Last night, I posted a brief piece wondering aloud if perhaps Rep. Ron Paul is going too far with his request to audit all of the gold held by the U.S. government at Fort Knox -- a process which would take at least 350,000 man hours and around $15 million of taxpayers' money, according to the Treasury Department. It would involve drilling holes into the bullion bars, subjecting them to possible damage... not to mention the increased risk of theft.

I received many reactions from Ron Paul supporters, some of them downright disturbing.

I am troubled that so-called Libertarians -- who should hold the freedom of speech, and civil difference of opinion, to be sacred objects -- would resort to emailing me late at night with personal threats, strange theories, and angry outbursts.

Look, I get it: lower taxes, less regulation and greater freedom, as prescribed by the Constitution, are all HUGE positives in my book. I'm an entrepreneur.

You're preaching to the choir... it's like you are trying to convince Hank Rearden that this capitalism stuff is all right, after all. Totally unnecessary.

But I am significantly less likely to vote for Ron Paul after some of the insane correspondence received:

1) Apparently I am "out there" and a "shill" for believing we did, in fact, land on the Moon.

2) I'm also apparently a mainstream media pawn for failing to "understand" that Obama is really from Kenya... and that his birth certificate is a fake.

3) Alternately, I'm a pawn of the Chinese government. (Not sure how that would play out, but interesting theory, guys!)

Why so serious?

On the one hand, I get it: you watched your retirement portfolio evaporate and real estate values plummet, you pointed the blame (somewhat justifiably) at the lazy mainstream politicians and mega-banks who brought us to this point a few years ago, and now you'll rabidly defend Ron Paul -- in any forum whatsoever, even if it's a 3 a.m. email to a writer you do not know -- in order to protect his chances at "correcting" the corrupt system that dismissed you and wrecked your quality of life.

That's a tough pill.

But grow up.

Some of you should be ashamed.

Not everyone who passes on the Ron Paul Kool-Aid is automatically a member of the Illuminati New World Order Federal Reserve Chinese Conspiracy.