My Thoughts on Super Tuesday

Super Tuesday was yesterday. My take?

Well, I’d like to say I’m disappointed about Ron Paul’s numbers, and perhaps, on some level I am. But then I have to remember that since I’ve become active in politics, the results – both qualitiave and quantitative – we are seeing from the Ron Paul campaign far exceed anything I’ve seen before from a libertarian-oriented campaign. Yes, it’s easy to look at a few early successes and then be tempted to irrationally fantasize about wildly unreasonable things. But we need to put this campaign in perspective: the vote totals, the amount of money raised, the amount of publicity, the impact on the national debate…in each of these, the amount of success has already been beyond my wildest expectations.

So, his numbers were rather lackluster in many States yesterday. Some states, specifically the more western ones, they were really good. That’s great. But any Ron Paul supporter who wants to get down about the direction of this campaign needs to stop and consider the big picture. I have always been very uncomfortable with the characterization of Paul as some kind of new American savior…as though he is some kind of messianic figure who represents the key to redemption of our liberties and prosperity. Placing one man - a politician, no less - in such an unreasonable position is bound to produce profound disappointment when he doesn’t live up to our hopes. What we need is to stop, take a deep breath, and look at the glass as half-full, not half empty. Look at the successes. Compare these successes to past libertarian campaigns. Can you not see that this is a sign that the libertarian influence in the world of politics is growing?

Other thoughts… Not surprised to see McCain clean up as he did. Huckabee did better than I expected, and Romney a little worse. I thought Huck would get blanked, and then be forced to drop out. Him winning a couple of States probably means he’ll be around for a while, making it harder for Romney to go after McCain.

Paul? He’s got the money. All we can hope is that the passion of his grassroots base doesn’t give up the fight. Paul has repeatedly said, his campaign is about them. They are the ones in this race, and if they give up, the campaign will end. Personally, I’d like to see Paul’s supporters stay in it until the end.

If we’re going to go down, let’s go down fighting until the very end.