Ron Paul says that if he had to have a Secret Service nickname, he'd be known as "Bulldog." But if he really had his way, he wouldn't have Secret Service protection as president at all. Why? Well,
as Elise Foley reported earlier Wednesday, it's because Secret Service protection just doesn't fit within his libertarian worldview:
Paul, the only candidate without Secret Service protection, said having that security would be a "form of welfare." "You know, you're having the taxpayers pay to take care of somebody," he told Leno. "I'm an ordinary citizen and I would think I should pay for my own protection."
Okay, Ron Paul! Surely free market forces should dictate whether or not presidents of the United States are kidnapped or murdered. Did the framers of the Constitution imagine that Big Government would position itself between a head of state and a hail of assassin's bullets? Actually, they didn't. The legislation that created the Secret Service wasn't signed into law until April 14, 1865. It was signed by then-President Abraham Lincoln, as one of the important things he had to tend to that day
before going off to Ford's Theater later that night.