Here in America!

OK I had to get this out of my head, so I decided I would blog about it. Then maybe I can free up some space in my head! I don't have much to spare you know ;) I'm sure you have heard me say before that I really don't care much for politics and I'm embarrassed to say that most of the time I have been a very uneducated voter. But for some reason this past year I have had a change of heart. I have actually spent some time learning about the issues and the people before I went to vote. I have been surprised at how my attitude and apathy has changed. I don't know exactly why the change, maybe being married to a guy that has a great love for this country has rubbed off on me, or maybe trying to teach my children about how great the founding fathers were and that we shouldn't take what they did for us for granted (I can't very well teach them that and then not do anything without feeling like a hypocrite) or maybe it's all my inspiring friends and family that have helped me see that even in politics one person can make a difference!

Well with that said when I started hearing things about potential candidates for President I actually listened this time. Some were very easy to sift through and say ummm NO I do not want that person to be the President of this country. Others I got pretty excited about. When I first heard about Ron Paul his message rang true to me but everyone told me that he wasn't electable. So then I noticed that Mitt Romney was thinking about running. I thought hey that's pretty cool I wonder what he's all about and if he has a chance. As I listened and asked I found out that he in reality did have a chance and I was quite excited about that. But something kept drawing me to look at Ron Paul. So I looked up both Ron Paul and Mitt Romney on Wikipedia and read through what it had to say. To me Ron Paul seemed to be the first statesman I had seen. So I started looking in to him more and found I really, really liked him. I kind of just forgot about Romney and started learning all about Paul.

Then the holidays came and lots of time spent with family and as I visited with different family members they seemed to all be strong Romney supporters. I figured well they haven't taken the time to learn about Ron Paul and were being ignorant. But then had to point the fingers back at myself cause as I thought about it I had not taken time to really study anyone else and was probably more ignorant then all of them. So I decided to put in some serious time and study to at least some degree all of the candidates and very thoroughly the candidates that excited me in the first place. Mitt Romney and Ron Paul! I wanted to come to an EDUCATED decision and then once I decided I would put all my support behind the person I liked best! Well to make a long story short I looked into A LOT of the candidates read and listened to what they had to say (yep even some democrats YIKES! ;) But when it came down to it my two favorites were the two I had began with. I feel like I have studied these two inside and out although I'm sure my simple mind has much to learn I feel like I have a pretty good grasp of who these men are.

I'll give you just a little taste of what I learned and tell you the main things that brought me to a decision. And then I encourage you to spend a little time looking at the candidates who interest you and come to your own opinions. That's the cool thing about our country we are FREE to have our own opinions, I love it! We don't have to listen to the media, or have others tell us how to think we can think for ourselves and go with our gut even if it isn't popular! In fact I'm not sure who said it but I love the quote that states:

"I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

So the first thing I did was found a video of the speech Mitt gave called "Faith in America." I had read it but I wanted to hear him speak it. I thought it was a great speech and definitely worth listening to! One thing did bother me a bit and it was when he said this. "Americans do not respect believers of convenience. Americans tire of those who would jettison their beliefs, even to gain the world." It bothered me only because I had read about his voting record and noticed that he waffled A LOT! And I had seen this. But I have been taught all my life that people can and do have a change of heart so I decided that was not going to be a deal breaker for me. Romney could still get my vote cause I really liked how he was standing up for stronger families and a stronger economy! So I went to his website http://www.mittromney.com/ and I read and I listened and watched. He was much more articulate and charismatic then Ron Paul and I really like a lot of what he had to say about President Reagan I liked Ronald Reagan even if Mitt just got things back to the way they were when Reagan was President our country would be a lot better off! And heck I even heard him mention the constitution a few times except of course here;) But really those debates can be tough and it's hard to think on your feet all the candidates once in a while say things they don't mean. But then I came to this and he was not caught off gaurd when he said this and I quote him word for word:

"We use the law to follow people who are teaching doctrines of terror and hate. And make sure that if they are doing it at a Mosque in a school or a on playground, wherever it’s being done, we know what’s going on. There’s no question that we’re under threat from people who want to attack our country in this global effort. And I know there’s a lot of attention paid to, if you will, trying to respond to what would happen if we were attacked. And that’s appropriate we need to have first response up to the best standards. But our focus has to be on preventing an attack, and preventing an attack means good intelligence work. It means that people are coming to this country terrorizing or talking about terror in such a way that is could lead to the violent death of Americans. We need to know about that, track them, follow them, and make sure in every way we can we know what they are doing and where they are doing it. And if it means we need to go into a Mosque, to wire tap or a church, than that’s exactly what were we’re gonna go. Cause we need to do what ever it takes to protect the American people. And I hear from time to time people say hey wait a second we have civil liberties we have to worry about. But don’t forget the most important civil liberty I expect from my government is my right to be kept alive. And that’s what were gonna have to do." ~Mitt Romney~

Something just didn't settle well with me when I heard that in fact this quote kept going through my head!

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security, will deserve neither and lose both."

~Benjamin Franklin~

and this quote too:

"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death! " ~Patrick Henry~

So I started looking into how Romney felt about other things that dealt with our civil liberties (cause uh those are really important to me, I like being free;) and man did I learn a lot! I would love to talk to someone who understands this better than I do! But honestly how many of you have actually even heard of this stuff? The Patriot Act have ya heard of it? I hadn't, google it, learn about it, tell me what you think. I think after listening to Mitt talk about what he thinks civil liberties are that he's for it but he has not come out and said specifically that he is. So do you know does he support the Patriot Act? Now I have heard Gov. Romney talk about the National ID card and he seems to be for that too; although I heard him say only for immigrants hummmm how does that work? Real ID is The National ID Card that is supposed to go into effect this May! Wow just look into those two things and you will see why our nation needs a good leader DESPERATELY!



In my humble opinion that leader is Ron Paul! After deciding I had a not so good feeling about Romney (although I will not deny that he is a much better option than some of the others) I decided I wanted to learn all I could about Paul before I put his sign in my yard;) I wanted to know what he thought about Mitt's "Faith in America" speech cause "In God We Trust" is my number one priority!!! This is what he said about the speech:

"We live in times of great uncertainty when men of faith must stand up for American values and traditions before they are washed away in a sea of fear and relativism. I have never been one who is particularly comfortable talking about my faith in the political arena, and I find the pandering that typically occurs in the election season to be distasteful.Our nation was founded to be a place where religion is freely practiced and differences are tolerated and respected. I come to my faith through Jesus Christ and have accepted him as my personal savior. At the same time, I have worked tirelessly to defend and restore individual rights and religious freedom for all Americans.The recent attacks and insinuations, both direct and subtle, that Gov. Romney may be less fit to serve as president of our United States because of his faith fly in the face of everything America stands for. Gov. Romney should be judged fairly, on his record and his character, not on the church he attends." Ron Paul on Mitt Romney’s Faith in America Speech

I was very impressed by that and thought it was very classy! So I went on to the Civil Liberties thing that was a big deal breaker for me with Gov. Romney. How did Congressman Paul feel? Well let me tell ya he NAILED IT! He even quoted, well paraphrased Ben Franklin! I also found this that compared Romney and Paul and realized I also didn't like Mitt's wishy washyness on gun control, and that of the Department of Education first he said get rid of it then he said no I support "No Child Left Behind!" I was really just trying to learn more about Dr. Paul but I also found things that reinforced my feelings toward Gov. Romney. In all my searching I have not found one thing I dislike about the man. Here is a list of a few of the things that impressed me about him.

Paul never voted to raise taxes. Not once.
Paul never voted for an unbalanced budget.
Paul never voted for any infringement on gun rights.
Paul never voted to raise his pay.
Paul voted against the blatantly-unconstitutional power grab that is the Patriot Act.
Paul does not participate in the congressional pension program and he returns a portion of his annual congressional office budget to the U.S. treasury every year – a rare Congressman who practices what he preaches!

Paul was a flight surgeon in the Air Force.

Paul has been married for fifty years to the SAME woman.

Paul will not accept donations from large corporations only individuals.

PAUL IS THE CHAMPION OF THE CONSTITUTION

That was just the short list! Ron Paul is for small government! I was so impressed with how the things Ron Paul says fit so closely with Ezra Taft Benson's "Proper Role of Government" speech. You can download it to listen to here (just click where it says download) or read it here! Ron Paul has given me hope I think he's just the Doctor to revive the Constitution of these United States!

He's statesman material for sure! Just Watch

If you're as impressed with him as I was google him, learn more about him, go to http://www.ronpaul2008.com/ see what you think. Learn about the others too decide who you want, go out and vote in your Primaries! Come on it's our country and our children's future!