The Mainstreaming of Ron Paul

I'm not sure if I entirely buy the premise of this article from HuffPost. I think Paul is probably mainstream in the context of the Republican Party of today- after all, he's the standard bearer of the Party's Libertarian wing even as Romney represents the fiscal conservatives and Perry/Bachmann are competing for the social conservatives. Granted, there's a certain amount of crossover between these three 'wings' and certainly the Libertarian wing of the Republican Party has got to be feeling a certain amount of smug vindication, given the fact that a lot of Paul's views have proven correct.

But to me, 'mainstream' means 'electable' and I'm not yet convinced that Paul could win the election- or get the nomination. I think his views on foreign policy are archaic and not in our nation's best interest- and returning to the Gold Standard might make our current economic situation worse than it is already. The economics (of which I know very little, I'll freely admit) might say otherwise, but the market will freak on a return to the Gold Standard and given the fact that the United States, despite the current economic mess is still the world's premier economy, our return to the Gold Standard would send shockwaves world wide.

However, Paul is better organized, more mobilized and more mainstream than he was in 2008. If the Republican Party's mood shifts away from a three sided battle between Perry, Bachmann and Romney Paul could be the last man standing and if he out-organizes the other 3 (which he's capable of) then he could spring a surprise or two.