Why I'm proud of my mama

On Super Tuesday I checked in with one of my biggest fans – my mom.

She was preparing to vote with her friends – all of whom are big Hillary Clinton fans.

I've known for a long, long time that my mom would never vote for Hillary – or any other Democrat, for that matter. Unlike my dad, a northeastern version of the Yellow-Dog Democrat – meaning he would vote for a yellow dog if it were a member of his party – my mom always had better political instincts.

But, given this confusing 2008 race with few real political choices, I wondered whom she might favor.

"So who are you voting for, Mom?" I asked.

"I know he doesn't have a chance to win, but I think I'll vote for Les Paul," she said, obviously meaning Ron Paul. (Forgive her for the slip. We come from a musical background.)

"You mean Ron Paul," I said.

"Yes, Ron Paul," she agreed.

I have to tell you it made me proud to realize that my 83-year-old mom is more politically astute than about 95 percent of Americans. She can see through politicians like John McCain and Mitt Romney.

Now I have reservations about Ron Paul – reservations I have expressed from time to time in the last year. But there is no denying he is a politician of consistency. He is a politician true to his beliefs and convictions. He is a politician who believes in the Constitution – honors it and reveres it.

And that sets him apart from the front-running candidates of both parties.

Ron Paul has shown America something in this race.

Having observed his political career closely over 30 years, including his previous run for president, I never believed he could raise as much money as he raised, nor did I believe he could muster the popular support he mustered.

And he did it on principle, God bless him.

Now I have some fundamental disagreements with Ron Paul. They are so fundamental they prevented me from endorsing him. Yet he fared better in the primaries than the two men I chose – Tom Tancredo and Duncan Hunter. But it takes good judgment and sophistication to discern through the cacophony of horse-race media coverage that he was the best man standing on Super Tuesday.

My mom's right, of course. Ron Paul is not going to win the presidency. But I was proud of her for recognizing the difference between him and what's left of the pack of would-be presidents. She chose to vote not for the lesser of evils who have a chance to win. She made a principled choice to vote for a person of principle.

Yes, disenchantment with the presidential choices runs in my family.

But we also recognize that bad presidents come and go. They have throughout our country's history. I am not losing any sleep over the fact that we might actually have President Barack Obama or President Hillary Clinton or President John McCain. Yes, those names scare me – all of them. Yet, I know we survived 12 years of Bushes, eight years of Clinton, four years of Carter, eight years of Nixon and Ford and five years of Johnson.

In fact, since 1960, we've had only eight good years of presidency.

Isn't that amazing.

We're losing our freedom in this country not because we elect bad presidents. We elect bad presidents because we're losing our freedom and our ability to discern right from wrong.

No president is going to lead us to the Promised Land.

We, as citizens, will have to rediscover the Promised Land – and our presidents will follow.

I'm glad my mom gets it.

If you would like to start thinking about politics outside the box, I can recommend a good book. I know because I wrote it. It's called "Taking America Back." It's the blueprint for restoring freedom, justice and morality in America – no matter who is serving in the White House.

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