Andrew Sullivan recently posted an email message that gives voice to precisely what I’ve been feeling in the past year or more. I think many of us are feeling the same way, and if so, this is a profound moment in history. We are on the verge of a “new way”, possibly forged by the likes of Ron Paul and Barack Obama.

What’s interesting to me is that I tend to agree with the author of the email, but from the other side—I’m a Ron Paul supporter thinking that Obama might not be so bad when compared with Hillary or Giuliani. Maybe the void in our current spectrum will be filled by a coalition.

Read Toward a New Conservatism.

I’ve been awed by the number of positive news stories related to Ron Paul’s presidential bid, now that he has reported raising $5.1 million in the 3rd quarter of the year. Check out some of these quotes:

The surprisingly strong performance by Paul, an obstetrician-gynecologist from the Houston area, more than doubled his $2.3 million haul in the second quarter and reinforced the grass-roots strength of his large online fan base.

Paul has been a formidable presence in Republican presidential debates, challenging top rivals like former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain and strongly condemning the Iraq war.
(Reuters)

Paul has raised more than $8 million so far this year.

“Here’s a guy nobody is paying attention to and he’s raising real money,” said a stunned Tony Fabrizio, a Republican strategist unaffiliated in the presidential contest.
(Associated Press)

Another Paul constituency, interestingly enough, comes from the military. A study by the Center for Responsive Politics found Paul received more campaign cash from members of the military than any other Republican presidential candidate.

The study, of contributions of $200 and more during the first two quarters, shows that Paul has raised three times as much from members of the military as what’s been raised by GOP fundraising frontrunner Romney, and four times what Giuliani garnered.
(ABC News, Video Here)

Paul, who has $5.3 million cash on hand, now has his sights set even higher.

The campaign has set a goal of getting $12 million in contributions for the fourth quarter.

Fundraising in the third quarter slowed for most candidates other than Democratic front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), but in terms of growth, nobody was as successful as Paul.
(The Hill)

And, on a personal note, I just want you all to know that in a kind nod to me and the good name of Ron Paul, my sister-in-law, Leah, donated before the end of the quarter to give the campaign part of its boost. As far as I know, this is (like us) the first time she’s ever donated to a political campaign. You rock, Leah!

The Ron Paul campaign is trying to boost funds for the end-of-quarter results (end of Sept.) and has kicked off a fun campaign where the results can be seen “live” as donors participate. I donated $5 bringing our family’s total donations to the campaign just over the $200 mark.

On another note, I saw this anti-war protester via reddit.com. You’ll only get it if you speak HTML

I enjoyed this political parody of the Apple Switch ads. Have a look

Good News! Ron Paul will be in Salt Lake City tomorrow for two private fund-raising events and a public rally. If you can possibly make it, come show support for the constitution and Ron Paul’s determination to uphold its principles.

Everyone should cheer for California Secretary of State Debra Bowen and the geek squad that worked with her to find out just what security vulnerabilities existed in the 5 brands of electronic voting machines used in California.

Bowen announced that Diebold and Sequoia voting machines would not be used with the exception of people with disabilities, and that the other brands would be re-certified when certain security requirements were met.

It’s been known for some time now that these electronic voting machines are exceptionally vulnerable to hackers. That the companies who make these machines would go on record to say that “Electronic voting systems have never been successfully tampered with in an actual election” is naive at best, and seems to imply that if they have never been tampered with then they could never possibly be tampered with in the future. I’m glad that the California Secretary of State is wiser than that.

As a software engineer and computer scientist, I feel that I am in a special position to know just how easy it is to leave loopholes or backdoors in a product. There is very little stopping me, except for my own sense of honesty and perhaps a small possibility that I could potentially be caught for such mischief. But when it comes to something as sensitive as the basis of our freedom and liberty, I expect a much higher level of scrutiny on the companies and individuals who could undermine it.

The saying, “He who votes decides nothing; he who counts the votes decides everything” is attributed to Joseph Stalin. I hope this new standard of scrutiny is extended beyond the state of California.

CurrencyTrading.net has a thoughtful article on what a Ron Paul presidency would do to the U.S. dollar. The author, Jessica Hupp, weighs the risks and benefits and concludes that a move to a commodity or gold standard would be the right move in the long run.

I agree that our dollar is “on shaky ground” and that we may have some choppy times ahead, with or without the kinds of reforms that Ron Paul has advocated for 25 years. If you’re aware of the ways in which the U.S. economy is currently shifting downward, then you may feel like I do that change is inevitable. Therefore, an intentional switch back to the gold standard (with all of its short-term risks) would be far better than ignoring the fundamental problems in the economy.

If you’re curious about Ron Paul and his views on the economy, I invite you to read the aforementioned article. Taking it a step further, you might also be interested in the liberty dollar which I recently started “investing” in. I think of it as an investment in a philosophy as well as a commodity.

In an effort to open dialog and promote conservative, constitutional principles of government, I’ve joined a group of Ron Paul supporters in starting Utahns for Ron Paul 2008 on blogspot. It’s already been instrumental for me in understanding some of the issues at stake in the next election and why true conservativism really matters.

My most recent post is a summary of the interview between Tucker Carlson and Dr. Paul on MSNBC today. Take a look if you’re curious why it’s ok to trust corporations with personal information, but not the government.

Please come on over and take a look… and I’ll promise to the rest of you patient folks who don’t give a dang that I won’t post quite so often about Ron Paul over here.

So there are a bunch of really fun things going on in the good ol’ US of A in spite of all of the bad. Things like new political parties, possibilities and hope. After reading this article by Clarence Page I’m starting to think, Why not? Wouldn’t it be great to have a real alternative to the broken two-party mess we’ve gotten ourselves into? The timing seems right. Here’s my scenario:

1. Ron Paul almost makes it past the GOP primaries, but fails.
2. Dennis Kucinich (my batman hero) falls short in the Democratic primaries too.
3. The Constitution Party endorses Unity ‘08
4. Ron Paul becomes the presidential candidate for Unity ‘08, with Kucinich as VP
5. We get 4 choices for president in ‘08: Ronald Romney (R), Chic Obama (D), Perfect Paul (U) and Billionaire Bloomberg (I).

It’s a long shot, but wouldn’t it be so wonderful to get crooks out of power? I can’t see that happening in a two-party system—it’s too easy for the Rich and Powerful to play games with people when The People have only one dimension of freedom.

It’s not impossible to corrupt three parties at once, but it’s an order of magnitude more difficult. It also happens to be a little easier to start a fourth party when there’s a third—look at Canada. We see movements crop up every decade or so that changes the political scoreboard a bit and keeps everyone honest. Perhaps America could do with a good diversification too.

I’ve been thinking about this question for a while: If I really believe Ron Paul is the best man for the job, how do I help him become the next president of the United States?

Blogging about him is a little helpful, I think, but it’s mostly preaching to the choir (at least, most of his grassroot support has been brought together by the internet, so I assume you supporters are out here, reading my blog, just as I’ve read yours). So, blogging is great, but what else can I do? Here’s what I’ve thought of so far:

1. Donate. Dr. Paul made an appeal for funds during his interview with Bill Maher (he noted that “money talks”). I’ll be making an announcement regarding this aspect soon.

2. Become a Republican Delegate. “Before Ron Paul can get elected, he has to be nominated by delegates at the Republican National Convention which will take place in St. Paul, Minnesota. September 1-4, 2008.”

3. Meet up. Small or medium-sized groups can do a great deal when working together. Provo has a half-dozen or so “would-be” members of such a group. I’m considering sponsoring the group (meetup requires money to form a group).

4. Represent Ron Paul Well. There are a number of reasons why we might feel justified in participating in angry outbursts of extreme activism. There is a lot of anger in America right now, on all sides. But as a representative of the good things in Dr. Paul, we must meet violence with peace, and anger with understanding. If Dr. Paul is represented well, for the good man that he is, the good people of this land will be attracted to him.

Good luck, and God bless!