Ron Paul's scandal

Let's state it baldly:

Ron Paul passes along the earmarks his constituents ask for. Then he votes against the spending bill they're attached to knowing that he'll fail to block it. He gets credit in his district for bringing home the bacon.

He gets elected and re-elected. And, let's not forget, he gets credit from guys like me, outside of his district, who like his anti-pork, anti-Big Government voting record.

He even says that the earmark reforms that have been presented to him aren't worth a darn. He hasn't yet, but he should be required very soon to make a case against them that would prove to you that they're no better than McCain-Feingold (Campaign Finance Reform) or Sarbanes-Oxley (Corporate Finance transparency reform).

Well, let me just make my excuses for this behavior. He's displaying both the anti-Big Government bias that I support combined with an insider's realism - a sort of Libertarian Realpolitik - that I can appreciate.

I don't think he's playing games with either of us - neither his local constituents, nor those of us who wish to be his national constituents. He's been forthright about what he's been doing.

BTW, I should say, somewhere in here, that local Ron Paul activists would find it surprising if you were to accuse me of speaking out as one of their membership. I haven't been to a meeting since the first one, and I've kind of lost track of where they moved my local one to, since they split up the Mpls and St. Paul Meet-Ups. I'm not getting much info on what they're up to, lately. I've donated $35 to his campaign, so far, and no doubt I'll contribute more before November 2008, so I do care.

Whoop! Gotta go!