Michael Tanner of Cato Misses the Point
I’m personally delighted that Rep. Paul is in the race and making the case for individual liberty. But sometimes I’m called on to write as a dispassionate observer of the campaign. In that role, I am required to report on what is—not what I would like things to be.... Despite his recent fundraising success (and the article in question was written nearly 2 months ago before Rep. Paul had raised much money), he still lacks the funds necessary to be truly competitive. Nor does he have the organization (according to the last story I saw, he has 4 paid staffers on the ground in Iowa; Romney for example has more than 100). He barely breaks 2 percent in most national polls.
While I greatly respect Tanner's work as a scholar, I think he misses the true significance of the Paul campaign. Its importance goes far beyond winning a primary election. Elections, and garden-variety politicians like Thompson, come and go. It makes more sense to adopt a long view of the Paul Revolution and its relationship to the future of liberty.
As I have already said, no individual or organization has done more than Ron Paul in recent years to introduce young people to libertarian or, for that matter, free market ideas. As someone who has taken part in Cato, IHS, and other free market groups for nearly three decades, I can attest to this on my own campus.
The Ron Paul meet-up/face book group at the University of Alabama is now more than 100. I came away from a recent UA Students for Paul meeting extremely impressed by the numbers, enthusiasm, intelligence, and dedication of those who attended. I have never seen anything like it before. The contrast with the past is striking. The only libertarian group on campus (which was pretty much on life suport anyway) had died a couple of years ago for lack of interest.
All of this represents a potential harvest for Cato, IHS, and other free market organizations. Folks in these groups, at least as individuals, would do well to recognize this phenomenon and then build on it...that is if they want to advance libertarian ideas. How many of these Students for Paul, for example, could one day be policy analysts for Cato or, at the very least, attend Cato University?
If Tanner wants to make the best effort right now to advance the cause of liberty, he should consider making the most of this unique moment in history rather than worrying too much about the rhetoric of the co-sponsor of McCain/Feingold. This opportunity may never happen again...at least for those who look long beyond the next election.