US Veteran Politician Ron Paul Retires – OpEd

By Vladimir Gladkov

The legendary Ron Paul, a 77-year-old US congressman, is now quitting big politics. Thousands of his supporters have already set a grandiose farewell ceremony for him.

Mr. Paul has run for the presidency tree times, but never got really far. Still, practically during his entire political career, he was one of America’s most influential politicians. It may be said without exaggeration that Ron Paul was “the face” of the Republican Party – and now, after his retirement, there appears a big threat that the party may, so to say, have no face at all. There is a big possibility that the Republicans will now turn from a political party into a certain organization of people who will do nothing except lobby the interests of a number of giant business companies and criticize their perpetual opponents, the Democrats.

Ron Paul, a Doctor of Science in medicine who once served in the US Air Force, came into big politics in 1971. During the many decades while he was a congressman, he won the respect of practically all the political forces in the US. Mr. Paul’s political convictions include both conservative and moderately liberal elements. Conservatively-minded politicians respect him for his idea that the interference of the state in people’s private life should be limited to the minimum. Democrats have a liking for his liberal views on the problems of foreign policy.

Mr. Paul is also known as the initiator of the so-called “Tea Party” movement, which is aimed against thoughtless budget expenditures which some US politicians practice. If not for Ron Paul, the Republican Party would have probably turned into a group of practical and unprincipled politicians who would do nothing but support the interests of a bunch of tycoons.

However, despite the fact that he is liked and supported by many people, Ron Paul never became the US president. Still, his influence on the country’s political life was probably even bigger than that of some of the presidents. Probably, Mr. Paul’s largest contribution to his country was the fact that it was on his initiative that the dollar again became tired to the gold reserve after this security had been abolished by President Nixon.

However, although Mr. Paul, a member of the Republican Party, is still admired by many US citizens, quite a few of his admirers are not going to vote for the Republican candidate at the coming presidential elections. Unlike Ron Paul, the current Republican candidate for presidency, Mitt Romney and his associates seem to have no clearly defined political program. In fact, all that Mr. Romney and his team seem to be doing now is to criticize Barack Obama for nearly every his step.

True, President Obama probably really deserves to be criticized for some of his steps. He has not fulfilled most of the promises of his pre-election campaign of 2008. But it would be totally wrong to say that Mr. Obama has not done anything good. Under his presidency, the world’s most dreadful terrorist Osama Bin Laden was eliminated. The reform of medical insurance, initiated by Mr. Obama, was held, in most points, successfully. His announcement of an amnesty for illegal migrants was surely beneficial for the US economy. However, all what Republicans were doing during Mr. Obama’s presidency was trying to hamper his good undertakings and lobbying the interests of tycoons, including weapon producers.

It has also turned out that sometimes, Republicans’ deeds disagree with their words. An eloquent example of this is a recent scandal which has to do with Mitt Romney. In his speeches, Mr. Romney often says that the US should have a policy which would prevent the flight of jobs from the country. But it turned out recently that a company headed by Mr. Romney has earned big sums from creating jobs abroad.

Many analysts are predicting that after Ron Paul’s departure, the Republican Party will probably turn into something that might hardly be called an influential political force. Many of the party’s former supporters will probably turn away from it. It is hard to imagine what the Republicans will have to invent in such a situation if they still want their candidate to have some feasible chances of wining the coming presidential elections.