Ron Paul in a Vacant White House
If the feisty Libertarian, who now leads in Iowa, should win the nomination, all of us who have qualms about 21st century government will be put to a test.
With Congress tied in knots and a narrowly divided Supreme Court, we have had a sneak preview of what may be coming—-total loss of faith in a flawed system that has more or less worked for centuries and, in an election between Barack Obama and Ron Paul, the choice of a continuing struggle to repair it or dismantle it completely and start over.
The positive outcome of Republican debates has been to weed out a series of frontrunners with little to offer beyond personal ambition and narrow the contest to Mitt Romney, the Zelig-like chameleon, and Paul, whose position on every issue is strong and predictable. Unless Jeb Bush makes a last-minute entry, that is the GOP choice.
In head-to-head confrontation, Romney will no doubt attack Paul as “zany,” but some Independents and flexible Democrats may be drawn to his foreign-policy stance against endless wars as opposed to other GOP aspirants who want to annihilate Iran, confront Pakistan and get into a trade war with China.
For a party that has veered from Donald Trump and Michele Bachmann to Rick Perry, Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich, Paul has the virtues of being consistent and scandal-free.
For a nation reeling from a sick economy and Washington gridlock, however, he would raise a different question.
4 Responses to “Ron Paul in a Vacant White House”
Ron Paul is a protest vote by those that do not like what is happening in Washington today. There has always been those that want something different than the 2 party rule in America. George Wallace, Ross Perot and Teddy Roosevelt (1912) represented groups that wanted something different than the ruling parties.
About 25% of the Republicans lean toward libertarian teachings, resulting in 10-12% of the total voting population that would support a third party run by Paul. However, this would not get him elected President, but would assure another 4 years of President Obama.
Not until the republican party completes its crash and burn that it is currently involved in will another republican that appeals to the centrist voter appear and win the office of President of the United States.
One can hope that President Obama will tone down his rhetoric, bring both sides into a room, close the door, find common ground that all parties can accept, open the door and have a news conference with all individuals involved to announce plans for the future. Those present will need to have clear plans from their own party before attending so they know what will and will not be acceptible in any deal. In following this plan of action, it would show leadership that is lacking today and would begin moving this country in a direction where real problems would be solved.
@RP:”About 25% of the Republicans lean toward libertarian teachings, resulting in 10-12% of the total voting population”
There are right-leaning libertarians in the Republican party, but I think you’ve forgotten, or don’t know of, the left-leaning libertarians on the Democrat side — the ones that are adamantly against war, crony capitalism, the drug war, and the loss of civil rights. The Democrats have always been little more than a disappointing lesser-of-two-evils for that crowd.
From those that I know personally, there’s a lot of them. They would gladly jump aboard if Ron Paul got the nomination. Many of them were the young, enthusiastic supporters that gave Obama the edge in 2008.
Prof Elwood is right.
I live in Massachusetts, among the “leftist” states the US.
“Among those voting”, Paul is serious option in this state. Anti war, anti-oil subsidies, anti-bailouts are all strong messages that are heard loud and clear. Pro civil liberties gains much attention. However, mass voters do want to keep the EPA and FDA, a blocker issue for many.
OTOH, Obama is *loathed* here in MA for MANY reasons, most recently the NDAA illegal detention bill. This has broken even long term supporters who previously blamed bush and “the system” for a bad economy, bank bailouts, and loss of civil rights. Obama is losing support as more voters view him as “part of that same corrupt system”.
I expect a LOT of stay-at-home blue shirts this election cycle. Obama has NO support here, or at least not enough for me to notice. No bumper stickers, no hallway talks, nothing but disappointment.
Romney is really special in that he ALSO has no visible support in Massachusetts. Many MA residents remember accurately that our health mandate was the model for the USA. Romney’s insistence that he “wasn’t there at the scene of the crime” is literally incredible. As a result, many MA voters dont really take his word seriously and lose touch with what he is trying to do besides get elected.
As for the rest of the GOP lot (including Gingrich) — I’m glad we can stop talking about them because they were never serious anyway. To be fair Huntsman would make a nice VP ticket.
uh, we should dismantle it and copy Germany’s federal system.
Disgruntled repubs, never fret, some nimnods are trying to make a third party and suck in the Jersey fat boy. You can go that way.