Ron Paul's Popularity

Ron Paul's Popularity

There is the glamor of rebellion, for one thing, and here it comes wrapped up in a familiar package, that of the old white guy who has always been in charge. There is also the notion of being the one person in the room with common sense. Paul will always be unpopular, therefore his supporters will always be able to see themselves as smarter than everybody else. Being the one person with rational, fair ideas in a town of jaded windbags ensures that the marginalized will flock to you, but no one else. They will flock to you because they identify, and then they will sit on their message-boards and commiserate, continuing to be marginalized but being able to look at the rest of the world with smug satisfaction. "We know better", they say to each other, "we always knew better".

Anything that goes against the conventional and familiar is doomed to failure. Likewise anything that involves rational thought and forgoes high emotion. Whatever failings your average politician may have, they all know this.