Ron Paul revolutionaries

You’ve seen his smarmy grin. In the IMU, on the square and plastered over the kiosks. His flyers beckon you with the question: \n“Who is Ron Paul, and why is he trying to save my country?” \nAaron Jones, a leader in IU Students for Ron Paul, said Paul is a “shining gem in a pile of shit.” \nUnfortunately, I didn’t have to think very hard about which “pile” Aaron was talking about. He was talking about American politics. \nPaul is a Texas congressman, and perhaps the least known and most extreme of the Republican presidential candidates. He is a libertarian, self-proclaimed “constitutionalist,” and an anomaly in America’s two-party system. \nIn recent months, Paul has been (wrongfully) accused of blaming the U.S. for 9/11. Bush supporters both abhor and marginalize Paul by depriving him of “true” Republican status. And on a flyer on Walnut Street someone adorned Paul’s forehead with a big ole’ swastika. \nYet despite heat from all sides, Ron Paul mania has seized the Internet. Under no conditions other than the democracy of the Internet could Paul’s various supporters meaningfully unite. The quick-thinking, fast-talking politician is endorsed by all shades of the political spectrum, albeit for different reasons. \nAs of this past Thursday, Ron Paul mania officially entered IU domain. \nMuch to the organizers’ delight, more than 20 people showed up for the Students for Ron Paul meeting. As I expected, we were a diverse bunch. \nSocial conservatives like Paul’s typical Texan qualities – he is anti-gay marriage and anti-abortion. Libertarians like him because he wants to diminish the power of all federal agencies and because he hates taxes. But the reason Paul is the underdog favorite among all walks of American life, and why I like him, is his foreign policy. \nFor starters, Paul was one of the few congressmen to vote against the Patriot Act and the war in Iraq. Second, Paul has refuted the simplistic “Muslims just hate us” theory for 9/11. He is not interested in the reductive propaganda concerning the war in Iraq and the impending war with Iran. Instead, Paul rightfully believes that America is an imperial power in the Middle East, and that it is foreign policy blowback – not “they just hate us” – that has contributed to 9/11 and the civil war in Iraq. \nStudents for Ron Paul wisely highlight Paul’s foreign policy. A chalking outside the music school reads, “Bomb Iran? Or (elect) Ron Paul?” In the quagmire that is American foreign policy, Ron Paul offers the only real option in the coming years – America must back off. \nStephen Colbert has explained Ron Paul as “an enigma, wrapped in a riddle, nestled in a sesame seed bun of mystery.” Paul’s positions on foreign policy and candid speech render him the most progressive candidate, and yet he is fiscally and socially conservative. \nBut truthfully, the only real enigma here is American politics, where the droid-like politicians never venture outside party boundaries.