Many Americans are torn over which presidential candidate to endorse in ’08. Not so surprising when one simply listens to the special interest rhetoric coming from certain politicians. Many candidates are trying to rip this country further apart, gaining votes on one side, all the while alienating the other. The chasm between Americans is ever increasing: red or blue, right or left.

The last thing this country needs is to be divided further. We need someone to unite this nation under the context of its founding: the Constitution. Among the dissonance and chatter of popular sound-bites coming from our candidates, one man is standing up and talking truth. Only one man has the courage to defend the Constitution, regardless of even his own party’s disdain of his positions. One man – Ron Paul.

When asked by Alan Colmes, from Fox News’ “Hannity and Colmes,” if he would consider becoming an Independent candidate because of his own party’s objection to his anti-war stance, Paul said, “A majority of the people don’t like the war. I want to be president of the country, not the president of the Republican Party.”

So true are these words. We do not need a leader of the Democratic or Republican party. We need someone to lead all the people of this nation. Or more accurately, someone to let all the people lead this nation. What makes Paul so different from anyone on both the right or the left is the way he gracefully walks down the middle. Of course, he does have some identifiably right-wing stances. However, he has almost as many seemingly left-wing stances, despite running as a Republican. Paul pulls off this juxtaposing of ideas with one simple philosophy – limited government.

During an interview with comedian and political commentator Dennis Miller, Ron Paul made his position on government very clear: “I believe in limited government. The purpose of government is to protect liberty and not to run our lives or run the economy or police the world.”

Paul’s social policies, or lack thereof, reflect what I believe to be a growing trend in America. Special interest groups, on both the right and the left, are influencing what politicians typically say. Paul stands in direct opposition to such behavior, and speaks for the people, not just for the people with the most money.

For example, Paul is adamantly against the war in Iraq, despite opposition from his fellow Republican presidential candidates. Paul has always voted against the war, and has not flip-flopped as so many candidates have. Paul, who served in the Air Force as a flight surgeon during the Vietnam War, speaks with some authority regarding the nature of combat. Paul believes the war in Iraq is an illegal war and that it stands in opposition to the Constitution. Paul takes a “do unto others” attitude toward the war, saying, “We need to look at what we do from the perspective of what would happen if they did it to us.”

Another seemingly left-wing position Paul takes is on gay marriage. Unlike his Republican counterparts, Paul completely opposes a constitutional ban on gay marriage. Paul has said marriage is a religious issue and in no way should be regulated by federal government.

Paul nails this issue on the head. Marriage, be it between a man and a woman, two men or two women, is in no way the business of the government. If a church wants to wed a gay couple, then by all means that church should have the freedom to do so.

Nevertheless, Paul is running as a Republican and has certain traits that identify him as such. Paul is an OB/GYN, and a promoter of the pro-life movement. He has delivered more than 4,000 babies in his lifetime and finds the abortion of fetuses to be a great injustice. Paul would like to overturn Roe v. Wade, because he sees it as federal government sticking its nose in where it does not belong. Although Paul is strongly anti-abortion, he has said he would leave it up to each individual state to decide its own laws and take the federal government out of the picture.

Paul is a true conservative in the fullest sense. Although many in our current day and age like to associate conservatives with war mongering and incomprehensible speeches, this is simply not the case. To be a conservative is to support limited government interference and does not negate you from being pro-marijuana or anti-war. In fact, if one is conservative, it makes more sense to support such issues. Paul is commonly referred to as a “throwback” Republican, because of his attacks on neo-conservative positions and thank heavens for it. Fresh air is being breathed back into the GOP, and it is about damn time.

Paul’s campaign slogan is “Hope for America,” and I believe it. America needs to stop drawing these harsh lines between its own citizens. Red and blue, left and right; we all need to come together. I wholeheartedly support Ron Paul, and truly think he can give back to America what it so desperately needs – hope.

&#8212 Chris Potratz is a junior in political science from Dallas, Texas.