As usual party leaders are calling the shots as to who the voters can hear from within the debates. I have just finished reading a column in which the Iowa Republican Party is setting a standard as to who can take part within their December 4th debate. So, it does not surprise me in the least that they are looking to block Congressman Ron Paul.
Within this article, they cite of “participants need to average 5% support among Republicans in recent national or Iowa polls” I do not care how a candidate is polling, as long as he has the ability to launch a formidable campaign, the voters have the right to hear from him. As we all know, this past week, in one day, the Paul campaign took in $4 million dollars from Internet donations that came from over 32 thousand supporters. Do those polled trump supporters of Ron Paul? It sure seems that way. The grass roots of any political party must tell the party leaders we have the right to hear from any and all candidates.
As we all know, NBC excluded former Senator Mike Gravel in the last Democratic debate and that was uncalled for. He had as much right to relay his message to not only his supporters but those still sitting on the fence. It may very well be that something that Gravel could have said would have changed the mind of at least one person or several people and in this democracy, they have rights too. The same goes for Ron Paul. I think this is one of the reasons why many are leaving political parties in the first place. It seems to me that party leaders select the candidate and tell the base, this is your candidate, now get out and work for him/her. It should be the other way around where the candidate is selected by the grass roots voters.
Mary Tiffany a GOP spokeswoman stated, “We are getting bombarded" with calls and e-mails from Paul's supporters,” To those who are reading this column, I suggest that we add to these numbers by placing a call to the Iowa Republican Party using this number, (515) 282-8105 or fax them at this number, (515) 282-9019.
In a hubristic tone, Tiffany expressed this opinion, "I'm all about the First Amendment, but at the same time, how is this productive?" Well let us answer her back by stating that we the people need to be informed before making an informed choice. Every single Republican voter has the right to hear from Ron Paul. Being informed is being a productive member of this democracy. Let that be our message to Tiffany and the rest of the Iowa GOP.
In fact to bolster any assertion as to the support growing around Ron Paul, one only has to view this feed which was aired and reported by a CBS station in Philadelphia. In his message before the throngs of his supporters and as we come up on Veterans Day, it was clear when he said, “Bring our troops home now," He is the lone Republican championing that message and he should be heralded for it. In fact a recent report came out in which 25 percent of our homeless are Iraq War veterans and I find that disgraceful.
As reported by this Philadelphia station, “Paul has come under fire for calling the war on terrorism "fictitious" and for saying the 9/11 attacks were a response to U.S. foreign policy ideas he repeated on Saturday.” And I have written in support of his assertions on so many occasions. In fact one of my columns is called, Ron Paul correctly labels 9/11 a blow-back
In that article, I wrote, “Paul was responding to a question about the origins of terrorist attacks on US soil and noted the generations-long history of US involvement in Middle East politics, including a CIA-sponsored coup to overthrow Iran's leader in 1953” To support Paul’s opinion, I included the Sky Television broadcast called Secrets of the CIA which chronicles our use of the CIA to topple many governments and our blunders in foreign policy.
With the U.S. hostility increasing everyday towards Iran; don’t Iowan Republicans deserve to hear of these facts coming from Ron Paul? It only involves their security as well as the rest of this nation’s.
As I was watching that Philadelphia station’s feed, I could not help to think that something is truly bubbling out there when a candidate who some consider a maverick is eliciting this support.
In closing, until we hear from any candidate no matter what party, they are dropping out of the race; each should be included within every debate that takes place. We must be the ones to tell the party leaders, we the people have the right to hear from each and every candidate. This country does not belong to party leaders; it belongs to we the people.
Author’s email address is, xmjmac@optonline.net
