If Ron Paul has a handicap, it's that his ideas are complex and difficult for quick consumption. He doesn't resort to the easy-out demagogy that seems to be political par these days. Instead, he engages the more robust discussions that Americans entertain in coffee shops and academic quarters. As Glen Greenwald at Salon.com explained, "While BarackObama toys with the rhetoric of challenging conventional wisdom, Paul's campaign -- for better or worse -- actually does so, and does so in an extremely serious, thoughtful and coherent way."
This sort of thinking is ill-suited for the soundbite-oriented mainstream outlets. It can only be understood in its entirety by doing enough research on the Internet. Thus, the Internet is where Ron Paul flourishes.
Second, he regularly challenges the conventional wisdom of Washington D.C. Objectively, his points are equally valid; he pits trade against war, low taxes against corporate welfare, lower grocery prices against agriculture subsidies. But again, the common assumption that politicians succumb to the whims of Washington can only be overcome by researching the theories that underlie his beliefs. Why, for instance, was he the only Congressman who opposed casting a posthumous gold medal for Rosa Parks? It turns out, he wasn't opposed to casting the medal per se, "Rosa Parks is a hero of mine...I believe in civil disobedience", he said. Instead, he offered to help pay for it with his own money and encouraged other Congressmen to do the same. They would not.
Paul makes an excellent point here: Why is congress willing to raid your Social Security and tax you for a medal that they're not willing to pay for themselves? Meanwhile, they have a lucrative pension plan in which Ron Paul refuses to partake. If you use the Internet, you can delineate these points. But if you get all your information from the major outlets, you'll hear "Ron Paul hates Rosa Parks".
This article also evidences this phenomenon. It says that Paul blamed the attacks on 9/11 on American foreign policy. That was a demagogic simplification of his statement. It was first misconstrued by the moderator at the debate, then by Giuliani, and now Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reiley. Bill Maher corrected Chris Dodd about this, "Excuse me Senator, but that is just what the Republicans at the debate were trying to do, they were trying to say that he blamed America for 9/11". Yet, he wasn't talking about a good-and-evil blame-game that informs most of our Bush-era understanding of the world. He was talking about geopolitical cause-and-effect. The fact that he is correct according to the 9/11 Commission report, the CIA's declassified intelligence, and Paul Wolfowitz himself seems to matter little to voters who don't have the time to do internet research.
The fact is Paul addresses the issues that America faces. There is no doubt that Social Security is crumbling. Rogue economists who set out to buy time cannot overwhelm the weight of economic wisdom that a system of IOUs backed by IOUs that the government wrote to itself, simply cannot sustain. The value of the dollar is deteriorating and inflation will be our next biggest long-term financial crisis., according to Greenspan. The cost of our war is increasing with no viable end. Not to mention the cost of maintaining troops deployed all over the world. All of these put together are recipe for financial collapse.
Paul's wisdom hails from the school of foresight. While conventional politicians go to great efforts to secure legacies by pushing problems down to their successors, Paul stands for the idea that we can address them now, on our terms. One thing is certain though; we *will* address them. Hillary Clinton and Rudolph Giuliani may be in wheelchairs when we do. But an entire generation of Americans who will be worried about putting farm-subsidized bread on the table and will suffer the real, difficult consequences of government largess...well, they also use the Internet.
-Born and raised Alaskan.
-Veteran of the Armed Forces, 1996-2000
-University of Washington, Department of Philosophy, 2001-2004
-Veterans' Advocacy, 2001-2004
-University of Washington, School of Law, 2006-Present
"Greg Albert is one of the finest Ron Paul apologists in the press" -Greg Albert
Great article. Ron Paul is awesome. I sure hope America wakes up quick, and realizes that Ron Paul is the one true candidate that will give us back our Liberty and Freedom from the big corporate government we have now.
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Tess Carroll (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 4 comments)
on Tuesday, December 4, 2007 at 5:41:09 PM
You make a valid argument. Ron Paul's stance on many things cannot be easily explained to the casual listener. It is very hard for me to tell my friends about him without oversimplifying his views on our economy or the Iraq War.
But hopefully, this will change, as our generation continues to utilize technology in a constructive way and where politicians and officials can no longer hide from people who care to research their histories.
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drew nevins (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 6 comments)
on Tuesday, December 4, 2007 at 5:47:23 PM
What do you mean complex ideas? How much simpler can it be said,
Don't Lie, Steal or Murder In The Name Of American Citizens!
I know Ron Paul doesn't say it just that way, but that is what I believe is his message. He's NOT a sociopath like the others, simply because his actions match his words. Although what he has written may not be agreeable to everyone, that's because 1 out of 24 is a sociopath. I doubt those numbers, but that's why no one can please everyone.
In fact, you don't want to please the sociopaths, because they never know when enough is enough. The financial mogols weren't content to be simply rich, they had to be super-rich. That's why they finance campaigns like Hillary and Romney, to only mention two. The same financiers control the newspapers, radio and television, (detailed at GreatRedDragon.com) so that's how the public gets programmed.
The Internet permits us to side-step that mass programming, and allows us to figure out the truth like normal think-for-yourself individuals. And that's why Ron Paul ends up being the thinking-person's candidate. That I get!
My dream team would be Ron Paul for President, and Dennis Kucinich for Vice President. Ron Paul goes first because of age. We could see 16 years of decency to correct 28 years of financial/legal mis-management and its institutionalized extortion.
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Edward Ulysses Cate (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 214 comments)
on Wednesday, December 5, 2007 at 2:38:11 PM
His ideas are complex compared to the demagogy that we get from the mainstream outlets. Moreover, they're different from what we've been hearing since Goldwater. So it takes a little education before you can get onboard. For instance, it's not inherently complex to say that we should get rid of the IRS, but there is a presumption to be overcome that we need the personal income tax to sustain the federal government. I didn't get it until I spent some time online myself.
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Greg Albert (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 34 comments)
on Wednesday, December 5, 2007 at 2:52:26 PM
It took me some time to understand that through religion, education and government, we've been lied to for so long that our natural self-defense of mind, body and soul have been compromised. There's nothing wrong with religion per se, just that sociopaths have appropriated it. The same with education and government. It is a very painful process to come to that realization, almost like the death of a family member. The whole grief cycle of denial, then anger and so on. Finally, when you come out of that cycle, one wonders why they never saw through it all before. It's that obvious. Great article, Greg.
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Edward Ulysses Cate (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 214 comments)
on Wednesday, December 5, 2007 at 3:59:37 PM
I really believe that if Ron Paul does not get the Presidency then the gig is up for America as we knew it. The citizens will not accept more business as usual, they will storm the ramparts. Only problem with that idea, blackwater will gladly take handfuls of dollars to shoot us down. Really, if the powers that be do not steal the vote, I can see absolutely no way for Ron Paul not to be voted into the presidency. I can handle taking care of myself and my family, and some of those who are less fortunate in my area and will. The question boils down to what type of Swift-Boat that they will use to run Ron Paul down, ya gotta face it, it will be the biggest, baddest swift-boat that anyone has ever seen. None the less, I can see Dr. Paul facing it down until the last shot... May God Bless Ron Paul. Freedom and Justive for all, no exceptions.
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Larry Wainwright (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 7 comments)
on Wednesday, December 5, 2007 at 11:09:13 PM
