Don't Let The Door Hit You In The Ass On The Way Out, Ron

[The Grand Nudger]

The bigger picture is created one vote at a time Tibs. Of course he is[a man of principle], and I disagree with those principles [insomuch as I am able to discern them]...but that's okay. Allowing the free market eh? Looks to me like he's entirely okay with buddying up to oil..but not alternatives. I don't see anything in his voting record that is unfriendly to oil (and a great deal that is very friendly), and I don't see anything in his voting record that is friendly towards anything else what-so-ever. Look, I understand that his principles might just line up with the oil industry's interests in such a thorough fashion for reasons entirely unrelated. I'm simply more cynical of our politicians than you seem to be. The "last honest man in washington" bit (not your baby, I understand) just doesn't sit. Allow me to bitch about my representatives and the effects their votes have had on my country. Allow me to wonder what goes through one of those representatives heads when their public statements are such brilliantly crafted examples of politics while their voting records are consistent, steaming, piles of shit. This is the voting record of a shill, in my estimation. You disagree, and that's okay. Ultimately though, I have to live under the rule of these votes in aggregate don't I? You know it's not even my position that this man is an intentional and willful shill. That his positions are intended (by him) to be doublespeak. Trust me, I can imagine a great many scenarios in which Mr. Paul is a well meaning and highly principled individual who has nevertheless managed to rack up an impressively horrid voting record on nearly every issue that is important to me. The issue, for me, as I have so often expressed, is that the narrative of who Ron Paul is does not seem (to me) to line up to the narrative offered in his voting record. I would absolutely expect there to be a way to argue that it does..he is a successful politician, and they make their living (in this country at least) convincing us that they mean what they say and hold the principles they advertise for the reasons they advertise....even when they do not.

Libertarians are free market types. Okay. Ron Paul looks to be a free market type, he does look to be just a -wee- bit more friendly to a specific segment of that "free market" then he is towards others. This may not trigger alarm bells for you, but here, when oil is involved, it is very often involved (I mean this in the strongest sense of the word).

I do understand his dilemma though (as I perceive it anyway), voting against oil overtly in any way would be political suicide.
-So supposing that he would take issue to subsidies for oil (and we do give oil subsidies)
-and supposing that he had an opportunity to vote against them (and he has...not so curiously our representatives aren't actually required to vote on every proposition btw....play around with that political maneuvering tool in your mind for awhile..see how it tastes)
-and finally supposing he is a man of principal (we're supposing that right?)
Then one's mind (at least this one's mind) begins to wonder why his voting record is so overwhelming in the favor of a particular industry that absolutely avails itself of subsidy both officially and behind closed doors. Right along with the rest of his party.....the party line.

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Yep, Stue, that would be the bill. There's a short section in the full quotes for two arguments offered both for and against the bill. Everything the government does (and everything they piggyback into their bills) seems suspect to me..lol. Ultimately its a vote (and bill) that I don't completely understand either, and I'll gladly concede that I may be completely in error. Bills like these, with amendments and motions such as the one this one went through are often little more than political traps. I'd be perfectly willing to entertain that as well. But here again we see a reliable friend of oil (not that I'm unfriendly) and we might just see a politician working his trade.