When you say his views don't reflect the party line, it might be worth considering that at one time the party line quite clearly supported the views he holds. Many in America feel that the Republican party has been hijacked by certain groups who have morphed the party into something it never used to be. This is probably only natural, but Ron Paul represents a return to the solid core values of the Republican party, not the added-on ones of the past few decades.

In my view, the question that everyone ought to be thinking/debating about is, "what is the proper role of the federal government, and how should it relate to the state governments, as well as local governments, right down to the individual." Instead, we get so-called "top-tier" candidates who merely prattle soundbytes and hope to outsmile and out-andy-griffith the next guy on the way to winning their party's nomination.

Ron Paul appears to have a grounded, solid answer to such a question. He wants to go back to a government that finds its roots in the Constitution.

This is a hard sell, though, because it is very tough to "soundbyte" such a stance. For one thing, most people have never read the Constitution with any degree of understanding. To do so takes effort, and we just don't have the time. As a result, when looking into a candidate's stances, what we end up settling for is, "he's anti-this and pro-that, etc." People look at a grid of plusses and minuses on "issues" like abortion, gun rights, and so forth, and because we believe in the grid's ability to adequately represent the candidate's point of view, many are led into thinking that they actually understand said candidate's point of view.

I don't think Ron Paul can be understood in quite that way. He takes a philosopical stance, and all of the positions that he represents flow directly from that philosophy. It is an intelligent stance, in my view, even if some of the conclusions reached don't agree with me completely.

His history and voting record suggest he won't change his stance based on polls. Nor will he manipulate polls by inspiring fear in the people.

This intelligent, integrated stance on all the issues is the reason I am interested in his candidacy. It is probably also why he cannot win.

Nevertheless, in the view of this one fish, THAT is what is so fucking great about Ron Paul.

Herring405