And the Winner of the 2016 Presidential Election Is (and He Also Won in 2008 and 2012) Is…Ron Paul

In 2016, we had an event unprecedented in US history – the same person won three consecutive Presidential elections.  And it did not even violate the 22nd Amendment!

That person was former Texas Congressman Ron Paul (Ronulus Magnus II for me); now hear me out:

In 2008, Paul won the election – not the office – but his ideas were heard in the GOP primaries and millions heard them – it planted a seed for the future.  The first Tea Party event was the December 16, 2007 money bomb and rally in Boston in support of Ron Paul.

In 2012, Paul ran again – and gained even more followers (and some of the local/state GOP organizations, too) and extended the ideas of liberty.  His people “won” several blocs of delegates (enough states that the Romney people cheated twice I understand to keep the Paul supporters from bring his name to the floor [I almost voted for Gary Johnson over this and believe me, had it not been necessary to vote out President Obama – alas unsuccessfully – I would have voted LP!] and having a moment of glory in an otherwise scripted convention.) and now tea party and other groups began to pick up more of Paul’s issues:  Surveillance state, civil forfeiture, smaller government, non-intervention, audit the Fed, education as state/local issue, sovereignty issues, etc.

Remember these Paul greatest hits:

In answer to the question to name three agencies of the Federal Government to abolish (I paraphrase):

“I’d start with the departments:  The Departments of Energy, Education and Homeland Security…”

This hit almost immediately led to the famous encounter with my new hero – former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani over 9/11.

Trump called for the abolition of the Department of Education and is against Common Core (which is a gateway to a national curriculum):

Trump has said he’d dismantle the Education Department — a decades-old conservative talking point. Still, a complete shutdown of the agency is unlikely to happen. His surrogates have said he’ll at least “downsize” the department to an entity that just allocates funding.

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Some of his pitches, like scrapping Common Core and ending political correctness on campus, are clearly outside the bounds of what a president can actually do.

(BTW, memo to the writer at Politico:  Yes he can – use Federal influence and maybe funds too to discourage the states from taking Common Core and implementing speech codes and the like.  Let’s call it Global Warming for snowflake protection!)

How about the one where Newt Gingrich was talking about $2.50 a gallon gas (in 2012) and Paul showed a silver dime and said (in effect):

“I can do Newt one better – I can promise you a gallon of gas for a dime (and Paul shows the silver dime) if you use this silver dime…”

So now in 2016, Donald Trump wins the Presidency with an “America First” foreign policy – no unnecessary wars, ending the so-called global warming treaty, making our allies pay a larger share of expenses of their own defense, no more policeman of the world, skepticism about the UN and world institutions, support for Brexit, better trade agreements etc…

Take these gems from Trump’s speech in Detroit:

The direction I will outline today will also return us to a timeless principle. My foreign policy will always put the interests of the American people, and American security, above all else. That will be the foundation of every decision that I will make.

America First will be the major and overriding theme of my administration.

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It all began with the dangerous idea that we could make Western democracies out of countries that had no experience or interest in becoming a Western Democracy.

We tore up what institutions they had and then were surprised at what we unleashed. Civil war, religious fanaticism; thousands of American lives, and many trillions of dollars, were lost as a result. The vacuum was created that ISIS would fill. Iran, too, would rush in and fill the void, much to their unjust enrichment.

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We are getting out of the nation-building business, and instead focusing on creating stability in the world.

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However, unlike other candidates for the presidency, war and aggression will not be my first instinct. You cannot have a foreign policy without diplomacy. A superpower understands that caution and restraint are signs of strength.

Although not in government service, I was totally against the War in Iraq, saying for many years that it would destabilize the Middle East. Sadly, I was correct, and the biggest beneficiary was Iran, who is systematically taking over Iraq and gaining access to their rich oil reserves – something it has wanted to do for decades. And now, to top it all off, we have ISIS.

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We will no longer surrender this country, or its people, to the false song of globalism.

The nation-state remains the true foundation for happiness and harmony. I am skeptical of international unions that tie us up and bring America down, and will never enter America into any agreement that reduces our ability to control our own affairs.

Now not all Trump’s foreign policy is Ron Paul’s:  The former Texas Congressman might not be as favorable toward Israel and Trump favors economic sanctions against Iran that Paul (and I, too) oppose.

So, over 57 million people voted for what is essentially a Ron Paul foreign policy – and his foreign policy was his most controversial plank in his platform – and a number of the domestic policies too.  Yes, Ron Paul won the election in 2016 – not the office – but his issues are shaping the nation.  Go have that sweet tea or if you are inclined (I do not touch alcohol) a glass of wine from a Trump winery.  Zola wrote (and I paraphrase):  Truth is on the march and nothing shall stop it!

Article written by: Elwood “Sandy” Sanders