By fitsnews – December 31, 2011
Former S.C. State Treasurer Thomas Ravenel – one of the Palmetto State’s most outspoken fiscal conservatives – has endorsed the presidential bid of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).
“At this pivotal point in our nation’s history, we must reject candidates who talk about hard choices and embrace one who has demonstrated the courage to make them,” Ravenel wrote. “That candidate is Ron Paul.”
Ravenel posted the endorsement on his Facebook page, telling his 3,500 friends that Paul “has walked the walk for three decades – standing up for liberty, for taxpayers and warning our leaders of the consequences of their habitual betrayal of both.”
“In addition to his unimpeachable fiscal credentials, (Paul) is also the only one seeking the presidency who has a plan to extricate our nation from its fiscal hole – starting with $1 trillion in immediate cuts before balancing the budget in three years,” Ravenel added.
Ravenel – a longtime friend and former client of our founding editor, Will Folks – resigned as State Treasurer in July 2007 after being indicted on federal drug charges. In September of that year, he pleaded guilty to ”conspiring to buy and distribute less than 100 grams of cocaine” and served ten months in a federal prison.
Since he completed his sentence, Ravenel has been an outspoken critic of America’s failed “War on Drugs” – which Paul also opposes. He’s also published several guest columns here on FITS related to other issues – including the need to cut military spending.
“As a victim of a government’s costly ‘War on Drugs’ – I have first-hand knowledge of the failure of an inherently-repressive system that’s based on the notion of protecting people from themselves,” Ravenel wrote. “And as a successful businessman who has paid millions of dollars in fees and taxes over the years, I have first-hand knowledge of the crippling impact that excessive government regulation and taxation has had on the American marketplace.”
Ravenel didn’t take any shots at the other GOP presidential hopefuls in his statement, although he had a few less-than-kind words for South Carolina’s Republican establishment.
“As a former statewide elected official who campaigned for office alongside many Republican politicians – I have first-hand knowledge of the lip service that most of these politicians pay to freedom and free markets, and the speed with which they turn their backs on these principles once they are elected,” he wrote.
To read Ravenel’s endorsement in its entirety, click here. To read this website’s endorsement of Paul, click here.
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