Stout-hearted reader JB writes in to prove that most Ron Paul supporters are not like yesterday’s. Indeed, this “more rational Ron Paul supporter” easily writes in complete sentences. Actually, the note is very good:

O Mighty Czar!

Yes, Ron Paul has many, many troubled supporters. And many of his policy recommendations are troublesome and difficult to take seriously.

But, having said that, many of his policy recommendations are very smart – far more rational than policy recommendations from Romney or Santorum.

Can he win the election? Of course not. I don’t think I ever assumed he could. But much of what he says is important, and it needs to be heard. Unfortunately, a lot of crazy people seem to like hearing it.

Thanks.

You’re more than welcome; we appreciate you writing in. Two point the Czar would love to make here (the second being more interesting, but the first is clearly more salient to your observation).

First, the Ron Paul Effect has been entirely contributory to the Republican nomination process. Millions of Americans want the Fed investigated. All the major candidates have proposed cutting and slashing agendas. And so on. Nobody with an ounce of common sense thinks these would be highly debate-worthy topics had Ron Paul not been in the race. In fact, Paul has largely set the agenda for the others, and for that, he has provided a great service to the conservative cause.

Second, the Czar is highly skeptical that Dr. Ron Paul has ever come out to say that he will legalize drugs and that his administration would be an everything-goes orgy. What Paul has said is that he wants to end 1989’s War on Drugs campaign—not least because it is incredibly expensive with very dubious results, but because there is an argument to be made that the use of the military to enforce statutory law is a violation of posse comitatus. As far as we can tell, Paul very much wants enforcement of drug laws to go back to state and municipal governments.

A sad lot of folks voted for Carter, Clinton, and Obama under the incredibly false pretense that they, as Democrats, were certain to legalize drugs. You are far more likely to see a Republican legalize drugs than a Democrat, because liberals will never legalize drugs when they are already too worried about how much salt and sugar you eat.

But lots of people hear only what they want to hear, and when Ron Paul says “We need to end the expensive and illegal War on Drugs,” they hear “Dude, I’m baked now, and I’m coming to your house at 9:00 or 10:30 or something with a big bag of stash. Fire up the Scott McKenzie on the eight track, fra.”

Realistically, the vast majority of Ron Paul supporters are earnest, hard-working, and highly rational people such as yourself. However, like the Democrats, Ron Paul’s group left the door open too long, and allowed an infestation of people committed to the wrong ideas. Straight up—Ron Paul will never stand a chance of national election until the real supporters expunge the vocal, damaging, me-first elements that seem to scattergun invectives all over the internet and on radio talk shows.

Stick around with us, JB: you’ll have fun here and we want to hear more from you.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.