I don't think I've ever seen anything in American politics quite like the "Ron Paul Revolution," the fervent support for the grandfatherly old-school constitutionalist who is pulling liberty-minded voters and money into the Republican primary at astonishing rates. Check out the scene at Paul's New York City headquarters last night when the candidate broke another fundraising goal, raising $6 million in one day to break $12 million for the quarter.
I can't decide whether that rave-like scene is thrilling or terrifying. But Paul supporters should probably rethink holding their palms in the air as they chant "jawohl!", er, "Ron Paul!" and a skinheaded videographer documents the scene.
Paul, a 72-year-old ob/gyn whose 10 terms in Congress earned him the nickname "Dr. No" for his votes on spending bills, sounds a little crazy in the debates, but most of that crazy comes from how foreign his ideas have become in our country. Sixty years ago, his call to knock off government social and tax programs, avoid military adventures, and abolish the Federal Reserve was solidly in the Republican mainstream.
I can't say I'd vote for Paul -- I'm a Democrat who still believes in the necessity of many federal programs he'd destroy -- but I think he brings something important to our politics: a scalpel.
The federal government expanded at a rapacious rate under borrow-and-spend Republicans, and I don't see a Democrat who's strongly motivated to reverse that trend. In the last four debates I didn't hear one Democratic candidate talk about failed and expensive domestic programs that ought to be dropped. Democrats need to learn that the growth of the federal government's role in our lives isn't just about civil liberties. The more we spend on new do-goodery, the less that's available for the important do-goodery like Social Security, disease control, emergency assistance and renewable energy.
Credit: The photo was taken by Madwurm and is available under a Creative Commons license.
