Can You Say Irrelevant…
I knew you could.
Because the Beltway characters believe they are at the center of the universe, they imagine that: 1) The Paul Revolution revolves around them and their “ideas,” and 2) In the unlikely event the Revolution was started without them, it has to be insignificant.
As usual, they are wrong.
Ron Paul is not running as a Libertarian, but as a Republican with a strong libertarian sensibility. Ron’s Revolution is revved, for the most, by independents, defecting Democrats, and disgruntled Republicans for whom his message is fresh and intuitive.
What are the odds that Rep. Paul’s followers have come to the philosophy of freedom through Reason magazine? Is it remotely possible that the passionate soldiers of the Paul Army enlisted after chancing upon a dispassionate, desiccated, dry-as-dust disquisition on a free market in kidneys (I’m all for it)? I think not.
Perhaps Paulites were inspired by Stephen Moore, a former Catoite, now with the neoconservative “War Street Journal.” From his comfy perch on “Kudlow & Company,” Moore ventured just the other day that the recession is the result of the less-than dynamic demos’ fear of rapid technological transformation. This is the Virginia Postrel “philosophy,” if it can be called that.
Also antipathetic to Dr. Paul, Ms. Postrel is yet another establishment-endorsed libertarian of whom Paul backers are blissfully unaware. A filament of the Postrel faith evinced by her first book, “The Future and its Enemies,” is that all change is good, always. All that glitters is gold was the essence of Ms. Postrel’s second manifesto, “The Substance of Style.” Profound perhaps to some, but not to Paulites.
Picture a Venn diagram. The overlap between the Paul and the Postrel solitudes is invisible to the naked eye.
http://www.ilanamercer.com/HighPriestsOfPomposityPanPaul.htm
And I love this one.
The respectable libertarians are apparently concerned that Ron Paul has been a terrible distraction in the fight for liberty. Well. As one personal observation: The universe of our 20-year-old college student son, and of his group of friends, has suddenly expanded from an orbit of girls and sports to include discussions of foreign policy, the Fed and the role of the federal government in their lives. While they all have Ron Paul bumper stickers on their cars, I can guarantee you that none of them has ever heard of Reason or Cato.
