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Life's a Risk
columnist: Jeff Wrobel

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Topic: Presidential Campaign 2008
Ron Paul: Next VP of the United States

A wise presidential candidate could gain millions of votes by choosing Ron Paul as his running mate.
by Jeff Wrobel
(Libertarian)
Sunday, February 10, 2008

Maybe it's because of media bias. Or maybe it's voter fraud. Or more likely, voters are once again falling into the old trap of voting for the lesser of two evils. Whatever the reason though, it's apparent that Ron Paul is not going to be the Republican nominee for president in 2008. McCain will get the nomination without even having to pretend to care about Paul's delegates. Because Paul is a big flashing sign that continually says, "Neoconservatism is a failure", McCain will certainly not choose Paul as his running mate.

Perhaps Obama will win the nomination and, in a show of bipartisanship, choose Paul as VP. That would be a ticket to unite the young and the old; the black and the white; the left and the right. Many Americans are very anxious for that kind of cooperation. Unfortunately, that has about as much chance of happening as the chance that rebate checks will fix the economy.

Well then, maybe Paul will decide to run as the Libertarian candidate again. Then, almost as spectacularly as he did 20 years ago, he can lose again. There's not much point in that.

So, that's it then? Are all of Paul's supporters just going to say, "Oh well, we gave it a good college try; let's settle for McCain."? Is the Ron Paul Revolution over?

Not bloody likely! The astounding success of the Paul campaign has shown that there are an enormous number of people who are tired of our descent into statism. There are millions of people who have seen the Promised Land, and who are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to get there. These people are ready for any realistic -- or even slightly unrealistic -- opportunity to act.

The question is: Who is going to take advantage of this critical moment in history, and who is going to harness the momentum of the Ron Paul Steamroller?

All that is needed to get virtually all of Paul's supporters behind him is for someone with the following characteristics to choose Paul as his running mate, and run as an independent:

  1. Someone anywhere in the libertarian quadrant of the Nolan Chart.
  2. Someone with a billion dollars.

There are somewhere around 500 billionaires in the United States. Even if only 10% of the population is libertarian, that still leaves at least 50 people who fit the bill.

The first people that come to mind are Cato cofounder Charles Koch and his brother, 1980 Libertarian VP candidate David Koch, who each have an estimated wealth of over $10 billion. Or how about persecuted corporate raider Carl Icahn? He must have a fair amount of dislike for Washington. What about Microsoft's Paul Allen? (SpaceShipOne was nice, but what has he done for us lately?) Or maybe Google co-founders Sergey Brin and/or Larry Paige? Adam Smith fan and eBay creator Pierre Omidyar? Computer geek Michael Dell?

Imagine turning on a major network in prime time and seeing an infomercial explaining why Americans should choose the Rich Guy/Ron Paul ticket. But unlike Perot in 1992, imagine that your eyes are not being glazed over by a bunch of economics graphs. Instead you see the Nolan Chart, with Rich Guy explaining that Clinton and McCain are virtually co-located near the border of the Centrist and Statist areas, and so the choice between the Democrats and Republicans is really a false choice. He explains that his and Paul’s candidacy offers you a real choice between a huge government that controls the people, and a smaller one that is controlled by the people.

Come on Mr. or Mrs. Billionaire! Grab your chance at immortality. You've got enough sports teams, yachts, and mansions. No matter how you slice it, you're still going to eventually end up with nothing when you meet your maker. For a tiny percent of your Earthly fortune you can change the world and have your name in all the almanacs! Leave something of real substance for posterity: a freer, more prosperous, more peaceful world. Become the hero of freedom lovers everywhere. Run with Ron Paul!

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2008 Jeff Wrobel, all rights reserved.
Published: Sunday, February 10, 2008
Last modified: Sunday, February 10, 2008

The views expressed in this article are those of Jeff Wrobel only and do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Jeff Wrobel 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: Trans-Mutant
Date: 2008-02-10 21:26:21

Nice dream.  Don't think RP is about to apply for his CFR membership. The only reason they'd consider letting this ticket happen (RP with an elitist) would be to apply the concept os "keep your enemies even closer".

  

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Posted By: Nathan
Date: 2008-02-10 22:42:54

Hey, why not?

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Posted By: mad ivan
Date: 2008-02-10 22:44:24

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Posted By: AK
Date: 2008-02-10 23:56:32

The challenge for the Ron Paul supporters is to convince the voting public that our message and direction is correct. This election we did not get sufficient time, but the movement was born. Now we have to work diligently to expand the movement and convince the voting public and perhaps do better than this time in 2012.

We should not rush or try to buy public opinion, when the public is really not ready.

 In order to bring in the black and Latino vote, we need to do something about affirmative action, entitlement and immigration policy which is perhaps correct, but not practical and probably not humane.

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Posted By: Jason
Date: 2008-02-11 14:41:56

Two words:  Peter Thiel.

 

 

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Posted By: Stefan
Date: 2008-02-12 04:30:37

Many billionaires achieved their position via special interest groups, but there could be a few good one's. Let us start with those that has an interest/connection with Paul: Apart from Thiel (is he a billionaire), there is Robert Kiyosaki, Jim Rogers (now living in Singapore) and can also include a few millionaires etc.

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