Look, just because you're being held indefinitely without charges is no reason to harass the president with a hunger strike. What a bunch of selfish prisoners!

To your last point is the most important. We are the ones with the ideas and energy. It is what sets us apart and puts the movement on extremely sound footing. Sort of ties into what I've been thinking for a few days now. On an unrelated note, despite the small readership of the blog and participation in comments by only a few of us I have found my role (however limited) in the blog to be one that has truly enriched my life intellectually and personally as I now have friends and co-conspirators all around the country and world. I have only met one yet feel that the process of writing to a ( probably very small) audience has been exceptionally beneficial to me. Thanks for hosting.

Yes, there is an element of risk to stating your philosophical musings. Frankly, I'm to the point now where I don't think it matters a whole lot. Our numbers (and this is mainly people who are not me) will take up the charge and move things the right way. Before, I felt like the only one trying to move liberty into a party kicking and screaming to reject it. Now, every young person is almost automatically on our side. Of course, I'm not a leader in lots of groups like yours. I pretty much just go to work and cause trouble with local government agencies with our Taxpayers Alliance. I'm glad that you're winning and I wonder what it will be like in another 4 years. Despite the lamentations of Ron Paul hard core crazies the liberty movement did not die with the end of the campaign - it blossomed.

Yes we do. I feel sort of silly that I just was so caught up in other stuff this summer that I never noticed what was really happening. It's the old saying about the trees and forest, right? I have another bigger thought about the movement which I will hopefully get around to writing about soon once I can formulate it in my head.

If Paul racks up an impressive # of delegates (possible but almost certainly not enough to prevent a Romney win) it may be a strategic move by Romney to rein in that part of the electorate. I see Rand's pick as a VP the most likely outcome of this whole process. Of course, Romney will get smashed in the election and now Rand will have more national prominence. Who knows if he could use that in 2016. Sadly, if Rand were running for president, he'd be president in 2012. The Paul family probably ran the wrong one for president.

What happens if Romney selects Rand Paul as his VP? How does that change things for Paul supporters? I suspect that would draw around 80% of them to the GOP ticket.

You can see their Heritage scores here: http://heritageactionscorecard.com/scorecard/index.html You'll notice that Amash was the most conservative in Michigan at 92% because he was dinged on foreign policy votes (they are pro-war at Heritage). There were Republican votes against NDAA in May and then after working with other legislators, the house vote was 43 Republicans against. Similar in the Senate. I believe 3 against and then 13. It's not a majority but Republicans who were scored conservative discovered their Bill of Rights. Encouraging.

How did the delegate selection go after the straw poll? I'm curious how you know whom to vote for and how many bothered to stick around.

Watch the NDAA bill become a litmus test for whether you are a conservative or not. After the work of Paul in the senate and Amash in the House, every single one of the conservatives (both in name and as assigned by Heritage Foundation) switched their vote to defeat the bill. They failed but the precedent has been set. Watch this become a bigger issue as the presidential election draws along.

Great video. How did they find that guy? Does this sort of ad play as well in NH?

One wonders too if he bypassed the NM senate seat because he wants to reach as broad a group of voters as he can and felt the presidential race would be it with debates, etc. Sadly, the impact within the senate can be quite significant as DeMint, Coburn, Lee, and Paul have shown. Skipping a run at senate was a bad tactical mistake for him and for the NM GOP. I imagine that his hundreds of vetoes did not make him popular with most of the NM legislators who are 'the party' and didn't encourage him even though he was likely their best shot at taking a seat.

Laura, in looking at the PPP poll in Iowa, Ron Paul captures nearly as many self-described Republicans as Romney does. Do you think it is possible that he has more room for growth than either of us allow? The fact that the merciless attacks have not affected his favorability ratings in Iowa also suggests to me that perhaps we're seeing a real anti-establishment push here as much as we are an embrace of Paul's views.

That paragraph is simply mind-boggling. I never thought I'd see the day when it would be printed. Even if this is just a temporary high for the Paul campaign it is fun! Heck, I've been a Detroit Lions fan my entire life - I know how to temper my enthusiasm and not get too disappointed. :)

That is an excellent point you bring up Laura. I think the inclusion of Johnson in more debates would have been great for Ron Paul. However, I also think the GOP did a much better job of excluding 'fringe candidates' this election cycle so no amount of email spamming would have helped. It was a little silly for Ron Paul supporters to see Johnson as anything of a threat since he had maybe 1/1000th of the organization behind him. He was never really a threat to steal Ron Paul supporters. I would say that Ron Paul's tactics should focus entirely upon fiscal issues from here to the NH primary. He should make that a priority in the debates because I think a lot of the supporters for the others you mentioned are Tea Partiers who are looking for a real fiscal conservative. Although they may be turned off by the foreign policy, they will eat up the fiscal stuff. of course, it sounds like Paul is not the sort of guy who can be 'managed' and says whatever he thinks and won't steer questions towards other subjects usually. His greatest strength and weakness I fear.

It's interesting to note that when you look at the voting on the NDAA in the House and Senate that Sen. Paul and Rep. Amash both pulled all the conservatives (as ranked by Heritage Foundation) over to their side. You can see the switch with senators liek DeMint who voted no when it came back to the senate the second time. This suggests to me that there is hope with reining in the PATRIOT Act some day. Maybe conservative politicians are recognizing the danger of handing over the Bill of Rights indefinitely.

Well i will defer to you TH with the convention process since you sound like you have some experience. However, I think the delegate selection process varies state to state so the delegates may come more committed to Paul than concerned about their resume. Although I see the process as being over long before the convention there are quite a few influential republicans who don't like Romney or Gingrich and see the brokered convention as an escape hatch. Perhaps a Rand Paul could ascend before the convention in such a scenario. To your other point, the Internet has devastated elite memes. Look at the credibility of the Fed. The video of rep. Grayson grilling the fed official led the fed to launch a PR campaign. Then look at global warming. The release of the emails has shattered the AGW meme as well. Finally, look at the rise of Ron Paul which can only be ascribed to the Internet. Most may not get their news from the Internet but the dissemination of ideas permeates their lives nonetheless.

Of course, that's 150 delegates plus territories of uncommitted votes right there. I think the real question is not what the establishment wants so much as the grassroots. If the race comes down to Paul vs. Romney what do the grassroots do? Do they change their anyone but Romney stance to anyone but Paul? Paul could absolutely devastate Romney on the health care and fiscal issues. Would Romney be able to scare enough on Paul's 'reckless' isolationism? Sent from my iPhone

I accidentally cut off my reply. New iPhone. What I was going to add is that I don't think there is a path to victory for Ron Paul outside of him dominating the nomination process. One must not forget the super delegates who are by definition establishment people ( national committee men, governors, state chairs, etc). I do think that very little will be resolved before march 6th though. It would be awfully risky for people to back someone unless there is an obvious winner. If Paul does well in iowa then it will be a long protracted primary. If Romney or Gingrich carry Iowa easily then everyone else drops out or runs out of money and the race finishes before March 6th. The only play for Paul might be for his son. Possibly he could be seen as a unifying force between Paul and establishment factions. Crazy but fun to consider.

Well, I would look at this idea with the following 'facts'. 1. Ron Paul is feared by the establishment portion of the GOP more than Obama. 2. The power brokers in the party will do everything in their power to prevent a Ron Paul nomination. 3. Ron Paul has virtually no friends within the GOP outside of the grassroots and a few rare allies like Amash and his son Rand. W Sent from my iPhone

It's interesting what you say because the S&P has chosen to treat municipal and state debt differently. I wonder why they chose to do that? Perhaps they're just warming people up to the fact that a debt explosion is impending? Basically, not much the S&P does makes any sense and their market guesses have not been very good in the past.

TH, Would it be safe to assume that the S&P downgrade is based in many respects on a 'technical' default? In other words, the US cannot default because it can print an infinite amount of money but it could degrade the value of its treasury bills to essentially 'bankrupt' its holders. I completely agree with your statement but believe that this is the place where S&P is coming from despite them having to make up all sorts of reasons why they downgraded to placate its regulators within the federal government. Anyone with half a brain can see that the US is an imploding empire that is effectively going broke as it creates mountains of debt to pay its ever expanding bills. It is the same story as with all empires. They are consumed by themselves first then finished off by someone else when they are a shell of their former self.

Possibly one of the top ten commercials of all time. "When you bring a herd inta town and you ain't lost a one of 'em. Ain't a feeling like it in the world." Perfect description of libertarian events. Best of luck Laura.

I find myself so much more disengaged from the process this year. I should care who the GOP nominee will be but find myself with little hope for a good option. Oh, if only Rand Paul had run he would be mopping these guys up. Ron Paul let his ego I think trump what would have been best for the movement. They missed a real opportunity this year. 2016 will be so different and Rand probably won't have the street cress then that he has now. Oh well.

Agreed. I found myself reflecting that I often interchange them without thinking even though they completely different in definition.

Offer stands for both Parks and Georg - mi casa es su casa should you attend next year. Can't stress enough how great the experience is.