The Republican Party is more or less in shambles. It is the political equivalent of New Orleans post-Katrina. All of the tired old neo-conservatives are scrambling around trying to make sense of the disaster but “making sense” has never been a ubiquitous neo-conservative trait. Finding the next GOP “leader” is quite easy. It’s hard to step anywhere in DC without having to wipe Red state leadership off the bottom of your shoe. Just about every Republican you bump into these days is trying to use political muscle to be the next Barry Goldwater or Ronald Reagan. All these attempts will likely fail.
The real problem with the GOP is the lack of activist and faithful followers. When everyone is trying to be a leader, who is left to do the following? The GOP is a city where every building is a comedy club holding an open mic night all on the same evening. The only people in the audience are Democrats laughing out of pity. Well, they are bleeding hearts after all.
The Republican Party doesn’t need new leadership. It needs old-style leadership, very old-style leadership. Newt Gingrich with a makeover is still neo-con Newt. A kinder gentler Rush Limbaugh? I thought the GOP was against drugs? And please don’t let me go down the lipstick on a pig avenue again regarding Sarah Palin. What a giant heaping pile of leadership!
Ron Paul appeared on the Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC this evening. He discussed his own role in the GOP’s future. Pointedly, Maddow asks Paul his thoughts on Newt Gingrich.
“I don’t think either party right now offers a whole lot to the American people who want to see some really serious changes.”
In an excellent article by David Weigel we get a peek into just how Ron Paul’s efforts to educate his peers in the ways of Austrian economics are going. It appears that Tom Woods great book “Meltdown” is one of the the more useful education tools Paul is using to win friends and influence his lawmaking peers.
No, there is no massive support among his GOP colleagues but he is winning over a few of them and building his own “Old Right” coalition of sorts. Many Paul supporters were critical of McCain’s buddy Lindsay Graham saying that Ron Paul is not a leader of the GOP (see video). However, isn’t it an indication of Paul’s growing support that Graham felt the need to make such a statement in the first place? The old tactic of “ignore Ron Paul and he will go away” is obviously no longer working for the neo-cons. Ron Paul isn’t going anywhere, and it’s about time the GOP recognized their true conservative roots, a time before the neo-conservatives incrementally hijacked the Republican Party.
And then there are the luncheons. The off-the-record talks have brought in speakers such as ex-CIA counterterrorism expert Michael Scheuer, libertarian investigative reporter James Bovard, iconoclastic terrorism scholar Robert Pape, and George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley. Perhaps the most influential guest has been Thomas Woods, a conservative scholar whose previous books include “The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History” and “Who Killed the Constitution?: The Fate of American Liberty from World War I to George W. Bush,” and whose current book “Meltdown” has inspired Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) to question Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner about economic fundamentals.
No, Ron Paul won’t be ignored and he isn’t going away anytime soon. In fact, there is a younger more charismatic version of Ron Paul preparing to make his own mark on the American political landscape. Meet Rand Paul.
Even though Ron Paul may not run for president in 2012, we do have hope for the future since his son, Rand, has been a great speaker on his father’s campaign trail and is now considering a run for the U.S. Senate, according to the Associated Press:
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Yet another Republican is considering a run for U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning’s seat.
The latest is Rand Paul, son of U.S. Rep. and former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul of Texas. He told The Associated Press on Thursday that he would consider entering the race, but only if Bunning drops out.
Paul, a Bowling Green eye surgeon, is complimentary of Bunning and stressed that he is in no way encouraging the 77-year-old baseball icon not to run. [Continue article]
Ron Paul appeared on CSPAN’s Washington Journal this morning for a very nice 30 minute segment. Much of the first half of the interview centered on much of Paul’s own philosophy in our current economic and political climate.
The first few callers were of the (perhaps typical) “crazy sounding” variety that CSPAN tends to attract.
The final caller, one which I wish was taken first had a woman accusing Ron Paul of believing in an “absurdity” when it comes to free markets.
Paul replied with a simplistic yet profound answer:
“You are for socialism and a I am for freedom.” (paraphrased)
Indeed that one sentence sums up the current political debate in America. So, are you for socialism or are you for freedom? They are mutally exclusive. I choose freedom.
Those of us in Ron Paul withdrawal and excited at the prospect of former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson running for President in 2012, received some good news today. According to Charles Frohman writing on the Gary Johnson 2012 Facebook group, Johnson is interested in running. Frohman writes:
I met with Gary for a couple hours at his new mansion in Taos, New Mexico, and got confirmation of his interest in running for the 2012 presidency. Like Dr. Paul, the former Governor is a big believer in vetoing unconstitutional laws, and doing everything to allow individuals to pursue their happiness in most any way. Progressives should like his tolerance for alternative lifestyles, and conservatives should like his high standards for govt efficiency and support for local innovative govt solutions.
I suppose it is a bit early to start planning the first Johnson Money Bomb, but this is great news for us Ron Paul liberty lovers looking for a candidate in 2012. There is a lot of time between now and 2012, but this certainly provides hope for the future. In the meantime there is much work to be done with the upcoming 2010 election year. As Wendell Phillips reminds us, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty”.
The media is starting its barrage of attacks on Sarah Palin, reporting such things as her not knowing the countries involved in NATO or that Africa is not actually a country. The attacks may have some truth to them, and it seems like they are making large efforts to throw her under the bus so she is going to be far too damaged for a run for President in 2012. FOX news, as shown below is one of the leaders of attacks.
I wonder if this is an orchestrated effort to damage Palin because she supposedly went “rogue” during the campaign and decided she had her own opinions after all. I think this situation is ripe for Ron Paul to reach out to her. She can be an ally in helping to change the GOP from within. It seems the current party leadership is vulnerable. A few Palin and Paul media counter attacks are in order.
If Palin truly did go rogue, then what is stopping her from doing so now as the media promises to continue blaming her for McCain’s loss? In fact, I think the time is ripe for Ron Paul to contact every endorsed candidate in his Liberty PAC and have a public forum (hopefully televised on CSPAN or another outlet) discussing the future of the GOP. They could make attempts to publicly push the Republican Party towards its Old Right roots. I would love to watch a forum including Jeff Flake, Sarah Palin, Walter Jones, Gary Johnson, Mark Sanford, and many of the other Ron Paul endorsed Republicans.
Paul did something similar with his “vote third party” press conference. He ignored some of his own principles to find a common ground. Why not do the same in a concerted effort to publicly and openly steer the GOP back towards the Constitution and limited government?
As the McBama presidential “race” nears its thrilling conclusion, I follow a Ron Paul spoof from TheOnion.com with a serious question. Who will lead the Revolution next? by Jake, the Champion of the Constitution Originally posted October 25, 2008 at http://www.nolanchart.com/article5289.html
As can be seen in many of my past and upcoming articles, it is a little tough to get good unbiased news these days. For instance, most people still think corporate giants General Electric and Microsoft make jet engines, light bulbs and Windows, not run NBC and MSNBC (you get one guess as to where the MS came from).
In desperation for some actual news, I find myself relying more and more on www.TheOnion.com, which I suppose is a little silly since everything they publish is simply not true. Perhaps there is not much difference between them and Mainstream Media, after all! Check out the below and then I have a question for you.
When I heard William “BJ” Lawson speak for the first time in person I said to myself, “This is the Ron Paul Republican who can win”. Then I checked out his opponent David Price and immediately thought, “I know Lawson can win.” At first glance, the problem is the heavily Democratic North Carolina district he is in, but if you dig a bit deeper, Lawson is the perfect candidate for a district of this kind. He is not your normal present day Republican. Lawson has the ability to attract those on all sides of the political spectrum much like Ron Paul did during his own campaign.
Below you will discover the Liberty Maven rankings for BJ Lawson on the Paul-O-Meter, where candidates and current lawmakers can be rated on how closely they are in line with Dr. Ron Paul on the issues. To learn about the Paul-O-Meter methodology please see this article. You may also assign your own rankings or request a candidate be added to the system.
Continue reading to see if BJ Lawson truly deserves the moniker “Ron Paul Jr.”
The Diamondback, The University of Maryland’s award winning newspaper covered Ron Paul’s appearance last night at the Comcast Center where Paul endorsed several Maryland Republicans.
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) appeared before a crowd of several hundred cheering, applauding fans last night at the Comcast Center.
As Paul walked up to the podium, he waved his arms for quiet. Silence filled the room. He began his speech and mentioned the suspension of his presidential campaign.
One voice could be heard above his speech and the crowd: “Write-in!”
While Paul’s supporters may not be large in number, they definitely never give up.
Paul, a former candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, endorsed five Maryland congressional candidates in the Comcast Center’s Pavilion Gym last night to a crowd of about 250. While Paul’s views may place him outside the mainstream of his party (withdrawal from Iraq) and of American politics (abolishing the Federal Reserve, withdrawing troops from Germany, Korea, and Japan), his followers are exceptionally devoted.
Liberty Maven
” is one of the the more useful education tools Paul is using to win friends and influence his lawmaking peers.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=497963dc-61bd-4698-8939-806bc8751054)
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