A reader gets the value of the Paul candidacy

He writes:

One does not have to win the Presidency, or even a nomination, in order to have an effect. In 1992, no major-party candidate except Paul Tsongas had much to say about the deficit or the growing debt – until Ross Perot suddenly and unexpectedly starting getting notable poll numbers, making a fuss about fiscal irresponsibility. Then Bush41 and Clinton both discovered deficit reduction, and (to his credit) Clinton actually did make small progress on the issue, which lasted until he left office. Perot didn’t win in 1992, but he did influence the direction of the country for at least a brief time.

Ron Paul doesn’t have to win, he just has to do well enough to prove that being anti-torture isn’t political suicide. Not long ago, a US citizen in custody of the police was tortured to death while he was restrained, and even though the medical examiner ruled it “homicide”, the DA concluded that the police did nothing wrong . Bush43 has left us a legacy whereby human life is so devalued that we no restrict ourselves to saying “torture is okay if there’s a ticking nuclear bomb” – we just say “oops, tortured a guy to death, oh well” and move on to complaining about the outcome of “American Idol”.

There is no chance, none whatever, that we’re going to cultivate a culture of respecting human life in a society which protects torturers. And most of the GOP candidates are 100% behind torturing people, because they believe taking any other position will eliminate their chances of political success. But if Ron Paul achieves political success, even without winning, that might make being anti-torture seem safe enough that other candidates are willing to take the risk of rejecting the immoral position they now believe is a political requirement.

There’s never been any hope that Paul would win–at least not for me. And if he did, it would not be an unalloyed good because, like it or not, his quixotic vision of returning America to the 18th century is not an unalloyed good. But on the most vital matters affecting the Republic (meaning our pro-abortion/pro-euthanasia culture of police state fascist crony capitalism on a permanent war footing that is, with gathering speed, crushing the American middle class and the foreign poor under the feet of evil and violent oligarchs), Ron Paul is the heaviest counterweight we have. So I support him as the heaviest counterweight in the hope that he can pull the GOP back to sanity.

However, the GOP is pretty obviously choosing insanity and so will support the empty suit Romney or the warmongering torture enthusiast Santorum. Most GOPers still live under the delusion that it’s a matter of Left vs. Right in this country and not a matter of our Ruling Elites vs. the rest of us. They will settle in quite comfortably and even arduously defend it once it is one of Our Guys who holds the power to indefinitely detain and (oops) “accidently” torture to death American citizens whom the Dear Leader decided to be enemies of the state–just as they did last time.

As for me, my hope is in the Lord. America had a pretty good run, but all good things must come to an end. When a bipartisan coalition of Dems and Republicans pass–and Obama signs in secret on (fittingly) the last day of the year–the act euthanizing habeas corpus, the America I knew died. So I place my trust in Him who raises the dead, not in those who cause the dead to die.