Ron Paul Love on Fox News

Ron Paul gets some love on Fox News.

I’m not a Fox News guy. Bill O’Reilly is an asshole. I don’t believe in a vast left-wing media conspiracy.

All of that being said, Fox gets its props for giving Paul a chance to get his views out there, for giving him a forum to let everyone know that there is an alternative to the major cookie-cutter candidates. While I certainly don’t agree with him on everything (notably some stickier immigration/anti-free trade issues), he’s right about so many things that he would have my vote for certain.

And note that he’s not some totally crazy libertarian nut. Look at the nimbleness with which he handled the question about social security disability–he noted that it is important to fulfill our current obligations (and that it is possible to do so if you are otherwise being fiscally responsible!) while simultaneously taking the younger generation and doing things right.

One of the things that I see as a positive is that guys like Paul are getting an enthusiastic response from the young and technically savvy–see Paul’s recent visit to Google.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that I think there is a large trend towards rationalism heading into the next generation. Despite the recent opening of the Creationist Museum, I believe that on the whole this next generation is going to demand more out of its leaders–be those spiritual, political or otherwise. More and more people are coming out and proclaiming their agnosticism and/or atheism, pointing out the problems with mainstream religions, many of which have been obvious for decades, if not centuries. More and more people are seeing the inconsistencies in the principles of both major political parties in the U.S. I hope that the trends I’m seeing are actually there and are not just anecdotal, not just reflective of the real life and online crowd I run with.

I would like to see Ron Paul make a splash. Unfortunately it would take the convictions of a better man than any of the front-running Republican candidates to add a guy like Paul as VP on their ticket–it is not a necessary thing for a VP to toe the same line as the President, and I think Bush has proven conclusively that it’s an extraordinarily bad idea to have a bunch of nodding heads around. Why not take on someone of intelligence who is willing to challenge you? Of course, I don’t think Paul would accept a VP invitation, as he would struggle with being part of an Executive he sees as acting in illegal ways. I guess I’m just thinking out loud.

So kudos to you, Fox producers, for putting Paul up front for a few minutes.

**Edit: More Ron Paul–pwnage of Romney. Courtesy of The Agitator via To The People. Both on my regular blog rotation.