Ron Paul gets my vote. Period.
If Ron Paul runs as an Independent and you vote for him, right after the election you might as well just put a bumper sticker on your car that says I Helped Get Obama Reelected, because that is all that you will have accomplished with your vote.
Idealism, when it comes to voting in a scenario like I mentioned, is irrational and illogical. You very badly want a president replaced, but then you do the very thing that would assure that he remains the president, all because of idealism, of being such a great and proud American that you would rather vote for whoever you believe is the best candidate out of the three choices, even though that means you will go down with the ship, along with the rest of us, because you helped assure that Obama was given four more years.
Thank rationally about Ron Paul for a moment. He says a fair number of very good things. Some of them appeal very much to people like ourselves. But stop and think about what the actual odds are that he would be able to accomplish many, if any, of them, especially if an absolute miracle would occur and he would run as an Independent and be elected.
The things that are most appealing about what changes Ron Paul says he will make are not ones he can do through presidential decree. They would take acts of congress. Even if he won being the Republican candidate he would not have strong support among his own party in congress. To many are to entrenched in old school politics and cronyism. In many cases they do not want what he wants. Democrats absolutely do not want what he wants. So even as a Republican president it would be extremely difficult for him to accomplish anything he wants to do, at least to anywhere near the degree he wants to do it.
Regardless of what legislation he might ask for, there is no assuring that any member of congress would write it. If someone did they might do so only to appear to not be standing in the way of President Paul, but they might write it in a way that would assure it never even made it out of committee for a floor vote, let alone being passed by both the House and the Senate so President Paul could then sign it into law.
If he were to win as an Independent he would have even less support in congress than if he won as a Republican. Neither major party in congress would be his party. Some, maybe most, Republicans could hold a grudge that he knocked off their guy, or gal, and not work with him any better than Democrats would just to make sure he was seen as an ineffectual failure and end up a one term president that no one would ever vote for again.
A president just does not posses the powers and authority to make most of the changes that Ron Paul preaches, especially the one we here would hold so near and dear, legalizing marijuana.
With so much that would need to be done just to keep the nation working on the same pitiful level as now he could only afford to expend so much time on the sweeping changes he promises but would be doomed to failure by congress. So, after making an attempt and failing he would be forced to scrap much of what he promises and what makes you say; "Ron Paul gets my vote. Period."
The only way that Ron Paul could stand any chance of doing what he is campaigning on is if most of the seat in the Senate that are up for reelection were won by Ron Paul friendly Republicans or Tea Party candidates AND since every seat in the House is up for reelection Ron Paul friendly Republicans or Tea Party members would have to win a large majority of the House. He would need to have a super majority in congress made up mostly of Ron Paul friendly Senators and House members. If not, he could end up less effective than Obama because he would constantly be fighting with and trying to convince not only one political party in congress, but instead both political parties in congress to give him what he asks for.
Like it or not, agree with it or not, that is the reality of what he would be facing. So if you have some youthful pie in the sky rose colored glasses beliefs that if Ron Paul wins, however it would happen, that you will see much, let alone most or all of what he's campaigning on, you need to wake up and smell the Mango Haze because it just will not happen. He would be elected president, not king, and he would not be able to rule by decree and facing an uncooperative congress, he would be nearly powerless do to much of what sounds so good to so many of us.
