Why I Can’t Stand Ron Paul

I can’t stand Ron Paul. Why? I should have some sort of warm sentiment towards him, right? He is, after all, an anti-war conservative riding against the tide of brainless militarism that still rules the GOP, right? But like almost everything else with Paul, it is wrapped up in the type of brain-dead simpleton talk that renders it effectively useless.

Besides bring back some pork for his district like any other congressman, what the hell has Paul actually done in his tenure in the House? He hasn’t seriously affected the mainstream thinking of the GOP and his Simple Simon view of the federal government’s role in America isn’t ever happening.

Thank God. (The invisible hand of the market was never going to desegregate the Jim Crow south)

As much as people despise the sort of dippy-hippie views espoused by some people on the left, they are often equaled by the late night dorm room bong hit logic of the libertarian movement. Only they’ve been even less effective politically. The hippies at least had some effect on public sentiment on the Vietnam War and even nominated a “peace” candidate within one of the two major parties (he went down in flames to one of the worst presidents ever, but still).

By comparison, Ron Paul couldn’t win a single real contest in the 2012 Republican nomination process. This is a nominating contest where tired retreads like Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum actually won states!

Newt. Gingrich.

What’s the point of Ron Paul then? He has cultists online who don’t actually show up to vote for him and he doesn’t seriously influence the debate within his party like past, fringe candidates have.

What’s the point?

At the Republican Convention, there’s this idea going around that Paul and his supporters are going to cause a ruckus. Not going to happen. The parties have both become experts at stage managing their national conventions. This isn’t the smoke-filled room of yore or the chaos of 1968. Do people really think that Reince Priebus is dumb enough to let Paul’s trickling of supporters disrupt the coronation of Mitt Romney as the party’s nominee?

Give me a break.