

Yesterday, Ron Paul officially announced his exploratory committee in Des Moines, Iowa and sparked a media firestorm that has actually been refreshing. Four decades since the first rumbles of the Texas Congressman’s liberty rhetoric began to inspire his many faithful followers, credit for his hard work is beginning to pay off like a motherfucker for the libertarian movement. Paying off to the tune of $1.2m raised through LibertyPAC this quarter alone and a bustling cottage news industry dedicated to Ron Paul.

Paul is clearly not shy to the publicity, using the media’s increasing attention on his organizational successes to continually hammer the executive branch on important issues: the economy being choked like a bitch by both democrats and republicans; the growing foreign war machine stoked by the bodies of the poorest (again, by both democrats and republicans); the overbearing, yet comically incompetent police state (sped up to warp speed after 9/11); and about a thousand new bad ideas that are being cast into the regulatory books daily in the name of government progress.

The most clear reason that the media is finally beginning to take notice is his ever-growing base of supporters that trends young, first-time voters with a lot of energy, enthusiasm and free time to give to the campaign and liberty-causes. Paul has even threatened to knock Barack Obama’s tired golfer ass out of the spot of coolest, most hip president, saying “I think that Obama will not be able to hang on to that enthusiasm of the young people because of what’s happened in the last couple years.” For more on that, see: whatthehellhasobamadonesofar.com.

This enthusiasm was on display in the 2010 elections when his son Rand Paul was elected to the Senate, and a shit ton of Tea Party candidates raised hell and got elected (Yes, the original modern Tea Party, inspired by Ron Paul’s 2008 Revolution/EVOL campaign, but was warped by establishment republicans into a cartoon xenophobic hatred for all things “socialist muslim”).

I’m optimistic that the message is getting across because frankly: we libertards/paultards are too big of a group to ignore, and the media has recognized it and chosen to embrace it (traffic = eyeballs on ads). It will take a lot hard work and organizing of that libertarian youth and activism to keep the establishment from co-opting that movement again for a perverted corporate Tea Party v2.