There really hasn't been much about Ron Paul in the news lately, so perhaps it was time to wrap things up for the Texan Congressman. Paul had quite a movement on his hands, that is until people started voting and all of that money raised by a small but rabid base created such a huge sensation around him. He certainly made himself sound different from the rest of the Republican pack and it is no surprise that he will not be supporting John McCain. Yet in the end, the party begrudgingly chose McCain because....well, everyone else was just too terrible to stomach. Despite McCain getting all the conservative attention, there was a small light on Ron Paul last night as he formally ended his run.
From Reuters:
Paul, an anti-war libertarian, was the only contender to remain in the Republican race after Arizona Sen. John McCain clinched the party's presidential nomination in March.
As he ended his White House bid, Paul launched another campaign in a letter to supporters posted on his new Web site.
"With the primary season now over, the presidential campaign is at an end. But the larger campaign for freedom is just getting started," the nine-term Texas Congressman wrote, announcing the "Ron Paul Campaign for Liberty."
"We will be a permanent presence on the American political landscape. That I promise you," he said.
If Ron Paul wants to continue to siphon off a small but still sizable amount of right-leaning Independents and Republicans, then more power to him. His movement is evidence of the disintegration of the Republican Party as it splits and fractures after realizing that even with full power, their combined policy goals could not be successful.
Now I am not saying that they will break into Whigs, Know-Nothings and Abolitionists. Today's Abolitionists would be Democrats anyways and Kansas and Nebraska have worked out their differences in the last 160 years. All joking aside, the Republican Party is in disarray and Ron Paul's movement is certainly evidence of the disunity of the GOP.
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