The Theology of Paul

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Once Ron Paul is knocked out of the GOP contest, what will become of his supporters? Will they dissipate, gravitate towards someone else, or reemerge with a third party bid? Whichever way the Paulites go, other candidates would be smart to study their movement’s trajectory. Like the Howard Dean campaign in 2004, or the McCarthy campaign in 1968, the Paul campaign could be most important for its ability awaken and define a new generation of political citizens.

Since I expressed that idea in my Apostles of Paul feature yesterday, many Paul supporters have contacted me to insist that that the real story is Paul’s serious chance of victory. They point to thecaseforronpaul.com, which, among other things, discounts Paul’s abysmal showing in phone polls by arguing that young people use cell phones and new voters aren’t on call lists. In 2004, supporters of Howard Dean, who placed much better in those phone polls to begin with, made the same case. I’d say it’s a weak argument.

The campaign’s strange optimism is abetted by the belief in a rather unique mainstream media conspiracy. Paulites neither accept the leftist narrative that the media is controlled by the purse strings of CEOs, nor the right-wing notion that all reporters at latte liberals. Although they probably lean a bit more towards the latter, they despise Fox News. Where is this leading us? For the moment to Digg and exclusively Paulite organs such as dailypaul.com. Everybody else is compromised.

What makes all of this interesting is the way it illustrates and reinforces the political naivete of Paul supporters. They have often never volunteered for a political campaign or even voted. Unlike campaigners for Ralph Nader, or even past Libertarian Party candidates, they are deluded enough to think they can win. And that sets them up for the kind of post-election disillusionment that could send them back into their shells.

The long-term relevance of the Paulites will depend on their ability to join or create more enduring institutions. The libertarian magazine Reason would be a natural home (see their curmudgeonly discussion of our libertarian timeline) as would the more radical LewRockwell.com. The Paulites have often been called “Paultards” for their tendency swarm other blogs and plaster them with robotic slogans. But other Paul supporters have legitimately enlivened dialogs on this site and other general interest political blogs. It would be interesting if a few Paulites made more permanent homes there.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate