So Ron Paul hasn't done so well in the primaries. One thing is obvious from the campaign; an outsider faces many obstacles in a stacked system. While Ron Paul should run as an independent recent experience should tell us that it's going to be hard for him to receive coverage, particularly given the fovefest that's the media's coverage of Obama. Then there's the likelihood he will split the republican vote and be accused of handing victory to the Democrats.
The Paul push for nomination is intriguing not just for the online phenomenon. Anyone with an interest in politics should be studying the internat driven developments in the Paul campaign. Are we seeing the democratic process of the future take its first tentative steps? With the internet facilitating communication amongst populations and allowing citizens to see a range of opinions and decide what is good for themselves, the Ron Paul phenomenon is indicative of the future challenges facing traditional political structures and power cliques. Ron Paul's rivals for the nomination are publicly discounting his on-line support and fund raising but it would be naive to think they weren't studying the phenomenon carefully and looking on with envy. Where other camps have hosted endless dinners and meetings, using the events to twist the arms of corporate donors, Ron Paul has broken a series of fundraising records without spending a cent of his own money, and more importantly without promising a favour in return. Even more impressive is that the $20,000,000 odd dollars raised on-line in the 4th quarter came from almost 60,000 individual donors, all of whom donated their own money because they believed in the Paul campaign's message of small government and personal liberty. Traditionally the vast majority of political donations in the USA (and indeed Australia) are made by corporate contributors spending shareholders' funds in the hope of a legislative return on their investment. That 60,000 people have reached into their own pockets and sent it to the campaign has been a story worth watching in itself.
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