Ron Paul and "what if" scenario

Roland of But I Am a Liberal got onto an interesting case of Republican Tea Party organizers of Ron Paul supporters' faction using a clearly anti-Semitic flyer:

The reasoning behind branding this amazing feat of intellectual agility anti-Semitic and not merely (?) anti-Israeli is beyond the scope of this post. Just look at the picture. Suffice to say that quite soon after being revealed here, the so called "Meetup Group" page went from being public to private, so a mere mortal cannot check whether the flyer in question was removed.

This post is about Ron Paul. It is true that Mr Paul is a marginal and slightly odious political figure, however the history shows that one ignores marginal political movements frequently at one's own expense. The history also shows that sometimes the expense extracted includes not only pursuit of happiness but freedom and even the life itself.

As far as Paul's politics are concerned, one can accept or reject all or some of items on his agenda. His idea of isolationism is definitely a great mistake and will endanger United States in the long run, I believe. His fiscal policies are not very original and may or may not work, it depends. Etc. His public "nice uncle" appearance could be endearing if it wasn't seeming a bit false, but here we come to a matter of taste and a matter of politician's image sell.

What is really worrying me is Ron Paul's uncanny ability to draw to himself (or, rather, to his public persona) all kinds of unsavory elements from both far right and far left. Roland has a post titled Ron Paul: Loved by Nazis, Communists, and Idiots Everywhere!, but there is plenty of supporting material out there in the e-space, any search string of a "ron paul and nazis/communists/extremists" kind will do. So what is it in that nice uncle figure with some pretty strong, but still non-communist and non-Nazi ideas, that is so magnetizing to the weirdos of all kinds?

There is a lot of people who love the speculations of "what if" kind related to the past. I am more interested in "what if" questions dealing with the future, and Ron Paul is definitely on my "what if" list. Unlike Marxists who consider the role of an individual in history limited to some critical points where such individual could play a significant role, I suspect that some individuals can influence history to the tune of creating these critical points and benefiting from them.

And thus the inner Ron Paul and his inexplicable attractiveness for extremists worry me quite a lot. The message, somehow transmitted by Ron Paul (whispered in dark corners? passed subliminally?) to all these wackos, must be sufficiently clear to them to continue being so seducing. Coupled with undeniable economic troubles of United States, a possibility of his sudden rise to power couldn't be discounted. And, given the almost unlimited power of presidency, America and the world with it may be heading for any kind of a nightmarish scenario. Philip K. Dick territory, I am afraid.

It better stay in Philip K. Dick books.