CASSOPOLIS — Ron Paul, “godfather of the Tea Party,” hasn’t changed, but America is “coming around” to his strain of Libertarian Republican politics, according to his regional coordinator for Cass County, Brett Pepper.

Four people — three young first-time voters from Niles — braved Tuesday night’s treacherous roads to strategize at Cass District Library with Pepper, of Edwardsburg, about Michigan’s Feb. 28 primary.

Jan. 30 is the cutoff to register to vote.
Often dismissed as an “unelectable” candidate, supporters of the Texas congressman see that changing. Polls show Mitt Romney tied with President Barack Obama in a general election matchup. The president is vulnerable on the economy. And Romney is seen as out of touch with ordinary Americans.

A CNN/ORC International Poll released Monday indicates Paul has also drawn even with Obama in another possible November showdown.
Paul bests Obama 49 to 45 percent among persons 65 and older who reliably turn out to vote.

Paul also beats Obama among persons 50 to 64 by a 47-45 percent margin.

Voters over 50 would deliver Paul victory over Obama, 48 to 45 percent.

Versus Obama, Paul wins the Midwest, 51 to 45 percent.

Pepper said, “He is electable, which makes (critics) look more and more discredited. The more they talk about it, his poll numbers go up. Freedom brings everyone together. When I started researching the condition of our country, I felt obligated to doing something to stop this. The message has to keep going, even if he doesn’t win. It seems like a lot of brush fires are being lit that could really turn into something that changes the direction of this country. He crosses so many (political labels) they’re having a hard time putting it out. He’s hard to categorize.

“We don’t have free markets. We have crony capitalism by a Federal Reserve that can print money out of thin air with no accountability. They control interest rates and sit in their ivory towers, looking at us as herds of cattle. That’s changing,” the father of two said.

“We’re losing our civil liberties, obviously, with the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) and this National Defense Authorization Act, which Obama just signed ‘with reluctance.’ It allows him to detain American citizens without any due process. Romney said in the debate he would have signed it, too. As people start to think that over, that’s going to be a big deal.”

Tea Party concerns with Paul’s foreign policy boil down to, “like Ron Paul described last night, the difference between militarism and national defense. We need to be clear about that because a billion-dollar embassy in Baghdad is not national defense, it’s a waste. If you want to cut anything, you’re cutting ‘national defense.’ You’ve got warfare on one side and welfare on the other. Both ultimately lead to massive deficits. We have to be clear in defining national defense.

“Ron Paul talks about blowback from us intervening in these countries. I don’t support Hamas, but it was democratically elected to run the Palestinian government. How can we tell anyone how to run their lives when everything here is a mess?

“We should be friends with Israel, but in Ron Paul’s view, why should they sacrifice their sovereignty? It’s ludicrous to say he isn’t a friend of Israel. He’s just saying they have the ability to take care of themselves and we’re broke.

“We need to get our own house in order. Our rights are being whittled away on a massive scale, and he’s the only one talking about protecting civil liberties.”