I’ve thought about the presidential rhetoric promising to unify and heal our divided country. I tend to find it tiresome, but the ultra-parochial, no-compromises culture that often permeated the Bush White House does give one pause! Obama in particular loves to emphasize unity. All fine and good, but when a man supports partial birth abortion, I’m not sure how much unity there is to be had once you get past all the high-flying rhetoric.

As an example of real unification, consider this:  the founder of the Obama meetup in Los Angeles became a Ron Paul supporter, and in the SF Chronicle, we see a wide array of people who are attracted to a principled statesman. Check out getonid on Youtube as well for another perspective. Heck, the the New Republic even took a critical look at the Federal Reserve, which is a sign that the rhetoric has been changed by Dr. Paul. A diverse group of Americans, many of whom were not politically active before, have rallied together.

I don’t pretend to agree with Dr. Paul on everything, but he has good ideas that he explains intelligently, and he is calling people back to their roots and their identity as free citizens, not as consumers and taxpayers. A republic needs that above everything else, and people are responding to that, and it crosses the usual barriers and talking-points that Balkanize American politics. This seems to be real unity in action.

Of course, Paul can’t just elect himself: I joined the Pittsburgh meetup for Ron Paul; please join your local meetup or volunteer through the campaign’s website. And check out the Tea Party!

(HT to Lew Rockwell, who religiously follows coverage of the Paul campaign, from whom I got many of the above links.)

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