Speech in favor of Ron Paul

The following is a speech prepared for the Fayette county Kentucky, Republican convention:

Fellow Republicans, my name is Frank Harris, I have been a registered Republican since age 18, and a resident of Lexington for all of my 46 years, raising my 8 year old granddaughter, and I am here to introduce a man, Dr. Ron Paul, who embodies the values of the Republican Party as no other politician that I have seen in my lifetime.

As a life-long Republican, i, like many Republicans, have some concerns over the divisions that are emerging within the Republican Party. Concerns over the party's position on issues that have allowed the Democrats to gain seats in the Congress. Positions that are not working, and which will not help us to win the 2008 Presidential election.

While I greatly respect Senator John McCain, and know that he is going to be a strong representative for the Republican Party in the November election as our Republican nominee, it is still of great importance that we in the Kentucky primaries send a message to the Republican Party throughout America that we have some profound concerns over many key issues, issues that have emerged within our party over the direction that our party has taken, by giving Ron Paul our vote in the Kentucky primaries in May.

Ron Paul's positions are all based on the Constitution. He stands for a much smaller government, balanced federal budgets, and a foreign policy based upon trade and diplomacy, not force. He stands for enforcing laws to prevent illegal immigration. His career as an OB/GYN doctor in which he has delivered over 4000 babies, has shaped his position as a pro-life Republican, and he has consistently voted pro-life on any abortion issue.

His experience as a ten-term Congressman has uniquely shaped him to be able to understand the real issues facing America - issues with the falling dollar, a rapidly weakening economy, rising oil prices, rising food prices - he has served on many of the key Congressional financal committees, and understands these issues.

Like John McCain, he has also served in the military. He was a flight surgeon for five years. Unlike McCain, Ron Paul feels that the war in Iraq - a war which has divided us as a country, and also within the Republican Parry - Ron Paul feels that the war has been a drain on our economy, costing, so far, thousands of lives, and well over $2.0 trillion dollars. With our deficit at $9 trillion and rising, this has been a major factor in our falling dollar, a dollar which, today, is at an all-time low against all other currencies. John McCain has said that it's ok with him if we are in Iraq for 100 years - Ron Paul says, and we all know, that this is unsustainable.

This war in Iraq threatens our way of life, and also threatens to cost the Republican Party in this, and future elections, the loss of the House, Senate, and the Presidency.

Let's send a message to the entire country that we, as Republicans, stand for peace and prosperity, and strength through a strong economy, not through war. Let's redefine the Republican party BACK to what it used to be - a party built on sound fiscal, and moral, principles.

It is my pleasure to endorse Dr. Ron Paul as the Republican candidate for the President of the United States.
thank you