We voted for Obama because we wanted change.

We voted for Obama because he promised to end Bush’s perpetual wars, clean up the mess which Bush’s financial tzars made, and restore the freedom and liberty which Bush attacked.

Instead, Obama:

Is implementing the Neocons plans for war throughout the Middle East

Is prosecuting fewer financial crimes than under either Bush or Reagan

Has appointed the very Wall Street insiders who helped cause the financial crisis to top posts. See this, this, this and this.

Has attacked our liberties even more than Bush

Allowed the Fed to dramatically expand its powers.

As I pointed out in September, Americans overwhelmingly want:

The Federal Reserve to be reined in if not abolished

The never-ending, open-ended, goalpost-moving wars to stop and the troops to be brought home

Our liberties to be restored, and the martial law indefinite detention idiocy to be reversed

As I pointed out in October:

And as I wrote last month, Obama was heckled by Occupy protesters for allowing police brutality and mass arrests of the peaceful protesters, and because:

Banks got bailed out. We got sold out.

FORGET PARTISAN POLITICS: DEMAND A REAL DEBATE

Forget what you’ve been taught … the mainstream Democrats and mainstream Republicans are virtually identical on all core matters. Obama, Gingrich, Romney and the whole sorry lot are for more war, for further crackdowns on our Constitutional liberties, and for giving the Federal Reserve all of the unchecked power that it wants.

Don’t fall for the old divide-and-conquer trick.

Whatever you may think of Ron Paul, he has consistently championed three core American for three decades. Paul has consistently argued for the following three positions which Americans overwhelmingly favor:

Stop the never-ending, open-ended, goalpost-moving wars

Restore our liberties, and stop the march towards martial law, indefinite detention idiocy, and the crack down on the Internet

Rein in or abolish the Federal Reserve

None of the other Republican (or Democratic) candidates support these positions, and the mainstream media has done everything it can to try to squelch debate on these issues.

HOW TO GUARANTEE A REAL DEBATE

Even if you intend to vote for Obama in 2012, you want him to have to answer debate questions on these issues … and you want the mainstream media to have to discuss them.

How can you do this?

Initially, Obama has the Democratic party nomination locked up. So Democratic primaries are not an issue.

So register as a Republican for one-year only to – as Huffington Post notes – ensure that Ron Paul gets the GOP nomination.

Even if you’ve never done so before and never will again (we all know how bad the mainstream Republican party has been!), register one time as a Republican to vote for Paul in the primaries.

Why?

If Paul gets the nomination, then he will debate President Obama in the election itself. Then 3 of the issues that are important to all of us – ending the stupid wars, restoring freedom on the Internet and in the real world, and reining in the out-of-control Fed – will finally be discussed.

Whether or not you want President Obama to be re-elected, we all want him to be forced to answer tough questions about endless war, the ongoing drift towards a police state, and the unaccountable Fed.

Helping Ron Paul get the GOP nomination is the way to do so.

Click here for state-by-state instructions.

Note: While many progressives and liberals like Ron Paul, this essay does not focus on actually trying to elect him, only to force a real debate of the issues so that President Obama has to address them.