I want to see a Paul/Santorum Ticket
With the Iowa Caucuses around the corner the political scene in our country finally gets to see some action. The 'debates' to date and other pre-election activities have been many, but now the rubber finally hits the road and we'll see what these candidates are made of, or more precisely what the voters in Iowa and New Hampshire make of them.
I said several weeks ago (or is it months now?) that I liked Jon Huntsman. I heard him speak a few times as broadcast by POTUS Politics on Sirius/XM satellite radio. From those few times I liked what he had to say. His thoughts seemed genuine and well constructed. It was clear then, and more so now, that his campaign lacked something. A spark maybe. I've heard some of his daughters are campaigning with and for him and that there may indeed be sparks coming off of them, but nevertheless, his campaign seems destined to fade away soon.
Ron Paul on the other hand is a different story all together. I have liked Ron Paul for some time now. I recall voting for him at some point 3 years ago and definitely agreed with many of his positions. I am a self-described independent with Libertarian leanings. There are several positions which I hold that don't fit any of the established parties, hence the independent moniker. That said, much of them do align with Dr. Paul and the Libertarians. One area where I probably diverge from him is his strong isolationism. Having grown up in the military and having had an opportunity to live abroad in a military environment my views there are slightly different. I don't know that we need a strong military presence throughout the globe but we certainly need to foster relationships with our allies and that means more than a diplomatic relationship. Fostering real communication and real relationships between cultures offers far more than vanilla bureaucratic functionalism. So while I don't have any lasting relationships with any of the Turks I met while living in Turkey 15 years ago I highly value the relationships we had then and hope that they learned something of the American culture from us.
But we digress. Back to business.
While my affinity for Ron Paul is fairly strong and obvious, Rick Santorum isn't so likely a choice. To be fair, I put him second on my ballot. There are many fundamental differences in his positions as compared to Ron Paul. He is certainly more inclined to spread our military around and confront other nations with force. I haven't heard Ron Paul speak specifically about his Pro-Life stance but the few times I've heard Rick Santorum speak his stance has been firm and clear. I do not use a candidate's pro-life or pro-choice beliefs as a litmus test but it is definitely satisfying to see someone run for high office who shares one of my personal convictions.
The big question of the day though is would a ticket like this work? Are each of these men too conservative to run together or too opposed for the Republican Party to unite around them? The answers will be fleshed out in the next few months. I would love to come back to this post then and point to my foreshadowing prowess but that is admittedly unlikely. For the moment we must wait and see how things shake out. Regardless, my vote is almost always for the person over the party or the politics. When I listen to Paul, Santorum and Huntsman, I hear honesty, truthfulness and integrity. Each comes off as genuine and passionate about their stance. I honestly think that this is more important than actually agreeing with a candidate's views. If the person is good, the decisions will likely be made in good faith and with a firm base. This leads into my lack of faith for Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich. Romney just sounds hollow when he talks, as if he forgot to grab his personal convictions off the night stand when leaving his hotel that morning. He strikes me as a fair weather politician, speaking to the moment rather than about how to truly effect a change in our political scene.
In the words of Mike and Mike in the morning on ESPN Radio, a few more predictions sure to go wrong: If Mitt Romney wins the Republican nomination, Barak Obama wins re-election.
Because he is hollow, Barak Obama wins in this scenario. Obama has too much charisma and Biden too much off the cuff character for Romney to overcome. Short of a Romney/Trump ticket who would really pay attention to Mitt Romney talk for more than two minutes? Not this writer to be sure. For those protesting that I've gotten off topic here toward the end, keep in mind that this site bears my name in the url...
A second prediction sure to go wrong: I can't think of one right now but when I do I shall return.