{"id":262,"date":"2011-10-21T20:51:46","date_gmt":"2011-10-22T00:51:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/?p=262"},"modified":"2011-10-21T20:51:46","modified_gmt":"2011-10-22T00:51:46","slug":"the-parallel-universe-of-the-paulophobe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2011\/10\/the-parallel-universe-of-the-paulophobe.html","title":{"rendered":"The Parallel Universe of the Paulophobe"},"content":{"rendered":"

With practically each passing day, we are becoming ever more familiar with the recently identified PDS\u2014Paul Derangement Syndrome.\u00a0 Also known as \u201cPaulophobia,\u201d PDS, it has now been determined, compels its victims to create for themselves an alternative reality, a parallel universe that is, in some critical respects, quite literally the mirror <\/em>image of our own.<\/p>\n

In the real world, those who are looking for a tireless, consistent champion of \u201climited government,\u201d \u201cindividual rights,\u201d \u201cstates\u2019 rights,\u201d and the like\u2014i.e. \u201cconservatives\u201d and Republicans\u2014know <\/em>that there is but one<\/em> person in the field of GOP presidential candidates to whom they can turn.\u00a0 That person, of course, is Congressman Ron Paul.\u00a0 In the real world, of this field of candidates, the former governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, has a record that exposes him as the least likely<\/em> of such candidates to advance these principles.<\/p>\n

But in the parallel universe that the Paulophobe labors incessantly to create, Mitt Romney is the GOP\u2019s \u201cfront runner\u201d while Ron Paul is treated as if he is marginal at best, non-existent at worst.<\/p>\n

In the real world, Ron Paul has proven himself second to none in eliciting as devoted and enthused a following as any politician of our generation\u2014including Barack Obama and Sarah Palin.\u00a0 This is no mean feat at a time when the electorate seems to have become as disenchanted with politicians as it has ever been.\u00a0 At least as impressive is that this following is as substantial <\/em>in size and diverse in quality as it is loyal to their candidate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the Paulophobe\u2019s alternative reality, however, Paul supporters are somehow less than real voters<\/em>, maybe even less than real people<\/em>.\u00a0 \u00a0At a minimum, they are neither respectable <\/em>voters nor respectable people.\u00a0 Those who endorse Ron Paul are depicted as constituting a marginal group of cultists.\u00a0 <\/em>Paulophobe extraordinaire, nationally syndicated neoconservative Republican talk show host Michael Medved, as purely as any PDS patient illustrates this tendency to reduce Paul backers to intellectual and\/or moral paupers.\u00a0 That Medved routinely refers to Paul\u2019s supporters as \u201cPaulistinians\u201d is, to put it mildly, telling.<\/p>\n

In the real world, most national polls had steadily assigned Ron Paul third place for months, and theTexascongressman defeats all competitors in one straw poll after the other.\u00a0 A candidate\u2019s straw poll performance, though certainly not determinative of how a race will end, is still a not insignificant indicator of the strength or weakness of his or her candidacy.<\/p>\n

In the world of the Paulophobe, either Ron Paul doesn\u2019t participate in straw polls or, if he does, his ranking<\/em> in them\u2014not <\/em>necessarily the straw polls themselves\u2014<\/em>are dismissed as meaningless.\u00a0 When Paul\u2019s supporters protest that their candidate is being treated unfairly, the Paulophobe is as dismissive of their complaint as he is dismissive of Ron Paul himself: the \u201cPaul people\u201d are \u201cparanoid\u201d and \u201cconspiratorial,<\/em>\u201d he insists.\u00a0 At the same time, though, to explain away<\/em> Paul\u2019s fortunes, the Paulophobe conjures up conspiracy theories of his own.\u00a0 \u201cThe Paul people\u201d rigged this poll or that, etc.<\/p>\n

In the real world, Ron Paul argues for redeploying our troops from <\/em>overseas lands to<\/em> our own porous borders.\u00a0 That Paul receives more contributions from active military personnel than our current president and all<\/em> of the other Republican presidential candidates combined <\/em>that his message resonates with legions of those men and women who, presumably, know best when it comes to matters of national security.<\/p>\n

In the parallel universe of the Paulophobe, in glaring contrast, Ron Paul is an appeaser, a virtual pacifist, \u201cnuts on parade,\u201d as Paulophobe Rush Limbaugh described him not too long ago.\u00a0 No, a President Paul would beAmerica\u2019s last president, because it wouldn\u2019t be long after his inauguration thatAmericawould meet her demise and the entire planet would come under \u201cIslamist\u201d rule.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the real world, Ron Paul has pointed out what the bi-partisan \u201c9\/11 Commission,\u201d the Central Intelligence Agency, and Islamic terrorists themselves have long noted: anti-American Islamic hostilities, from the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993 through 9\/11 to the present are primarily designed as responses, not <\/em>to our beliefs <\/em>regarding ourselves, but to our conduct <\/em>toward the Islamic world.\u00a0 In drawing our attention to what is obvious to all who have thought about this issue, Paul, of course, never meant to excuse <\/em>or justify <\/em>the heinous acts of those horrible men who are determined to murder Americans.\u00a0 After all, shortly following 9\/11, Paul spared no time in casting his vote in favor of invading Afghanistan.\u00a0 And he most certainly never meant to suggest that it is the American citizenry<\/em> who deserve blame<\/em> for the terrorist attacks that they have suffered.\u00a0 Rather, it is precisely because Paul cares so deeply about the well being of his country, because he so highly values peace and a strong national defense, <\/em>that he seeks to analyze our situation in ideologically-neutral, even if politically risky, terms.<\/p>\n

In the Paulophobe\u2019s universe, Ron Paul is exceedingly na\u00efve when it comes to confronting \u201cthe Evil of our time\u201d\u2014i.e. \u201cIslamofascism.\u201d\u00a0 Paul fails to grasp that \u201cIslamists\u201d want to ruin America because of her \u201cexceptionalism,\u201d her unrivaled freedoms and liberties.\u00a0 Americais the only nation in all of human history to have been founded upon a universal \u201cproposition\u201d or \u201cidea,\u201d the proposition that all men (and women) are created equal. It is this\u2014<\/em>the \u201cexceptional\u201d character ofAmerica\u2014that makes her the target of the \u201cIslamist\u2019s\u201d animus.\u00a0 Not only, though, is Ron Paul na\u00efve; he is as well dangerously close to being an anti-American himself, for Paul never spares an occasion to \u201cblame America\u201d for 9\/11 and other acts of terrorism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While it is understandably exasperating for the inhabitants of the real world to abide by his delusions, they should consider taking pity upon the Paulophobe, for in the imaginary world of the latter, \u201cRon Paul people\u201d constitute a dispensable\u2014indeed, even an irritating\u2014ragtag band of misfits who he would just as soon see disappear.<\/p>\n

In the real world, however, assuming Paul doesn\u2019t get his party\u2019s nomination, if his supporter\u2019s oblige the Paulophobe and disappear come Election Day 2012, Barack Obama will sail to a second term.<\/p>\n

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

originally published at The New American<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With practically each passing day, we are becoming ever more familiar with the recently identified PDS\u2014Paul Derangement Syndrome.\u00a0 Also known as \u201cPaulophobia,\u201d PDS, it has now been determined, compels its victims to create for themselves an alternative reality, a parallel universe that is, in some critical respects, quite literally the mirror image of our own.…<\/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-262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Parallel Universe of the Paulophobe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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