Last Hope of Humanity Drops Out of Race

Ron Paul, RON PAUL has given up. He is scaling back his campaign to hold onto his congressional seat. Millions of pasty-faced supporters are weeping in their mom's basements.

I also have another priority. I have constituents in my home district that I must serve. I cannot and will not let them down. And I have another battle I must face here as well. If I were to lose the primary for my congressional seat, all our opponents would react with glee, and pretend it was a rejection of our ideas. I cannot and will not let that happen.

I love a lot of Ron Paul's ideas. The bit about doing away with the IRS is particularly appealing. But there were two problems. First, Congress would never let him end the income tax. That would undermine all their power. What fun is it to be in politics if you don't have a servile public under your thumb? Second, Paul and other Libertarians just go too far. You cannot become an international hermit and hide out in the cave of isolationism (how's that for a turn of a phrase?) while the rest of the world descends into chaos. You can't just legalize nearly everything and let the chips fall where they may. And their candidates aren't exactly with it. Yikes. But, I guess you use what you've got.