The free rider
columnist: Phil Manger

Topic: Ron Paul
Ron Paul, Ron Paul

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Now that I've got everyone's attention...

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by Phil Manger
(Libertarian)
Wednesday, January 16, 2008

As a new columnist for Nolan Chart, I'm naturally interested in how many "thumbs up" my columns have been getting. So far, I've published only two columns, Ron Paul: Now for the piling on and Playing the racism card. I noticed that the first column got more than four times the "thumbs" of the second column, although the second was more general and presumably would appeal to a wider audience.

Then I looked at the list of the 20 most popular columns to be published in the last 30 days. All of them had the words "Ron Paul" in their titles. And in the list of the 20 columns with the most visits in the last seven days, all but one — and that one was ranked near the bottom — had "Ron Paul" in their titles.

I don't have access to the site statistics, but on the basis of casual empiricism I'm sure a very high correlation would be found between the number of "thumbs" and the number of visits. The fact that one of the articles I linked to in my first column, Time to Out the Bigots, got only eight "thumbs", despite having something important to say about the Ron Paul newsletter controversy, lends further credence to this hypothesis. (I had also linked to another column which I believe did have the words "Ron Paul" in the title and which made the same point, but it has since been taken down so I don't have a basis for direct comparison.)

None of this should surprise me. After all, I discovered this site as a result of Googling Ron Paul. Nolan Chart columns are prominent among the links listed when you search for "Ron Paul" and then click on "News results". Isn't "Ron Paul" one of the most searched-for topics on the internet?

Anyway, this has given me ideas for how to title my future columns. I've written on bicycling subjects for the print media and would like to do so here as well. I think they would be relevant because Ron Paul is a cyclist. In fact, he's said publicly that he'd rather be riding his bike than campaigning. Here are some columns I'm working on:

Oatmeal Cookies: The Perfect Energy Food for Ron Paul to Take on His Bike Rides

How Ron Paul Can Fix a Flat Bike Tire in Under Five Minutes

The Easiest, Least Messy Way for Ron Paul to Clean His Bicycle Chain

I'm interested in Celtic music, so I'm also working on the following title:

A New Runrig CD Ron Paul Is Sure to Enjoy

However, I fear this could make Dr. Paul vulnerable to more "racism" charges, since Willie Ruff, a well known jazz musician and music historian, argues that the roots of black gospel and jazz are in Hebridean presbyterian psalm-singing, and not in Africa as is commonly supposed.

But the most important column I'm working on is:

The Five Points of Calvinism: What Would Ron Paul Say?

This relates bicycling and music to Celtic religion (namely, Free Church Presbyterianism), and in turn relates all three of them to Ron Paul.

And I expect to get plenty of hits as a result.

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©2008 Phil Manger, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.
Published: Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Last modified: Wednesday, January 16, 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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