Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich each claim to be the true conservative choice in 2012. But Congressman Ron Paul teaches them what "conservative" really means.
by Jake Morphonios
Each of these three candidates have used a preponderance of their time in the last two debates to hammer away at each other’s claim to be the true conservative choice in the 2012 election. But on Monday night, something strange and wonderful happened. In a rare exception to the mainstream media’s blackout rule against Ron Paul, the Texas congressman was invited to answer a question about which candidate was truly conservative. And this is what he said:
“I think the problem is the way we are defining what conservative means. Conservative means we have smaller government and more liberty. And yet, if you ask what have we [the Republican Party] done, I think we’ve lost our way completely. Our rhetoric is still pretty good, but when we get in charge we expand the government… So if it means limited government, you have to ask the basic question: ‘What should the role of government be?’ “
“The Founders asked that question, had a revolution and wrote a constitution. And they said the role of government ought to be to protect liberty. It’s not to be a welfare state and it’s not to be the policemen of the world. How can you be ‘conservative’ and cut food stamps, but you won’t cut spending overseas? There’s not a nickel or a penny that anybody will cut on the ‘conservative’ side on overseas spending. We don’t have the money – and they are willing to start world wars.”
“So I say that if you’re conservative you want small government across the board – especially in personal liberty. What’s wrong with having the government out of our personal lives? We have to decide what ‘conservative’ means, what ‘limited government’ means – and I have a simple suggestion. We have a pretty good guide. And if we follow the Constitution, government would be very small and we’d all be devoted conservatives.”
As Dr. Paul lectured the big-government candidates on what a conservative truly is, Santorum, Romney and Gingrich could only stand in silence. What remains to be seen is whether or not the Republican Party actually still possesses a true conservative base – or if the base has actually shifted far to the left while preferring to wear the conservative label.
It was the perfect way for Paul to end a long day of fighting against the rapidly expanding encroachments of an out-of-control federal government. Earlier in the day, Congressman Paul issued a stern rebuke against the TSA for its unlawful detainment of his own son, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. When one looks beyond the flowery rhetoric of the candidates and pays close attention to the consistent actions of each man, one thing becomes clear.
There is only one true conservative fighting for freedom and liberty in this race. And his name in Ron Paul.
Link:
http://www.nolanchart.com/article9311-ron-paul-restores-definition-of-conservative-in-florida-debate.html
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