TRIGRHAPPY
08-15-2011, 10:18 PM
http://politics.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474979930746
The Ron Paul problem is a new idea being kicked around by the hangdog remnant of Republican operatives who long for a simpler time when saying the right things could get a candidate elected. In those operatives' eyes, Paul hovers somewhere between problem and nightmare. On one hand, Ron Paul is more fiscally conservative than anyone in the party. On the other hand, Ron Paul won't play along with old Republican interventionism.
So how did Ron Paul become a "problem?"
Four years ago, Ron Paul was the guy everyone derided. Now he's the guy everyone is unsuccessfully trying to ignore. Setting aside the vintage media, since they're nothing more than a whipping boy in Republican politics, one sees the people who do matter in Republican politics waking up to the threat of a party takeover by the voters who support Paul. The people who matter in GOP circles are names like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Hugh Hewitt and other talk radio hosts who can't compute Paul's success.
And old Republican hacks are feeding the furor. They're "secretly" worried that a Paul win in Iowa would lead to the perception that "Iowa is just too nutty to have such an important place in the nominating process." The truth is not that Ron Paul is a problem, it is that the Republican Party has no idea what it is witnessing because this type of upheaval comes maybe once in a lifetime, if ever.
The Ron Paul problem is really a Ron Paul revolution.
The unbiased observer could easily see that the real Ron Paul problem is that the Republican Party has not figured out how to embrace a diverse set of beliefs and to let those beliefs be argued by their champions in an fair way. More accurate is that the Republicans don't want some of their sacred beliefs to be challenged. Ron Paul has an agenda that runs contrary to some Republican ideals. It includes:
Ron Paul believes the U. S. does not need to police the world.
Ron Paul believes that fiscal discipline leads to fiscal security.
Ron Paul believes that the state is a collection of people, not the master of each individual.
In the past 20 years, the Republicans have become as "big government" in their approach as the Democrats. Each four years, Republicans present a new candidate who talks about small government and freedom, and then behaves as recklessly as a Democrat. Ron Paul isn't that candidate.
The difference now is that the voters prefer the Paul candidate to the usual Republican line. That's a problem for Republicans, but the problem isn't Ron Paul. The problem is the hundreds of thousands of people beginning to rally to his cause. That number could grow into millions by the Spring. If they think along those lines, the old Republicans really have big problems. And every one of those problems is registered to vote in the primaries.
Loved this article.
The Ron Paul problem is a new idea being kicked around by the hangdog remnant of Republican operatives who long for a simpler time when saying the right things could get a candidate elected. In those operatives' eyes, Paul hovers somewhere between problem and nightmare. On one hand, Ron Paul is more fiscally conservative than anyone in the party. On the other hand, Ron Paul won't play along with old Republican interventionism.
So how did Ron Paul become a "problem?"
Four years ago, Ron Paul was the guy everyone derided. Now he's the guy everyone is unsuccessfully trying to ignore. Setting aside the vintage media, since they're nothing more than a whipping boy in Republican politics, one sees the people who do matter in Republican politics waking up to the threat of a party takeover by the voters who support Paul. The people who matter in GOP circles are names like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Hugh Hewitt and other talk radio hosts who can't compute Paul's success.
And old Republican hacks are feeding the furor. They're "secretly" worried that a Paul win in Iowa would lead to the perception that "Iowa is just too nutty to have such an important place in the nominating process." The truth is not that Ron Paul is a problem, it is that the Republican Party has no idea what it is witnessing because this type of upheaval comes maybe once in a lifetime, if ever.
The Ron Paul problem is really a Ron Paul revolution.
The unbiased observer could easily see that the real Ron Paul problem is that the Republican Party has not figured out how to embrace a diverse set of beliefs and to let those beliefs be argued by their champions in an fair way. More accurate is that the Republicans don't want some of their sacred beliefs to be challenged. Ron Paul has an agenda that runs contrary to some Republican ideals. It includes:
Ron Paul believes the U. S. does not need to police the world.
Ron Paul believes that fiscal discipline leads to fiscal security.
Ron Paul believes that the state is a collection of people, not the master of each individual.
In the past 20 years, the Republicans have become as "big government" in their approach as the Democrats. Each four years, Republicans present a new candidate who talks about small government and freedom, and then behaves as recklessly as a Democrat. Ron Paul isn't that candidate.
The difference now is that the voters prefer the Paul candidate to the usual Republican line. That's a problem for Republicans, but the problem isn't Ron Paul. The problem is the hundreds of thousands of people beginning to rally to his cause. That number could grow into millions by the Spring. If they think along those lines, the old Republicans really have big problems. And every one of those problems is registered to vote in the primaries.
Loved this article.