Despite fiery base, Paul’s spark yet to spread

October 31, 2011|By Brian C. Mooney, Globe Staff

Ron Paul pursues a unique agenda.

CONCORD, N.H. - Fund-raising has not been Ron Paul’s problem. Neither has galvanizing a cadre of passionate supporters. They have been called crazy, fanatics, or worse by some conservative commentators, who dismiss the fundamentalist brand of small-government libertarianism the Texas Republican has been preaching for more than three decades.

Supporters of the congressman are zealous and energetic, but the retirees, veterans, parents, and white-collar workers at his New Hampshire headquarters on a recent dreary, windswept night were not from the political fringe.

Paul’s problem is that he has received little affection from the hard-core Republican activists among Tea Partiers and religious conservatives. In their search for an alternative to Mitt Romney, the leading establishment candidate, they have flirted passionately, if briefly in some cases, with Representative Michele Bachmann, Governor Rick Perry of Texas, and Herman Cain, a former business executive.

Paul, meanwhile, has plodded along, averaging about 8.5 percent, or fifth place, in national polls, according to Real Clear Politics, and a distant third in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two nominating contests. That loyal Paul core has helped keep conservatives from coalescing around another candidate, but it has not grown substantially.

Before the Tea Party, there was Ron Paul, keeper of the flame of minimal government, critic of the Federal Reserve System, and party scold when the federal government began rolling up big deficits under President George W. Bush.

Part of Paul’s problem is undoubtedly his unique agenda, an exotic blend based on a strict interpretation of the Constitution but crossing the boundaries of contemporary definitions of conservative and liberal. His libertarianism extends beyond fiscal matters to keeping the government out of overseas military adventures and out of individuals’ lives.

He supports a return to “sound currency’’ (the gold standard or an equivalent), abolition of the Federal Reserve System, and decriminalization of drugs, and he opposes the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Paul also opposed the Patriot Act and funds for new homeland security agencies after 9/11 and has said he will not accept a congressional pension.

Paul’s views overlap with the Tea Party on many economic issues, said Brendan Steinhauser, director of grass roots for FreedomWorks, a Washington-based organization advocating free-market principles and which has lent support to the Tea Party movement.

“He’s been sounding the alarm for some time and predicted a lot of the economic troubles, the cause of them, and has been outlining solutions,’’ he said.