On the West Coast, the media has focused on the "Big 3" candidates for the Presidential Race - Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, and John Edwards; but until now, Ron Paul has remained a mystery, to many.
Which begs the question...who is Ron Paul?
In the weekly newspaper, "People's Weekly World", opinion writer Jim Lane reports that he surfed over to Ron Paul's web site (www.ronpaul2008.com) and was able to rustle up a thumbnail sketch of the Presidential Candidate from Texas.
According to Lane, Paul's platform has simple-minded appeal, for American voters.
For starters, he notes that Mr. Paul is a lone rider in the Republican camp, because he apparently opposes Bush's wars and occupations abroad.
That should land him a handful of votes, eh?
The pundit goes on to report that Mr. Paul is prone to despise the..."so-called free trade deals and World Governmental organizations like the - "International Criminal Court" (ICC), "NAFTA", "GATT", "WTO" and "CAFTA".
Yeah, it's quite an alphabet soup for me to fathom, too!
Allegedly, the bold-faced Texan wants to stop the "NAFTA" highway.
And, Lanes adds, Paul condemns government spying on the citizenry - and for this reason - would like to overturn the Patriot Act.
Amen, to parts of it anyway...
Although the candidate - rearing his ugly head from behind in recent days - appears to support Social Security, Lane contends that he's a little off-base in his assessments because he oversimplifies the issue of taxing benefits and is completely mistaken about undocumented workers receiving social security benefits.
Many of Ron Paul's ideas are quite controversial too, according to Mr. Lane.
Apparently, Paul is strongly pro-gun, and anti-abortion, and condemns the United Nations.
Along the campaign trail, that should raise the ire of some.
Also, Paul opposes eminent domain - not because it is misused for corporate interests - but because he believes "property is sacred".
Ah, that platform postion will appeal to many down on the farm.
At at time when the dollar is low, and causing concern among financial analysts and the common American Joe, Paul touts returning to the Gold standard.
Well, okay!
Another position on immigrants will probably split votes, depending on who is polled; after all, Paul is anti-immigrant in stance.
Lane goes so far as to allege that Ron Paul is under the impression that there is..."no reason why the government should play any role whatsoever in stopping racism..." (!)
In sum, Lane concludes:
"What Rep. Ron Paul advocates, in short, is the idea that raw capitalism, its "invisible hand" unchecked by centuries of democratic workers' struggles, would solve all ills in 2008. It would be true, if our ills were those of serfdom or outright slavery. Capitalism did, indeed, put an end to barbarism and bring an economic system with increidibly higher standards of production and fewer horrors from the caprices of royal aristocrats. But that was 400 years ago, and this is now."
You can e mail your own thoughts & responses to Mr. Lane at: flittle7@yahoo.com
People's Weekly World is a member of the International Labor Communications Association and is published weekly.
Staff Members belong to The Newspaper Guild/CWA, AFL-CIO.