LOS ANGELES, November 21, 2011—The revolution will not be televised, and society will be better off when it disappears altogether. It is time to stop coddling the screaming children and just say it: Ron Paul supporters are a scourge that could hurt the effort to stop President Obama's relection.
They need to support their candidate, but if he fails, they need to jump right onto the GOP bandwagon.
Ron Paul supporters claim that they love liberty. Yet any criticism of their demigod triggers a reaction that is anything but tolerant. Disagreement with him is not allowed. Below is a typical conversation.
Paulbot: I support Ron Paul.
Me: I am supporting somebody else.
Paulbot: Don’t you care about the Constitution!!!????!!!
This does not leave much room for dialogue.
I have nothing against Dr. Paul personally. On economic policy much of what he advocates is sensible. I disagree with him on foreign policy, but that is my right. Let this be said to his supporters who take everything personally. This is America. I have the right to disagree with him.
Most voters are evolutionary, not revolutionary. They like incrementalism, not radical change. One leader with funny ears and a defeatist foreign policy is enough.
A second one is unnecessary.
Dr. Paul and his supporters are a scourge on the Republican Party because they are not Republicans. They are trying to remake the party completely in Dr. Paul’s image and have trouble accepting that 90-95% of the party feel it is fine just the way it is.
This is not just about policy. It is about loyalty. In 2008, the candidates were all asked if they would support the eventual nominee if they did not win. Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Fred Thompson, and Mitt Romney all took the loyalty oath without hesitation.
When McCain won the nomination, Giuliani and Thompson gave superb speeches at the 2008 Convention for him.
Tom Tancredo and Ron Paul would not promise to support the nominee. Mr. Tancredo even bolted from the GOP and ran for Governor of Colorado as an independent. Dr. Paul has not ruled out a third party run.
Imagine if Ron Paul won the GOP nomination and supporters of all of the other Republican candidates withheld support. The Paulbots would angrily claim that they won the nomination fair and square, and that the vote should be respected, and they would be right.
Yet if Ron Paul does not win, many of his lemmings are threatening to go third party or stay home. The reason for this is simple. Again, they are not Republicans.
Dr. Paul has every right to run for the highest office in the land. While I disagree with his positions on foreign policy, he has started a conversation worth having. Yet once the primaries end, the discussion has to end so a different discussion between one Republican and Barack Obama can take place. Ron Paul supporters never let the conversation end. As a general rule, when somebody (me) says, “Thank you, but I am not interested in discussing this,” that should be the end of it. Does anybody think that having to have Ron Paul’s views rammed down my throat is going to soften my stance? It has the reverse effect.
Ron Paul supporters claim to be conservatives, but their behavior is every bit as aggravating as that of liberals. Anybody who disagrees with Ron Paul is either “uninformed,” or “unsupportive of the Constitution.” The idea that somebody could disagree with them is lost on them. They cannot disagree in a calm manner.
Dr. Ron Paul is an intelligent man. He has some sensible economic ideas and is certainly a credible individual on medical issues. Yet unless he is willing to publicly commit loyalty to the GOP, there is no reason for him to be running in GOP primaries. Pat Buchanan threatened to take his “peasants with pitchforks” all over America, and soon found out that his army was much smaller than he had ever imagined.
Dr. Paul also has a loyal army. They are also a mile deep and an inch wide. They cannot and will not admit that they keep talking to each other but that their support is overstated. A recent straw poll had Dr. Paul winning 82% of the vote with the current frontrunners winning 1%. Does anybody really think Dr. Paul will crush the frontrunners by 81 percentage points?
Can honest people at least admit that these straw polls are not scientific? How can people arguing about honesty in government continually manipulate numbers to suit their own purposes?
So if Ron Paul supporters promise to vote Republican, then good luck to Dr. Paul and may the best Republican win.
If Ron Paul supporters will vote for Ron Paul and nobody else, then get lost. Nobody needs you. Your candidate is the fringe, and you remain a scourge.
For those wanting to offer intelligent, lucid, coherent commentary to start a discussion on how the GOP should support Ron Paul if he wins the nomination and how Ron Paul should support the GOP if he does not, then please do so.
Comments that include any of the following do not help either to nominate Dr. Paul or to remove Obama from the White House:
A) Ron Paul 2012! That does not say anything. It is like “Girl Power!” or “Yes we can!”
B) Anything with the word “revolution.”
C) Anything implying that he is the “only one” who can save us. That borders on lunacy that would make David Koresh followers proud. No one is indispensable, not even Ron Paul.
D) Anything screaming that he is the only candidate who cares about the Constitution.
E) Anything anti-Semitic.
F) Anything in big bold capital letters with lots of punctuation marks.
G) Any personal attacks or profanity.
Prove me wrong, please. Show us that Ron Paul supporters are thoughtful, thinking people that want their candidate to win, but if not, are willing to make sure Obama loses.
Brooklyn born, Long Island raised, and now living in Los Angeles, Eric Golub is a politically conservative columnist, blogger, author, public speaker, satirist and comedian.
Eric is the author of the book trilogy "Ideological Bigotry, "Ideological Violence," and "Ideological Idiocy." Eric is 100% alcohol, tobacco, drug, and liberalism free. After years of dating liberals, he has finally seen the light and now only dates Republican Jewish women. His family is pleased over this. Republican, Jewish women, you may contact Eric above.
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Eric Golub is an independent writer for the Communities. Read more from Eric at his TYGRRRR EXPRESS blog.
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