What Makes a Ron Paul Supporter a “Fanatic”?
Aside from my role here at TBD, I have a Facebook page and one of the friends I follow is Mande Wilkes. It seems Ms Wilkes is a budding South Carolina pol and a very attractive challenger to the good ole boy network that produced Lindsey “Butters” Graham. Her posts are insightful, hilarious and she seems a person you’d love to do a pub crawl with.
That being said, Mande posted the following today on her blog, MandeWilkes.com:
Anyway, the trouble with Ron Paul’s followers is that they’re his fans rather than his supporters. Recall that “fan” is short for “fanatic.” It’s not that it’s bad to fanatically believe in what Ron Paul stands for – I certainly do. But as much as it sucks, if you want your cause to prevail sometimes you have to go along to get along … and frankly, too many of Paul’s devotees wear the “doesn’t play well with others” badge. (For instance, I was actually “defriended” on Facebook after I posted an update stating that I was reading up on Rick Perry’s record. Apparently other candidates’ records are, like, contraband according to at least one Ron Paul loyalist.)
I can certainly sympathize with Ms Wilke’s arguments. The Ron Paul “fans” can be a loud and rambunctous sort. Yet, lets look at what they have to put up with.
We are called kooks, anti-semites, Jew-baiters, pacifists, isolationists, appeasers, neo-liberals, neo-confederates, racists, and more. When we try to join any “mainstream” conservative comment thread we are not met with argument or debate, we are met with name calling and slurs. When we try to discuss the “blowback” ( a CIA term mind you) caused by our foreign policy, we are met with even more derisive slurs! And God forbid if you ever try to discuss American foreign policy vis-a-vis Israel!
So Ms Wilkes, I think that has a lot do with the evolution of a supporter into a fanatic. We aren’t treated as supporters, we are treated as freaks and worse! Now, what does that say about our society where the lovers of liberty and little “r” republicanism are the freaks?
Aside from the treatment of his supporters, we are also faced with an establishment “conservative” press that basically acts as if Ron Paul does not exist. Case in point, Jim Geraghty’s blog “The Campaign Spot” at National Review Online, “Herman Cain’s Good Week”:
http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/275719/herman-cains-good-week
Herman Cain’s good week? Herman Cain? Are you kidding me? Here is an entire post dedicated to a man that flew to Israel to pander to the Evangelicals at Beck’s event and then beat Ron Paul by THREE VOTES in a Georgia straw poll. Yes, Georgia is Cain’s home state and he won by three votes. But the big news is, he really beat the other Georgian in the poll, Newt. Oh, and Herman was going to speak the the Georgia legislature..ooooohhhh. What a week!
Lets compare that to Ron Paul’s week: On his birthday supporters and “fans” donated almost 2 million dollars in a moneybomb, later in the week his latest greatest polling numbers came out, Jon Stewart did a segment on the lack of press coverage that was spot on and went viral, and he eneded the week with a great interview on Fox News Sunday, after barely losing to Cain in Cain’s home state of Georgia by three votes.
Mande, can you see why we go off the rails at times?
As to the irony of anarchists supporting a political candidate, I see your point. But many of the “anarchists” that support Dr Paul are more aptly described as “anarcho-capitalists” as influenced through the von Mises Institute. For that, I defer to Stephen Kinsella’s post at LewRockwell.com:
To be an anarchist only means that you believe that aggression is not justified, and that states necessarily employ aggression. And, therefore, that states, and the aggression they necessarily employ, are unjustified. It’s quite simple, really. It’s an ethical view, so no surprise it confuses utilitarians.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/kinsella/kinsella15.html
Yet, in the end I somewhat agree with Ms Wilkes, when supporters faced with the above circumstances turn into “fanatics” we don’t do Dr. Paul any favors. We must turn the other cheek and simply try to engage in rational, logical debate. When we resort to name calling like our opponents do, it reflects ill on a man that is the only true statesman of our time, Ron Paul!
Comments
One Comment on What Makes a Ron Paul Supporter a “Fanatic”?
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Carole on
Sat, 24th Sep 2011 9:24 am
IMAGINE!
There is a very good chance that the RNC will dump Perry and heavily coerce Chris Christie to enter the Republican primary race in order not to have to accept Romney as its candidate.
They will do anything to keep Ron Paul out of the nomination.
Is there a chance that Ron Paul’s dedicated followers could convince disenfranchised Democrats who were persuaded by Obama’s campaign rhetoric (and maybe Independents, too) that they have the power to both get rid of Obama and also prevent a Neocon Republican from being elected by joining forces with Ron Paul’s followers to effect real change?
Is it possible to make them see that we will never abandon Ron Paul to vote for a neocon? Is it possible that we can make them see there is only ONE way to defeat the establishment that is against all of us?
Imagine when the Republican Party, which thinks any of its establishment candidates will defeat Obama, realizes it will not receive our votes. Imagine if the Republican Party learned that not only Independents, but also Republicans in many numbers will NOT vote for their candidate and they will lose if they offer up yet another establishment neocon. Imagine if they are made to fear four more years of Obama.
Now imagine if we can convince disenfranchised Democrats to see that they, too, will be stuck with four more years of Obama working against their interests. Imagine that we can convince them see that together we have the power not only to defeat the Republican neocon candidate, but also defeat Obama if we work together.
IMAGINE!
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