{"id":247,"date":"2011-09-30T20:41:45","date_gmt":"2011-10-01T00:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/?p=247"},"modified":"2011-09-30T20:41:45","modified_gmt":"2011-10-01T00:41:45","slug":"paul-derangement-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2011\/09\/paul-derangement-syndrome.html","title":{"rendered":"Paul Derangement Syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Derangement Syndrome (PDS) is a mental condition that, though it was first detected during the 2008 Republican Presidential primaries, has only now been identified for the dangerous disorder that it is.\u00a0 Also known as \u201cPaulophobia,\u201d those suffering from it find themselves tortured by their fear<\/em> ofTexas congressman and three time presidential candidate Ron Paul.<\/p>\n

PDS is peculiar in that in spite of its being a contagion, there is but one segment of the general population that it is known to afflict.\u00a0 Even more curious is the fact that this segment consists of Ron Paul\u2019s fellow partisans <\/em>in the Republican Party.\u00a0 More specifically, it is neoconservative <\/em>men and women, especially those with a particularly powerful proclivity for \u201cconservative\u201d talk radio and Fox News, who are most susceptible to contracting PDS.<\/p>\n

PDS is known to ravage the rationality of its hosts.\u00a0 While this disorder indeed promises to reduce its victims\u2019 thoughts on Congressman Paul to textbook cases of illogic, it would be a mistake to infer from this that every Paulophobe was a clear thinker prior to falling prey to PDS: in a not inconsiderable number of instances, Paulophobia hasn\u2019t so much as caused <\/em>the wild irrationality that is the most salient characteristic of all PDS victims as exacerbated <\/em>the general unreasonableness with which they already lived.<\/p>\n

Unlike many other illnesses, PDS isn\u2019t at all difficult to identify.\u00a0 The Paulophobe\u2019s discourse on all matters pertaining to Ron Paul, or at least to Ron Paul\u2019s presidential candidacy, is replete with, not just inconsistencies, but glaring <\/em>inconsistencies, contradictions that are so profound that even a college freshman enrolled in an introductory logic course couldn\u2019t help but to be pained by them.\u00a0 To anyone remotely attuned to reality or possessed of a modicum of reason, the Paulophobe\u2019s utterances can\u2019t but sound like the babblings of a baby: indecipherable noises intending to signify we know not what.<\/p>\n

At one and the same time that he loudly and proudly affirms \u201climited government,\u201d \u201cliberty,\u201d \u201cindividualism,\u201d \u201cfiscal sanity,\u201d \u201cthe Constitution,\u201d and \u201cthe Founders,\u201d the Paulophobe will just as loudly and unabashedly repudiate Ron Paul.\u00a0 Although the latter has proven to be, by far, both more committed and more consistently <\/em>committed to these values than any <\/em>political actor of our generation\u2014although, that is, he is an incomparable champion of the very ideals that the Paulophobe claims to cherish\u2014the Paulophobe insists upon treating Ron Paul as an enemy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This in and of itself is sufficient to convict the Paulophobe of invincible irrationality.\u00a0 Yet this unreason runs deeply, manifesting itself in other ways.<\/p>\n

Obsessed with erasing altogether the distinction between his perception of reality<\/em> and reality itself, <\/em>the Paulophobe will stop at nothing to deny the latter.\u00a0 Of the nine<\/em> GOP presidential contenders, Ron Paul is more or less consistently in third place <\/em>in those polls taken among likely Republican voters.\u00a0 When Michele Bachmann held that same distinction, the Paulophobe repeatedly, and excitedly, declared this a \u201cthree way race.\u201d\u00a0 Now that Paul has usurped Bachmann\u2019s standing, the Paulophobe characterizes the primaries as a contest between two <\/em>frontrunners, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry\u2014two candidates whose commitment to the Paulophobe\u2019s self-professed ideals even he <\/em>questions.\u00a0 But what\u2019s worst, he episodically regards as a viable candidate virtually every other contestant in this race\u2014from Tim Pawlenty, who terminated his candidacy after being crushed in the Iowa Ames Straw Poll by Ron Paul, to Herman Cain, from Jon Huntsman to Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum\u2014while either failing to mention Paul at all or mentioning him just long enough to assure the rest of us that Paul is not a serious candidate.\u00a0 This, the Paulophobe does, in spite of <\/em>the fact that not one of Paul\u2019s second-tier competitors has overall performed nearly as impressively as has he.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some victims of PDS, like nationally syndicated talk radio host Michael Medved, argue that Republican primary voters should nominate, not the most conservative of candidates, but the most conservative of candidates who also happens to be the most electable <\/em>of candidates.\u00a0 That is, only that person who can dominate Obama among \u201cindependents\u201d and \u201cmoderates\u201d should receive his or her party\u2019s nomination.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, Medved suffers from an especially acute case of PDS.\u00a0 Indeed, Medved is a classic illustration of the depths of irrationality to which the mind will sink when Paulophobia is permitted to go untreated, a depth that appears to be beyond the point of no return.\u00a0 Polls, including a Harris Poll that was conducted on September 28, show that among the Republican candidates, there are but two <\/em>who will defeat Obama among independents and moderates: Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.<\/p>\n

Yet Medved continues to dismiss Paul when he isn\u2019t insulting the latter and his followers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And this brings us to another observation: PDS warps what powers of rationality the Paulophobe once had, it is true, but at the same time, it severely weakens his character.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Paulophobe\u2019s inability to follow the simplest of arguments that Ron Paul has articulated to substantiate his positions is rivaled only by his inability to resist casting one unfounded aspersion after the other against the twelve termTexascongressman.\u00a0 Within no time, at the mere mention of Ron Paul\u2019s name, the Paulophobe\u2019s last vestiges of reason become forever lost in a mountainous pile of straw man fallacies, non sequiturs, and ad hominem attacks.<\/p>\n

The Paul Derangement Syndrome is a serious condition.\u00a0 Once it is identified, clear thinking should be sought immediately.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jack Kerwick, Ph.D.<\/p>\n

originally published at The\u00a0New American\u00a0<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paul Derangement Syndrome (PDS) is a mental condition that, though it was first detected during the 2008 Republican Presidential primaries, has only now been identified for the dangerous disorder that it is.\u00a0 Also known as \u201cPaulophobia,\u201d those suffering from it find themselves tortured by their fear ofTexas congressman and three time presidential candidate Ron Paul.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPaul Derangement Syndrome<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Paul Derangement Syndrome\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Paul Derangement Syndrome (PDS) is a mental condition that, though it was first detected during the 2008 Republican Presidential primaries, has only now been identified for the dangerous disorder that it is.\u00a0 Also known as \u201cPaulophobia,\u201d those suffering from it find themselves tortured by their fear ofTexas congressman and three time presidential candidate Ron Paul.…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2011\/09\/paul-derangement-syndrome.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"At the Intersection of Faith and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-01T00:41:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jack Kerwick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Paul Derangement Syndrome","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Paul Derangement Syndrome","og_description":"Paul Derangement Syndrome (PDS) is a mental condition that, though it was first detected during the 2008 Republican Presidential primaries, has only now been identified for the dangerous disorder that it is.\u00a0 Also known as \u201cPaulophobia,\u201d those suffering from it find themselves tortured by their fear ofTexas congressman and three time presidential candidate Ron Paul.…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2011\/09\/paul-derangement-syndrome.html","og_site_name":"At the Intersection of Faith and Culture","article_published_time":"2011-10-01T00:41:45+00:00","author":"Jack Kerwick","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2011\/09\/paul-derangement-syndrome.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2011\/09\/paul-derangement-syndrome.html","name":"Paul Derangement Syndrome","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-10-01T00:41:45+00:00","dateModified":"2011-10-01T00:41:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/6832222998cc14717ded1849531201c5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2011\/09\/paul-derangement-syndrome.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2011\/09\/paul-derangement-syndrome.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2011\/09\/paul-derangement-syndrome.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Paul Derangement Syndrome"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/","name":"At the Intersection of Faith and Culture","description":"Beliefnet Voices - 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