Ron Paul Will Be Excluded From the RNC

Although the Examiner is reporting that Ron Paul is not among the speakers at this year’s Republican National Convention, the RNC has actually yet to release the full slate of speakers at its August 27-30 gathering. However, to say that Paul will be excluded from speaking is not a stretch. Indeed, his exclusion is likely for the simple fact that Paul’s positions are so anathema to what the modern Republican Party stands for, it would make more sense for the GOP to invite a sympathetic Democrat to address the crowd instead—just like they did by inviting Joe Lieberman in 2008, and Zell Miller in 2004.

Paul is retiring effective the end of his term in January. The GOP could honor him with a speaking slot—even if it’s just a low-key matinee address—for his years of service and dedication as a Republican member of the House of Representatives. But this is unlikely because Paul would do exactly as one would expect—espouse the virtues of really small government, which would include the rolling of the military-industrial complex by slashing the Pentagon budget, and eliminating the dangers to Americans’ civil liberties, such as the USA PATRIOT Act. Perhaps more importantly, it’s not even clear that Paul is going to endorse Mitt Romney for president. Unless Paul does this, his chances of speaking at the convention that will nominate Romney are about 0.0002%. (Hey, Paul could theoretically get invited by accident.)

If Paul is allowed to speak at the RNC, he might as well be speaking in Swahili. Most Republicans believe in the virtues of limited government like Michele Bachmann believes in Darwinian evolution. And it’s not just the leadership, which has been a prime culprit in the explosion of government spending over the last decade. It’s the laypersons, who attend their Tea Party rallies screaming against big government, welfare, and so on, but then go home and collect Medicare, farm subsidies, and other government goodies that they’re happy to take, while chiding others for their laziness and willingness to take hand-outs.  

Ron Paul is unlikely to speak at the RNC for the simple reason that he is a relic of a bygone era of American conservatism. There simply is no place in the GOP (or even the Democratic Party) who thinks that the Bill of Rights is not negotiable, that the United States should not have a global military presence that naturally increases tensions with other nations, and that spending needs to be cut in earnest to the lowest possible level across the board.