US Presidential Campaign in Korea?

A blimp is spotted somewhere along the U.S. east coast, showing Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul's political tendency.

By David Watermeyer
Contributing Writer

In December last year, a blimp went up in North Carolina and headed for Baltimore, Maryland. It is still up and running along the U.S. east coast. On its side it has the bold letters ``Who is Ron Paul?'' displayed.

Few Americans even know this man is one of the Republican candidates in the just-started presidential race, let alone much about him. Yet surprisingly, if money talks, he is the one most supported by U.S. troops who have contributed vastly more to his campaign than they have to any other candidate.

Ironically, this man is also calling for an immediate end to the war in Iraq. ``Bring the troops home right now'' he says. Ron Paul stands out from all other candidates for this race as being opposed to foreign intervention.

Korea is one of 29 countries that have meet-up groups supporting Ron Paul outside the United States. No other candidate has anything vaguely matching this level of enthusiasm, said George Whitfield, owner of a recruiting company in Seoul and founder of the Ron Paul local campaigning group.

The amount of money raised for Paul's campaign exceeds any other candidate and in fact on December 16, 2007, Paul raised the most ever for a candidate in one day in U.S. political history, raising over $6 million in 24 hours through grassroots effort.

I sat down with the Seoul Ron Paul Meet-up group, which has been active since early 2007, in a local coffee shop to find out more about this now 48 strong group and learned how Ron Paul's campaign has had vastly more contributions ― 50 percent of all contributions made in fact ― from U.S troops and asked them why.

Jeff Schulman, 28, who was a marine until quite recently had this is to say: ``The troops on the ground have more insight into the situation in the conflict zones, and on the world stage. They see what's going on from a first-person perspective ― not from news snippets or editorials. So they know that Ron Paul's positions are the closest to the truth from what they observe and experience.''

Whitfield, who has been in Korea 27 years, added that when troops join the army they swear to uphold the Constitution. For them, he said, it is not something abstract and debatable but something real and something for which they bear the brunt.

Which brings us to the kernel of Ron Paul's position: that the Constitution of the United States is of paramount importance and should be upheld as something which protects what is most important ― the liberties of the citizens of the United States.

Paul, a libertarian who worked for more than 20 years as a gynecologist in Texas before entering politics and becoming a Congressman, believes that tampering with and disrespecting the constitution drawn up by the founding fathers is something that is done at great peril to Americans.

It is his libertarianism, a philosophy by which an individual's rights to ownership of self (rather than being owned by the state or an organization) and property that is central to his beliefs. Other famous libertarians include Milton Friedman, Ludwig von Mises, and Friedrich Hayek.

This leads us to Paul's strong position on taxation. Richard Rodriguez, an English teacher and active member of the Ron Paul Seoul Group, made note of the fact that Congressman Paul had never voted for an increase in taxation in Congress.

``He was voted tax payers' best friend and the most ethical congressman,'' Rodriguez told us. Whitfield added, ``If you want to lower taxes he's the man to vote for. Ron Paul is on record as never having voted for increasing taxes.''

This hard-line position Paul has toward taxes comes from his strong belief in the individual's right to do with his hard-earned money what he wants rather than having the government take it through taxation and then use it for such things as financing foreign military adventures and subsidizing certain businesses and individuals deemed worthy, including wealthy businesses such as oil companies.

Economics is central to Paul's position and it is the true free market, not something dressed to look that way, which he believes in. Arguably the most important issue in life is health and as a doctor Paul does not see the welfare state as being ideal for a nation's health.

For him costs go up, corporations start taking over the health care industry, and the doctor-to-patient personal relationship is lost in a huge bureaucracy in which naturally occurring competition between health-givers is lost. This ends up by patients getting less quality care and paying more.

Ron Paul once contemplated becoming a Lutheran Minister but then decided to go into medicine. In 1963, he was drafted and found himself working as a military doctor in South Korea, Iran, Ethiopia, and Turkey. ``There are hundreds of vets whose lives he saved during that time and who are still living and you can see interviews with them on YouTube,'' Rodriguez said.

After returning to the U.S., he went into Obstetrics to become a gynecologist, a career he pursued full time until he went into politics. Even after entering politics he continued for many years to deliver babies on Mondays and Saturdays.

What prompted Paul to go into politics is reportedly the decision on August 15, 1971, by President Richard Nixon to close the ``gold window,'' an action that saw the U.S. dollar's complete departure from the gold standard.

The physician, then in his 30s, decided to enter politics, and is quoted as saying later, ``After that day, all money would be political money rather than money of real value. I was astounded.''

Whitfield elaborated by saying that what concerns Ron Paul's supporters is ``the effect of the Federal Reserve's actions on our economy and our money. The dollar has been going down for several years and is foreseen to be declining in value and that's because, contrary to the Constitution, it's not backed by gold and silver.

There's no longer a link ― its just money created out of thin air by the Reserve Bank and as the numbers of dollars accumulates, each dollar becomes less in value and prices rise.

And the people on fixed income in the middle classes are paying for this through invisible inflation tax.'' It is for this reason that Ron Paul wants a return to the Constitution, which calls for the dollar to be backed by hard assets.

The activities of the Seoul Ron Paul group that meets once a month in local coffee shops are characteristic of the grassroots style of Ron Paul's support base. One project is the writing of personal letters by hand to constituents in advance of the primaries.

Many of the members of the group have written hundreds of such letters explaining why they advocate supporting Ron Paul. The group was also invited to the Republicans' abroad annual thanksgiving dinner event in Seoul in December where a straw poll was held for favorite presidential candidates. Paul won hands down taking over 50 percent of the votes.

Whitfield summed up the rapidly growing support: ``The people really respect Ron Paul because they believe he is honest, he is principled, he is consistent, he is dedicated, he is ethical…they can look at his past voting record and his record of service and his personal life, and all of that fits together so strongly, and so well.

``He just is someone you respect and that is really resonating with the people because if you compare him with the other candidates ― if they really believe in small government, in peace and prosperity ― he is the most consistent, and believable candidate _ he is authentic and he really comes across to people in that way. Basically they know they are not being lied to.''

For information regarding the group or Ron Paul, email George Whitfield at whitfieldg_kr@yahoo.com or visit the `Seoul Ron Paul Meetup Group 2008' on the Internet.

davidnwatermeyer@yahoo.co.uk

Site Map E-paper Subscribe Register LogIn
Site Map E-paper Subscribe Register LogIn