By Doug Bandow
Who are the Ron Paul people, asks “Southern Avenger” Jack Hunter? They are the heart of the conservative movement!
then there are the so-called Ron Paul people. Paul’s CPAC speech was not simply an exercise in Democrat bashing. It was a lesson on how the GOP must finally deliver on the conservatism it has always promised. According to Paul, Republicans must finally show true fidelity to the Constitution. Paul asked the crowd to cast a critical eye upon the Right’s enthusiasm for wars that don’t make much sense and cost too much money and the party’s propensity for incurring massive debt. In short, Paul called for an end to big government – even the GOP form of it. Asks Pat Buchanan: “Who in the Republican Party today is calling for a Barry Goldwater-like rollback of federal power and federal programs? Except Ron Paul.” Answer: No one.
Often derided, the many young people who support Paul are the heart and soul of what has been dubbed the Ron Paul Revolution. And if their visible and vocal presence at CPAC was any indication, they are a force to be reckoned with.
I would expect Paul supporters to become even more visible and more vocal in the future. It will be impossible to silence a genuine movement driven by actual conservative passion, and not simply the two-party horse race the Republican establishment continues to mistake for principle.
In their ignorance, conservatives who boo Paul at CPAC or anywhere else are essentially dismissing the only force in contemporary American politics that is serious about smaller government. And despite the constant media spin and gnashing of teeth, Ron Paul and his people’s onward march is not representative of some sort of confusion within the conservative movement – but the only conservative movement.
Doug Bandow, American Conservative Defense Alliance