Woodman: Gibberish on the front burner

This year of change versus experience begs two questions: What experience, Hillary? Change what, Barack? Sen. Clinton assumedly won her slogan by explaining that her marriage to Bill “has been an experience.” What Sen. Obama wants to change (other than his job) is a mystery that hasn’t been unraveled yet. Everyone professes transparency, whatever that means. And the media that feeds on this pap complains that the campaign dialogue is too shallow, that the candidates dance around issues rather than discuss them.

The one candidate who can’t be accused of fudging, flipping or fending off is Ron Paul of Texas. He is the libertarian Republican whose party passed him by decades ago. His 400 position papers are available on the Web. If he has altered his thinking on anything in the last 40 years, it would merit a magazine article.

Since October, Ron Paul has been the beneficiary of the two largest single-day fund-raisers in U.S. political history. He has a more legitimate claim to a debate podium than any candidate in either party. He’s such a strict constructionist that he’s never voted for anything he felt was outside constitutional purview. Agree with him or disagree, he’s the embodiment of political consistency. Between two of his three terms of service in Congress (1976-84 and 1997-present) he engaged in his obstetrics/gynecological practice, and was the Libertarian Party’s candidate for president in 1988.

Paul is the quintessential anti-war candidate. He recites George Washington’s opposition to foreign entanglements, and supports a non-interventionist foreign policy. Considering the last election results, that should appeal to most Americans. Dr. Paul also serves on the House Committee on International Relations and favors trade with Cuba.

On the second watershed issue of 2008 —illegal aliens and border security — Ron Paul is the uncontested voice of the overwhelming majority. The uninvited, he says, account for “virtually all the national increase in public school enrollment in the last two decades.” One worker in 78 percent of immigrant households is using at least one major welfare program, he says, so “oftentimes (they) can afford to work for lower wages. They are subsidized by our government to do so.”

On the third watershed issue, the economy, Ron Paul is the voice in the wilderness the media refuses to air. As a member of the House Financial Services Committee, he wants a return to the gold standard. His engaging dialogues with former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan should be required reading in every economics class.

You can ferret out Ron Paul’s views on anything and everything at lewrockwell.com.

Wendell H. Woodman is a freelance writer living in Boston.