Hahaha. You crack me up.

But dig into the situation foundational to the humor a bit, and I think no one comes up laughing.

We are on the way to a pre-emptive strike against Iran. The stage is being set, and it seems pretty clear that it is just a question of when, not if.

Besides Ron Paul, no one, not Obama, nor any other candidate for president that I am aware of, is saying any thing--not one thing--about this. (I would dearly love to discover that I am wrong here.)

Would you at least grant that, genius or not, it is important that somebody somewhere, with a national platform from which to speak, say these things?

You don't have to like Paul's argument for a smaller government, or his interest in states' rights, or his argument for a gold standard for American currency. You don't have to approve of his philosophical stance on civil rights legislation (easily my biggest issue with the man, but much moreso with his son), or his stance on abortion, evolution, or gun control. In my view, none of the above is an issue that would directly be impacted were he magically made president today.

But the movement toward war with Iran (and maybe we'll hit Syria first, for "humanitarian" reasons), is insidious and resolute. We need bold people to be boldly against this, or it is exactly what we shall have, whether we like it or love it. (And those will be the only popular options.)

In a previous post, which I really, really liked, you said something about accepting things which you (we) personally do not have the power to change. I feel that we individually do have the power to change this particular thing: that no one is talking about keeping us out of the coming war with Iran.

There are other parts of what Ron Paul has to say that do indeed resonate with me:

I'd like to see a huge drawdown on our military presence around the world. No president or candidate, other than Ron Paul, is proposing any such thing. Why?

I'd like to see the private bankers (cronies all) who (mis)manage our economy taken severly to task. No president or candidate, other than Ron Paul, seems to feel this issue is worthy of pursuing over a lifetime in politics.

Toward the end of that post of yours that I mentioned above, you said "we'll call bullshit when we see it." I agree, but I think we've got a different set of meters working here.

And then you said, "and then we'll get up in the morning and we'll do it all again," or words to that effect, and I silently said "yep, thank you, this conversation has been worthwhile."

Herring405

PS:Some day you and I and Messybear will go bar-hopping, then pop over to Baerwald's place half-loaded. Oh what a conversation we'll have! :)