Dormont grad for prez

Letter to the editor from a libertarian.

The Republican Party has presided over double-digit increases in federal spending and debt, more intrusive government, uncontrolled immigration and an interventionist foreign policy that has resulted in an ill-conceived and apparently endless war.

Most Americans oppose these policies, but the GOP's leading presidential candidates support them.

Now voters have a choice. Ron Paul, a nine-term Republican congressman from Texas and Pittsburgh native who graduated from Dormont High School in 1953, has announced his candidacy for the GOP presidential nomination.

Rep. Paul, who ran for president as a libertarian in 1988, consistently votes for smaller government, less spending, lower taxes and personal and economic freedom. He often casts the lone vote in the House against legislation he believes violates the Constitution. He supports a foreign policy of strong defense and avoidance of foreign entanglements and pre-emptive wars.

Paul insists on strong enforcement of immigration laws. He favors local, not federal, funding and control of schools and the right to home-school. He's pro-life and for Second Amendment rights and against warrantless wiretaps, corporate welfare and abuses of eminent domain.

Like Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, Ron Paul believes that government is usually the problem, not the solution. He's the only presidential contender who's serious about restoring government to the constitutional limits intended by our nation's Founders. He deserves our support.

Thomas Gillooly, Forest Hills