

The cult of Ron Paul: revisited

Courtesy AP.










Devin Wallace

134 Responses

  1. We’re not all quite that extreme. Some of us recognize other leaders of the liberty movement, such as Sen. Rand Paul (KY), Sen. Mike Lee (UT), and Congressman Justin Amash (MI).

    We don’t all think the MSM is “evil”, but certainly very biased.

    The term “sheeple” is not limited to Ron Paul fans. Others use the term too. Some of us prefer references to The Matrix and taking the red pill, which is similar.

    Some of us also recognize he’s not likely to win in 2012, though most of us think – unlike the MSM – that he’s got a shot. For many of us it’s as much about building the movement (getting more people to take the red pill) as it is about RP. I think he sees it that way himself.

    Voting for Ron Paul is not enough. It’s a start. It’s really more about recognizing that we’re broke, and we have to start dealing with that. It’s about recognizing that most candidates lie, and that lying is unacceptable. Even you, it seems, acknowledge that Ron Paul is honest. I doubt you feel the same about Gingrich, Romney and Obama. Right?

  2. Devin Wallace says:

    Warren, there are many sensible people who would vote for Ron Paul, yourself included. However, the fanatical cult I see built around him and the mindset that comes with it is worrying. I don’t blame Mr. Paul; it’s not his fault many of his followers fail to acknowledge the bigger picture around his views. That

  3. m says:

    At least we know why we support our candidate. I think the brainwashed liberals and republicans seem more like they are in a cult. Some don’t even know why they support their candidate. They just vote for whoever gets the nomination. Which is why I would call them sheeple.

  4. Koby in Detroit says:

    “I disagree wholeheartedly on issues of economics with him”

    thats where i stopped reading. anything that comes after that is intellectually invalid.

    you disagree with the only guy running for president that has predicted EVERYTHING that has destroyed the country economically (and predicted it YEARS in advance)???

    you understand NOTHING about economics. go back to school and figure out how the world works.

  5. Wiseburn says:

    Paul supporters believe our economy can grow without “utter pillaging of the environment” or “sucking every last cent out of every worker”. We need to follow Paul’s prescription of sound money and cutting government spending starting with foreign government aid and our militarism throughout the world.

    Instead, our money loses value and we have to borrow from China to put troops in Australia (to protect us against the Chinese army).

  6. Tai Mai Shu says:

    Dr. Paul has cured our apathy. That’s why we feel so strongly in support of liberty.

  7. John says:

    Some people wonder why I and many of the youth in America support Dr Ron Paul so strongly. I disagree that it is only the youth that supports him.I won’t speak for the youth, but I find it offensive when some pundits claim that the youth only wants legalized drugs, portraying them as loser potheads or a cult, but what I do see is an entire generation that is going to be expected to pay for mistakes of everyone that came before them, have no stake in the game, and in the end, not receive any benefit as the country moves toward bankruptcy. They are also being sent off to wars when they have no hand in creating the policies that promote them. Every person who has voted in the past must share responsibility for the state of the country, and if older generations stopped voting out of protectionism, and realized that their selfish interests are forever negatively affecting their offspring’s future, I believe they would be voting for Mr Paul also.
    As I see it, a vote for Mr Paul is a vote against everything Washington has become. Corrupt and bought. A vote for Obama is the same as we have and a vote for Mr Romney or others would be just another vote for status quo Republican dogma.I also believe most of Congress should be going home also. I personally am starting by not voting for anyone that supported the National Defense Authorization Act because it undermines 300 million Americans rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Beyond that it states that no one in the world is safe from indefinite detention by the US government.
    People tend to forget approval ratings nearing zero for both the President and Congress. Money is so intertwined in politics, that the status quo won’t change until it is either shoved down politicians throats or the politicians are sent home, being replaced by true representatives.
    I have 3 children that are about to enter college and the workforce, and if there is anything I can do to keep them from spending a lifetime paying taxes to support elitists and have nothing to show for it in the end, I will do.
    “Arab Spring” is a revolution brought on by the youth in Africa and the middle east and I believe it is teaching, at least our youth what freedom and democracy should mean. To all those that argue that Dr Paul is unelectable, I have to question your motives and have to wonder what you are protecting. If unelectable means can’t be bought, sign me up. I believe we are on the verge of an “American Spring” and I think it should be a reminder to those that propose to rule us that in the Constitution it is us as citizens that are supposed to rule them. Something they forgot long ago.

    Thank you for listening and have a great day.

  8. Bobby says:

    Anyone want to pull quotes from Obama supporters that are actually willing to campaign for him this time around?

  9. 68Sherm says:

    I have supported Ron Paul’s campaign this election cycle as well as 2008. 4 years ago, he held a campaign stop in the town I was living in and I heard him speak. The crowds were obviously smaller then, so I had a chance to speak to him directly. I asked him how he would be able to do the things he said he wanted to do. He was very candid and said he probably wouldn’t be able to do most of them, and that as president, he shouldn’t be able to single handedly do all the things he wanted. That is the simple truth that the media, (and that does include you, your protests notwithstanding), don’t understand. Ron Paul and his supporters seem to be the only people that DON’T expect their candidate to “ride in on a shining steed and vanquish all evil”.

    A Ron Paul presidency would have a very obstructive congress, and he would have to make concessions to get even a portion of his agenda enacted. Ron Paul supporters know this, but the media wants to paint him as a radical fringe candidate with a small collection of cult followers.

  10. Voice of Reason says:

    Your article was almost fair until the entire second half turned into nothing but a weak straw man argument. Please learn how to present facts instead of using the most extreme examples and then attacking us based on them.

  11. Nick says:

    I consider myself a true fan and a part of the revolution but unlike some of my counterparts, I have a different view. I don’t bash people, notice I said people, or insult cause that is the worst way to try and spread a message. But my message isn’t that you should vote for Ron Paul, it is that you should be objective and informed. Over my life I have tried to understand the law, constitution and the history of our country, which in my opinion begins with the origins of democracy, therefore the history of the world. I try and spread the message by attempting to inform people on what I know and understand, but I do admit, I sometimes get up with the media due its relationship with its sponsors and in turn their relationship with politicians. I applaud you on this article because you have your own informed opinion but not all of us fit your religious cult like statement. I believe that the cult-like members of the revolution act that way is because they are young and extremely rebellious, unfortunately so.

  12. dawnrising says:

    It’s hard to understand the point of someone using their bully pulpit to attack and insult enthusiastic supporters.
    Why not use your platform to write something instructive, constructive or worthwhile?
    What would the motive be to insult millions and millions of Americans?
    Sorry, I don’t get it. I reject being lumped in with a few phrases you’ve seen and classified and insulted.
    Maybe you are just desperate for attention?

  13. Anthony says:

    Devin, what do you gain by writing this? If this is indeed the ideas of millions of supporters, wouldn’t you think of it to be a positive idea and direction for this country? We’ve been living the same mundane, slave-driven lives for a while; even you. We’re essentially devolving…

    In reference to your “they’re just going to vote” piece, yes, we are just going to vote because that is the only peaceful measure at this time; however, it won’t be long until the people really start getting pissed off.

    Like Warren said, you’ve either taken the blue pill, are benefiting by this establishment in some way, shape or form, just don’t give a shit, or haven’t truly delved into Dr. Paul’s movement.

  14. Tired of the Name Calling says:

    What I don’t understand is why it is so permissible to demean supporters of Dr. Paul by giving them offensive labels like Paulbots, Paultards, and cultists. All terms that connote a lack of reason, intelligence and thoughtfulness, as if we haven’t carefully considered our positions and waited VERY patiently for a candidate to come along that finally represents our views. It is offensive and condescending to suggest that our opinions have been reached with any less consideration than that of Obama or Romney or Gingrich supporters. Furthermore, you take the most extreme comments found on the internet and apply them to an entire group of people. Have you met EVERY Ron Paul supporter? No. And you probably haven’t even met as many as I have. So please keep your labels to yourself.

  15. OMC says:

    I am a 66 year old Vietnam Vet and I support Dr. Paul.
    Nothing will change with any of the other candidates.
    500,000 children where killed in Iraq over 10 years to get the enemy that we created. How many people in Iran will die while these warmongers build a lot more enemies? The people in Iran love their kids and family just like us. If you kill a man’s kids and family it may piss him off.
    Let’s have a little sanity. Vote Dr. Paul.

  16. Bob says:

    I’m a proud atheist supporting Ron Paul. On issues like abortion I agree with you but don’t forget his stance on the constitution. People have the right to vote for abortion in their state. I think that is more than acceptable for a man of deep religious faith.

    And, as for comparing RP supporters to cult like followers, I’m not quite sure that’s a fair assessment of who we are and the actions we take.

    Oh, and Ron Paul can’t lose if he was never given a chance to win. To somehow sumize that RP supporters feel as if their candidate is invinsible only exacerbates, what we call, the MSM inability to deal with the issues.

    I was able to tell how you voted for the past twenty years based on your views… You can’t do that with RP supporters. We are too diverse and we certainly don’t play party politics.

  17. Kyle Crossett says:

    You spelled my name wrong. Two t’s, thanks.

  18. John Morris says:

    What a sad excuse for an article you MSM sheep!

    Lol! J/K.

    One thing to consider is that, IMHO, a lot of the rhetoric used by RP supporters is intentional and in response to the rhetoric used against him. Meaning, they KNOW what they’re doing and they’re doing it on purpose.

    Because… a lot of the rhetoric used against Paul is just as simple-minded. A few examples…

    1. He doesn’t believe in government healthcare, so that means “he wants to let the uninsured just die”.

    2. He doesn’t believe in interventionism, so that means “he’s an isolationist” and he’s “dangerous”.

    3. He wants to go back to the gold standard, so that means “he wants to go back to the 1800s”.

    Oh, and let’s not forget… his supporters are passionate and committed, so “it must be a cult”. :)

    You get what you give, Devin!

    When you trot out the boogeyman in your headline (The “Cult” of Ron Paul… really?)… you get the boogeyman back in your comments.

    Maybe next time consider laying down some rational arguments concerning:


    …if you want to get rational arguments back in your comments.

    Of course, you know as well as I do those articles don’t get read and commented on like the ones with the “boogeyman” headlines. So, I understand why journalists do it. Just don’t whine when you get it thrown right back at you! :)

  19. Paul says:

    I noticed you didn’t mention Ron Paul’s positions on:

    The Patriot Act. SOPA/PIPA and their friends. TSA. ICE and their confiscation of domain names without due process or rule of law. Assassination of American citizens without charge or judicial review. The Drug war. Medical Marijuana.

    Or even how Ron Paul wishes to focus our limited resources domestically, preserving the assistance programs without cuts by reducing military spending in 900 bases abroad and bringing those troops, and the money that they spend supporting themselves home.

    Like you have have some reservations. But unlike you it seems, I have deeply researched Ron Paul’s stands, and I don’t find them so weird as you imply.

    Protecting the rights of citizens is critical. And Ron Paul is the only one in the race whose platform makes this principle the central plank.

    Over 50 myself, with a graduate degree, and company owner and innovator.

  20. SrA Espinal says:

    To disagree with all of Dr. Paul’s policies seems a little farfetched to me but I’ll just use one as a case in point .

    “Paul calls himself “strongly pro-life”[140] and “an unshakable foe of abortion”.[141] In 2005, 2007, 2009, and again in 2011, Paul introduced the Sanctity of Life Act, which would have life defined as beginning at conception at the Federal level.[142] However, he believes regulation of medical decisions about maternal or fetal health is “best handled at the state level”.[143][144][145] He believes that according to the U.S. Constitution states should, for the most part, retain jurisdiction.”

    If you would like to know more about sound money and his opposition to wars of aggression and entangling alliances with other nations (*chough* Israel*chough* Saudi Arabia). Please feel free to wiki or here[].

    To inform other one must first be self informed or be out of high school (sorry lol couldn’t resist).

  21. Dre says:

    I personally don’t think you get it. Firstly, there are political supporters on all sides that are morons. More importantly, it’s not about Ron Paul; at least not for his supporters that aren’t “in the cult” as you may put it. It’s about the message and the ideals he espouses.

    I was a libertarian long before I got on the Paul train. What attracts people like me to him is this: “Holy crap! A candidate that I agree with on over 90% of the issues who actually has a consistent record to go along with his rhetoric.” In fact, I haven’t even read any of Paul’s books until this week when I picked up “Liberty Defined”. I found it true but VERY basic. Perfect for introducing someone to libertarian dogma but on a high level. I’ve never even read “Atlas Shrugged” which many in the media point out as the bible of Paul supporters. Whatever…I find Rand to be a selfish narcissist who accused libertarians of plagiarizing her ideas when she plagiarized Cicero, Locke, Bastiate and others.

    Most of the rest of the politicians Obama, Bush, Romney, etc. are lying, flip-flopping aholes that don’t mean a thing they say. They fly with the political wind to get elected. They are the Government party, the statists. We see Democrats and Republicans as two sides of the same craptastic coin. There’s a few out there however; like Ron Paul, Gary Johnson, and even Napolitano and Stossel that in my opinion are right most of the time.

    Just like scientists want a theory of evolution, big bang theory, or theory of everything libertarians rely on Natural rights. All conclusions are based on them. So, instead of writing an article calling out Paul supporters, why not write one that has some substantive arguments to why his ideas are bad.

    For instance, do you know why the Federal Reserve is bad from a libertarian perspective?

    Do you know why most libertarians think that Paul’s foreign policy, economic policy, and social policy are indeed the MOST humanitarian?

    Do you that it wasn’t the whole civil rights act of 1964 that we view as unconstitutional and a violation of natural law but only title 1 and title 7?

    Have you read the WHOLE declaration of independence lately and thought about how many of their reasons for declaring are true again today?

    The list goes on and on.

    As a Paul supporter, what bothers me the most and what probably get’s less cordial Paul supporters to say some of the things in your article is that most people don’t bother to try to understand. I’m not talking about agreement but even a substantive debate. Most of the time it’s like trying to wring water from a rock. All we usually get is “Paul is crazy” or “a kook” or “that will never work”. Can you see how that would make the supporters angry?

    So, in summary; try to understand and have a debate don’t just write fluff and say you disagree. Write why you disagree and do so after actually understanding the positions you disagree with.

  22. Tai Mai Shu says:

    Most of those occupiers still believe Obama is their savior, but little do they know that their fearless leader himself requested a provision(section 1021) in the NDAA that allows the military to detain American citizens indefinitely with out due process. Dr. Paul is currently fighting this provision in congress and with Spring coming up shortly and I am sure the occupy protests will grow and maybe turn violent in some areas. I always wondered why they built hundreds of fema detention camps across the country. Never less, Wallace, young lad, please do not mock the people who support the man, who supports your freedom to write your biased opinion articles.

  23. Boom says:

    This article is based all on Devins opinion with no actual facts that we can use to even validate it. Devin did a good job making Ron Paul and his supporters sound like an extremist cult. Why is this article even in the news? I feel like a 16 year old wrote it after a bad day. I pity this fool.

  24. Ken Caudill says:

    Your article is an exposition of your ignorance of Ron Paul supporters and economics.

    It’s wordy, too.

  25. Charlotte Kuebler says:

    From your article of 12/19/11 “Nominate Ron Paul and Get It Over With”

    “if you want to defeat President Obama, which seems to be the goal, nominate Paul. Obama won in 2008 because millions of progressives woke up to the warmongering nonsense of the Republican Party. What they didn’t realize was that Obama was prepared to continue the same path. He’s expanded war, and lost voters doing so. The solution is simple: choose an anti-war candidate. Paul would take away, ironically, the left-wing of the Democratic Party. He wants to end the Drug War, opposes the attack on civil liberties, and for the most part resonates with a younger, libertarian crowd. You nominate Paul and you’ve left Barack Obama with a billion dollars to spend on educate white liberals and the urban socioeconomically oppressed, without his core base of young active progressives.” What happened to change your mind????

  26. paulbot says:

    99% of the world believes in an invisible man in the sky and act the same way towards their religion…

    God forbid People treat a movement they care about deeply in a religious fashion. Its a belief system all the same.

    The same claims you make here you can make against religion. Most dont see the big picture, many see it as black or white… Etc etc etc

    Preach to the whole world about this instead of singling one group that does this out… or dont do it at all.

  27. Countficula says:

    Very slick, glossy, even well worded. It almost sounds like it isn’t an open insult to people that are (finally) exercising their internal filters against this kind of uhhh “reporting”. There is a fire that is building in the people of the United States that says wait a minute, question what has been going on, peace isn’t bad, we have to refill OUR coffers now, and the government at hand along with it’s foreign and corporate handlers must be dethroned.
    We are not a cult, we are the ones that got out!

    P.S. Warren Redlich by a LANDSLIDE Ron Paul 2012! DO NOT BUY THE GARBAGE THAT THE MSM (Devin Wallace most definately included) ARE PUSHING. The GOP doesn’t stand a chance without Ron Paul supporters!

  28. Dean23 says:

    Dude, you’re a high schooler. Go to college, learn some economics and then recant a lot of this in 4-6 years.

    I was like you in high school (23 now) only on the Republican side. You’ll start to realize that a lot of what Ron Paul says is actually making a lot of sense right now.

    Again, to all the RP folks raining down on this kid, lay off him, he’s a kid.

  29. sinepopuli says:

    “Sounds religious?” No, it doesn’t sound religious. The goal of Ron Paul is not to lead the movement that has anything irrational or divine to achieve. His goal is to help everyone to free from influences of different groups of interests and then let everybody pursue own interests happiness.

    “they (RP supporters) reject systemic problems”??!#?? so what are this “systemic problems” in your view? I suppose these are not the problems that were highlighted by dr. Paul in 1988, 1994, 2001, 2004 that lead to perfectly predicted events like inflation, dot-com and house bubbles, wars started on false premises and extended into eternity, massive spendings, astronomic debt, limited constitutional rights? Where are these other “problems”???? I suppose they are not existent in N. Korea, Cuba they were absent in the USSR where every worker is and was enjoying to the full extent the fruits of his labor and environment was so clean as the Yosemite National Park. Man, get down from the tree…

  30. ljvostro says:

    Yeah, I am one of the cultist Dennis. I am 74 years of professional engineer still running 30 years small consulting company. I confess I started the last election cycle and I do frequently participate in Ron Paul sign waving trying to convert media brainwashed “sheeple” into independently thinking individuals. And with the help of Internet we are succeeding: Ron Paul vote count is 400% since the last election cycle. Maybe you should also Goodle “Ron Paul issues” to see why we cult like following.
    “It’s the common theme of Paul supporters. It’s Dr. Paul or the end of the world” that the misquote – it will be not end of the world, but end of USA as we know it – in 2015 (yes that’s 3 years from now) or national debt will reach 24 trillion dollars or almost 200,000 per taxpayer.