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Time for Ron Paul Fans to Stop Supporting the Constitution

by Sep 20, 2012Articles, Economic Freedom, Foreign Policy61 comments

Support and vote for Mitt Romney, or help Obama complete his transformation of America into a nation that violates every principle you claim you embrace. Better that happen under a Republican than a Democrat.

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Time for Ron Paul Fans to Stop Supporting the Constitution

by KURT SCHLICHTER

There is no more time for games, no room for uncompromising principle. Ron Paul fans, you need to choose, because not voting for Romney is a vote for Obama. It’s that simple. And you could make the difference to help sustain the status quo but under a Republican president, which is the lesser of the two evils.

Maybe Romney isn’t the uncompromising Ron Paul hero you’d design if you could build your ideal candidate from scratch, but he’s a bit better than the guy on whose watch the NDAA was signed into law, eliminating habeas corpus. (Although Romney did say he would have signed the NDAA, too, but he wasn’t president, so he didn’t actually do it.)

Making no choice in this election is a choice – it’s a choice for a collectivist who will get two or three Supreme Court picks over a man who picked a guy, Paul Ryan, who understands crony capitalism and its unbreakable link to unaccountability of corrupt and criminal human action even better than Obama does.

Now, this is a two-way street. Romney and Ryan need to reach out to libertarians over their common ground. Fortunately, there is lots of common ground. Like Ryan’s first name, Paul, which is the same as Ron Paul’s last name.

No, the Republican Party is not a libertarian party, but it is the only party with any libertarian element. It’s the only place you have any chance of being heard. (Let’s just put that whole disenfranchisement business at the GOP Convention, that whole business about changing rules ex post facto with a scripted vote to prevent Ron Paul from being nominated even though he won the requisite five states and the refusal to seat his delegates, behind us!) Join us, and together we can rule the galaxy as father and son. And with sellouts like Rand Paul and the libertarian-wannabe Tea Party elements, you can fit right into the GOP!

Sure, the Democrats posture as guardians of freedom on a couple of issues – abortion, gay marriage – but that’s just a pose. It’s not part of any philosophy of human freedom; these are one-off policy choices made not because of a love for the Constitution but because they are demanded by the interest groups Democrats need to win elections.

When freedom becomes inconvenient, Democrats drop it like it’s hot. Republicans, on the other hand, take at least a few seconds to think about it before dropping freedom and violating the Constitution because they are demanded by the moneyed-interest groups Republicans need to win elections.

You can say a lot about libertarians, but they are principled about their view of the Constitution. We’ll give them that. They don’t compromise, and in many cases they earn the respect of conservatives (though never, ever, of Democrats). They just don’t understand realpolitik, unfortunately, or they would know why they need to vote for Romney. We can help bring you up to speed on how the game is played!

It’s hard to count how many times conservatives have watched GOP debates and muttered “Damn, I’d vote for Ron Paul if he’d just stop talking about foreign policy.” Ron Paul’s uncompromising position that we should obey the Constitution and obey the golden rule in our foreign policy lost him support among mainstream conservatives. Now, if he had better understood how to play the game and just shut up about it instead of telling Americans truths they don’t want to hear, he could have had a better shot.

Still, there’s overlap with the Republicans but there is none with the Democrats. And that’s not surprising. Libertarians believe in principles of liberty, as they see them (which is different from how liberals and we conservatives see them). Liberals believe in raw power to impose their will as they see fit with no limit. Conservatives believe in slightly more limited raw power to impose their will as they see fit. Like Obamacare’s individual mandate that lays an unconstitutional direct tax on people for nonconsumption. Romneycare did the same thing, but it was only at the state level! See the difference? Surely we can agree that if government is going to violate Liberty by usurping authoritarian powers, it should be done at the state and not federal level!

Ron Paul, Gary Johnson, and Virgil Goode do not stand for collectivism or crony capitalism. But right now, they stand in the way of stopping collectivism or crony capitalism, and that’s bad for those special interest groups we talked about earlier.

Let’s not sugar-coat it – there are some real differences between libertarians and conservatives. Foreign policy comes to mind; we conservatives see libertarian foreign policy as naive, while libertarians point to things like the violations of the Constitution and international law, the bombing of innocent civilians, and so on. The drug war is another difference of opinion, though one the libertarians would have a hearing on in the GOP if their influence grows (which we will do everything to prevent, just like at the convention). We don’t need to agree on everything. We don’t even need to agree on most things. In fact, we don’t really need to agree on anything. You just need to vote for Romney, because if you don’t, you are voting for Obama! Obama, I tell you!

With the Democrats, you definitely agree on nothing. We all saw the Democrat convention. It was a collectivist congregation worshiping at the altar of big government. Free this, free that, bailouts this, bailouts that.

There was no there there for principled libertarians. Nothing.

Now, Romney, on the other hand, took a more principled stand and drew a line at the auto bailouts and only supported using taxpayers’ money to bail out the banks! (And forget what we all saw at the Republican convention.)

The Republicans are not libertarians, but at least libertarian-conservatives (which is really not an oxymoron, believe me), make up an influential and growing part of the party. There are exactly zero “libertarian-liberals.” Nor can there be; Democrats embrace everything libertarians oppose. Republicans only embrace most things libertarians oppose.

That’s why it’s silly to dismiss Romney as no different than Obama. Some wave off their obligation to choose with a cliché, that Romney is just “the lesser of two evils.”

That’s true, but the key is “lesser.” If you have to choose between pissing off Stalin or Hitler, you’d be a fool to shrug your shoulders and risk some face time with the dude with the funny mustache (no, the other one with the funny mustache). Make no mistake, you are obligated—obligated, I tell you—to choose between one of two pro-establishment candidates! Don’t throw away your vote by denying that obligation and refusing to lend legitimacy to the perpetuation of the status quo!

This is no time to “make a statement” or pout that Ron Paul got treated badly in Tampa. He did get treated badly in Tampa, and that was stupid and unnecessary. Again, let’s put that behind us! If you are truly dedicated to the Constitution you won’t let it be trampled on by a Democratic president in order to make some soon-to-be-moot point to the anonymous GOP party hacks responsible for not giving Ron Paul a primo speaking slot because they knew he would just repeat truths we really just don’t want to hear.

Priorities, people. Nothing less than the Constitution is at stake here. And I think we can all agree that it would be much better to have a Republican president trampling the Constitution.

No choice is a choice, and with the polls showing a dead-even race every vote that does not go to Romney is effectively a vote for Obama. There’s no debate here; you opt out and you support Obama by default. How can any principled libertarian do that?

Although, by that same logic, and as the Democrats like to argue, every vote that does not go to Obama is effectively a vote for Romney, so go ahead and choose that way, if you like. You opt out and you support Romney by default. That’s cool, too.

Obama’s spent nearly four years trampling the First Amendment. Romney hasn’t spent any years doing that yet. Filmmakers who embarrassed the Obama regime are rousted by cops at 1:30 a.m. Romney would be much more civilized and wait until at least 8:00 a.m. to send in the SWAT teams to raid people’s homes without a warrant. Administration diplomats work with the UN to put in place blasphemy laws that give foreign mobs veto power over our right to speak. (Okay, you got me, I just made that up, but that’s only because if I criticized the Obama administration for any real issue, you would just point out that Romney’s position on it is exactly the same.) Religious organizations are told they must act contrary to their conscience as commanded by the government. (That one is true, by virtue of their 501(c)(3) tax exempt status. This is why, for example, your pastor cannot marry you unless you first obtain permission from the state to get married. Although, admittedly, this isn’t really a partisan issue at all, since both Elephants and Asses believe that the state is the one and only true god.)

The Second Amendment is under fire and is just one Supreme Court vote from being snatched away. Our government sends guns to Mexican criminals in order to justify further crack-downs on American citizens.

Romney would keep the Second Amendment and only trash the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments. And he sure as hell would make sure to keep the lid on things like Operation Fast and Furious!

At this rate, pretty soon the Administration will trash the Third Amendment and be quartering troops in citizens’ homes to save money that it’ll then redistribute to its cronies! Romney would keep that Amendment, too. (Unless he declares martial law to restore order after the bond bubble bursts, but that would be a different set of circumstances than exist at this moment.)

Romney’s not your dream candidate. We get that. He’s not most of ours either. But the inescapable fact – whether you like it or not, whether it’s fair or not – is that either he or Obama will be the next president. So you might as well just get on board and vote for the perpetuation of the status quo, too, like everyone else does, or people will make fun of you and call you names for being such an outcast, fringe, conspiracy theorizing, cult-like, unpatriotic American.

Don’t be the guy in 20 years who looks over his shoulder to make sure no policemen are listening and then says to his kids, “Back in 2012, I supported Ron Paul, who was disrespected by the GOP establishment.  I supported Ron Paul because I loved the Constitution, but since he lost the nomination, I didn’t vote and so I let the Democrat who hated the whole Constitution win. I’m sorry. I am so, so sorry. I should have voted for the Republican who only hated most of the Constitution, so he could win, instead.”

The Romney-Ryan camp needs to do its part too; they need to reaffirm their rhetorical commitment to Constitutional liberty, so that when President Romney violates the Constitution, Republicans will at least be able to point to the contrary rhetoric so as to be able to continue to stand behind their guy. Freedom needs to be part of the conversation, even if it’s just talk, and not just Obama’s appalling record. While they can’t undo the gratuitous insults at the convention, they can make their case to the possibly decisive libertarians, which case boils down to the logic, “If you don’t vote for Stalin, you’re voting for Hitler!”

Ron Paul guys, Gary Johnson guys, Virgil Goode guys… the Constitution needs you. It needs you now. It needs you to put your respect for it aside and help elect the only one of the two pro-establishment candidates who has any chance of moving America in the direction you don’t want at a bit slower pace, because the other guy will only steer the ship towards the cliff even faster.

Support and vote for Mitt Romney, or help Obama complete his transformation of America into a nation that violates every principle you claim you embrace. Better that happen under a Republican than a Democrat.

It’s time to choose.

(Disclaimer: In case you didn’t notice, this is satire. Read Schlichter’s actual article here.)

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  • Anti Federalist says:

    Well done.

    Very well done.

  • LadyBastiat says:

    I’d be willing to bet the vast majority of GOP voters would see this statement and decry… SEE, he WASN’T the one who gave us NDAA it was that no good OBAMA.

    Excellent writing! Awesome article!

  • LadyBastiat says:

    Dangit I did the blockquote wrong.

    Although Romney did say he would have signed the NDAA, too, but he wasn’t president, so he didn’t actually do it.

    This was the sentence I was talking about in my above comment.

    Ooopsie!

  • K. Darien Freeheart says:

    I LOLed.

  • Hayne man says:

    Shame on you Mr. Hammond! You never mentioned Romney’s attractive wife.

  • Chris says:

    Giant Douche. Turd sandwich. Well done sir. Schlichter’s GOP puppet strings are showing, and you exposed them for all to see.

  • mark edward marchiafava says:

    Count me out, I won’t be voting for Mittens the Lesser.

  • They are both bought and paid for by the banks. I will stick with what the country was founded on and not what a corrupt government has turned it into. Vote for who you feel represents you as a person. Do your research and don’t believe anything you see on t.v.

  • Deeptoad says:

    I wouldn’t be too harsh on the Brietbart staff. All that chest-beating has surely made them delirious.

  • ELeeMacFall says:

    Effing brilliant, sir. I shared it on everything.

  • Eric Parks says:

    Bravo, Mr. Hammond. Bravo.

  • MoT says:

    I commented over on the BrightFart site. And it’s amazing how many goose-stepping totalitarian robots infest its bowels.

  • Mike Hignite says:

    Absolute brilliance. After reading the original article, yours becomes even more brilliant.

  • Johnson Coop says:

    this is ideocracy

  • Johnson Coop says:

    *idiocracy

  • Excellent response. If I vote at all I will write in Paul.

  • Stunningly brilliant. Very well done piece of satire. did you email a copy to Schlichter?

  • scott says:

    Thank you, Lord Hammond!

    I will most certainly be writing in Paul after having read your drivel.

  • scott says:

    (; Jeremy

  • Paul says:

    FANTASTIC article!

  • lenny says:

    So could someone please tell me who my vote counts for exactly…..I mean if I don’t vote who am I voting for? And if I vote for Johnson it goes to Obama, and if I vote for Romney it goes to Obama and if I vote for Ron Paul as a write in I am voting for both…..Could someone alert me when you figure this out, or do I have to fly to Chicago and get some dead peoples names and vote for Obama with all of them, I just don’t get it man, its maddening I tell you!

  • Tom says:

    This is outstanding!

  • enjerth says:

    Because sometimes you have to vote for something that offense your principles in order to support your principles.

  • George Whitfield says:

    Thank you for an illuminating, enlightening and well-written article. Gary Johnson is the clear choice to restore America to peace, prosperity and liberty. Ron Paul’s “Revolution” continues. Live free.

  • Henry Moore says:

    I love this. Way to lighten things up! Frankly, I never even entertained thoughts of voting for Scumney. BUt if I had, the article that you are poking fun at would have rendered those thoughts null. Even if I thought my life depended on it, after reading that intelligence-insulting drivel, I would not vote for Scumney, just to spite those liars at Breitbart.

  • Chris says:

    Terrific! We told them from the beginning that they could not win without us, and if they wanted our votes, they had to nominate Ron. If Obama is re-elected, we’re not the ones to blame- they are.

  • Dawg em says:

    “Surely we can agree that if government is going to violate Liberty by usurping authoritarian powers, it should be done at the state and not federal level!”

    I couldn’t have said it better myself. Well, actually, I can. This is actually Ron Paul’s position pursuant to the human and civil rights violation also known as abortion.

    Extremist libertarians are oh so hypocritcal.

  • David says:

    “And you could make the difference to help sustain the status quo but under a Republican president, which is the lesser of the two evils.”
    -The Article

    “Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.”
    -The Bible

    You can never convince me to vote for some person to whom I am diametrically opposed. Thanks for trying.

  • Where does this idea that Romney supports the second amendment come from, other than his malleable rhetoric?

    I’m betting that if Romney gets his sweaty hands on the levers of power that his owners and handlers at Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and others will insist that he not only continue but accelerate the same agenda Obama’s pursuing. He’ll just couch his State worshiping collectivist schemes in soothing conservative sounding blather to keep his dupes…I mean ‘followers,’ sorry…continuing consent to them going.

    I can easily see him issuing draconian gun regulation or confiscation in the name of Law And Order. The guy’s a tool, kids.

    • I should say ‘an even WORSE tool than Obama is.’

    • Goldhoarder says:

      The Republicans are great on the second amendment. It isn’t like the Feds took guns away from the public in the Hurricane Katrina aftermath…at the exact time they needed their guns to protect themselves from looting rioters. Huh? What was that? Oh…

    • Shirley De says:

      You are probably right. Did you know we signed on to the U.N. Arms Treaty. Mostly likely done by Hilarious Clinton.

      Oh Yeah, the OWNERS OF THE NEWS MEDIA, (BIG BANKSTERS) kept it quiet. If the word does go public, we will be told, NOT TO WORRY, CONGRESS WILL NOT PASS IT.

      That is right. CONGRESS DID NOT PASS “AGENDA 21”. PRESIDENT WILLFUL CLINTON PASSED IT WITH AN “EXECUTIVE ORDER”..

      IF IT IS REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT WE WILL HAVE OUR RIGHTS AND GUNS TAKEN FROM US.

      THIS IS NOT DEMOCRACY OR A REPUBLIC, THIS HYPOCRISY!!

  • Thanks for the comments, everyone.

  • Ted says:

    The Republican party won’t get the support of many Republicans and Libertarians due to their dictatorial antics and mafia like tactics. They can only blame themselves. They fragmented the party. Not Ron Paul supporters who were perfectly willing, capable and had the desire to work within the party to improve the platform for the good of humanity and our country. They get what they deserve, and right now, that’s not much.

  • fitz says:

    Jeez….mittens or Barry……Willard or sotero….. feck it – I’ll vote for freedom and sleep well that night. Thanks for making me laugh in the face of the no win scenerio, j hammond. The Vader quote was brilliant.

  • Robert Fallin says:

    All of the great religious and spiritual books describe a “day of reckoning;” you will be able to judge character of all people by how they respond. Those who “are neither hot nor cold” will be judged the harshest. The writer of this article is lukewarm and will face a very harsh judgment.

  • Oh, NOW you want us. Too damn late.

  • Actually without Ron Paul as a choice, we are left only with re-enforcing the Declaration of Independence in order to save what little ia left of our grand Republic.
    In fact I am truly folks have not taken to the streets in mass & by millions in DC after the passage of NDAA indefinite detention & EO allowing the CIA to assassinate Americans on President(sic) B.H. Obama’s hit list. All with NO due process.
    In the late 60s & 70s Americans took to the streets & went to DC to stop the war in Vietnam. Yet today we have had 2 wars for 11years that were both blamed on 911 which the administrations admitted they had nothing to do with. Then it was WMD which was a lie too.
    What does it take to get Americans off their butts to take America back, & try the traitor for treason & re-enstate a constitution that hasn’t been used for toilet paper for 50+ years. Wake up folks the window of opportunity is about to slam shut & leave a fascist democracy for our kids & grand kids !

  • Gary says:

    Uh, no, a vote for Gary Johnson or Ron Paul is a vote for Gary Johnson or Ron Paul. Period.

  • Vote! And vote often as this year really matters!!!!!!

  • Mutant for Nuclear Power says:

    Would have voted for Ron Paul in a heart beat . The Republic has been lost. I will no longer vote except to vote for Jesus. http://www.votingforjesus.com

  • Kevin Haddock says:

    it is exactly because of this kind of reasoning we are in this big !@#$% up mess to begin with. In fact this is the game the elites play with us to press forward their agenda. Its like a fish, appearing to swing right and then left if seen from ahead or behind, but when seen from above or below, moving steadily forward. You need to check out one of the primary tools of the communist agenda, the Hegelain dialectic.

  • Carla Rae says:

    Jeremy, this was brilliantly written. I am sharing this with everyone.

  • Azrielle says:

    I’ve got a more pragmatic idea than “the lesser of two evils”. It’s called “the devil you know, vs the devil you DON’T know.” Which is why I will sleep like a baby the night I vote for Gary Johnson (or write in Ron Paul or Michael “Mish” Shedlock). And stick my fist in the eye of the Party that disenfranchised me and everyone else that thinks like me. I WILL NOT “hold my nose” again! Been coerced to do that for the previous 10 Presidential elections. I can HOPE the fate of the GOP will be shared with that of the Whigs in 1860. Good Riddance.

  • Nope says:

    No, you people refused to back the only candidate that could make any difference at all – over only one aspect (foreign policy), which any rational person has to admit is AT LEAST debatable. (Not to mention the fact that Republican/Democrat foreign policy is identical.) It was mainstream Republican sheep that booed and refused to even CONSIDER an alternative viewpoint.

    YOU fell for the fear tactics, ignorance, and propaganda yet again. YOU doomed the nation to failure. Don’t you dare try to blame the most informed, enthusiastic, and principled group for YOUR failure to educate yourself about the reality of US history, policies, and how the world views this country.

    And if you think either of the remaining presidential choices will make ANY difference, you’re either delusional or far more ignorant than you realize. I guess it’s everyone for themselves now (or, for their special interest groups). Good luck keeping your financial accounts in order during the coming collapse of the US-confidence bubble.

  • "George Taylor" says:

    A vote for Romney is a vote for Obama’s policies. A vote for Gary Johnson is a vote for peace and prosperity. Romney should get out of the race now; he is taking votes away from Obama.

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