For Mr. Levins and other supporters, Mr. Paul is more than just a choice on the Republican primary ballot. He is talismanic, a 72-year-old 10-term congressman who transcends partisan politics. For them, he's the man who can restore the Constitution, end the Iraq war, bring back the gold standard for money and stop an erosion of civil rights.
It's a good piece and I do not mean to deride the writer. But he's only noting half of the story. Yes, it's true that his supporters are excited. But it's not just about their level of enthusiasm at events where Ron Paul appears. It's their level of enthusiasm which motivates them to act and spend their money when Ron Paul is not appearing in their town.
For instance, today, Lawrence Lepard, a venture capitalist, spent $85,000 in one whack on a full page ad in the USA Today.
I would bet he's also already "maxed out."
He didn't do it alone. The effort was launched on Ron Paul forums and lickety-split a graphic artist was located, the copy was discussed and the ad was produced. Months ago, I blogged about this sort of spontaneous activity even before the Iowa straw poll when the critical mass appeared as if it would be reached sooner, rather than later.
A Lawrence, Kansas, painting contractor had painted a huge Ron Paul sign on a roof that was going to be replaced. Funny how it wasn't until I started writing about this tonight that even I didn't "get it" yet. I mean, I "got it", but I didn't know why exactly.
I'm sitting here with a big grin because I've known that Ron Paul is going to win, but not why we all get so excited about him, until now. Yes, "Hope for America", strong message of liberty, excited supporters, blah blah blah.
We're so excited, and so many people keep enthusiastically supporting him because we're being reminded of the so-called American dream. I realize that the message is strong and is the basis for this remembrance. But that is not the secret. There are actually two reasons why this campaign has become so powerful.
The first is Ron Paul's credibility combined with his ability to inspire the imaginations of those who hear his message.
The second and most powerful reason is that the grass roots accomplishments of this campaign have been mirroring the laissez faire, unregulated success of our ancestors during the late 18th century. Anyone could own a press and many did. The amazing technological advances that seemed to just keep exploding from the barns and warehouses of ordinary citizens were much like what we keep seeing on YouTube video after video.
Not that cures for cancer are being discovered, but were our society to organize itself the way that these Ron Paul meetups are organized, completely voluntarily and with a high tolerance for people of different backgrounds working toward a common cause, I have no doubt that a cure could be found.
We're witnessing in action what has occurred in the past, and on a small scale, how our country could be organized and run again. Actually, we're seeing something much closer to anarchy and it is exhilarating. If Ron Paul were not a student of Von Mises and Hayeck, this wouldn't be happening.
This is why Ron Paul will win the primary and why his supporters will completely demolish Hillary next November. It will be an epic land slide. Ron Paul is the first to admit that he isn't really doing anything in the way of campaign strategies, though I think he's very modest. They have a plan there in Virginia and have been executing that plan.
I think he understands that there is as much pulling as pushing. The grass roots is the personification of the ideals he espouses. He reminds us of the America that once was: full of innovation, peaceful, cosmopolitan and most of all, free.
The grass roots are then running with that concept and demonstrating how that works in action.
That's what the old media is failing to recognize. Ron Paul is causing us to remember a great past and imagine a future built on the same traditional principles that allowed imagination to truly fuel innovation. We remember and we hope.
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