Please do me a favor and do full research on the views of Ron Paul before you get caught up as I almost did with the few core issues he has picked to resonate with in this campaign.

It's intoxicating to find a "Republican" that has been against the Iraq War from the beginning and has stood up to his party numerous times on ridiculous issues but this is no Barry Goldwater.

Paul is a Republican for one reason only. The Libertarian Party cannot win national elections. He is not only a Libertarian but a radical one with a Christian fundamentalist edge to his message.

His ideal world would be an almost non-existent Federal government and private ownership of all national assets. There would be no Social Security, no federal support of public schools, no National Parks or public ownership and stewardship of land, nothing from the Feds that isn't explicitly spelled out in the pages of the Constitution and it's a pretty sparse document. Most Americans understand that the evolution of the Constitution is more than the mere words in its articles. The separation of church and state is never directly referenced in its pages and yet a reading of the Federalist Papers by Jefferson and Adams make clear their intent for its inclusion. Paul does not believe in this concept.

Years of historical trial and error in its interpretation can't simply be thrown out as strict Libertarians demand. There are reasons why our country took on the task of building public roads and highways and creating a way to ensure our elderly stopped dying destitute on the streets even though there's no articles demanding government become the administrators of those tasks.

Ron Paul won't win the Republican nomination unless every other candidate withdraws or has an early demise but it's chilling to know that we've been fed such rotten candidates for so long that we're willing to jump on the bandwagon of someone we know so little about just because they're unlike the rest. I did for a few days until someone steered me to more of his history.

Art