Assignment 6

Besides the record-breaking amounts of money he has raised and the radical policies he hopes to put in place, Ron Paul might be most notable for the dedicated support he has amassed from followers. While it may be Hillary, Obama, and McCain in the headlines, Ron Paul’s name is most easily found on the bumper stickers and front lawns of Southern Pennsylvania and Northern Maryland. A drive up Route 30 would have someone actually believe Ron Paul is winning, by a landslide. While his numbers continue to slip and more people are accepting they might have to align themselves with a frontrunner, the few that are holding strong to Ron Paul’s dream are fighting as fervently as ever.

While the three main candidates have areas on their webpages to sign up as a supporter, Ron Paul has by far the most grandiose. Obama’s simply says “Join The Movement,” Hillary’s says “Sign Up As A Supporter,” and John McCain’s says, “Join Our Team.” Ron Paul on the other hand, requires that a supporter take a pledge before entering their e-mail address. In order to officially support Ron Paul, one must proudly enter their name, address, e-mail, and phone number under, “As a supporter of freedom, peace, and prosperity, I will work to the best of my ability to deliver my precinct's votes for Dr. Ron Paul for the Republican nomination for President of the United States. I will review training materials provided by the Ron Paul 2008 Presidential Campaign and usethe resources supplied to me by the campaign to reach out to every registered voter in my precinct. I will identify Ron Paul's supporters and recruit new supporters to the cause of peace and freedom. At all times I will hold myself to the highest ethical and professional behavior as a volunteer for Ron Paul. For life, liberty, and peace, I pledge to volunteer in good faith and support the Ron Paul 2008 Campaign.” Once again, I remind you, Hillary’s just said, “Sign Up As A Supporter.”

By and large it seems supporters of Ron Paul want these over-the-top theatrics in their candidate. Ron Paul has done everything he can to alienate nearly every other politician, contemporary or historical. The supporters of Ron Paul want an underdog and a loose cannon and a firecracker. The supporters of Ron Paul want pathos.

And Ron Paul delivers. John McCain might talk about Charlie a lot and Hillary cried in New Hampshire, but Ron Paul packs so much ethos into his speeches that there almost seems to be no room left for ethos or logos. In a speech entitled, “Has Capitalism Failed?” Ron Paul says, “Politicians are having a field day with demagoguing the issue while, of course, failing to address the fraud and deceit found in the budgetary shenanigans of the federal government – for which they are directly responsible.” That sentence is only pathos. And it makes some wild jumps. The word ‘demagogue’ has become almost synonymous with Hitler, while the word ‘shenanigans’ conjures up images of the Lucky Charms leprechaun. Ron Paul is out to make everyone a villain, and whether it is a rascally animated cereal mascot or the man who wiped out 95% of the Jews in Poland, Ron Paul is going to find a way that big government is parallel.

In the same speech, Ron Paul says, “No one asks why the billions that have been spent and thousands of pages of regulations that have been written since the last major attack on capitalism in the 1930s didn't prevent the fraud and deception of Enron, WorldCom, and Global Crossings.” There’s a trigger word: Enron. And while most people may not know who WorldCom is (telecommunications company that forged 11 billion dollars in company assets), or Global Crossings (telecommunications company that harnessed 1.3 billion dollars in inside trading), the fact that these companies appeared next to Enron in a list pretty much guarantees the reader that the companies have something to do with corruption. Ron Paul in his speech points out that corruption has continued and will continue, no matter what the government does. What he surprisingly does not insinuate in his speech is that the government is in fact sponsoring these scandals. Since the strong connection between Dick Cheney and Enron back in 2001, and Ron Paul’s enthusiasm for conspiracy theories, the connection between government and major corporations would not be a hard one for him to draw.

His supporters perpetuate the pathos of their leader. The most prominent support group of Ron Paul is Ron Paul Friends USA, and they are just as guilty of generating pure pathos. On their homepage ronpaulfriendsusa.com, they describe Ron Paul as, “Congressman Ron Paul is the leading advocate for freedom in our nation’s capital. As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Dr. Paul tirelessly works for limited constitutional government, low taxes, free markets, and a return to sound monetary policies. He is known among his congressional colleagues and his constituents for his consistent voting record.” Even in the standard dramatic political forum, that is a lofty description. Very little of that introduction is based in fact, and instead opts to portray Ron Paul as a warrior fighting off a mass of Commie Representatives on Capitol Hill. What is also interesting is they never once mention that he is a Republican. To most Ron Paul supporters, Ron Paul’s political affiliation matters very little since it is his flair for pathos that wins them over. He makes his followers believe that Congress generates nothing but lies and that every new bill means the end of America. And they go for it hook-line-and-sinker, never once realizing that Ron Paul would deconstruct government, fire everybody, and then hang himself with his own copy of the Constitution (see, I can do pathos too).

The reality of the situation is that it matters very little what Ron Paul is up to. It is doubtful that he has anything else up his sleeve and his brief mark on this presidential race was entertaining but far from important. He doesn’t have numbers to wreck the race for either side of the aisle and his supporters don’t have the influence to be anything other than loons with billboards. If the United States was run on pathos alone though, no one would be more fit for the job than Ron Paul.