Ron Paul's "swan song"...

So, Dr. Paul finally hangs up his nomination hopes... officially.

I say officially because I find it impossible to think that a man as obviously intelligent as Dr. Paul could have held much optimism about WINNING the nomination over the last four months. Regardless of the (literally) millions of dollars he raised over the Internet (an unprecedented amount of "cyber" support, in my eyes)... the best he can actually claim in primary victories was a distant second. Otherwise, he never got closer than third place (with only three names running).

I'm not a Republican, nor can I be called entirely "conservative" in the current GOP-sense of the word... but I've got a lot of respect for Dr. Paul.

This man fought the "good" fight for all these months, putting in the time and effort knowing his chances were, at best, very, VERY slim. He was preaching "conservatism" to a party that simply doesn't want face the fact that it ISN'T that conservative anymore. He is talking about taking the Republican party back to its true, CONSERVATIVE roots... Herbert Hoover. In Dr. Paul's eyes, Reagan was probably a "California liberal" more than he was a conservative.

For those of us old enough to remember, I'd like to give you an example of who would vote for Ron Paul for President: Archie Bunker.

Archie Bunker was the epitome of "old school conservative" America for millions of TV viewers through the 1970's. He lived in a shockingly average two-story home in Queens, with a shockingly average wife and a shockingly average job. He based all his opinions on a black-and-white spectrum of right and wrong... there was no gray area in Archie's life view... and on stereo-types that all Americans were, at the very least, intimately familiar with, if not enthusiastic holders of the same views themselves. I'm not justifying his bigotry (and he was a bigot), but I am stating that much of his fictional world-view was something most of America could relate to at the time. THAT was the genius of the show...

Archie viewed America as a place where anyone could achieve anything, given the opportunity and applied effort... as long as the government stayed out of the process. He viewed Affirmative Action as criminal (even losing his job to a minority in one episode), while his "meathead" son-in-law adamantly defended it. He supported the troops and their sacrifice in Vietnam (he was ragingly anti-Communist), but often questioned why America had to clean up the world all the time. He begrudged paying taxes to allay other people's woes. Both he and his wife longed for the days of "Herbert Hoover"... a telling insight into their political views right from the start of the show.

In short, he was anti-taxes, anti-interventionist, anti-UN, anti-government "oversight", and very individualistic. A "dyed in the wool" Ron Paul supporter, if ever there was one.

The problem is... Archie Bunker is NOT someone the GOP wants to relate to anymore. The article at the right (Angry White Men) is NOT about people the GOP is willing to focus on. Too many years of pandering to special interests and "big business" (yes, I said that) has muddled the "conservative" movement... and I'm talking WAY more than just back to the Reagan years. Show me the spending record of Dwight D. Eisenhower and I'll show you the record of a New Deal President to rival Truman OR Johnson.

You want a Constitutionalist President? You want someone who will follow the letter of the Law and NOT meddle in the economy? Who won't try and legislate morality (or immorality) while in the White House? You want a President that supports a strong military for the defense of America (rather than the defense of Pakistan, or Saudi Arabia, or the Philippines, or Columbia, or Israel)? You want a President that will fight to maintain US sovereignty rather than sacrifice it to organizations like the UN or NATO? You want a President that will support US interests, rather than those of the EU, or Germany, or France, or OPEC?

Well, then, my friends... Ron Paul WAS your man. No question. I have yet to hear ONE thing that the man supported as part of his platform that was NOT viable... from the end of the IRS to the withdrawal of the US from the UN and NATO. What it was, though, was directly opposed to current GOP thinking and strategy.

Now, don't misunderstand me. I COULDN'T have supported Dr. Paul... I'm not that conservative. But as long as I am a member of THIS blog, Dr. Ron Paul is going to be MY yardstick for measuring all things "conservative" in modern politics... Not Newt Gingrich or Ronald Reagan or Rush Limbaugh... I'm going to turn to the ONE politician that stood there for nearly a year, every four years for the last 20, and said EXACTLY the same thing each and every time.

That's more than just conservatism... that's flat-out dedication to an ideal that no other politician has shown in a really long time.

I tip my hat to you, Dr. Paul. You fought the good fight.