Despite his age, there is an air of rock-and-roll around Paul. One supporter even flashed the rock-out-horns sign when asked on Thursday whether he was sold on the candidate: “Hell yeah for Ron Paul!†he said. “The message of liberty is really appealing to younger people,†says Richardson, a heavy-metal fan who got interested in politics through battles over music censorship. One can spot dreadlocks or “Paul is my homeboy†T-shirts in the crowd at his campaign events. American Idol pop star Kelly Clarkson recently endorsed Paul on Twitter.
It’s not just stylistic. Paul’s anti-establishment policies can be every bit as bewitching as his anti-establishment rhetoric. “I never thought I would see the day when it would be cool to be a libertarian on a college campus, but it is,†says Blake Whitten, a statistics professor who sponsors the group Youth for Ron Paul on the University of Iowa campus, where the student newspaper endorsed him this month. “We have all these kids running around with T-shirts that say ‘End the Fed,’ and a lot of them don’t completely understand what the Fed is.†When asked what piqued his interest in Paul, a 22-year-old Atlantic cook, who caucused with Democrats in 2008, cited “regaining value to the U.S. currency.â€
So, basically the same know-nothings that swung to Obama, mouthing platitudes without any understanding of the surrounding issues, are swinging to Uncle Ron. Many of them love the legalizing drugs stance that Paul holds, obviously (just to be clear, I could care less if most recreational drugs were legalized, or at least left to the States). Basically, Paul is building a cult, much like Obama did.
