Is it wrong of me to be almost convinced that either Ron Paul or his son will run for the Presidency in 2012?

I hope you're right. Your reasoning is sound, Ron Paul can only do good for this country.

I'm certain he will run. However, I am unsure whether or not that is a good thing. By running and by doing all the things he is doing to undermine the growth of government, he may be perpetuating this rotten system.

Half the time, I think that we should just let this system collapse. The other half of the time, I am hopeful that we can put Ron Paul in the White House and have him become a reverse-FDR.

I have no doubt that Ron Paul will be a serious contender for the presidency in 2012 (I think its 50-50 whether he or Sarah Palin wins the Republican nomination and beats Obama in a landslide in November).

The current crisis is (I believe) the death throes of the Welfare-Warfare state. We need to recognize that libertarianism (in its purest, Rothbardian, form) is true and that we will inevitably win at some point (the only alternative to our victory is a return to the pre-Industrial world and a decline in world population to less than 1 billion; specifically, the "utopia" dreamed of by the most fanatical Environmentalists). If this crisis is the final crisis of this self-contradictory system, then that means we will win soon. If not, this system will continue on for a few more decades and then the collapse will arrive. A partially successful Ron Paul presidency would delay the day of reckoning for the current system (this would be very similar to the legacy of Ronald Reagan, which was to co-opt the libertarian movement of the 1970s and set us back for 30 years, a setback we only fully recovered from in the middle of the last decade), which is the reason why I am uncertain if that would be a good thing.

That makes total sense. I agree that Ron Paul would have much more support this time, especially if he were to announce a run earlier than last time. I think people are fed up with both parties. As of now, Paul is the only guy I see in congress that is a true small government politician. All of the others want their own form of big government. I hope he runs, and I hope he wins.

I hope not. He has some good ideas, but has some completely insane ideas, too. If Ron Paul had his way, we would GUT the military, guaranteeing attack within the US. We would also have all drugs legalized...turning us into Amsterdam. If you have never been there and off the tourist areas, GO before you consider voting for Ron Paul. Amsterdam is riddled with crime and addictions...if not for the tourism, it would collapse in a hell worse than Sodom and Gomorrah. There is only one way in hell I would vote for Ron Paul. If he got the nomination and was running against Barack Obama. But there is not one potential candidate that I would not vote for over Obama.

I think you're right, not only that he will run but also that he will get no respect, not be invited to debates, and pretty much trashed by both the media and the parties. He will have his regular band of loyal idealogs, and at least they'll make sure we know he's running (because the media will largely ignore him). And he won't win.

I find it very interesting that the leaders of the Tea Party are making the same noises as Ron Paul, mouthing many of the same slogans, but to them they mean something completely different. A very large contingent of rank and file Republicans have been peeled away from the traditional GOP by the Tea Party, but Ron Paul has been advocating just about the same platform for years now and he still is the Rodney Dangerfield of politicians--he gets no respect.

"Social Liberal" is quite a stretch to describe Dr. Paul, imho.

I don't know, it would be a longshot. Ron is getting up there in age and Rand isn't very well-known. Whatever happens, their message is being heard, considered, liked, and is growing because unlike 99.5% of politicians, the Pauls make sense and tell the truth.

I think Ron Paul will definitely run in 2012.

At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in late February, Ron Paul won the straw pull vote for who should be President in 2012. He got 31% of the vote; next was Romney with 22%.

Looking at the people that are likely to run (Paul, Romney, Palin, Hillary Clinton), I am almost definitely going to vote for Ron Paul.

I don't think it is wrong of you at all.

Not having yet seen the record Rand will set in the Senate, I currently hope it is his father. No one has a record like Ron Paul. However, I would actively LIKE to find someone as committed to his principles who is younger. This is in no small part because I think he really doesn't WANT to run for president, and think it isn't his fault no one listened to him for 30 years.

He can run but the thing is he has no chance of being elected. I'm not a libertarian anymore but I would vote for him because he's honest. Yes, I used the "h" word. Honest!

No, it's not wrong. Ron Paul won the CPAC Straw Poll this year.