SOUTHERN ARIZONA (SGT NEWS) - Political maverick and Texas House member Ron Paul formally announced his candidacy for the president of the United States this morning during the “Washington Journal” call-in program on C-SPAN.

Paul stands as one of the last remaining believers in strict enforcement of the Constitution and a limited federal government in Washington D.C. Paul ran unsuccessfully for the White House in 1988 under the Libertarian ticket, but now caucuses with the Republican Party. His political platform includes low taxes, individual liberties and a principled belief in the right to life.

His presidential exploratory committee formed earlier this year stirred up his enormous grassroots support from heartland voters, small government believers and fed-up Republicans who believe current GOP candidates offer no real solutions to an expanding federal government and refuse to tackle America's important issues, such as illegal immigration and an erosion of American's civil liberties.

Paul is a life-long Libertarian and proves his focus on ensuring American's civil liberties by voting against legislation such as the Patriot Act, which provides the government wider authorization to collect information about the American people. In addition, he voted in 2004 in favor of the “Pledge Protection Act”, which amends federal code to prevent court cases that directly attack the Pledge of Allegiance or its authorization under the Constitution.

Dr. Paul favors an immediate end to the Iraq war. Although Paul admits the people of Iraq are better off without Saddam's rule, he does believe that our presence in Iraq “offers little in the way of a real solution to our problems in the Middle East – many of which were caused by our interventionism in the first place.” Paul voted against the 2007 appropriations bill for the Department of Defense because it included funding for the war in Iraq.

He supports controls on immigration and increased use of visas for skilled workers. “Amnesty for illegal immigrants is not the answer,” Paul said in a 2005 article. “Why should lawbreakers obtain a free pass, while those seeking to immigrate legally face years of paperwork and long waits for a visa?” Paul opposes an illegal immigrant's right to taxpayer-funded welfare, including free medical coverage, food stamps and housing subsidies.

He strongly believes in local control of education and voted against a federal government grant that provides Black and Hispanic colleges $84 million dollars. He supports school choice and favors the use of vouchers that parents can use for private & parochial schools. In 2000, Paul supported a Republican Liberty Caucus (RLC) resolution to abolish the Department of Education and return education control to states, cities and communities.

The National Taxpayers Union ranks Ron Paul highly on matters of taxation. Paul supports eliminating the estate, capital gains and inheritance taxes, opposes the marriage penalty and voted to increase the child tax credit. Paul supports a phasing out of the death tax and making President Bush's tax cuts permanent. Paul dubs himself “The Taxpayer's Best Friend”, a slogan used during his Congressional campaign in 2004.

Paul breaks with the Republican Party by opposing the use of the death penalty as punishment for violent crimes. In 2001, Paul voted to legalize the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes and opposes the federal government's ability to perform random drug tests on federal employees.

Paul represents the 14th district in Texas that stretches along the gulf coast in southeast Texas.