It's so rare to find a politician who you can say with certainty has integrity. Well, I think I've finally found a candidate that has it. This is the first election I can remember on any level (yes, I have actually voted every time there has been a ballot since I turned 18) where I actually feel good about supporting a candidate running for office.

John and I went with our friends Matt and Angie last night to Council Bluffs (and you know this guy has to be worthwhile if we're willing going to Iowa for him) to hear Ron Paul speak. I was already fairly certain I wanted to vote for him before we went, but now there is absolutely no question. Putting aside his beliefs on the issues, I didn't come away with the feeling that I just listened to a half-hearted speech written by campaign coordinators but given by a sleazy politician. In fact, he didn't even have a speech prepared. He just showed up and talked to his supporters about what he believes (and has believed and fought for in Congress for over 20 years). I had forgotten what it's like to listen to an intelligent, coherent, well-thought out position from a candidate. He was recognized by Congressional Quarterly as one of the "50 most effective members of congress" as he consistently sponsors more bills than the average representative. He has been elected to the House of Representatives 10 times and his voters in Texas consistently say that even if they don't agree with all of his stances on every political issue, they love his heart. He has a few rather harebrained ideas, but in general I like what he believes regarding the issues that are important to me. I even sent in my voter registration today to change my party affiliation so I can vote for him in the primary.

I encourage everyone to educate themselves on the issues for this election. If you don't want to read, take this quick quiz and reference this handy dandy table. Read about the issues and know which ones are important to you. Vote for someone you want to win, not just a candidate the media says is a front runner.

My personal opinion regarding key issues in the election for me are below. I happen to agree with Ron Paul on all of these, which (in addition to his integrity and voting record) is why he's getting my vote.

• Repeal the Patriot Act (and other subsequent "9/11 security" bills): Return civil liberties to the citizens of the United States. He has never voted for a bill that will remove civil liberties from citizens. I learned last night that among all of the legislation that was pushed through after 9/11, one particular piece of legislation allows law enforcement to search your home or business without a warrant and if you tell someone even that you've been searched, you can be named as an enemy combatant and sent to Guantanamo. Habeas Corpus was written for a reason, and it wasn't so that the government can ignore it.


• Guantanamo & Torture: Studies have shown that torture gets people to talk but it doesn't get them to tell the truth. The United States was founded on the principles that everyone is assumed to be innocent until proven guilty, not until their tortured into admitting guilt. It is sad when even our neighbors no longer consider our country to be safe.


• Illegal Wiretapping: The keyword being illegal. I have no problem with wiretapping when there is a warrant approved by a judge that has been cleared by all the appropriate people in the justice system. What I do have a problem with is an executive branch who believes it is above the law and has started to use their power to circumvent the law and spy on American citizens without going through the proper channels to do it.


• Citizenship Path for Illegal Immigrants: I have heard plenty on this issue and how it's not very "Christian" to deport illegal immigrants even when they've had children here, making their children citizens. Well, I'm not so sure that the founders of our nation really thought that anyone who hopped over the border and had a kid was entitled to all of the rights and privileges that an American citizen is. We have immigration laws for a reason. If someone wants to come to the U.S., they need to follow the process to do that. The illegal immigrants also should not be allowed to jump to the front of the line to become naturalized citizens ahead of the people who have followed the approved process. That's just encouraging people to come to our country illegally because eventually, they'll all get amnesty and they can jump ahead of everyone else who did it the right way anyway.
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• Net Neutrality: ISP's should not be allowed to charge me more or change my connection speed for accessing certain sites like youTube or Amazon.com or whatever my particular ISP doesn't like. This would mean that your service provider (Cox, Time Warner Cable, etc.) could decide which sites they don't want you to access at all, which sites they really like you to access (speed up the connection to that one) and which sites they want to make it difficult to visit (slow down the connection to that one). This is ridiculous. The last thing anyone actually wants is their service provider messing with their access to information on the Internet. You might as well move to China where you disappear if you look up the wrong thing online.


• War with Iran: As if we weren't trying to police the world in enough places, now we're hearing that Bush wants to start a war with Iran. Enough already! Stop picking fights with everyone and stop making up information. We're spread thin enough already and Iraq and Afghanistan are going so well, I don't think we need to add anything else to the equation."


• War in Iraq & Afghanistan: We never should have gone over there in the first place and it's not working. The people in that region have fought for hundreds of years and they're going to continue fighting. Generally, if we leave them alone, they'll leave us alone. We're just making the problem fester by continuing to poke at an already fragile "relationship" with the people in that region. We don't need to put any more troops in danger. We need to bring them home. Now.


• Universal Healthcare: If you think the healthcare system is bad now, just wait until the governemnt takes over. Honestly folks, they've done such a wonderful job with social security, what makes you think they're going to run healthcare better than that? I agree that the healthcare system needs change, but I don't think the solution is healthcare from the government. They're already mismanaging my money. Why on earth would I want to pay more so they can continue to mismanage it. Universal healthcare means that everyone else pays for the freeloaders. Which means an increase in taxes.


• Cut the budget and lower my taxes!: There is way too much waste in the government and there is no need for it. We don't need to be policing the world or playing nanny to everyone's kids. I don't want to pay for an illegal immigrant's kid to have welfare. Maybe if I can actually see the worthwhile investments that my tax money is paying for, I won't want them to go down. I don't like working for the government for a third of my time so they can send my friends to Iraq for a chance to die just so we can get revenge. I also don't want to pay for roads and bridges in Iraq when ours are falling apart over here. We have a budget deficit because we're spending more than we're bringing in. Maybe if you don't waste my money, I'd be more willing to part with it.

Finally, a few random tidbits about Ron Paul's history:

• Never voted to raise taxes


• Never voted for an unbalanced budget


• Never voted to raise congressional pay


• Did not vote for the Patriot Act


• Never taken a government-paid junket


• Lobbyists won't come visit him because "it would be a bad investment"


• Voted against regulating the Internet


• Never voted to increase the power of the executive branch


• Does not participate in the Congressional pension program


• repeatedly named "The Taxpayers Best Friend" in congress

Ok, I'm done with my soap box for today. If you skipped to the end, make sure you educate yourself on the issues and you go out and vote in both the primary and the general election. Even if you don't vote for Ron Paul, go vote!!!