How Far The Acorn Can Fall…

One of my favorite Ron Paul quotes is “When one gets in bed with government, one must expect the disease it spreads.”
I was disheartened this morning when I visited theburningplatform.com and saw one of the posts was “Rand Paul – Just Another Slimy Politician.” This particular site is one I visit regularly but at times it can be too doom and gloom centric. To combat this, the normal Friday practice is to focus on postings from the likes of POWM (People of Walmart), Epic Fail, and Onion News articles so as to steer away from the doom and gloom for a day of reprieve and inject some humor, even if it is of the tragic variety.
Just from the title it would have been foolhardy to assume this would be Rand endorsing Mittens simply because it was Friday. I was holding out hope I would see the signature green onion somewhere. Unfortunately I didn’t, so I watched the YouTube clip of Rand Paul on Hannity last night

and was so disgusted I tossed the remainder of my breakfast in the trash. Rand figuratively “pissed in my Wheaties” this morning.
I have been following/reading/listening/supporting to Ron Paul since I first saw him in early 2006 when I stumbled across a public access showing of an Aaron Russo documentary. Aaron referred to him as the most honest politician he knew. The term “honest” is tossed around a lot and up to that point it was only used in a relative sense. I viewed all politicians as slimy so “honest” didn’t really mean honest, it meant less slimy than most. Ron Paul redefined the spectrum for me.
Ron Paul has a lack of polish that lets me know he is genuine, when he speaks at a debate I know most people don’t agree with what he says and many times he does not present his ideas in the clearest manner. But the lack of polish is assurance he is speaking from a mind and heart that is free and not rehasing something that he rehearsed in the mirror ad infinitum. His books and articles are very clear and polished but that is because writing allows for the editing process. The performances many of the people saw on American Idol this past season will be more real and less rehearsed than the debates that will go on between Romama and Obamney.
This will likely be reported by political strategists as a pragmatic move by the Rand Paul Camp, he will likely be inserted into the conversations of VP along with the likes of Paul Ryan. This is the type of move someone does to further their political career.
I will say I am disappointed but as I am writing this I am becoming less surprised. It was foolish and unfair to think Rand would be a younger and more “electable” clone of his father. He has to make his own way and his own decisions, but my support for him as a candidate at any level is where it belongs, in the trash next to my ruined breakfast.
I am reminded of an instance when he was speaking while running for the Senate and my wife (predominantly steers clear of politics) was listening from across the room and asked me what I thought of him and I distinctly remember my response, “He isn’t his dad.”
Ron Paul is an anomaly, he is not the norm, he isn’t even 6 standard deviations from the average. Many are right, he isn’t on the map, but this isn’t an indictment of him, it is an indictment of the current political map and how skewed the average has gone away from freedom. This is a bold reminder of why freedom is so fragile and how rare a politician like Ron Paul truly is today when his own son makes an announcement like this.

It must have been a pretty gusty day when this acorn fell from that tree.