Reason Writers Around Town: Brian Doherty in the New York Times on What's Ahead for the Ron Paul Wing of the GOP
Reason Senior Editor Brian Doherty, author of the new book Ron Paul's Revolution: The Man and the Movement He Inspired, writes over at the New York Times on "For the Ron Paul Wing, Now What?"
An excerpt:
Ron Paul antiwar appeal won him friends on the left, but it was also why this politician with impeccable credentials on core Republican issues like taxes (he wants to eliminate the income tax), spending (he's the only Republican candidate with a budget that balanced in three years with no new taxes), and regulation (he thinks they strangle the wealth-creating properties of free markets) had such a hard time gaining traction with the Tea Party base, who don't see the connection Paul sees between a constitutionally limited, affordable government and a less expansionist foreign policy.
If the Tea Party really were transpartisan outsiders dedicated to fighting bailouts and shrinking spending, Ron Paul should have been their man. In 2012, they've revealed themselves more as loyal Republicans than as a rebel army. Paul's campaign is trying to gently guide the Paul movement through that same transition.