What happened to the Republican Party? What happened to you?

[dblack]

No, it's what any sane person would call blaming the US for 9/11 and supporting an Iranian nuclear bomb.

I'm wondering what kind of filter in your mind converts his real positions to simplistic crap like this. He tries to conduct honest discussion of the (factual) reasons that the terrorists attacked us and idiots decide he's 'blaming America'. He points out that Iran getting a nuke isn't the end of the world, and idiots convert it to 'supporting Iran'.

Are you not a native English speaker? How do these issues get so mixed up in your head?

 

[dblack]

Ron Paul is unelectable. The reason is that most Americans strongly oppose a lot of what he is saying -- not consistently the same parts of what he's saying, but always something. His constituency is loyal, but tiny. He's an advocate of laissez-faire capitalism -- opposed except by the deep economic right. He's an advocate of demilitarization and open borders -- opposed by everyone but the staunch left. Most of those who back him for his laissez-faire stance can't tolerate his stance on the military and foreign policy, and vice-versa. Probably a majority of the electorate can find something or other to agree with about what he says, but the problem is that nearly everyone can find something to disagree with more strongly than they agree with anything.

You're highlighting a misalignment of the current political parties, not an inherent weakness in Paul's ideology. The biggest reason Paul won't get elected (yes, there are others) is that the two party system is currently aligned along the left/right split as represented by the Democrats and Republicans. But both of these parties are markedly authoritarian in nature. There is a growing segment of the electorate that supports dialing back both the warfare state AND the welfare state. The libertarian zeistgeist is ubiquitously heard every time someone self-identifies as 'fiscally conservative, socially liberal'. These people are simply not served by the existing parties, and THAT is why Paul resonates so strongly with a growing minority of voters.

We're not ready, yet, for a libertarian president. But people are coming around to the realization that government, while not quite the boogeyman of the hard right, isn't the answer to all of our problems. And often it's exactly the wrong answer. This is not a popular view in DC, where government solving every single problem is 'good for business'. But outside the beltway, people are growing tired of business as usual. This is the common thread (however thin) between the OWS protesters and the Tea Party movement.