Topic: Politics
Ron Paul Could have Been Bob Barr What was the reason he chose not to be?by Jahfre Fire Eater
(libertarian)
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Apparently the armchair political strategists who have been clamoring for Ron Paul to run as a third party candidate for the past 19 months just can't move on. I'm not going into detail about how ridiculous this notion is or how Dr. Paul's choices have made perfect sense when viewed in conjunction with his principles. I've written dozens of articles over the past year that go into these details from numerous angles. The recent disclosure that not running as a third party candidate was the price of getting on the primary ballot in some states has provided the basis for a dilemma soothing rationalization that most of these confused LP members have been longing for all these months.
The dilemma arises because they cannot grasp the purpose for Dr. Paul's choices so they start to assume he is snubbing them. They don't want to dislike Dr. Paul because he is their shining hope for the Libertarian Utopia that the LP will force upon the world once it grows up into a major political party. This rift between their dreams and reality have caused many former supporters to write very nasty articles about how they didn't get the candidate they paid for, that they longed for. This "new" information allows Ron Paul's behavior to be blamed on a coercive conspiracy to deny the LP members their guru. Now they can still love Dr. Paul and excuse his inexplicable behavior.
This is the dilemma of incompatible frames of reference. People in one frame of reference are often physically unable to recognize the logic behind the behavior of people in another frame of reference. Often it is faith in something that puts up these barriers between ideals and reality. Thus the term, "blind faith". Without the blind adherence to some faith-based "gap fillers" for the portions of reality that abraid their illusions, people would be more likely to search for a reality-based explanation for behavior they don't understand.
For me this conflict is simply humorous. If Ron Paul had been the type of individual who would abandon his principles and negate decades of leading by example to seek the blind-adulation of a tiny number of self-marginalized third party members he would NOT have been the candidate those folks wanted. He would have been Bob Barr. It looks to me that the LP got EXACTLY what it wanted...so why the incessant whining?
My guess i that bruised egos need a hug.
-Jahfre Fire Eater -- All out of hugs.
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The views expressed in this
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Barr had to go through a long period of working as a neo-conservative till his defeat brought him some introspection. Whereas ROn Paul has voted libertarian since. . . . um, since he has been in office.
OMG. When are the Ron Paulers going to complete a 12 step program and move on? I have followed Dr. Paul's career for 30 years. Yes, it would be nice to have any number of Paul-emulators in government. However, it is not going to happen until these same people get over the fact that his campaign was not about being President! It was about waking them to do something for themselves. It seems almost ludicrous to be explaining to supposed supporters of Dr. Paul that it is THEY who have to change things using the same principles; not just Dr. Paul.
Most of these same people probably haven't spent a whit of time since the campaign, other than wasting their time on blogs, to work in their communities or their neighborhoods to actually spread the freedom message and to work on building that message into EVERY political party, no matter what the affiliation.
If Bob Barr would have run under the republican ticket he would have won. The cult of celebrity is the widespread interest in arbitrarily famous individuals.....Ron Paul...Barrack Obama...I blame Americas obsession with the celeb gossip of people turning everything in to a popularity contest. Or worshiping a person like Obama or Ron Paul it’s really sad actually. I am a libertarian and I think Ron Paul comes off as a nut job…and the only good ideas that came out of Paul where from this guy (Peter Schiff)
These Paultards have chosen to worship only him when they should be interested in his ideas and believes. But these people are not libertarians they are Libertines people who just want to rage against normal society. With no logic or reason behind anything.
Thank you for this article! I have never doubted the wisdom or integrity of any of Ron Paul's decisions. Someone that wise who's been in politics/Congress as long as he has is also very astute.
I also believe the majority of his "detractors" were never Ron Paul supporters to begin with, but were Bob Barr infiltrators (like "libby" above).
And speaking of Bob Barr, when the LP publicly admits their mistake of choosing that former CIA-member and his obnoxious co-hort Root, admits they shot themselves in the foot, and publicly kicks them both out, I'm sure a lot of the real Ron Paul supporters will support that party again. Until then, don't hold your breath.
Note to "libby": Get a clue. Bob Barr is repugnant, with the presence of a mustached slug, has no mind of his own and talks doublespeak rhetoric saying one thing and doing another. That's laughable you think he would have "won" anything! He was just thrown in to deliberately try to cause division among Ron Paul supporters and to infiltrate the LP as a Libby-speaking Neocon plant.
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