Perspectives from a Libertarian Pundit
columnist: Gary Trieste

Topic: Ron Paul
Ron Paul - The Best Libertarian Prosyletizer in History

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Is Ron Paul the most effective spreader of Libertarianism in history? This article proffers yes, compared to all others popularizer of the message.

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by Gary Trieste
(Libertarian)
Saturday, January 19, 2008

Better than Thomas Paine? Better than John Locke, Thomas Jefferson? Robert Heinlein, Milton Friedman or Lao Tzu?

"You gotta be kidding!" my debatutente' said, it could not be, - "these ARE the founding deep thinkers of the libertarian message, What about Paine's "Common Sense", there's no way Ron Paul has spread the message directly or indirectly to anywhere near as many people as who've read it in English alone, let alone its translations."

"Free to Choose" on TV probably got several times as many people watching & understanding it than will ever get a comparable amount of material from Ron Paul. Although Ron Paul puts a lot of emphasis on the US Constitution, he hasn't gotten nearly as many people to pay attention to it as did those who drafted & adopted it to begin with; it's like comparing a news vendor to the publisher of the newspaper. (Howard A. Stern has even gotten many times more people to focus on ideas of individual liberty than the relative cult following of Ron Paul.)"

However, to this I say yes, better than them. They may have delved deeper into the precepts and dynamic philosophy, but a proselytizer's effectiveness is not dependent upon the depth of their knowledge or message, rather it is measured by the number of people s/he spreads the message to and consequently the number of people the philosophy finds fertile ground.
And on that basis, I think Ron Paul to date is the best.

Compare this in kind to the case of Christianity; consider Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Rev. Billy Graham, Jim & Tammy Faye Baker, Saint Saul/Paul, or just about every tent style evangelist. The list is never ending . . .

All these persons were exceptionally effective proselytizers, each more so than Jesus Christ who is/was the intellectual head of the movement. And each one of them were/are empty headed and non-innovative with regard to the religion (IMO); they are spreaders and popularizers of the philosophy, not the deep thinkers of the originators.

Now don't pervert my words and conclude that I am saying Paul is not a deep thinker in Libertarianism, but I maintain that he is now a far more effective proselytizer that anyone has been before for Libertarianism.
He is actually reaching and convincing millions in a most fervent/passionate way. That activity alone will further the cause faster and wider than anything that has gone on before.

Whatever intellectual materials, poignant founding philosophers, or intuitive sense of truism that may have impressed contemporary libertarian thinkers - so strongly so as to instill a fundamentalist passion in many of us - and, however intensely these revelations may seem to loom large to us as apostles of the faith, we still need to keep perspective and be realistic about the movement in the bigger picture.

Compared to the public at large, these truths are known only among us our small cadre of social acquaintances, and then perhaps a larger association of adherents, rendering it a cabal, a coterie.

Setting the message upon seeking minds that ALREADY have an inclination toward liberty and free market economics - THAT is not a measure of effective proselytizing.

Common Sense. Free to Choose, Two Treatises of Government.

Austrian Economics, Non-initiation of force, Personal Sovereignty.

Dana Rohrabacher, Milton Friedman, Ludwig von Mises, David Nolan.

Are these the best that one could come up with?

Within the circle, yes, but ask people in the street WTF these things or people are - they don't know! Shit, I barely even know, and I am deep into both Libertarian philosophy and activism.

Howard Stern is of course well known, but how many have been introduced to the basics of libertarianism by his radio show?
Whatever anyone might have gotten out of it is well diluted with dirty whore jokes and midget fellatio.

And yet, ask about Ron Paul to the man in the street, and not only do they know him but there is a good chance they will be able to tell what he is all about, and orate the embryonic ideas of libertarianism.

There is no contest.
The diaspora of ideas, the money raised and further used to publicize, the fury and passion of millions of supporters, the trepidation finally struck into the powers-that-be.
Ron Paul is hands down the most effective, in terms of money, population, and intensity of response, of Libertarianism to date.

As a runner up, I might consider John Stossel as a particularly effective proselytizer.

Stossel found libertarianism, forged by fire, going through a Pauline (no relation to Ron) epiphany, moving 180deg about face, from socialist leaning lefty to top-graph libertarian; in order to do this he must have gone through a hell of a deep soul-searching and deep-thought period.

Because of this I believe his libertarianism is more fluid and dynamic than Paul's. In his recent writings, Stossel floors me with the cogent simplicity of explanation, in applying libertarianism to public policy.

Unfortunately, Stossel has not chosen to serve as a candidate for high office, and that reduces his footprint and presence to the general public.

Although I haven't seen Ron Paul as a libertarian innovator, or creative philosopher, he knows it very well in theoretical depth, writes about it and its practical application, and promotes for it forcefully in governmental policy.

That and the fact that he is a frontline politician makes him a more powerful proselytizer than even Stossel.

It is for these reasons, I say that Ron Paul currently is the most successful proselytizer of the libertarian philosophy.

Although the founding philosophers of libertarian thought, have been around for hundreds or thousands of years, Ron Paul's contribution must be viewed within the context of both his effectiveness and the time constraints he has had to work within.
(Whether you care to measure this in absolute terms, or in terms of the
instantaneous rate of idea flow to the masses, is topic for another discussion.)

Ron Paul has been at this, at a prominent national level, for only a couple years, so that is the temporal scope by which his successes and accomplishments must be compared to, in reaching the masses.

Although the measure of effectiveness in spreading the word doesn't necessarily demand conversions to libertarianism (although that would be the goal), it is a natural consequence that when these ideas have set upon fertile ground then the conversion/enlightenment can begin, and we can have freedom within our lifetimes.

And let loose the Ron Paul Revolution.

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©2008 Gary Trieste, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.
Published: Saturday, January 19, 2008
Last modified: Wednesday, May 28, 2008

The views expressed in this article are those of Gary Trieste only and do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Gary Trieste 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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