate in elections.

He voted against anti-spam bills and bills to help catch online child predators.

He opposes gun control.
He supports selling off national parks.

He opposes federal environmental regulation, including air standards.
Paul said that climate change “is not a major problem threatening civilization.”

Paul would not have ordered the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
These are extreme positions, out of sync with common sense and the view of most Americans. They show what extremes ideology can drive a person.

Inconsistent policies of Ron Paul

Paul opposes budget deficits, but he requested $400 million in earmarks for his district in 2007.

Paul has signed a pledge not to raise taxes or create new taxes.
But every serious economist agrees that we can’t eliminate deficits without increased taxes.

Paul supports the Defense of Marriage Act and sponsored federal anti-abortion legislation.

These positions are inconsistent with Paul’s claim to be for smaller government that only does what the Constitution requires.

Paul has called for a Constitutional amendment to revise fourteenth amendment principles and “end automatic birthright citizenship.”

So much for following the Constitution.

Issues where I think Ron Paul is right

Paul would cut the Department of Defense budget by 15%.

Paul opposed the Patriot Act and domestic surveillance.

Paul voted to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Paul opposed legislation to prohibit stem-cell research.

Paul has voted against federal subsidies for the oil and gas industry.

Paul favors allowing medicinal marijuana use.

Paul opposed the Iraq War.

Paul advocates ending the United States embargo against Cuba.

Following an abstract ideology sometimes leads to good decisions. But it’s more likely to lead to disaster.

We need (and have) a President who will consider all options, not just those that fit a simplistic, utopian ideal.

Romney’s Returns Revive Scrutiny of Offshore Tax Shelters – NYTimes.com

what is this?

Watching the South Carolina Republican primary results tonight brought back warm memories of the 2008 South Carolina Democratic primary.

I was a voter protection lawyer for the Obama campaign assigned to a majority-black rural area southeast of Columbia. The voters were proud of their role in helping to elect America’s first black President.

After the polls closed, we returned to Columbia in time to be present for Sen. Obama’s victory speech. Later that evening, one of my best friends called to read me Caroline Kennedy’s op-ed in the NYTimes (“A President Like My Father“), which moved me to tears. I was 10 years old when her father died, and I’ll always remember her as the little girl standing at attention while her father’s funeral procession passed. It was one of those moments that made me feel that what we were doing was connected to history.

The Onion

Obama Openly Asks Nation Why On Earth He Would Want To Serve For Another Term

What lessons did we learn from Iowa? First, we had the best organization, primarily volunteers. Second, people like a positive campaign. We didn’t attack Sen. Clinton or Sen. Edwards; instead, we told people why we thought Sen. Obama would be the best President. Third, don’t let conventional wisdom discourage you (or make you too cocky). Conventional wisdom assumes things will stay the way they are today, but people can change the course of events if they stay true to their plan.

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One year since the Iowa caucus – wasn’t that the best? (originally posted January 3, 2009):

It’s been one year since the Iowa caucus. Everyone who was there has a story – this is mine.

Buchanan County was the “sister city” for the northwest suburbs of Chicago. Independence (population 6,000) is the county seat.  Volunteers from our area had been there many times, beginning in September. Four of us were assigned to Buchanan County for the week leading up to the caucus. Audie Schmidt, the Obama campaign staff organizer for the county, decided I should go to the small towns in the northeast corner of the county – Winthrop (pop. 772), Lamont (pop. 503), Aurora (pop. 194), and Stanley (pop. 128). I went to each town 2 or 3 times and visited farmers in between the towns. The temperature hovered around zero, and I got stuck in a snowbank and had to be towed out. In Stanley, I saw a pet goat running behind a pickup truck.

Michelle Obama spoke in Independence on New Year’s Day. She told how reluctant she was when Barack said he wanted to run for President, but then she realized that was her fear, cynicism and selfishness talking and that she had to give hope a chance. It was the most moving I’ve ever heard her speak. (I passed along a greeting from Michelle’s aunt and uncle, who I’d met in a bar in Cedar Rapids on New Year’s Eve.)

In Lamont, I found a number of supporters. Audie said, “Get out — I’ve been trying to get something going there for 6 months!” I recruited a precinct captain, a 19-year old woman who had never voted and who needed to register at the caucus. She was so proud to be asked. She asked me to give her the blue book of Obama’s positions so she could answer her neighbors’ questions.

On caucus night, I hosted a pizza party for high school seniors at East Buchanan High School in Winthrop. I told them this election was about their future. I then left for the Lamont caucus.

There were 40 voters in the caucus, almost double the usual. On the first vote, it was Clinton 13., Obama 12, Edwards 12, Richardson 3. Two of the Richardson voters came over to Obama, but the third one was skeptical. I explained Obama’s positions on various issues, but what really brought him over was when one of our supporters (who had taught the voter in school) showed him Andrew Sullivan’s article, which had just appeared in the Atlantic. The final vote was Obama 15, Clinton 13, Edwards 12, so Obama got 2 of the 4 delegates from Lamont.

Throughout our time there, the people of Iowa were wonderful to us. They were patient, openminded and thoughtful, and they took their responsibility seriously. They gave Barack Obama a chance to persuade them, at a time when the mainstream media and conventional wisdom didn’t think he had a chance. Like Michelle Obama, they let hope triumph over fear and cynicism, which have ruled our politics for more than the past 8 years. As Michelle said, if we’d lost Iowa it all would have been “just a dream.” Instead, Iowa led our country out of its long nightmare into an era of hope.

The Iowa caucus was how politics should be, but rarely is. We stayed true to the campaign’s motto of “Respect, Empower, Include.” Let’s keep that spirit alive as long as we’re alive. Like the old Kennedy supporters, we need to be the keepers of the flame, the spirit that animated the Obama campaign in Iowa and throughout the year.