Republicans created a monster. Now they fear he will destroy him.
A well dressed man, full of confidence, is talking to a woman. He casually mentions Miami. Her interest is piqued.
”I’m going there tomorrow. Important Business. There’s this great spot overlooking the water… You should come.”
Enthralled, she follows him, back to his place, his bed, wrapped up in a fantasy.
Of course, they don’t go to Miami the next day. Something comes up. ”I’ll call you”
Politics is no different. Full of disposable fantasies, told only until the deed is done, the election is over, and the well dressed man is victorious.
For some time, Republicans have been a fantasy to voters. Small Government. The idea has been around forever, but no one sold it like Reagan.
Of course, like many seductive types, Reagan was full of it. Under him, government spending and debt skyrocketed. But people wanted to believe him, and they did. His name is still married to Small Government, even though he left the government much larger and more powerful than he found it.
Yet there are people who really do believe in Small Government. Ron Paul doesn’t want the government doing much of anything. Neither funding social programs nor wars. Neither fighting drugs nor fighting poverty.
Yet Republicans never really wanted limited government. A pretty lie, told to voters and tossed aside later. Sure they’d like to cut this and that, but Republicans don’t shrink the size of government.
So when Paul moves into the lead in Iowa, Republicans are more worried than anyone. They don’t actually want the Small Government he preaches. Not by a long-shot.
Yet their own lies are what spawned Paul supporters. They came around to him by buying Reagan’s lies, hook, line and sinker. They became true believers. And now they will vote their hearts for Dr. Paul.
Frantically, Republicans try to discredit him.
”Democrats are making mischief! They want to support Paul to throw us into turmoil!”
The thought that people show up to the Iowa Caucuses to caucus as a prank is an inspired bit of self-delusion. Anyone who sits through the boring process of caucusing most certainly does it with sincerity, not a prankster’s spirit.
If Paul wins in Iowa, it will be because people are genuinely voting for him, as any candidate.
Republicans have brought this upon themselves. Shout ”Small Government!” for long enough, and someone will start to believe it. Then run Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, and some people out there will see that these men have never fought for a Small Government, that they both believe in the power and necessity of a Large Government to Do Things.
Republicans are Dr. Frankenstein, and Paul is their monster, created of their own flesh, reflecting all their ugliness back at them, coming to destroy them. They look at him in terror. Yet they have created him.
