The Presumptive Republican Nominee and That Other Guy.

This article was originally published in americanchronicle.com on May 28th, 2008

I’ve noticed lately that the media has taken to calling John McCain the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. It’s a strange sort of twist considering that a couple months ago they seemed so certain that McCain was the Republican presidential nominee. It wasn’t so long ago that the media was crowing that all other Republican candidates had dropped out. Yet today we suddenly hear again and again that McCain is the presumptive nominee. Why the change of heart? Why is the language suddenly so blatantly changed? Why do we need to “presume” McCain is the nominee when supposedly no one else is running? Perhaps it is time for the media to stop presuming and to start reporting on the reality of the situation.

There is another guy running to become the Republican nominee for president. The mass media seems almost frightened to speak his name. It’s like, to them, the man is Voldemort. His name must not be spoken for fear of what might happen. And yet why be so frightened of a name? Why not report on this mystery candidate who makes it necessary for them to presume McCain to be the Republican candidate for president rather than know it as a certainty?

Perhaps we can glean an answer by looking at the way the mass media reports on the Democrats who are still running for president. I think it would be fair to say that Barack Obama could be called the presumptive Democrat Party nominee. He has nearly enough delegates to take the primary. Instead, they keep harping on the battle between him and Hillary Clinton. They praise her for her tenacity or chastise her for splitting the party. They report that Hillary made a gaff when she spoke about this or that someone Barack Obama knows is spouting hateful remarks. They speak about nothing of any substance. The issues have a tendency to be put into the background. Mostly they report on personality traits. They dwell on Obama’s “flowery rhetoric” or Clinton’s extensive experience, none of which matters as we march in lock step toward bigger government, socialism and a complete loss of freedom.

It seems to me that Hillary and Obama more or less want to implement the same policies. They are both in favor of socialized medicine. They both want to take the power of medical decisions out of your hands and put it in the hands of the state. They both want to regulate the decisions doctors can make on your behalf. This seems to be their main issue. Neither one seems to have real solutions to the financial crisis we are undergoing. They both seem to want to raise taxes, albeit only on the rich. They both are trying to buy the votes of the poor by promising to increase the welfare state and institute government sanctioned wealth redistribution schemes. Both seem to think that government solutions are the only solutions and that we common folk would be unable to straighten things out on our own and so they don’t want to give us the chance.

Both Democrats are supported by corporate lobbyists and special interests. That is where most of their money in the form of campaign contributions comes from. It seems to me that when one has to depend on someone for their political survival, one has a tendency to cater to that someone. The mass media reports on Obama’s commercialized claim that he represents change as if that’s fact. In his speeches he praises himself as a bringer of change and unification. Yet the only changes he advocates are those that are contrary to the principles of freedom and liberty that made our nation great and prosperous. The only unification he offers is that of thoughtless, virulent personality worship that could lead to the persecution of those who would disagree with his programs.

John McCain really isn’t too different from Hillary and Obama. Issue for issue Mr. McCain almost seems as much a Democrat as either of the two presidential candidates still running for that party. The only issue on which he really differs much is the war issue. On that issue, Mr. McCain has chosen the losing side. The American public has grown weary of spending our children’s lives and our nation’s treasure on a regrettable war that seems to have only benefited those with political clout. Combine that with his admitted lack of knowledge in economics and you have a recipe for disaster for the Republican Party in November.

Once again with McCain it seems the mass media is reporting more on his personality traits than on anything of any real substance. The bulk of his campaign contributions come mainly from special interest groups and corporate backers just like his rivals in the Democrat Party. Some of these same entities have major investments in the mass media. It seems as if the powers that be don’t want any serious discussion of real solutions to our nation’s problems taking place where the majority of the public has easiest access to them. It appears that they wish the presidential elections to be a popularity contest between two corporate bought and paid for candidates rather than a platform where ideologies can be discussed and ideas for how to better the circumstances of all Americans can be presented. And so they have picked McCain to be the presidential representative from the Republican Party and they continue to hide another Republican who is still in the race by refusing to even mention his name.

Who is this other candidate? Who is this man who causes McCain to be referred to as the presumptive Republican nominee? Who is this man whose ideas have proven in the past to be the path to prosperity? Who is this man who dares to speak of freedom and personal responsibility rather than of government regulations and entitlements? Who is this man of principle who has never given up on the idea of smaller federal government? Who is this candidate who wishes to do away with the income tax? Who is this candidate who wishes to give money back to the people by doing away with the Federal Reserve and thus the hidden inflation tax, or at least bring sensibility beck to our monetary system by allowing competing currencies to exist? In case you haven’t guessed, this man is Dr. Ron Paul, the congressman from Texas who never withdrew from the Republican Party’s presidential nomination process. His popularity continues to grow despite the mass media’s attempts to marginalize and ignore him. His popularity continues to grow despite that the media does not report he is a war hero, or a polished orator, or a politician with a great many years of experience. His popularity continues to grow even though the media continuously has painted him as an unelectable candidate. Why do you suppose that is? Perhaps there is more to Ron Paul than meets the eye. Or perhaps it’s his ideas that are popular. Perhaps the people of this country are growing tired of the same old same old and want to try something different for a change, something that hasn’t been tried in this country for decades. Or, as Dr. Ron Paul would say, perhaps it’s because freedom is popular. The time has come for the people of this nation to start electing people of substance to lead instead of personalities. The time has come for the people of this nation to start looking seriously at that other guy, the one the media does not want you to notice.