Ron Paul, a True Classic

I recently attended a primary event for Ron Paul.  The room was filled with 300 or 400 eager supporters and a few skeptical Granite Staters who were still trying to make up their minds.  I fell within the later category.

I was immediately put on my guard by the amount of hair filling the room; lots of women with hair halfway down their backs and men with hair down to their collars.  There were only a few folliclely challenged men in attendance.  I fell within the later category.

As I gazed around the room and contemplated my advancing age, Mr. Paul walked in.  I felt at ease right away, feeling younger as I sized up the man.  I should point out that nearly every eager young adult in the room referred to the candidate as Dr. Paul.  But since he’s not running for President of the AMA, I feel Mr. Paul is more appropriate.

The first thing that impressed me was his eyebrows.  Bushy yet well groomed, they bespoke a man of wisdom, long experience and sartorial care.  As he answered questions from the audience, I was further impressed by the certainty he projected as he summarized his thoughts in concise fashion.

“We should be over and done with wars,” he explained, and I must admit I agreed completely.  The audience cheered.  In answer to a tax related question he bluntly stated, “We should get rid of the income tax.”  Again, I couldn’t help but agree.  The audience cheered.  Following a question on immigration policy, he replied without hesitation, “We don’t worry about our borders here, but we worry instead about borders overseas.”  It was like he was reading my mind.  A grand slam!

I had come prepared to find his political principles a little strange, and yet I was coming around to his way of thinking.  I could hardly disagree with anything he said.

Early in the affair, he told the story of his 54-year marriage.  I think his wife’s name is Carol, based on a single signature at the end of the Ron Paul Family Cookbook, given to attendees as they entered the building.  Throughout the cookbook, however, she was referred to as Mrs. Ron Paul.  I was a little confused by the cookbook since I couldn’t figure out how Mr. Paul had contributed to the book, other than eating the food his wife cooked.  None of the recipes bore his name.  Warning flags began to go up in my mind.

He mentioned that his wife was born on February 29, the extra day that occurs every four years in leap year.  He said he thought at the time that this was a great thing, since he would only need to buy his wife a birthday gift every four years.  Unfortunately, he was soon disabused of this expectation by his wife.  Again, the warning flags went up.

Being a Historian in Training, my mind wandered back to the classic novel by Miguel de Cervantes.  Don Quixote says, “And so, to sum it all up, I perceive everything I say as absolutely true, and deficient in nothing whatever, and paint it all in my mind exactly as I want it to be.”

No doubt, Mr. Paul is a true classic.  Mere feasibility never seems to enter his policy equation.  Right is right, and nothing else needs to be said.  I like it, but I don’t believe it worked out real well for Don.  I’ve often heard that politics is the art of the possible, and I’m afraid Mr. Paul considers giving up what’s right, for what’s possible, is part of the black arts.

If I had more hair, perhaps I would think differently.  But as I lost my hair over the years, I watched many men tilt at windmills, and my experience tells me the windmills always win.

Someday I’d like to meet Mrs. Ron Paul.  I’ll bet she’s quite a woman, but I’m still wondering who I should vote for on January 10.