Reason Writers Around Town: Brian Doherty At Fox News' Site on Why the GOP Needs to Mind Ron Paul's Supporters
Reason Senior Editor Brian Doherty, author of the new book Ron Paul's Revolution: The Man and the Movement He Inspired, writes at Fox News' site on why the Republican Party can't afford to ignore the supporters of Ron Paul. An excerpt:
Even though Paul's budget plan, with its three-year glide path to a balanced budget with no tax hikes, was found by U.S. Budget Watch, a non-partisan research group, to be the only budget plan offered by GOP candidates this year that would not balloon the national debt, the Republican Party is scared of him. Even though his supporters continue to win control of delegations (Maine, Minnesota, and Louisiana) or state party structures (in Iowa and Nevada), the Party doesn't want to embrace him.
Because if Ron Paul is right about the dangers of government overextension both at home and abroad, it means the GOP has to actually be serious about this limited government, living-within-our-means stuff that is supposed to be the very marrow of conservatism.
If they have to swallow some sour apples about returning the U.S. military to its original goal of just actually defending the U.S. and make the government respect citizens' civil liberties, that should be a small price to pay to attract the loyalty, votes and money of a rising generation of activists.
Reason's Ron Paul archives.