1856 Again?

"Paul claimed a ticket out of Iowa, vowing to continue his fight, even as his GOP rivals have dismissed him as a fringe candidate and as party leaders have flatly declared him unelectable.

Iowa voters thought otherwise, taking to Paul’s strident antiwar and small-government message in enough numbers to lift him into a finish just a few percentage points behind Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum. Evangelicals, home-schoolers, young people, moderates, libertarians and disaffected Democrats formed an unlikely coalition that led to Paul’s strong showing, and at his Tuesday evening rally he predicted Iowa would be a launching pad to bigger things.

“We have tremendous opportunity to continue this momentum, it won’t be long that there’s going to be an election up in New Hampshire, and believe me, this momentum is going to continue and this movement is going to continue and we are going to keep scoring,” Paul said to his supporters. “So tonight, we have come out of an election where there were essentially three winners, three top vote-getters and we will go on, we will raise the money, I have no doubt about the volunteers.”"  Washpost

---------------------------------

In 2008 Paul took 10% of the vote in the Republican caucuses in Iowa.  Last night he took 21%.  That fact is being deliberately ignored in the MSM.  Romney had the same percentage of the vote yesterday that he did in 2008.  Who was the winner?  Santorum?  I doubt that Santorum will find a great deal of support outside of areas of elevated religiosity and Israelism.  IMO Paul is too old to be president.  I am nearly as old.  His lack of long term political intent led him to the idiocy of the" oh so useful" newsletters.  He is wise to not believe that he will be president.

Nevertheless, there is something in his message that has a powerful appeal to many.   This is a message that carries the meaning that much of the federal government centered establishment exists to serve its own interests.  Paul's message threatens the entire population of what Mr. Jefferson would have called "centralizers."  This includes the mass of media persons, federal civil servants below the politically appointed level,  most senior military and naval offciers and the professoriat in the satellite fields of international relations and political "science."

IMO what you are seeing in the highly disciplined mass of young people who support Paul is the commencement of a powerful movement that will result in a political party.

In 1856 the Republican Party ran its first presidential candidate.  Paul should run as a representative of a new party.  pl  

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ron-paul-looks-to-capitalize-on-top-tier-iowa-finish/2012/01/02/gIQAcxIUZP_story.html#

Comments

[William R. Cumming]

With the dropping out of Ms. Michelle B. let US see where her voters park?

[turcopolier]

WRC

IMO that will prove nothing with regard to my thesis above. Her supporters are jingos and bible thumping nationalists. pl

[walrus]

If Paul received the nomination, you would see a wondrous sight;

...the entire "Washington Establishment" rallying behind Barack Obama.

[Green Zone Cafe]

Gary Johnson, the former Governor of New Mexico, who was denied a place at the debates and any media, is running for the Libertarian nomination.

Johnson is Ron Paul without the kooky parts and with two terms of executive experience.

He'd be a more attractive candidate than Ron Paul if he could get any media air. Why is he ignored? Hmmmm.

http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/front

.

[Jose]

Rombo has treated Mr. Paul with kid's gloves precisely because of your thesis.

If Rombo is the candidate, Mr. Paul will probably not run as an independent.

Anybody else is open game.

[s nadh]

How would this be any different than someone like Ross Perot? How would you square Paul's more strident libertarian views with the Jon Stuart viewers and their liberalism? A party based on some of the ideas of John Rawls perhaps? I have a hard time seeing how the clash wouldn't be bigger than finding common ground and a platform. Perhaps that's immaterial considering the fundamental decay we are witnessing.

[Basilisk]

Walrus is probably right, Politics makes exceedingly strange bedfellows.

[turcopolier]

s nadh

The time was not right, discontent not developed enough in Ross Perot's time although most of his ideas have been validated, "giant sucking sound" etc. I am a Jon Stewart viewer. Many of Paul's ideas would appeal to them, The Republican Party was constructed from northern Whigs, Free-soilers, abolitionists(a few), Know-nothing nativists, the Anti-Masonic Party, the anti-Papist partyand a few mre odds and ends. the present Republican Party is united in nothing except its animosity to Obama. Much of this animosity IMO is merely racism. The GOP is now a predominately rural southern, midwestern and mountain white people's party. pl

[Farmer-don]

Ron Paul makes people think!
pull US troops back to USA,Close bases Crazy/makes sense
Go to gold standard: Crazy/much of world moving this way
let all non violent drug offenders out: crazy/way to move forward
get rid of EPA, strengthen property rights crazy/new way of looking at who is responsible for pollution
get rid of fed dept of education crazy/state responsibility
get rid of patriot act: crazy/stop being afraid and loosing privacy and basic rights
legalize marijuana crazy/take personal responsibility
Just to name the first that come to mind!

[eakens]

"Ron Paul makes people think!"

....therein lies his problem...

[steve g]

The Fuddy Duddy Factor
It looks like a majority of Paul's
hardcore supporters are young people.
You might assume that to be counter
intuitive considering his mid 70's age.
His policies seem to resonate more than
anything. Maybe the 70's are the new
50's. The stamina of all politicians has
always amazed. They are like professional
athletes. They may look like us, to a degree,
but are on a totally different level.

If 43 spent 20 to 25 percent of his 8 years
clearing brush and mountain biking while con-
ducting two wars and overseeing our burgeoning
economy, just think what a full time president
could accomplish even a septagenarian one.

[Stephanie]

The immediate problem for Paul is that he didn't perform to expectations last night. Given the groundswell of support for him in the polls,the amount of money available to him, and his organization on the ground, he was supposed to finish first or second, and instead he was a rather distant third. Not good enough.

If he ran as a third party candidate it might get interesting. He'd take votes from the Republican candidate but I can also see him siphoning independent and Democratic votes as well.

[William R. Cumming]

Walrus! The comment about Washington folks rallying around Obama in certain circumstances would also include the FIRE sector and Wall Streeters and the banksters IMO.

[Medicine Man]

I hope you're right, Colonel.

A 3rd party candidacy from Paul would almost certainly re-elect Obama. Given the awfulness of the alternatives though, I'm not sure this is too high a price to pay to conjure the specter of a viable 3rd party challenge to the Washington establishment. Real electoral consequences for the parade of horribles currently occupying congress (both parties) and the possibility of real change in the Washington consensus... one can hope.

[Matthew]

Col: The MSM and Pundit-ariat are afraid. This deviation from orthodoxy lessens their importance. Smaller government, smaller footprint. Shrinking think tanks. Fewer cocktail parties and roundtables. My goodness, the man is dangerous!

Lots of nice homes have been built close to you in Northern Virginia and Maryland to service The Important Ones and Indispensibles.

They have to pay mortgages too.....

[s nadh]

A lot of stuff Paul says many on the left/progressive side agree with, no doubt. But for every reasonable thing Paul says there's many more instances where they wouldn't. So despite that the climate and timing is ripe for a 3rd party, I still see major drawback to a Paul-led party that draws in enough of the Stewart set; unless Paul is willing to compromise or the menu he's serving is large enough for those types to eat. Saying you will end wars and repeal the Patriot Act will only get you so far if you also say health care is your business, so if you're sick and don't have money, the state won't help you. That'll turn people off. I just think Paul is too bent on some subjects to be inclusive enough.

[Dan]

Ron Paul LOST the Republican Primary. The straw poll vote is meaningless when it comes to nominating the presidential candidates. Delegate count is all that mattered. Romney got 13 delegates, Santorum got 12, 3 are reserved for party leaders - and all the other candidates, including Paul - got zero.

[turcopolier]

Dan

Ron Paul lost the election because he didn't get any delegates? Nah! That is a politico's rationalization. pl

[turcopolier]

Stephanie

This is more rationalization. You and the MSM are hiding your heads in the sand. pl

[turcopolier]

GZC

He is boring. pl

[turcopolier]

Matthew

I don't have a mortgage and don't care what the house is worth or what anyone else's house is worth around here pl

[turcopolier]

All

Paul is not going to be president. He knows that but what you should be looking at is the traction he has among young people. He is a voice crying in the wilderness, making straight the way of the lord.

it would be interesting to ask him what he would do if he were president and the Iranians attempted by force to halt oil/gas exports from the Gulf. pl

[Cronin]

Colonel,

You may not care about the mortgages and etc. of the federal political class living in the leafier enclaves of the Potomac Valley, but I think Matthew's saying something similar to what you are (and have): that the ruling political class -- the 'centralizers' as you call them -- are not only in charge, but have a real and vested material interest in the current system. I'm not sure if I agree with Matthew that it's quite as quid-pro-quo as he paints it, but surely there's a mindset these centralizers have in common, including a strange aversion to the outdoors and modesty of scale: witness the entire mid-Potomac country being colonized in recent decades by McMansion-happy settlers from the federal political class, convinced, whatever their partisan allegiance, of their own necessity and centrality. I think we're at a point similar to 18th C. Britain in some ways: the forms of parliamentary government and a two-party system, but in reality a large split between 'Court' (the Whig merchants and financiers of the City of London plus the Tory nobles and great landlords) and 'Country' ( both the Tory small squirearchy and the Old Whig intellectuals, plus the working class crowds both urban and rural). Paul's widespread appeal speaks to the long, homegrown American Country tradition -- perhaps he will spark a new challenge to our thoroughly corrupt party system.

[Matthew]

It wasn't a personal comment. I was referencing this: See http://www.forbes.com/2011/04/11/americas-richest-counties-business-washington.html

The people building lots of these houses in Virginia have a financial interest in the kind of government Ron Paul opposes.

[Retired (once-Serving)Patriot]

it would be interesting to ask him what he would do if he were president and the Iranians attempted by force to halt oil/gas exports from the Gulf

But we know the corporate media and their eunuch pundit class will never, ever ask this kind of question. Or any questions about the structure of today's economy and what it means for tomorrow's kids. The very same kids who support Paul.

We're due for the Fourth Turning. And this nutty election should put paid to its beginning.

RP