There are more things than not in which I disagree with presidential candidate, Ron Paul. Just this morning I read a headline about him having said we would be better off without the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). I thought to myself, wonder what song Paul would sing if his district got slammed by some major natural disaster? Certainly he would cave and be the first to the FEMA Calvary to the rescue.
Well, good thing I read the remainder of the story. When his home district, which lies along the Texas Gulf Coast, was hit by Hurricane Ike in 2008, Paul voted against a bill that would have provided billions of Federal dollars for relief.
Two things come to mind now that I’m aware of his position. First, since 2008 Paul has been reelected to the House of Representatives twice. Now, that’s just amazing and I have no explanation as to why his constituents could overlook his refusal for federal relief. Possible because the bill ultimately passed and the relief was forthcoming, all without his supporters being generally aware of his position.
The second thing about Paul’s position regarding FEMA is just how consistently consistent Ron Paul is in his Libertarian ideology. I could probably never vote for Ron Paul because many of his views simply, scare me. But, I’ll give him this. He is one of two members of the United States Government who can be depended on to clearly state what they believe in and then, stick to it. The Ron Paul of today is going to be the Ron Paul you see tomorrow.
One has to admire that in an elected politician. A person who has a firm grasp on their beliefs and puts principle before being reelected. Oh, the other person, who I often don’t agree with but is amazingly consistent is, Ohio’s Dennis Kucinich.
My sister were talking about this just the other day. This is easier to do when you do your constituents are small, like a congressman, mayor, or city councilman. Harder to do when you need to represent a larger and more like a more diverse population.