Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post - The Pavlina 2012 Republican Presidential Primary Election

Curtis2011 · 12-03-2011, 07:42 AM

Honestly none of the candidates fully satisfy me. I like Ron Paul's focus on spending cuts and smaller government for his economic plan, but there are some other things I disagree with him on.

Another thing I can't understand is why so many of the Republicans are advocating a flat tax as their economic plan, as if our tax system had anything to do with causing the 2008 recession in the first place. It's just stupid really, whether you are looking at it just as a policy or as a platform upon which they will attempt to defeat Barack Obama. The country is coming out of a recession, and most people can easily understand that a flat tax helps wealthier people more than it helps poorer people, and frankly "let's help out the rich folks" is a ridiculously moronic economic platform for any candidate to run on during poor economic times such as today.

Up next comes the defense spending. I hate Republicans who blindly refuse to cut defense spending, as if we actually need to spend more than $750B per year on "defense" aka "offense" in order to keep our country safe. And this is while members of Congress say it would "cost too much" to fully secure our border with Mexico, which is where any terrorists are going to enter our country in the first place if they try to smuggle a bomb in or any other dangerous substance.

Another issue that has come up is foreign aid, which is such a small part of government expense that even a dumbass of a President couldn't ruin our country with it (thank God). IMO foreign aid can act as a strategic tool to influence other countries' actions, and should be treated as such. This is one point where I disagree with Ron Paul's statement that we should discontinue all foreign aid because the Constitution doesn't allow it. Whether or not it is Constitutional, there are probably some cases where giving foreign aid to other countries is in the best interest of the United States; where the benefits of influencing others countries' behaviors outweigh the cost in dollars that we spend on the aid given to those countries.

I guess I could outline more points but instead I'll just summarize by saying that I'm disappointed in the overall selection of candidates.

12-03-2011, 07:42 AM	#5 (permalink)
Curtis2011 Family Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 2,950	Honestly none of the candidates fully satisfy me. I like Ron Paul's focus on spending cuts and smaller government for his economic plan, but there are some other things I disagree with him on. Another thing I can't understand is why so many of the Republicans are advocating a flat tax as their economic plan, as if our tax system had anything to do with causing the 2008 recession in the first place. It's just stupid really, whether you are looking at it just as a policy or as a platform upon which they will attempt to defeat Barack Obama. The country is coming out of a recession, and most people can easily understand that a flat tax helps wealthier people more than it helps poorer people, and frankly "let's help out the rich folks" is a ridiculously moronic economic platform for any candidate to run on during poor economic times such as today. Up next comes the defense spending. I hate Republicans who blindly refuse to cut defense spending, as if we actually need to spend more than $750B per year on "defense" aka "offense" in order to keep our country safe. And this is while members of Congress say it would "cost too much" to fully secure our border with Mexico, which is where any terrorists are going to enter our country in the first place if they try to smuggle a bomb in or any other dangerous substance. Another issue that has come up is foreign aid, which is such a small part of government expense that even a dumbass of a President couldn't ruin our country with it (thank God). IMO foreign aid can act as a strategic tool to influence other countries' actions, and should be treated as such. This is one point where I disagree with Ron Paul's statement that we should discontinue all foreign aid because the Constitution doesn't allow it. Whether or not it is Constitutional, there are probably some cases where giving foreign aid to other countries is in the best interest of the United States; where the benefits of influencing others countries' behaviors outweigh the cost in dollars that we spend on the aid given to those countries. I guess I could outline more points but instead I'll just summarize by saying that I'm disappointed in the overall selection of candidates.