The GOP Must Embrace Ron Paul or Lose
Political campaigns typically serve one of two purposes: 1. To win elections. 2. To build coalitions. The former is as important as the latter precisely because it is typically impossible to win elections without first building coalitions. Barry Goldwater was no doubt disappointed when he lost. Ronald Reagan was no doubt happy Goldwater ran.
In 2008, Ron Paul ignited a movement. Between then and 2012, Paul has amassed an army. Paul and his supporters’ growing numbers, whether in actual warm bodies or vote totals, have doubled, tripled and even quadrupled depending on how you gauge it. Paul and his movement now influence the Republican Party, it’s direction and it’s rhetoric in a way for more significant than anyone ever expected. And this has been true since the beginning of this election—where when many thought Paul might win Iowa and other early contests, they attempted to slander Dr. Paul or even make voters fear him (“he can’t win,” “he’s too extreme,” etc.). If that didn’t work, they tried to ignore him, with the media talking incessantly about eventual 2012 nobodies like Tim Pawlenty after the Iowa Straw Poll—even though Paul almost beat Michelle Bachmann for the top spot.
Whether they have feared Paul or tried to ignore him, the message of constitutional liberty has so pierced America’s political discourse that at this point it simply will not go away no matter how much Paul’s critics would like it to.
What the Republican Party is desperate for is a coherent conservative message that can excite its base. What the Republican Party is desperate for is a substantively conservative message that can also have broad appeal to independents and disenfranchised Democrats. What the Republican Party is desperate for is a candidate with a message that can beat Barack Obama.
What the Republican Party is desperate for is Ron Paul, who has built a movement, stuck to his conservative principles, appeals to independents more than any other Republican, and who defeats Obama in most head-to-head polls. In being the only candidate to represent the oldest constitutional ideas imaginable, Paul also represents the freshest and most promising political brand on the scene today.
What Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are now fighting over is who might get to be the leader of the shell of a GOP left behind in George W. Bush’s wake. All of these guys are yesterday’s news, as is their version of the Republican Party—no new ideas, no respect for the Constitution, nothing but sheer partisan bluster. As 2008 proved, Americans want nothing to do with that Republican Party anymore. No matter what else happens in this election, that GOP is through.
The 18-30 year olds who vote for Ron Paul overwhelmingly in every contest right now point the way toward the future. The coalition Ron Paul has built represents the only coherent philosophy the GOP even has at this point, and it represents the only conservative philosophy capable of winning elections with broad support.
If the GOP wants to win in 2012—hell, if the GOP wants to win period—it better learn to embrace the popular limited government philosophy of Paul. The biggest losers in this election are the ones you will probably continue to hear the most about in this election. But the biggest winner is already Ron Paul—whose influence and movement you will continue to hear about today, tomorrow and in the future.
