The Revolution is here! Searching for leadership, congressional Republicans have finally turned to Ron Paul. Well, to chair the House subcommittee on domestic monetary policy, at least. But that does put Congress's leading critic of the Federal Reserve in charge of the panel that oversees the central bank.

Ben Bernanke, beware. The 12-term libertarian-leaning congressman from Texas has written a book-length manifesto – titled simply End the Fed – calling for the Federal Reserve's abolition. He will likely call leading Austrian economists affiliated with the Ludwig von Mises Institute to Capitol Hill to testify alongside staid mainstream economists. Fortune magazine recently asked, "Will the Fed be able to survive Ron Paul?"

For years, Paul laboured in obscurity. He ended his first stint in Congress with an unsuccessful run for US Senate in 1984 (he lost to eventual Senator Phil Gramm in the Republican primary). Before returning to the House 13 years later, in order to join the stalled government-shrinking "Republican Revolution", Paul was the Libertarian party's presidential nominee in 1988.

But it was Paul's first Republican presidential campaign in 2008 that really put him on the map. Debating alongside John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, Paul stood out as a voice for peace and civil liberties. Unlike all the other Republicans on stage, he opposed the Iraq war and the Patriot Act. A strict constitutionalist, he was also more consistent than the rest of them in his rejection of debts, deficits and runaway government spending.

Paul's views on war and peace remain deeply controversial within the Republican party. When Paul defended Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, for instance, the conservative blog RedState denounced him as "al-Qaida's favourite member of Congress". But when it comes to economics and the requirement that federal legislation be explicitly based on the Constitution, Paul's philosophy is starting to resonate.

Republican leaders resisted pressure from the banking industry to block him from his new subcommittee chairmanship. Every GOP member of Congress, and a not insignificant number of Democrats, co-sponsor his bill to audit the Fed. His son Rand was elected to the Senate from Kentucky in November. According to a Paul profile in the New York Times, "others are beginning to credit him with some wisdom – or at least acknowledging his passionate following."

Now comes the hard part: Paul says he is split "50-50" over whether to make another presidential run in 2012. A serious legislator, Paul didn't skip congressional votes during his last race for the White House. Would his work as a subcommittee chairman make the next campaign less likely? The chairmanship also gives Republican leaders a bit more leverage, in the event that Paul considers bolting the GOP for another third-party bid.

Although Paul doesn't seem in a hurry to make up his mind, events could force his hand. An April Politico poll found the Tea Party split between Paul and Sarah Palin. While imprecise, this survey highlighted the tensions among the Tea Partiers between the more conventional Republicans who believe the problems with big government started under Barack Obama and the libertarian-constitutionalist wing that had serious misgivings about George W Bush.

The latter is Paul's base, which he may need to move swiftly to consolidate since former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson might also get into the presidential race. Johnson endorsed Paul in 2008 and the two have similar views. But Johnson is to Paul's left on the hot-button issues of immigration and abortion, potentially splitting the Paul coalition. The ex-governor also told the Weekly Standard that he favoured humanitarian warfare in some cases, something which could turn off the Paulian faithful (though his revelations about pot-smoking might be of greater concern to run-of-the-mill Republican primary voters).

Paul would probably be fine chairing his subcommittee and handing the baton off to Johnson. "I can't imagine endorsing anybody else," the congressman told the New Republic. But Johnson would have to start building support almost from scratch. And despite his superior executive resume, it isn't clear he has the political skills to be a step forward for the Paul movement.

In any event, this looks like Ron Paul's moment. Whether that moment is spent in subcommittee hearings or on the campaign trail remains to be seen.