Paul Questions Obama's Principles

The majority of my friends are die-hard supporters of Barack Obama. I have absolutely no problem with Obama supporters; in fact, I much prefer discussing political issues with Democrats vice Republicans. Generally speaking, Democrats will allow you to speak and will actually listen to you...Democrats are much more interested in engaging in philosophical discussions than Republicans (from my experience, anyway).

In contrast, flag-waving Republicans are much more likely to bristle upon being questioned about their beliefs. Ask a flag-waver about any issue - especially anything pertaining to foreign policy - and you're likely to get the "who farted?" face and a deep sigh before the person launches into a lenghty, cliche-laced diatribe about how America is one (liberal-infested) Supreme Court override from allowing Al Qaeda to detonate nukes in every major city from Maine to Hawaii. To the flag-waver, you are never patriotic enough; and only a fool would question the policies of the current administration.

Then again, most flag-wavers are not aware the Supreme Court exists. Their primary concern is the expansion of the Executive Branch. To them, the powers of the Executive cannot be expanded fast enough, and the role of Congress is merely to provide administrative headaches.

But I digress. At the Future of Freedom Foundation, Dr. Paul fielded a question from the audience about what he would say to presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama. Specifically, Dr. Paul was asked to address Obama's (hollow) campaign promise to bring "change" to Washington. What followed was a sparkling critique of Obama's platform.



While it is true that there exists a lot of similarities between Obama supporters and Paul supporters, the philosophical differences between the two candidates could not be any more pronounced. In my view, Obama is a status quo candidate - much like McCain - and it is highly unlikely any major philosophical change will be made in the coming years under an Obama administration. Under Obama, we can expect an even larger welfare/warfare state, wherein the government plays an increasingly influential role in everyone's lives.

That said, I hope Paul supporters continue their excellent work and continue to convert people (especially young people) to Paul's appealing brand of libertarianism.