By: Chance Johnson
This election
season, the Republican Party has a variety of candidates vying to make
President Barack Obama a one-term president.
In many ways, the similarities of these candidates end here.
Attending
the political rallies of two of these contenders, a week apart from one
another, gave a very intimate look into what the candidates have planned for
the United States
if elected. Texas Congressman Ron Paul (R-
Texas) and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney visited Northern
Colorado in an attempt to woo voters.
Congressman
Paul was present at Colorado
State University
on Jan. 31. Standing in line for the
event, one might say that this crowd of young people displayed a striking
resemblance to those who elected Obama in 2008.
Among a sea of long hair, tattoos and piercings, the event could hardly
resembled a rally for a Republican candidate.
“He wants a gold backed dollar, and I support
that!”
“He
understands Keynesian Economics.”
These
are a just a few opinions overheard while standing in line waiting to find a
seat to listen to Ron Paul.
. Paul
exhibits an extremely libertarian based ideology. This is appealing for young people who are
attracted to personal liberty. These
young voters often long to live their lives as they see fit without judgement,
but maintaining conservative principles.
“I
have a very conservative foundation, but I believe in personal freedom without
government interference,” said Jason, an enthusiastic supporter in line for the
event.
With
the Lory Student Center
main ballroom packed with over 1,200 bodies, the excitement was palpable for
Ron Paul. Supporters poured in like fans
at a rock concert grabbing a front row view. Once Congressman Paul finally walked out, the
supporters leapt out of their seats, all eager anticipation finally relieved.
Paul,
wasted no time bringing up his foreign policy, or lack-thereof. “I’m constantly being told that if I took up
a war mongering neo-con policy, policing the world, my numbers would grow” said
Paul. This is where Paul differs the
most with his Republican counterparts.
He upholds the belief that the United States has no business
having such great a presence around the world, and certainly not being involved
in the current war. “No war should be
fought unless declared. Both parties are
doing this” he said.
Further
reinforcing his agenda for a Libertarian style of government, Paul stated “the
government’s role should be very minor-to protect liberty, not to undermine
what’s already ours.”
Striking a cord
with the young crowd, the GOP candidate stated that the war on drugs is
“unwinable” and that we “need to cancel it.”
He made the comparison to alcohol stating “we should treat the drug
problem the same way we treat alcoholism…treat it clinically instead of locking
people up.”
As
Paul focused on social issues, Mitt Romney would aim his speech a week later on
policies differences with the president.
Governor Mitt
Romney arrived in Johnstown
on Feb. 7 to a conservative crowd.
Mostly middle aged to older, with a few young people dispersed
throughout.
RV America was the
venue, one of the countries largest RV dealerships. Weld County GOP leader Bradley Dangerfield
paid recognition to the dealership’s immigrant owner and his display of
entrepreneurial success via the American Dream and capitalism.
When asked why
Romney decided to come to Northern Colorado,
Dangerfield simply stated “because I asked him to. We literally put this together starting last
Friday.” Being more specific, he said “Northern
Colorado- Loveland, Greeley, Fort
Collins, are all growing so he decided to come
here. This area has a lot of Republican
support.”
Although the crowd
was certainly upbeat, it was missing the rock concert feel of the Paul event. Dangerfield seemed to have difficulty
mustering a chant from the crowd.
David and Chris
both of Denver,
exemplified a couple of the younger faces in the crowd. When asked why they were at the event
supporting Romney, David recalled the private sector experience that Romney has
had as a CEO.
Chris pointed out
that he appreciates the character of the governor “especially in comparison to
Newt Gingrich.” Comparing David and
Chris to the young supporters of Ron Paul the previous week, Chris stated that
he parted ways with Paul because of “the idea of conflict and how he is so
quick to back out of it. It disturbs
me.” This is in reference to Congressman
Paul’s stance on decreasing the United
States’ military around the globe.
After running
about 30 minutes late for the event, Romney finally arrived. The presidential candidate’s bus was pulled
nearly right up to the stage. Governor
Romney hopped out of the bus and onto the stage.
What was most
significant about the speech that Paul gave in comparison to Romney were the
attacks. Congressman Paul, although
mentioning Obama, spent the majority of his time pointing out the flaws of his
GOP opponents. Romney, on the other
hand, made no mention of the other Republican candidates, and went straight to
attacking the president.
Romney cut to the
chase pointing out that he felt the president was using the government to
interfere with the private sector.
Regarding the government’s investment in energy via the solar plant
Solyndra, he stated “The president put $500 million into Solyndra, discouraging
innovation. Investors realized they
could not gain capital this way.”
After this, Romney
brought up the health care debate, equating it to the way the U.S. Postal
Service and the Department of Motor Vehicle are handled. “When there were challenges in health care,
the government took it over. Day one of
my presidency, I will repeal it.”
Wasting barely
enough time to take a breath, Romney went through a checklist of issues, moving
on to foreign policy. This was another
departure from Congressman Paul’s policies.
“Obama said that within the first year of taking office, he would meet
with our enemies. None of them met with
him. We need to stand with our values
and beliefs and our friends around the world!”
Contrasting
himself further from Obama’s current issues regarding the downsizing of the US military,
Romney suggested expanding the military.
“We have fewer ships in the Navy since 1917 and fewer aircraft in the
Air Force since World War Two. I want
the strongest military in the world because I don’t want anyone thinking they
can test the U.S.
military.”
Rounding the bases
with religion as the next topic in the 20-minute speech, Romney used current
events to describe a controversy to the Catholic faith. He used the example of employers’ providing
health insurance and that birth control must be covered, regardless of the
employer’s religious stance or affiliation. “There is a threat to religion. Catholics, under Obama Care, have to provide
birth control and emergency contraceptive.”
“Life, liberty,
pursuit of happiness. The government
does not tell us how to pursue these.
The success of dreamers does not make us poorer. We will stay an opportunity nation if I’m
president. We will not be a land of
entitlement!”
The secret service
flanked Romney and surrounded the stage.
Paul’s wife and aids were the only people by his side.
Romney’s event had
the same five pop country songs on a constant loop. Paul’s had a folk singer playing solo
acoustic guitar.
Fighting a common
enemy, there is little evidence that these two candidates are essentially on
the same team. Paul and Romney are only
two out of a handful and Republican candidates arguing who is best equipped to
take on Obama. It is interesting to
examine how demographics are broken down.
Subgroup by subgroup. For now the
voters remain divided on principle.
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