About a year ago my son could barely suppress his excitement as he told me that Ron Paul had decided to run for President.
"Don't expect him to win," I told him.
He replied, "Oh, but I do expect him to win!"
What I miss most about youth — what I miss even more than the vigor and the energy and the excitement of getting up each day (and feeling good when you do!) — is that sunny optimism in the face of impossible odds. Life has a way of beating that out of you as it delivers one disappointment after another. The older you get, the less you expect from life. As The Gambler in the old Kenny Rogers song put it, "the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep".
But growing older is not without its compensations. With age comes wisdom, and with wisdom comes something that is even better than optimism: the ability to see the good that can come out of even the worst that life throws at you. As The Gambler said in the line just before the one quoted above, "every hand's a winner, and every hand's a loser".
No, Ron Paul is not going to be President of the United States. I never expected that. I never expected him to get the nomination. Dr. Paul didn't just talk about returning power to the people; he actually would do it, and explained how he would do it. There are too many powerful people with too much to lose from a Ron Paul Presidency, and they would stop at nothing to make sure he got nowhere near the Oval Office.
I told my son that things would get ugly, and they did. I'm a five-point Calvinist and a firm believer in the first point: total depravity. I know we've all done things we'd rather nobody else knew about, so I was just sort of holding my breath to see what Dr. Paul's enemies would come up with. That some racially insensitive comments that appeared in some old newsletters he didn't even write — and which he had dealt with to most people's (including the local NAACP president's) satisfaction years before — were the very worst they could throw at him was, to me, quite amazing and a ringing endorsement of the man's character.
No, Ron Paul didn't do as well as we'd hoped on Super Tuesday. Of the 11 Republicans who had declared their candidacies, it now appears that, from the perspective of those of us who care about liberty, the worst (with the possible exception of Rudy Giuliani) is now headed for the nomination. In November we'll be faced with two equally bad choices.
But something wonderful has come out of the Ron Paul campaign. A year ago, nobody could imagine the phenomenon that would come to be called The Ron Paul Revolution, a genuine mass movement that has taken on a life of its own. The numbers tell the story:
Incredibly, most of this was spontaneous and unplanned. For example, more than half of Dr. Paul's fourth quarter donations total was raised in two money bombs organized by supporters who were not only independent of the campaign, but who had not even consulted with the campaign beforehand.
Ron Paul, a 72-year-old great-grandfather, became an unlikely hit with the younger generation. His visits to college campuses drew large crowds, and polls showed that the bulk of his support came from younger voters eager for change. But the quality of his support from young voters was entirely different from that for Barack Obama, the other "youth" candidate. Obama's support is for the man — I doubt you can find even one Obama supporter in ten who can tell you what the candidate's position is on any issue — while Dr. Paul's support is for the message.
He is a radical in the truest sense the word. Radical is derived from the Latin word for root, and that is the level at which Dr. Paul deals with the issues. The other candidates talk about tweaking the tax code to deal with the recession; Ron Paul wants to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and eliminate income and death taxes entirely. The other candidates talk about inflation as if it has no cause; Dr. Paul proposes to eliminate the cause — huge deficits and Federal Reserve monetization of them. The other candidates argue about timetables and conditions for withdrawal from Iraq; Ron Paul argues not only for immediate, unconditional withdrawal from Iraq, but for a complete change in the foreign policy that put us there.
In fact, Ron Paul is in many ways the un-candidate. He has never pandered, he has never flip-flopped, he has never soft-pedaled his position on any issue, even when he knew large numbers of his supporters disagreed with him on it. Whether it was pointing out before a hostile audience at last May's Fox News debate in South Carolina that radical Muslims don't hate us because of "our freedoms", but because of our intervention in their countries' affairs, or unapologetically defending his pro-life position on The View, he has stuck to his principles. And he has held on to his supporters while doing so.
Once you realize that winning the Presidency was never a realistic option anyway, it is not hard to see that Ron Paul has won. Just look at what has been gained.
In running for President, Ron Paul has done something libertarians in the past tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully to do: he has brought together pro-freedom elements from both the Left and the Right in a mass movement to restore a proper relationship between citizens and their government, and between this nation and the rest of the world. In the process of doing this, he has given lovers of liberty an incredibly powerful force for social change.
The infrastructure — the Meetup groups, the Facebook and YouTube networks — is still in place. The ability to raise prodigious amounts of cash in a short period of time — the $20 million raised in the last quarter of 2007 was as much as Cato Institute raised the entire previous year — still exists and can be used again.
The Ron Paul campaign for the Republican nomination may be coming to an end, but The Ron Paul Revolution goes on. Surely, that's an ace we can keep.
Addendum: Since posting this column, I discovered this on historian Doug Wead's blog. He makes essentially the same point I make, and some of the comments are particularly compelling. Ron Paul has lit a fire that will not be extinguished.
©2008 Phil Manger, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.
Published: Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Last modified: Thursday, February 7, 2008
The views expressed in this article are those of Phil Manger only and do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Phil Manger is solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
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Reader Comments:
Posted By: creator
Date: 2008-02-06 19:05:02
Very well put, Phil!
Please consider joining the Nolan Chart Columnists Lounge. You can find a link in your "authors control panel."
Posted By: the statist
Date: 2008-02-06 19:06:55
Damn! I thought that he was going to win. This is so sad for all those people who claim that they sold everything that they owned in order for Ron Paul to lose. Maybe those people will now have to have a cardboard sign explaining how they are homeless because they gave everything to Ron Paul. This is so sad. Ron Paul had so much potential, but now he is finished. This truely is so sad. I weep just thinking about the children of those who told us that they gave all thier monwy to this failure. I weep, my dog weeps, everyone that I know is sad for that family. I mean what do they tell the kids? I'm sorry children, since giving all of our money to Ron Paul, all that we have is a can of beans.Those poor children. I guess freedom was worth a lot to that family. So much that now they are going to be cold and starving because they gave everything that they had to a guy who wouldn't give back the $500 donation to that White Supremacist. I would hope that Ron Paul would atleast hire the parents to jobs that paid less than minimum wage so that the government wouldn't have any involvement in thier lives. That is what they should do. Ron Paul has all of that money, and that family has nothing. Tragic. :(
Posted By: rtbohan
Date: 2008-02-06 19:11:45
Great article. Congratulations on being able to put into words what so many of us know and fee
Posted By: derac
Date: 2008-02-06 19:34:23
Nice job Phil. Dr. paul raised the awareness of a lot of people who previously had no hope. Now will someone please tell Statist to crawl back under his rock?
Posted By: Jonathan Grubbs
Date: 2008-02-06 19:47:36
After this presidential eleciton is over, we need all the Ron Paul Revolutionaries to work together to get more Constitutionalists elected to Congress. We also need to have monthly letter writing campaigns to all the newspapers, magazies and television shows in the country.
Posted By: seth m
Date: 2008-02-06 19:48:50
Well spoken Phil. I like that Ace. Who knows? Maybe we'll come out of this election with more.
There are still scenarios which cause one to wonder.
Oh and Statist, go get your shine box. You're an ass. What are you going to do when you aren't getting any attention from Ron Paul supporters? Sad sad state of statist.
Posted By: the statist
Date: 2008-02-06 19:58:55
That family that sold everything that they had and gave it to Ron Paul will be the ones who need a shine box.
Posted By: ralphie
Date: 2008-02-06 20:39:57
You play to win or you dont bother.
Im dissappointed and pissed off. And this "the message lives on" crap is Wussville singing. The people are too stoopid to be moved by constitutional issues - he shouldve went Rambo on immigration, grab the people by what makes them angry, and surf it.
Instead he took the high road, and in politics that is the road to nowhere.
Ive had it.
Posted By: Sapphira Kelly
Date: 2008-02-06 21:01:25
You just stole a few minutes from my life to read this ridiculous piece of garbage you call an article. What has happened to you. If I was a soldier I would sure hate to have you in the hole with me, you, sir, are a defeatist. And a slimy one at that.
And then trying to pass yourself off as a Calvinist! HA!! You are no believer in the Sovereignty of Almighty God. "There are powerful people who won't let Ron Paul near the Oval Office"...what Calvinist says that?! The very same God who fed 2 million Israelites in the desert for 40 years can certainly put Ron Paul into office. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Now go peddle your defeatism to FoxNews.com
Sapphira Kelly ( If I could type it larger I would)
Posted By: RG
Date: 2008-02-06 21:05:55
Well put . Ron Paul is a messenger. His message has been delivered. He has won!
Posted By: Stephen
Date: 2008-02-06 21:19:27
Look, it's vote fraud, people! I witnessed it in my precinct, and it happened in almost every precinct (we're suing, by the way). It's the "old guard" republicans, scared to death of losing their power, who are willing to commit murder if necessary to keep it. Do you really think people came out to the caucuses/primaries in record numbers (despite bad weather across much of the country) because they were SO excited to vote for John "Son of" Cain or Mitt "flip-flop" Romney? NOT! We should pass a law mandating that anyone caught committing vote fraud be EXECUTED for TREASON.
I think I may run for office, but I haven't decided which one yet. One member of my RP meetup group is running for Congress already. We'll all campaign for each other. It's a start.
Posted By: Nolarond
Date: 2008-02-06 21:44:51
Jeez. Reading some of the comments on this article- you can see why it wasn't very difficult for the MSM to portray Paul supporters as fringe fanatics.
Thanks for the article Phil. I never was much of an optimist- I prefer to think of myself as a pragmatist. While I do think that we shouldn't give up hope until the votes are counted in November my suspiscion is that Dr Paul will not be in the White House next year.
Given that- how long do you think it will be before the Fairness Doctrine is revisited? Especially if the Dems are in power (which is a no-brainer if they have the wits to nominate Obama). I think one of their first missions will be to regulate the web. That will end any widespread ability to repeat what has happened this election.
But I am not saying to give up hope. Given that Paul seems to appeal to as many Democrats as he does Republicans, if it ends up being Hilary vs McCain, I think there actually is a chance for Paul if he goes independent. Perot got 19% even though some people actually liked GH Bush and even more loved Hilary's husband.
Posted By: Princetonian
Date: 2008-02-06 21:57:00
I agree with Phil. Those of you who are pissed off are too impatient. The Globalists have been very patient in getting where they are, and we Constitutionalists must do the same. Look at the growth curve of our support, it is exponential. All we need is for that to continue and we will take the Congressional elections in 2 years and the presidency in 2012. That is what the Establishment fears. As civil unrest grows from economic turmoil (make sure you are out of debt and lower your lifestyle so that you can become financially independent as quickly as possible because it will get rocky), so will discontent in America and they will be looking to throw out both parties.
I have won over so many of my friends who at first thought Ron Paul was a lunatic, but who now see the wisdom in his views. All we need is for that trend to continue--unless the next 4 years completely destroy our country (which I guess is a possibility).
We need to continue our grass roots support and we need to start putting together our own media, lobbying groups and winning over some people with real money for billboards and advertising. If we don't win in '08, we cannot be discouraged and must look to 2010 and 2012.
Posted By: Phil Manger
Date: 2008-02-06 21:57:26
Sapphira,
"But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good..." (Gen. 50:20)
God is sovereign, but that doesn't mean everything men do is pleasing to him. C. S. Lewis once explained this, although it shouldn't be necessary since there are examples all through the Bible.
And I don't think Fox News would like this article very much.
Phil
Posted By: Sapphira Kelly
Date: 2008-02-06 22:27:55
Phil,
Your response to my post is not applicable. If you want to respond to my post please do so, but without trying to detract from the essence of it.
SAPPHIRA KELLY
Posted By: an existentialist
Date: 2008-02-06 22:30:54
Phil, I can't believe you are a Calvinist! I mean, I'm not saying I doubt you, but I am surprised I would run into a Calvinist outside of "Christian circles." You see, before I went atheist, I was a Calvinist myself. The doctrines of grace were all I could talk about for a long time. Dr. James White was the one who made sense out of TULIP, and I could tell that Dave Hunt had no idea what he was debating.
As for Stephen, I think it's a great idea that you want to run for office. Although I'm not even in college yet, I have toyed with the idea of running for governor of my state. But I really want to be an author, so I figured I could write some really revolutionary stuff, you know, and get people excited about libertarian ideals. I wish I had people in my local area who would run for office and be "mini-Pauls" at the local and state level. I'd certainly vote for them. Anyway, best of luck to you and your friend.
Posted By: Trans-Mutant
Date: 2008-02-06 23:03:39
"The Ron Paul campaign for the Republican nomination may be coming to an end, but The Ron Paul Revolution goes on. Surely, that's an ace we can keep."
I don't see it your way. I see him continuing with his strategy and taking the nomination and presidency.
For anyone wondering what I'm saying, see below.
http://youdecide08.foxnews.com/2008/02/02/national-delegate-count-tally/
This was updated this morning at 6:15 AM
Republican Delegates (1,191 needed to win nomination)
Candidate Delegates
Mike Huckabee 190
John McCain 613
Ron Paul 14
Mitt Romney 269
Total 1,086
1,191 - 613 = 578 delegates short
McCain is NOT going to pick up 578 delegates any time soon.
Super Tuesday was his best shot at winning the nomination, and he didn’t even come close.
How is McCain going to afford to keep his campaign functioning? He has no more money, and has no conservative base support.
So what states are left that are rich in delegates?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080124/ap_on_el_pr/super_tuesday_later_states
Feb. 12: 116 Republican delegates, including 63 in Virginia and 37 in Maryland.
March 4: 256 Republican, including 137 in Texas and 85 in Ohio.
May 6: 96 Republican, including 69 in North Carolina.
_____________________
Let’s do the math….
McCain has 613 delegates + states I think he will win
Maryland 37
Ohio 85
613 + 37 + 85 = 735
Let’s say McCain takes Texas and Virginia…
735 + 137 + 63 = 935
McCain is still 256 delegates short, and this delegate count is assuming these states are winner take all, but some are not. Even if McCain picks up North Carolina, he will still be 187 votes.
We are going to a brokered convention.
There is no possible way for John McCain to pick up the 1,191 necessary delegates to secure the GOP nomination.
Ron Paul will speak to the nation in St. Paul, MN.
He will have a national platform to introduce himself to America.
The old media cannot rig his speech. Ron Paul will use this national stage to launch the revolution into the stratosphere and take back the Republican Party.
The revolution has won a MAJOR victory.
Posted By: patricia Dominique
Date: 2008-02-06 23:52:29
I have never truly believe ron Paul would win the nomination because there was too much force of vested interest and hidden corruption againts his ideas but I also believe that he has won from having planted the seed and spreaded them. That is why I supported him and promoted him so I could help him in that direction. When I discovered ron paul in November. I thought it was a miracle that such an honest person was competing. I just couldn't believe it. Some people consider him weak but I think he is actually the strongest and most courageous. He stuck his neck out there against all of them who have the following description:" I am remaining safe and popular by staying in agreement with the lies and corruption and saying more lies to get what I want" A lot of lies also means a lot of hidden crimes. Thank you Ron Paul for being brave.
Posted By: Turbo
Date: 2008-02-07 00:14:47
Go Ron Paul! :)
Posted By: Richard B.
Date: 2008-02-07 00:18:14
Dr. Paul is my hero.
Posted By: Joe Allen
Date: 2008-02-07 03:03:02
I feel like the Paul Newman character in Ken Casey's SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION. I am so bummed, I'm going to go on a bender and then when I get done feeling sorry for myself, I am going to tie Henry Fonda's severed arm to the mast of my boat and go back to work.
Posted By: Mark S. Gonney
Date: 2008-02-07 03:41:18
This was a great article! You should forward it to the Ron Paul campaign because I know a lot of the points you raised will be raised by Mr. Paul when he gets his chance to speak to the GOP. Also, don't mind the first follow up comment by the statist because his words are about as important as the homeless guy on the A train with feces in his pants.
Posted By: PhilBetter
Date: 2008-02-07 05:30:08
Phil, Obviously, Sapphire struck a chord deep within, that you hadn't prepared for... If you were a "Guitar", you'd be an "Ovation", but you're so far Out Of Tune, you sound like a VIOLIN!!Pragmatism... WHAT A BUNCH OF HORSE SHIT!!! Come on People... Not an ounce of blood has spilled, and you're all ready to go to sleep on Freedom...? You just got urinated on by our Government whilst they wiped their butt's with YOUR VOTE... So drag that sorry pragmatic ass of yours out of that ditch you call a life, and LETS GO FIGHT!!I say we go MARCH THE CAPITOL! Whatta you say Phil... Are you with us...? Or are you more concerned about what FOX thinks??Sapphire, you just "lit" my phire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted By: atlasdaddy
Date: 2008-02-07 05:57:55
Who has told you,"The Ron Paul campaign for the Republican nomination may be coming to an end"? There is still a chance, small, but a chance.
Posted By: Linda Inveninato
Date: 2008-02-07 06:39:50
The Primaries are just the beginning. The ELECTION is 9 months away. Continue to canvas and watch the Ron Paul 2008 National Campaign Website. RP has already said he's in as long as there's money and a willing audience. The RP campaign still has boat-loads of money. Strategists were hired only a couple weeks ago.
The mass media would like you to think this is over...it is not.
Posted By: PAVEWEK
Date: 2008-02-07 08:22:43
Glodwater influenced many beyond his political activities and Ron Paul and his ideas will live on, be expanded and change thinking for decades.
Randy Paul for President or at least senator - then- president
Posted By: sickntired
Date: 2008-02-07 08:25:54
Don't you people understand that we are NOT living in a free country anymore? More people may have all voted for Ron Paul than any other candidate but we will never know. Our election process has be hi-jacked. I can't stand McCain or Clinton and neither can anyone else I know...so why has the mainstream media been pushing them down everyone's throat as the "front runners" for so long? It is simple if you can pull yourself away from the propaganda machince (your TV) long enough to wake up. The only "front runners" are CFR members...PERIOD. Why, you ask? Well, do a search for the CFR and the HEAD OR OWNER OF EVERY MAJOR NEWS ORGANIZATION...all memebers of the CFR. It is so simple that the general population will never buy it. It doesn't matter who gets the most votes...all that matters is who the news reports as the "winner." Whether they won or not...the "sheeple" will buy it so it doesn't matter. For those who want to call myself and others who believe this "conspiracy theorists" I say this...DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH! You will never hear this in the MSM...why? BECAUSE THEY ARE IN ON IT!!! PLEASE PEOPLE WAKE UP...RON PAUL IS ONLY ONE MAN...WE MUST ALL STAND TOGETHER TO MAKE THIS CHANGE. Please do your research and keep waking people up before it's too late. If you don't believe me about the election...watch this video...[link edited for length]
Posted By: wheresthecreamfilling
Date: 2008-02-07 10:00:35
Once again I urge everyone (the statist particularly) to google:
-hacking democracy
-stupid in america
-north american union
-Aaron Russo's America: Freedom to Fascism
Then come back and talk about poor families giving their last pennies... I for one am proud give my all to the cause of Liberty.
Posted By: Logical Premise
Date: 2008-02-07 12:16:39
And once again, I encourage whereisthecreamfilling to google the location of his nearest mental health center. The average person reading those links is going to assume Ron Paul supports that stuff and move even further away.
Posted By: Tom Brown
Date: 2008-02-07 18:26:01
Curioser & curioser. Now we have what we wanted. Paul, with his messege, and 2 other candidates with nothing. Oh but now, because of vote fraud, media censorship and defeatist's, we must give up. I don't think Paul expected to win either, but one can't help but notice how he would wipe the floor with his competition with more time in debates afforded by less candidates. No McCain/Romney spat? Gee, more time for serious discussion, more time for Paul, more awareness for his message.
But now the donations slow to a crawl. People aren't stepping up for precinct leader positions like they would've a month ago. Oh woa is us...the poor disappointed who've been fighting less than a year to promote a man who's been doing it for 30. Woa is us who need that instant gratification of shallow victory. Sure we helped him during the good time, now he's being abandoned during the tough time. He's STILL going and we're wollowing in our self pity wondering what's next. All of this rhetoric about the media, the voting, and everything we NEW was going to happen was just that...rhetoric. It happens just the way we expect it and we can't handle it. This is pathetic and Dr. Paul deserves people better than us to lead, that's for sure.