Sadly the good Doctor Paul has stated that he has no plans – at this time – to run for President again in 2016. He will be 80 by then and one can see good reasons why he does not wish to. Even President Reagan was only 77 when leaving office. And so the baton passes to his son Rand who is a 51 year old Senator who shares his father’s beliefs in the constitution, liberty, small Government, sound money and in withdrawing US troops from abroad. But is Rand a new Ron?
He does not have the charisma of his father that is for sure. But then he also does not carry a bit of the baggage his Dad did either. However hard the Republican establishment tries it will be hard to smear Rand.
In my heart I hope that Ron will give it one more go. There are numerous online petitions urging him to reconsider. He still has a strong organisation around him, a well-oiled machine. But my head tells me that the way he has talked about Rand running and the obvious signs are that Rand will run. He is for instance off to Iowa again in June – that is the first state to vote for the Republican nominee.
And so what chance does Rand have? The Republicans hopefuls are, right now, the usual tried and tested failures: Perry, Santorum, etc. Surely the GOP knows that it does not stand an earthly with any of these fellows as their man. One would hope that the GOP realises that to win it has to reach out to socially liberal elements of society. The Republican Party once stood for Small Government, a respect of minority rights (it was a Republican that ended slavery); isolationism rather than interventionism and respecting the Constitution. It was a lot more appealing then than it is now and Rand Paul stands for those older values.
Eight years of Obama will have made large numbers of Democrats wary of anyone tainted by association with that administration and the two front runners (the vile Clinton woman and Joe Biden) are well and truly tainted. The Obama administration has pursued a bloody and interventionist foreign policy, helping to rack up unsustainable Federal debts. It has done sod all for Civil liberties. Hence there are an awful lot of Democrats who a man such as Rand Paul might woo but who would rather eat their own toes than back a mainstream Perry type GOP candidate.
If a libertarian is ever going to make it to the White House it will be in 2016 and I guess that means that I have to do my bit and start buying the odd Rand Paul T-shirt to go with My Ron Paul numbers. I am sure that the good Dr Paul will be a great asset on the stump and can swing nearly all of his supporters from 2012 behind his son.
In my heart I still hope for Dr Paul to change his mind. In my head I am now looking forward to Rand announcing that he will be standing.
For those who have forgotten the magic of Ron Paul in full flow…