Mike Gravel: The Most Sane Candidate

Mike Gravel: The Most Sane Candidate
​

​

There are many known candidates in this race, known to be incredibly lacking in many areas: One of them being judgement, another being wisdom, and lastly, being love. If you remove those qualities and add insanity, then you have the majority of our presidential candidates. There are very few candidates that posses the good qualities. Some may posses a good handful of these qualities. But when choosing a presidential candidate, you ideally want to choose a candidate that posses all of these qualities, not a quarter, half, or three-thirds, but one-hundred percent. All of these qualities, coupled with a strong sense of reality, is what a true leader needs.

Yes, that is a quote by one of our presidential candidates. Love, what a remarkable idea for a man that wants to be president to have.

Love isn't the only answer, however. We also need courage. Love cannot be implemented without first having courage. Gravel has this courage. And if you allow me to, I will not only tell you why he has the means to implement love, but show you as well. I will show you by listing his accomplishments, and events that inevitably required courage.

To learn more about someone, you first need to get to know the person's past; A past that is full of courage.

* Acts of Courage *
​

1. Released the Pentagon Papers to the public, by doing so, risked being arrested and jailed. The Pentagon Papers were documents that proved that America went to war with Vietnam under a fraudulent basis - History seems to be respeating itself - This helped to end the Nixon administration.
2. Went on a one-man filibuster (A long speech usually used to delay action) to end the draft, and succeeded by allowing the law to expire.

​

* Accomplishments *
​

1. Stopped the nuclear testing in the North Pacific. Nuclear testing done on the North Pacific not only contributed to the destruction of the environment, but ignored the non-proliferation treaty.
2. Served in the Alaska House of Representatives from 1963 to 1966, winning re-election in 1964.
3. Enlisted in the United States Army in 1951 and served in West Germany as a Special Adjutant in the Communication and Intelligent Services and as a Special Agent in the Counter Intelligence.
4. Attended Columbia University's School of General Studies and earned his B.S. in Economics in 1956.
5. Alaska senator from '69 to '81.

Based on the above accomplishments, you can see a trend that leads up to one gaining both experience and wisdom. Wisdom, Knowledge, Will, along with Experience, should be prerequistes for any leader to have. This leader possesses all of these prerequistes.

* Changes That Need To Be Made *
​

Change is definitely needed in America - I don't know many Americans that go against this notion - Not only do we need change, but change that is inspired by the ideas that love has given us. Change is only accomplished through Will and the Courage to act out this will.

There are many matters that are insane with this country, many of which are strongly opposed by Mike Gravel.

• War on Drugs is simply a probhibition on drugs, and we all know how the probhibition against alcohol during the 1920's went. Gravel believes that the War on Drugs is insane. It is insane because it turns victims into criminals. Gravel believes that the drug crisis is a public health crisis, not a criminal crisis. He proposes to legalize cannabis because it has been known to have medical properties and to be far less dangerous than alcohol. He also proposes to decriminalize harder drugs, and to allow those that have addiction problems to have their drugs prescribed by a doctor, and to receive these drugs from a pharmacy. All the while, being monitored and protected by doctors, instead of living in the shadows. This way, those that have a problem, can get the help that they need, instead of being dehumanized.

• Gay Rights is something that is needed in any democracy. It is appaling, and least bit surprising, how many oppose gay rights. Gravel believes that marriage should be between two people that love each other, and it shouldn't be the governments right to decide who can or who cannot get married. It is crazy to think how something as simple as allowing two people to get married becoming such a disproportiate issue in America as it has. This shouldn't be an issue; The answer is clear, allow these marriages to take place. The "Don't ask, don't tell" policy that the US military has adopted hinders the basic rights to profess, if that person desires so, what their sexual orientation is. This doesn't mean that Gravel supports behavior that shouldn't happen in the military, either by heterosexuals or homosexuals. Only actions should get one expelled from the military, not a profession of ones sexuality.

• Unneccessary wars, if there are any that are neccessary, not only greatly disrupt our infastructure, but destroy our foreign relationships. Gravel strongly believes that the conflict with Vietnam parellels with the conflict with Iraq, in that we went to both countries under a fraudulunt basis. This is exactly why Gravel wants us to leave Iraq as soon as possible in an orderly fashion. The "support your troops" mantra is usually thought to mean: support the purpose that the troops are going to war for. This would be all well and good, but to Gravel the Iraq war was never neccessary, because it was based on selfish means, instead of neccessary means. To Gravel, "support your troops" means to "protect our fellow Americans by allowing them to come home safely". The best way to "support your troops" is to keep these troops out of harms way. Not only would we help to save American lives, but we would help to save Iraqi lives, and to help rebuild our foreign relationships. All the money that we spend on wars and policing the globe can be used to improve the lives of our citizens.

• 'War on Terror' is an old slogan that is used by many presidential candidates to get you scared enough to vote for them. Gravel thinks that this old slogan is insane. Gravel first points out how illogical that this slogan is by saying, "Terrorism has been with us since the beginning of civilization and will be with us till the end". You can't be at war with something that doesn't have an acheivable goal; This isn't based on pessimism, but on rationalism. A war on terror is self-defeating. War on Terror is self-defeating because it only fuels the ideas that terrorist use to recruit more terrorists. Terrorists become terrorists by first being really insane, obviously, but also for over what has, either directly or indirectly, incurred by these terrorists. Actually, let me start by calling these terrorists for what they really are: insane individuals that are tired of foreign occupation, foreign occupation that usually ends up causing innocent people to die. It comes to no surprise how witnessing destruction can make some people vulnerable to the point where this vulnerability is taken advantage of by extremists. Extremists hope to brainwash these individuals so that they can recruit them for their mission. It is part of human nature to try to extract revenge, so it is important to remember that people usually don't derive hate from nothing, but from something that they directly or indirectly experienced. We only help to bring about this hate because wars always manages to kill innocent lives. It is only a matter of time before the inevitabilities of war are realized, which is why America needs to stop occupying other nations, otherwise it'll be a terrible cycle of destruction. This isn't to say that America 'got what it deserved', absolutely not. It is to say that we should recognize terrorism for what it is. And we can't figure out what this is if we let ourselves to be in denial that we didn't, at some level, bring these problems to ourselves. Gravel believes that one of the best ways to fight terrorism is to not cover the globe with our military bases, but to fight terrorism by policing it by using global intelligence.
  
  

• Preemptives wars, especially preemptive nuclear attacks, is an incredibly dangerous idea; an idea that is directly opposed by Gravel, yet supported by many war criminals in the past. The old cliche to make parellels with today's leaders with Hitler is a device that has been greatly overused. But at a closer look, we can see that the parellells eerily do exist. Hitler, and many other tyrants always thought that preemptive strikes would be a good idea to protect its people. Is this to say that today's leaders are as bad as Hitler and tyrants of his type? No. What this does say, however, is that we are raising the same ideals that helped to corrupt societies in the past. Iran is pro-American and has been peaceful for over 150 years. Gravel believes that war should be the last resort, and diplomacy should always be used first. At this very moment, the Bush administration is devising a resolution that will get us in Iran, yet many of our presidential candidates that currently hold power in office, aren't even passing votes against this resolution. Instead, many of which are simply too busy campaigning to do the job they were intended to do, and part of this job is to protect us from unnessary wars. Some of these candidates are actually for this resolution, and they are for it because they take millions from lobbyists and special interest groups: Special interest groups that aim to profit from wars. It becomes apparent that the majority of our presidential candidates simply do not care about this country, but Gravel does, and we can realize this by looking at his past accomplishments and how his stance has always been anti-war. Remember, Gravel risked imprisonment to get the Pentagon Papers to us: the people - someone that doesn't care wouldn't do this.

These have just been but a part of all of the insane practices and ideals that America and it's leaders have carried out for many years. There is so much insanity, yet so few to stand up against it. And even fewer that actually has the courage, the will, the knowledge, the experience, and the wisdom to effectively thrawt off this insanity. Having these qualities leads up to power, and all of this power was derived from inspirations that love has given him. All that has been said, makes for one helluva leader.

* Why Haven't I heard of Him? *

Simply put, Gravel has been excluded from the Democratic debate from October 30th and onward. The reasoning why Gravel wasn't invited to the CNN debate is because of requirements that CNN has imposed. Requirements that were suddenly imposed. Gravel meets all of these requires except for one, and that is to have One-Million is campaign money. But the problem with that is, how can someone hope to campaign if that someone is excluded from debates that millions of people watch? This removes the number one way of exposure that any candidate relies upon.
​

* What Are His Chances of Winning? *
​

This is completly dependent on you. This isn't dependent on what the media spoonfeeds the people, or on 'strategic voting', but on you.

Many people tell me that Gravel is the best candidate, yet want to vote for another, because others 'may stand a greater chance'. This is insane because all you have to do to get these people elected is to vote for the candidate that you think is the best, not who you think may or may not win! You vote for the man that you want to see in office. But you tell me, "But... he has no chance..." The reason why 'he has no chance', and I don't believe you on that, is because people have this attitude. Vote for the person you believe in, simple as that. This is a part of the reason why these great candidates don't win, and the sooner this is realized, the better - Don't listen to gallup polls, they mean nothing. Listen what you believe in.

Instead of voting for the second best, because you think you'll be saving face, vote for whomever you think is right for the job. Only you can make this happen, and this needs to be realized.

* Extra *

If you want to learn more about Mike Gravel and his views, I will provide to you both links to information about Gravels stances on the issues and you tube videos that can show you Gravel being Gravel.

* Information *

http://www.gravel2008.us/ - Official Website

http://campaigns.wikia.com/wiki/Mike_Gravel - Gravels Campaign Wiki

http://www.ontheissues.org/Mike_Gravel.htm - A clear glimpse of Gravels views on the issues.
​

* Videos *
​

A simple video that summarizes what Gravel believes in:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pExaBIOAs_s

The video that shows what Gravel has said to Hillary and how it connects to him being excluded from further debates:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSoCHfyYCew

An overall excellent video. There is a steroetype that Gravel has for being insane. What is insane is how people think he is insane, and this really shows the mental state that many Americans and our leaders are in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LZaKkXADKg

Interview With Maher:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5Dw4ZTts2o

Finally, a little campaign humour (Gravel as Rocky):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3alkwXgp9_M
​

If you believe in Gravel, do your part to help him in any way that you can. Two of the best things that you can do is to donate, obviously, and to simply spread the word... oh, and of course, vote for him =)

​

 

gravels my 2nd choice dr paul all the way

Plus rons chances are alot higher

 

I like Gravel, but he has a lot of work to do, if he's ever to be seen as a credible candidate.

 

i really like gravel and im really hopeing he gets through the primaries but he really isnt getting the coverage he deserves and needs

 

A Gravel/Paul ticket or a Paul/Gravel ticket would get my support.

 

Other than being anti-war, the two couldn't be more at odds with each other. Gravel is a big-government socialist.

 

understatement.

Remember, wants to give control of the world's oceans to the U.N. which would tax travel on them...

 

Perhaps they could balance each other out.

 

Sure, all they have to do is pretend that they don't have diametrically opposing views on the role of government.

And then an orthodox rabbi, the Ayatolla, and the Pope can unite Barbara Bush and Hillary Clinton in matrimony during a celebration of the winter solstice...

and then all the pigs sprout wings and fly down to hell to throw snowballs at each other before jesus comes back with Falwell and Muhamod at his side to legalize weed and coke and abolish taxes and we all live forever in android bodies.

 

Wow, you certainly are wrapped up in religion aren't you Shane.

 

well as long as we're ignoring reality...

oh, and christmas is everyday, our parents don't have sex, and bad things only happen to bad people.

 

What the heck are you talking about

 

How unrealistic it would be for Ron Paul and Mike Gravel to run on the same ticket. lol. It's your thread, aren't you reading it?

 

You're going off on some tangent. Explain why it is unrealistic, don't just say it is unrealistic.

 

dude, i did, post#9:

"...have diametrically opposing views on the role of government."

i threw in some humor and it threw you off i guess. relax alittle bit this isn't a debate club. I don't have anything against Gravel personally, he's probably a cool guy, but i don't don't share his view of the positives of global democratic-socialism and neither does a libertarian-republican like Ron Paul. that's why a Paul/Gravel or Gravel/Paul ticket is unrealistic. For them to work together would involve them more than compromising, they'd have to abandon a large part of their respective worldviews. They'll never do that and their supports would never accept that ticket.

Pigs would fly and snowballs would stand a chance in hell before that would happen...

 

That said i do agree with a couple of his positions.

 

i like gravel on the income tax and the war thats about it

 

Mike Gravel is, without a doubt, the best candidate in my interests. I agree with him on pretty much every issue; just the problem is how unpopular he is. I became a supporter of his on facebook and his website and it's like no one had ever heard of him. He really is what our country needs.

 

It's a shame that he won't be president.

I just started reading his new book, Citizens Power (recommended read), and the clarity of his writing and the strength of his logic is a great indicator of how insightful that he really is.

What I find insane is how people believe that Mike Gravel is insane. That is a true testament of how deranged society has become.

 

He said we need a world government. I find that pretty insane personally, though I suppose it's perfectly sane to the ones in control.