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Ron Paul is a protest candidate. No more. No less.

What you have to consider, though, is that Dr. Paul’s campaign is a political dream come true for a lot of people in America right now. More proof of that can be found in the first ten days of the fourth quarter, where he’s already raised over half of what Huckabee did all of last 3rd quarter. The day after the poorly moderated Michigan debates, Dr. Paul had a $100,000 day online (imagine how much more he could have raised if he'd have been treated like a candidate who had just raised $5 million dollars from enthusiastic Americans ready to vote for him).

What the media and Republican power center hasn't quite figured out yet is that Ron Paul’s campaign is not going away. At some point in time the media (and the people in general) are going to have to recognize the facts here. We have a fiscally conservative candidate who is garnering huge amounts of people-powered cash, talking about peoples' top issue (getting out of the Iraqi civil war), while returning American government to its Constitutional roots. His voting record is as stellar in its adherence to Constitutional principle as you could ever imagine a voting record could be. Oh yeah, and he doesn’t accept money from special interests.

Oh, and one more thing: the Ron Paul package comes tremendously steeped in Reagan tradition. Reagan’s genial conservativism proved to be a powerfully winning formula for drawing people on both sides of the aisle. Ron Paul has already proven that this formula works like a charm in two separate elections in Texas, one where he beat a well-funded Democrat incumbent, and another where he beat a well-funded Republican who had previously been a Democrat. This is a man with bona fide cross-party appeal.

Ron Paul’s Revolution isn’t just a neat slogan. Whether the average person understands/believes it or not, there is radical change being peacefully born in our political system. The establishment is only going to be able to hide and marginalize Paul’s campaign for so long. He’s going to start (smartly) spending money soon. He has spent hardly a dime yet and he’s gained ground in nearly every poll you can point to over the last six months (especially in primary states). These poll numbers have risen thanks to his debate performances, his non-stop touring across the states  from Washington DC, to Washington State  and his most powerful (yet thus far ignored) superweapon: the most free, and abundant political advertising that a candidate has ever enjoyed having in the history of political advertising.

People are going to find him… And when they do, they’re going to find that this man is an open book. He’s not afraid to talk at length about his principles to anyone who will listen, unabashedly and consistently speaking truth to power. With each debate, his willingness to stand up against popular and popularly backwards thought is going to gain him a lot of fans on both the left and the right. And as these reasonable folks explore their feelings of agreement on different issues (nearly everybody in America strongly agrees with Ron Paul on at least one core issue that’s important to them), those who speak out about their political confusion and raise discussion about it will find themselves being brow-beat and driven out of their respective party by loyalists who demand near fealty to their flawed mainstream candidates (you can witness this already happening every day on RedState, FreeRepublic, or Daily Kos).

If Ron Paul doesn’t get the Republican nomination, you have to remember that Ross Perot got 18% of the vote as a third-party candidate with a message nowhere near as powerful as Dr. Paul's. Perot's third party was something that he had just invented on the spot  the Reform Party. Dr. Paul already has a strong association to an existing political party to funnel his supporters into should his bid for the Republican Nomination fall short. With the backing of a party and enough widespread grassroots support, Ron Paul is the only candidate who’s spot in the post-primary debates is virtually cemented. Everyone else still has to get by the primaries. All he has to do is make a decent showing in the primaries and then say yes to the supporters who have donated and will do everything they can to ensure that his name is on the ballot, even if this means accepting the Libertarian party nomination. Let Dr. Paul be coy now, but his campaign is like Plato's cave, and nobody is going back down. Dr. Paul's name will be on the ballot come hell or high water.

That’s when the fireworks will really begin, because Ron Paul out-flanks both sides of the establishment candidates on issues that are crucial to their base’s. Hillary vs. Rudy vs. Ron Paul in a debate is going to be Must See TV for the ages. It’s going to be beautiful watching the establishment snakes double talk on their bases core issues, while Dr. Paul talks credibly about things like State’s Rights, local controls, less government, fewer taxes, more personal liberty, a fundamentally sound economy, and peace through non-intervention teamed with free and abundant commerce.

And when election day comes, and people are in that voting booth with the curtain closed, and nothing but themselves, their United States ballot, and their own personal best interests in mind, they’re going to find themselves faced with an unfamiliar reality: that they have a decision, and that they’re not making a choice between Hillary and Rudy (the lesser of two evils), but that they’re making a choice between Hillary and Ron Paul, and Rudy and Ron Paul.

And they’re going to remember how their party has treated them. They’re going to remember how the system has treated them. They’re going to remember.

And I’ll tell you what: they’re going to protest.

October 16, 2007

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