The news is out. Ron Paul won’t be seeking his re-election as a congressman in his district. He will instead concentrate on educating America on libertarian ideals and Austrian economics.
Any comments? I have to say, I am a bit sad to hear this news…who will grill Bernanke?
Anybody can grill Bernanke.
He says he’ll try to act as more of an educator outside of the arena of politics. That would surely be interesting. A lot of it has to do with the gerrymandering that the Texas congress did to try and make sure that his new district is much more Democratic.
No point running for Congress when he’s going to be President pretty soon.
Clayton -
Praise be to the words of “Cuhl A t o n”
It might mean that he gets his own tv show (or some platform). He can probably find more donation money when he’s not sitting in office. I doubt he’ll travel around…?
“Any comments? I have to say, I am a bit sad to hear this news…who will grill Bernanke?”
Alan Grayson is running again.
As a former congressman, he may still be a regular guest on the news networks. By declining to run for Texan office again, his supporters may be led to think this is the last time Ron Paul will ever run.
I am curious why Clayton believes Ron Paul will win. I lack such certainty, so what led you to that conclusion, Clayton?
When I first heard about this, I had a little twinge of pain in my chest. But after I thought about it, it’s really a better thing in the long run, for one simple reason:
Independent candidacy for the office of the President.
This has a few advantages. One, the Republican establishment can’t simply ignore him now. If he loses the nomination, he runs as an independent, and sinks the Republican campaign as he’ll likely draw a large number of tea party and other libertarian-leaning votes. Two, he’ll probably garner enough percentage in the polls to be included in the Presidential debates, where he can directly address Obama and the Republican candidate in front of a national audience. Three, and most obviously, this will allow him a wide, national bully puplit to educate and spread ideas during the campaign.
At this stage of the game, he can do more OUTSIDE of Congress than inside. His son, despite all his flaws, is in the Senate, and there are a few other libertarian-leaning people in congress. The role within the legeslative body can be taken over by them. I think this is a move in the right direction. He’s in his autum years here, this will be his last presidential campaign, and it makes total sense for him to go 100% all-in.
Well the man is 75. I can’t blame him if he doesn’t have the time to be surrounded by criminals for a living.
@LogisticEarth, I don’t think there is a chance in hell that Ron will get invited to the presidential debates. He would have to work his way up to roughly 20% of the population’s vote in order to cause such a stir. I doubt that would happen because the only other group I could see supporting Ron en masse besides Ron Paulites are anti-war leftists who want to stop the torture of Bradley Manning, end Guantanamo, and end the wars. However, they probably hate him for his religiosity and defense of free markets.
I think that Paul could reliably poll somewhere between 10-15% (or higher if it’s Romney vs. Obama). This is about the range where Perot was in 1992. It could happen. I know a lot of people on the left and right who WOULD vote for Paul, but don’t think they’d get the chance. If (really, when) the economy is still tanking in 2012 and things are getting worse, I’m optimistic that a lot of people may start to reject the Turd Sandwich vs. Giant Douche paradigm. I’m not holding my breath for a win, but it will certainly cause a stir and get LOTS of exposure.
Is there any evidence that he will run as an Independent?
He has said over and over that he won’t do it. Having said that, i think he should. Even if he hands the election to Obama at least it will teach the republicans their last lesson.
LogisticEarth, I looked it up before I posted and Perot finished with 18% of the vote. I think we live in different times though. Ron Paul has been consistently marginalized and I doubt any debates would offer him a platform. Perot wasn’t speaking out against the federal government as an institution, but Paul is. There is as large difference in that regard.
One can only dream though! I would pay good money to see Paul vs. Obama.
We should try and organize a twitter bomb demanding a debate between ron paul and obama.
Just start a rumor saying that there is gonna be one for whatever reason and see how many people agree?