Ron Paul for President in 2012

This blog focuses on money and investments from a libertarian perspective.  To determine our investments, we must study the economy.  To study the economy, we must study politics.  This is unfortunate, but it is reality.  Unfortunately, politics plays a huge role in our lives and in the economy because politicians wield so much power.  While I wish it weren’t this way, we have to deal with the situation.

There are two things that will matter more than anything else in your long-term future when it comes to money.  The first thing is your own personal decision making and the actions you take.  The other thing is the state of liberty in which we live.  I suppose you could throw in luck as a third thing.

While it may seem we can’t do much to determine the future of liberty as individuals, it is important to at least know where we are headed.

Ron Paul has announced that he will form an exploratory committee in seeking to run for president.  With the success of his last campaign, I can’t imagine that there won’t be an even bigger following, with even bigger donations this time around.  So it looks like there is a good chance that Ron Paul will be running for president.  While the general election is in late 2012 and most of the primaries will be in early 2012, this year will be the big year for him.

I don’t think Ron Paul will become the Republican nominee.  Perhaps he is thinking that he can pull off what Reagan did in 1980 after not winning the nomination in 1976.  But I don’t see the Republican Party nominating Ron Paul as their nominee.  Rand Paul would have a better chance.  The main reason is foreign policy.  There are too many pro-war people in the party.  Ron Paul’s foreign policy stance of non-intervention does not appeal to these people.  I think Ron Paul will convert some people or at least get them to examine their position more closely, but I doubt it will be enough at this point.

For the cause of liberty, I strongly believe that the solution does not lie in politics.  The system is rigged in favor of big government.  There is no way that voting will solve our problems.  With that said, I was happy when Ron Paul ran for president 4 years ago and I am happy he is considering it again.  The reason is because it gives him a platform to reach out to so many people.  Look back at 2007 and 2008 and how many libertarians were created because of Ron Paul’s campaign.

As libertarians, we couldn’t ask for a better all-round person to get out our message.  He is honest, humble, and a great role model.  He does not come across as the typical politician.  Most importantly, he understands the issues of liberty clearly and he sticks by his principles.

It was a great move in 2007 for Ron Paul to run as a Republican.  It got him into the debates where he got incredible exposure.  Now that he is more well known and there is already a core group of supporters, I think he should run as a Libertarian (the party that is).  In a three-way race between Ron Paul, Obama, and the Republican nominee, I think Ron Paul could do some damage in attracting many independent voters and even some typical non-voters.  The best case scenario would be for him to just barely lose.  After all, why would we want him to win and inherit the total mess that there is right now?  I don’t think he will run as a third party candidate and I completely respect his decision, but I think he should ditch the pro-war Republican Party, except when he is running for his congressional seat.

Ron Paul has released a new book and he has been getting a lot of media attention in the last few days.  With his message and the internet as a tool to spread it, the future for liberty is actually brighter than you may think.  The best thing you can do to advance liberty is to continue to educate yourself and to educate others.  We will only achieve more liberty and less government when more hearts and minds are changed.  This will not happen in a voting booth.