This new advertisement from the Ron Paul campaign is pretty serious stuff:

While I agree with pretty much everything in the ad, the question will arise “so are you a Paul supporter?”

The answer, at this point, is “not yet.”

I am leaving it as an open question because this is a fluid scenario, candidate-wise. Maybe even more so than most.

Several months ago I explained to a friend that Ron Paul was, in not so many words, “crazy.” A lot has happened in the intervening months. For one, Tom Tancredo and Duncan Hunter have apparently washed out. For two, this cretin named Huckabee is on the verge of capturing the Republican nomination. For three, Lou Dobbs is seeming like the only one of the bunch I would have the slightest interest in taking time off work to support.

But I have an open mind and a practical mind. If someone who seems to have a foot planted on planet Earth ends up winning the GOP nod I will take a close look at that person, and very possibly go to work for that person. As my very wise friend G. Stone reminded me, the next U.S. president may well appoint two Supreme Court justices.

There’s a thought, huh?

So I am not ready to abandon the GOP or all rationality, but I am still keeping my options open – my ideological options. I have this nagging feeling that the solutions to our current most vexing problems – illegal immigration being a key example – lie in REALLY out of the box solutions. Such as, overturning the social order, storming the gates, secession – that whole ball of wax.

Usurpation of authority by our elected officials is an issue that deeply troubled our nation’s founders and has potentially world-changing implications.

If we disagree with those in office, the process dictates we can wait around to vote them out. If, on the other hand, we come to believe our government officials are steadfastly working against our interests, we have a crisis of authority. In such a situation we might not wait around until the next election. We might see the need to advocate for a radical change to our local or state government either from the bottom up or the top down. This, I think, is where something like the Ron Paul candidacy gets its salience.