YOUR COMMENTS

Ron Paul does not advocate an "anything goes" society. This is a gross distortion of the simple political philosophy that has made Dr. Paul's candidacy resonate with American's across the political spectrum. He advocates that, in accordance with the US Constitution, rights belong to individuals, not groups, property rights belong to the people, not the government, government exists to protect liberty, not to redistribute wealth or to grant special privileges, and the lives and actions of people are their own responsibility, not the government's.

This is the vision of the founding fathers, being brought back into the national conciousness by a man who does not bend his core principles to outside pressure, as his admirable and consistent congressional voting record demonstrates. http://www.house.gov/paul/
- Kevin Olson, Nashua

Ron Paul will do well in primary election where people can express their views in secrecy. The reason Ron Paul's poll numbers are so low, because people are embarrassed to admit they agree with his "unpatriotic" views. However, last nights post-debate numbers showed 36 percent of Americans thought he did best in the debate, and he had the best response from the crowd. People agree with Ron Paul's unpopular views, and are just afraid people will findout. When they are alone in the voting booth, their true feelings will come out.
- Marc, Hampstead

For the nay sayers who think that Paul's only support is from Free Staters. I'll have you know that the majority of the people at the debate were NOT Free Staters. This is the "Live Free or Die" state and plenty of locals were supporters of small government before the FSP came around and a lot more have become active. I was born here and I'm a staunch Paul supporters and so are many locals I know.
- Nick Michelewicz, Keene

I agree with the statements that Steve from Derry is making. Ron Paul is espousing extremely Libertarian points of view. While I have nothing against the Libertarians and I agree with them on many issues, Ron Paul goes to an extreme. In my view a vote for Ron Paul is a vote for anarchy (both here and abroad).
- Brian, Manchester, NH

I'm a bit disappointed that the debate was not broadcast on station NHPTV (Ch. 11), of all places. One might think the debate would have been given it was right there on the UNH campus and the home locale of NH public TV.

I have 'basic cable' mostly by choice and some necessity so I don't get 'Fox News' proper.

I tried a few times to watch the debate online from live streaming on the Fox News Web site but that was not working well despite my broadband Comcast connection.

I'll try to find and view it online from the Fox News Web site or YouTube. As a last resort I suppose I can read the debate transcripts but that lacks the nuances of the candidates, much like blogs and/ or e-mail messages. Any other ideas?
- Rick, Manchester

Why is Ron Paul in a republican debate? isn't he a Libertarian?
- Jeff Comeau, Manchester NH

Jay, my personal experience with "free staters" are that they tend to want to reduce taxes and governmental control for one of several reasons: 1) to legalize the creation, distribution and use of drugs, 2) to legalize prostitution, 3) to eliminate the control that police forces and the like have over those in society that don't like to follow the laws of the land. Maybe my reasonably small set of data points is inaccurate, but that is what I have found. I find that most of that type of "libretarian" are now supporting Ron Paul. I am sure you will try to correct me where I am wrong. My opinion is that over 200+ years, the people of this country have consistently voted to establish a government and laws that protect things other than the right to do whatever you want. Many of the rules and laws you disagree with were established for the express purpose of preventing the type of "everything goes" society that Ron Paul advocates.
- Steve, Derry

Steve, from Derry- way to take W.'s lead and marginalize anyone who has a dissenting opinion, regardless of how blatantly uninformed, grossly inaccurate and incredibly poor in taste your assertions and comparisons are. You must be proud. And here I thought the Union Leader wouldn't post comments that are in bad taste. I guess comparing a Presidential candidate and the entire segment of the population who supports him to the Taliban is classy. Way to go Steve and the Union Leader. I guess ignorance is the new fad in politics and journalism.
- Jay, Manchester NH

As one of the many of the undeclared voters here in NH, I haven't even decided which primary I am going to vote in, but I'm leaning Republican to vote for Ron Paul. He is the only Republican that makes sense in the current lineup and the GOP will go down to defeat if they nominate a pro-war candidate, which seems very likely.
- Matthew Taylor, Washington, NH

I don't understand why Paul and his backers criticize the situation in Iraq. They seem to advocate for a similar situation in America: no real government, local control by rugged individuals and militias, no laws that infringe on individual beliefs. Come to think of it, their movement shouldn't be the "Free State Project"; maybe they could be known as the "Pauliban".
- Steve, Derry

The debate had some interesting moments. Dr. Paul was in top form, taking it to the neo-conservative war-mongers. I couldn't support war-mongering McCain, but I do respect him for his anti-torture stance, and he generally looked sharp last night. And the commentor from Atlanta is right, only an amateur would laugh at other candidates during a debate. That doesn't help the Republican party.
- Mike W, PG County, Maryland

The RON PAUL TRUTH will prevail.

Finally, we have a true Constitutionalist / Republican with a strong backbone who hasn't changed his position in over 10, 20, 30 years. Which is "Government was created to protect our INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS / PRIVATE PROPERTY, period!!!"

If you believe that you are an intelligent enough person to govern your own life, that you have the right to own property 100% (money, car, house, etc.) without goverment interference (taxation), that the majority of our biggest problems would simply not even exist if the government would just keep their nose out of everyone's private business (foreign and domestic), than you really need to consider RON PAUL. He's the ONLY candidate whose purpose/objective/mission is to return America back to where it belongs, the sovereign "WE THE PEOPLE".
- Paul Comeau, Candia, NH

If this region becomes further destabilized (i.e. if Ron Paul were elected and simply left, leaving the area completely unpatrolled and in chaos) it is not just the Middle East that is going to suffer from aggressive ideologies – it is also the west, us and our allies. You don't simply abandon a country of millions of civilians because your war strategies have failed, largely due to an incompetent administration. Paul is right we don't continue the mistake, we correct it... but just as Huckabee said, that is what we do on the floor of the Senate. A vote for Paul would be a vote for years of unchecked genocide… Huckabee is the real Ronald Reagan in this race, but I’m afraid no one will catch on until he ends up VP.
www.mikehuckabee.com
- Ryan McBain, Marblehead, MA

What a bunch or rude jerks, to laugh at another candidate while they are being questioned is appalling. At the very least you show class and respect for someone while they are given mic time. If you treat a fellow member of your party that way imagine how you will treat people that you serve????
- mike, Atlanta

It was a proactive and successful debate. McCain won, imo, and Guiliani second. Thompson is still favored and rightfully so, he has all the qualities the USA needs to succeed on many levels.
- Jan, Lee, NH

It will be interesting to see the exact differences in all the candidates positions on what to do with the 20 million illegals here, now that Thompson comes in.

Immigration and Iraq are going to be the two big issues.

However, at any time, this North American Union agreement (SPP), which has never been ratified by Congress, may blow up. Judical Watch has sued, and has a Bush government document stating that as Americans will resist North American integration, it has to be done in secret by "evolutionary stealth.".google www. stopnorthamericanunion.com for more info.
- Bettybb, San Jose, CA

The only real conservative in the bunch is Ron Paul. He is the only Constitutional Conservative in the race. He actually believes in and defends our Constitution as it was written and does not and has NEVER voted for pork or to enrich himself.

Ron Paul has my vote, period. No other person in the race truly understands what needs to be done to fix the mess we are in right now.

http://www.ronpaul2008.com/
- Bob Hoskins, New Boston