the ron paul conversation

earlier today preston at kissatlanta.com posted an entry about ron paul. given the conversations i've had during the last few months about paul, i felt compelled to respond to his post. i've reposted part of it here.

from this post kissatlanta comment:

"love his views and his stance - i even have a t-shirt and button - but his chances are slim at best. great guy, poor politician, and in the end, his message just won't play to the masses ... yet.

it brings me back to a point i've made for a long time: it's time for a viable third party. the number of people who lean socially liberal and fiscally conservative continues to grow. the two major parties in the country are so concerned about playing to five major 5% voting blocks on each side of the aisle that they ignore the 30% of american voters that can't be classified into one simple category. it's easy to spend money to court the unions or the christian conservatives, but not the independent, free thinkers.

so what about libertarians, the green party, etc.? too many of the third parties get classified as appealing only to the margins because of their strong voice on one topic only. the libertarians had a chance a few years ago (paul ran as a libertarian previously) but never could get going. if memory serves me, you only begin to get major federal funding if you get 5% of the vote in a presidential election. (i may be pulling that number way out of my ass, but i don't feel like fact-checking at the moment.)

the internet is, for now, changing the playing field. paul is raising a lot of money, but he still gets less face time as the other candidates on tv/radio. and while seeing him getting booed by the audience for not backing down from his views in a republican debate in florida a month ago may get me going, it doesn't bode well for his chances overall.

where paul is having success is with the margins. that 30% of independent, free thinkers? yeah, a lot of them troll the internet. as we've seen in music - which rolled out a number of blog-hit wonders in the last two years - the internet can make the irrelevant, relevant. (just ask bands like test icicles or man man, who were the hottest thing for about three weeks each in '06.)

but until there is enough motivation from the youth of the country (the under 35 set) to find politicians who fit their viewpoint, regardless of party lines, runs like paul is having will continue to be few and far between.

what's the old saying, something like 'if you aren't a democrat at 20 you don't have a heart and if you aren't a republican at 40 you don't have a brain'? i somewhere in between you talk about it. and that's why, at the least, paul is causing conversation. and that is how change happens."

i have always found presidential campaigns to be riveting. the 2008 election may be the most interesting election the US has seen in decades. who will emerge from the republicans? will mccain make a comeback and win the bid? will huckabee continue his trending? can the democrats shed the "too liberal" label and win the majority vote in a presidential election from the first time since 1976?

time will tell. but at least it will make for a little good tv along the way.