I have an acquaintance, you would think he would be a friend, but we are not. Not even on Facebook. We go to similar churches. We are roughly the same age. Right now he is a missionary in India. I even support the ministry that is helping his efforts. I think that many who read my blog will know who he is. But yet we are not friends. Why? Politics.
This is a Still from the Famous Johnson Daisy Ad. A Vote For Johnson Was A Vote For Peace.I heard it said once that if Satan cannot get at you any other way he will waste your time. What is a bigger waste of time than politics? It would be an unusual election where the elites that run the country let voters decide anything.
I was too young to vote in the 1964 election but I remember an old joke from that election: "In the 1964 election I was told by some pundits that if I voted for Goldwater we would soon be in a land war in Asia. I voted for Goldwater, and yes we were soon in a land war in Asia!" But not because Goldwater won. He didn’t. Johnson did. Voting for Goldwater or Johnson in 1964 did not matter on the issue of Vietnam. Voting for Obama or McCain did not matter on the issues of war that we have today.
Sure there are differences. Aqua is a different color than turquoise, isn't it?
Ron Paul supporters are finding this out. Ron Paul is so different that he cannot be allowed to even have a modest success. A lot of delegates are chosen by convoluted caucus systems. This is how Obama won. He concentrated on delegates, not votes. Paul is trying such a strategy. He is having less success. One reason is that the establishment is cheating.
If you want to understand why so many Paul supporters are angry, watch the video.
This is happening all over the country. The strategy of the establishment is now to forbid video recordings, so you may not see too many more videos like this. Here is an article about a Missouri Caucus.
In St. Charles, an exurb of St. Louis and one of the state’s largest GOP counties, Paul supporters sought to elect their own chairman and adopt their own rules when proceedings opened — both of which are part of standard caucus rules and procedure. But as they argued with the caucus chair, Paul supporters held video cameras — against caucus rules, according to a GOP official who was there — and things became contentious.
(This is the end of the quote. If I was a conspiracy theorist I would conclude that there was a plot to keep me from formatting the quote properly. But alas I am sure there is some emdeded code I can not get rid of. One hour is enough time spent on formatting one blog post.)
No delegates were selected, yet a full slate of delegates was sent to the state convention. It will be interesting to see how that will turn out. My guess is that those arrested were those that refused to turn off their cameras. If you actually watched the video, you can see why they wanted the videos on, and why the establishment wanted them off.
I was called a coward on Facebook because I pointed these things out and said I would not vote for Romney. Maybe I am a coward. Cowardice can serve you well: as the Chinese say, the tallest tree is chopped down first.
I am reminded of a game my boys and I played at Shoney's. It was a rather typical kid’s game, heads you went one space, tails you went two, with Shoney the bear smiling in approval. We discovered quickly that there was one section where you needed to be able to move three spaces from a coin toss to pass. A coin does not have three sides. We quit the game, as it was impossible to win. Paul supporters will quit the "game" when they realize they can't win. Hello President Obama.
As you can see the outcome of the Republican nomination is all but decided already—it is Romney's turn.
So the whole process is a waste of time. Remember what Joseph Stalin probably never said, "It does not matter who votes, it matters who counts the votes." Are Ron Paul supporters naïve to expect anything different? Yes.