By Richard Engle

I was a typical Bible believing, church attending, non-smoking, pro-life, traditional marriage, creationist, pro-Israel, God and country, values voting, conservative Christian. I still am.

I thought libertarians and Ron Paul supporters were pot smoking, tax evading, godless anarchists. I was wrong. Well, maybe some of them are, but I don't know of any. And I know Ron Paul isn't, as I have had the privilege to visit with him on repeated occasions. I found him to be a man of impeccable character.

I have a friend who is a fellow Christian and was a supporter of Congressman Paul's 2008 Presidential campaign who gave me a one sentence challenge that rocked my world -- my world view!

He said he wanted me to consider the "moral superiority of liberty." The very suggestion that liberty could be morally superior was revolutionary. While I thought of myself as a limited government conservative, I really only wanted government limited to the things I wanted.

I comforted myself in the premise that the things I wanted were good. I wanted government to prohibit people from doing immoral things and to encourage moral things. It didn't bother me that other people had different ideas about what would be moral and what would be immoral. After all, I was right and they were wrong!

I wanted a government that would be faithful to the ideals of our founding fathers. They were steeped in Christian values. As I studied their words, especially the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution in the light of that challenging phrase -- the moral superiority of liberty -- I came to realize that it did not matter if my moral standards were the right ones or not. Our nation was not built on the premise of imposed values.

Indeed, I came to realize that any imposed morality loses all virtue. If moral actions are not the product of a moral man then those actions have little true value.

More importantly, government itself must be held to a moral standard. Thomas Jefferson penned, in the Declaration of Independence, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Oh, we are all very familiar with that part, but the next is critical -- "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men." We are thus informed that the "job" of government is to secure the rights to life, liberty and property. Jefferson continues the document by explaining that when government does -- pretty much anything else -- it is a tyranny, a despotism.

Our federal Constitution grants specific powers from the people to government and prohibits it from assuming any others.

When I wanted government to do some "good" thing that was not specified in the constitution, I was calling on it to usurp authority it did not rightly have. How could I call for government to usurp -- to steal -- authority illegally? As a Christian, I could not.

With my new understanding of the proper role of government, I needed to examine the candidates for the highest office in that government -- The President.

Now any conservative Christian can easily enough find unacceptable those amoral establishment candidates who had flip flopped on vital issues and violated every principle of conservative ideology. It takes little imagination to suggest that I'm speaking of Mr's Romney, Gingrich and Huntsman. Among the others, excepting Congressman Paul, one can find an uncomfortable blend of admirable stands on some issues and incredible violations of principle on others. One could wonder how those inexplicably inconsistent politicians could have the gall to ask for our votes!

But when we consider the one candidate who has been consistent, honest, and true to the constitution we find a need to contemplate his more extraordinary ideas.

Ron Paul is clearly pro-life and has a perfect pro-life record in Congress, but he does not favor a constitutional amendment on the issue. He wants it returned to the states as it was prior to Roe v. Wade. This is a prime example of his consistency. The unborn life is a human life deserving of protection like all others. The states have always prosecuted those who commit homicide as the Constitution reserved that role to them.

There is no reason, or experience to suggest that the federal government would do a better job of protecting innocent life than would the states. Indeed experience suggests that big centralized government is worse at most things than state and local government.

Ron Paul does not want to give US monetary aid to Israel (or any other nation for that matter), and some have suggested that he is somehow anti-Semitic because of it! To suggest that we must give cash to a friendly Israel or we condemn ourselves as favoring Jewish genocide is absurd on its face. Let me add that we do no favors to Israel when we put their whole nation into a state of dependency while giving to their sworn enemies! Ron Paul favors Israeli sovereignty, something those who wish to keep Israel dependent don't. Consider that and ask yourself who really supports Israel?

Ron Paul opposes the continuing infusion of our fine service men and women into foreign battlefields. His detractors suggest he is against our military. It is interesting that he consistently garners more support from members of our armed services than do the other candidates. And what of that verse in the Bible that says "If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men"? When it's not possible, Congressman Paul suggests that we should follow the Constitution and actually declare a war. I know it sounds extreme, but I agree that our government should abide by the supreme law of the land.

I have heard that Ron Paul wants to make prostitution and drugs legal. I have also heard that he favors gay marriage. Well, Ron Paul voted for the Defense of Marriage Act and co-sponsored the Marriage Protection Act. Ron Paul favors traditional -- one man, one woman -- marriage. Ron Paul does not want to make prostitution legal for a very strange reason -- it already is! There is no federal law against prostitution, and none is needed. Only one state has legal prostitution and only in a few counties. This is another example of the absurdity of the assumption that we must have a national law against something. The federal government has no constitutional role in that issue. Similarly, the Constitution does not enumerate a power to the federal government to prohibit or control drugs. If you want to make it a federal issue then we have an "app" for that. You can propose an amendment to the Constitution to prohibit drugs. Until then, let's be honest, the Constitution does not give the federal government such a power. In the meantime, the states can do what the federal government may not.

There is no need to create a national standard on every issue any more than there is a need to create a world government to meddle in our lives.

There are a myriad other issues of concern for conservative Christians like myself. With each and every one I believe you will find that Ron Paul is on the truly moral side. Ron Paul is THE candidate for Christians, for America! Liberty is the morally superior standard. Ron Paul is the only liberty candidate.

Finally, the issue that seems to stop so many voters from supporting Ron Paul; they say he is unelectable. Really? Ron Paul has been elected twelve times! Let's make it a Baker's Dozen!

I endorse and support Ron Paul for President of the United States and I ask you to join me in every effort to put him in the White House. After a travesty like Barack Obama, we need to make a real change. We need real "hope.'' We need Ron Paul.

The above is the text of a speech by Richard Engle made at the Oklahoma LiberTea Rally on December 17, 2011. It is available for viewing at www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT7IMRAbwlQ. Richard Engle is available to speak on this and other topics of public policy. Contact him at: Engle@MrGOP.com.