That's all fine and dandy, but Ron Paul did run as a Republican for President (in 2008, I know he ran 20 years earlier as a Libertarian,) and is a Republican representative from Texas. He either is a Republican, or he isn't. Why does he feel he needs to split hairs about what he really wants? If he's a Republican in the traditional sense, where are the rest in that party who are tired of the neo-conservative rhetoric? Why do you have to buy into social conservativism or Christian dominion theology to be taken seriously in the party? If the party really is what a lot of the people here say it is, then why aren't they shouting foul at the people who have hijacked their civil libertarian, fiscally conservative, anti-federalist roots?
I know all about Libertarianism, but it has nothing to do with what I asked about before. I want to know why Republicans aren't telling the theocrats and those who would, for example, see pot growers as morally reprehensible, to take a hike? I hear a lot of people asking muslims why they aren't more vocally or visibly outraged at terrorism. In a way, I'm asking the same thing about Republicans.
I'm a classic centrist. All political parties tend to have good ideas, and do the right and wrong things at different times. I go with what I think is best. Sometimes it's the George Bush's, sometimes the Ron Paul's, sometimes the Barack Obama's, and sometimes the Joe Lieberman's. I used to register Republican, until the dominion fundamentalists usurped the party. I can't stand them, or their pious self-righteous horse shit.
Wait, what??
If he isn't a republican or a democrat he won't get elected, period. That's why he's a republican candidate. Republicans tend to get the small gov't vote from the midwestern state towns that hate organizations like the EPA.
It's no minor difference whether he's a libertarian or a republican/conservative. It's a MAJOR difference.
This is exactly why I dislike the "two party" system we have here. People think all republicans are the same, and all democrats are the same.
I want to clear something up: I didn't vote Paul '08, and I probably won't. That said, he is not the same as the majority of republicans AT ALL. If you think he is, you clearly didn't spend a minute of time even looking at his stances.
Edit: And also, that graph is what I was referring to earlier when I was saying that I didn't care about whether or not conservatives smoked; I only care about how they do at the poll booths.