Is it over for Ron Paul? It should be

            Ron Paul’s luck and delegate insurgency ran out in Nebraska in the month of July. His hopes for a plurality of delegates from five states (which was needed for a shot at being nominated and a spot to address the RNC in Tampa) were dashed when Nebraska picked only two Paul delegates out of 35 total delegates being sent to the National Convention. Is it over for Ron Paul's shot at the 2012 presidency? It all depends on whom you ask, so maybe a better question to ask is, “Should it be over?” Anyone wanting to fire Mr. Obama should answer “yes”, and there are two reasons for this.

            First, the whole Paul candidacy should be over for one very simple reason: Ron Paul is not the nominee of the people. In raw votes (which is arguably the best sampling of what the public wants), Ron Paul is dead last in terms of the popular vote. Out of all the voters who could go out and vote for anyone of their choosing in the primaries, they picked Paul last. In fact, out of the 50 states, Ron Paul never carried a single one in terms of the popular vote—only in Puerto Rico did he take first place. In raw numbers, he was out voted eight to one, or 16.3 million non-RP votes to his 2 million voters. While allegations of fraud are common from Paul voters, the fact is that the 14 million "non-RP" votes are impossible to conjure out of thin air. For sake of argument saying that even half those votes are fraudulent is still to say that Paul got buried in a landslide of “non-Ron-Paul” votes. In short? It wasn’t even close. The conservative/GOP voters do not want Ron Paul as the nominee.

            Despite this, Paul has changed tactics to try and sway delegates to his side, as reported by various sources including the Washington Post. The Post reports that, “Paul supporters have been increasing his delegate totals or nominating Paul sympathizers as Romney delegates”. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow also noted that Paul delegates have been working to generate support and favor for their candidate not among voters, but amongst their fellow delegates. This is possibly the most disgusting act of misconduct on the part of any candidate’s supporters. Dictionary.com defines a delegate as, “a person designated to act for or represent another or others; deputy; representative, as in a political convention.” Thus, a delegate is called to represent the will of the people above all other interests. What is the will of the people? See the previous paragraph. Eight-to-one against Ron Paul is the way the people should be represented by their delegates. Not only are the pro-Paul delegates ignoring the total votes of the public, but they would also be forcing the will of the minority onto the voting majority by nominating Paul.

            The second reason that it should be over for Ron Paul is the very reason that Rachel Maddow is so enthralled with his run: a split conservative vote. Ron Paul’s continued candidacy does not bring the country closer to firing Barack Obama. If Ron Paul runs as a third party candidate the sad truth is that Obama would get the upper hand in November’s elections. It’s simple mathematics really. Pretend there’s a pie and whoever walks away with the biggest piece wins. Barack Obama is going to take at least 45%—just under half—of said pie. This means that Obama is beatable—but only if the “Voter Pie” isn’t getting split three ways.

            Even Paul's own words have assured his loss in a general election. All Mitt and/or Barack have to do in the first debate is ask Ron why he thinks Reagan was a lousy president, and why he supports legalized heroin and prostitution (his words). His stances on these subjects will never endear him to conservatives, traditional values voters, and anti-drug voters--all of which he would need to win against both Mitt and Barack.

(For a final coupe de grace on why Paul is unelectable as president, see this top 12 list that would sink him: http://www.rightwingnews.com/john-hawkins/why-ron-paul-can-never-be-president-in-12-quotes/ Also, trust that the liberal media machine would run these on a loop till everyone in the nation thinks he’s a complete kook.)

            All this isn’t to say that Mitt Romney is the conservative standard by which the future of the country will be redeemed. It is to say that if the country wants to send Barack Obama in to the realm of the unemployed, that Ron Paul is not, and cannot be the man to lead the charge in the November elections.

            There is no shame in a good race ending in defeat. There is shame in meddling to one's own hurt and to the hurt of the nation. If Ron Paul really is the “man of the people” and “champion of the constitution” that he proclaims himself to be then he should honor the system set in place by the people. But if he pursues delusions of grandeur as the dark-horse wild card 3^rd party, Ron Paul’s actions will ultimately set Barack Obama squarely on a path to the White House for a second term. Obama may be losing steam, but underestimating the sheer amount of Obama’s support (and overestimating his own support) would be a costly mistake for Ron Paul to make—and the country itself would foot the bill for it.