Ron Paul, le "docteur Non", ses millions et sa croisade anti-système

[Lexington]

Il n'a aucune chance de l'emporter mais il a été l'une des surprises de la campagne pour les primaires républicaines. Parti de rien, le candidat Ron Paul suscite l'engouement d'une partie de la base conservatrice. Il ne s'agit pas des évangéliques mais de la frange "libertarienne" du parti, celle qui est en pleine rébellion contre l'Etat fédéral.

Gynécologue, texan, élu à la Chambre des représentants depuis 1976, il a été surnommé le "docteur Non", à l'image de son programme : non à l'impôt sur le revenu, non au ministère de l'éducation, non aux troupes américaines en Irak ou ailleurs. Le docteur Paul est pour le retrait des Etats-Unis de l'ONU, du FMI, de l'OTAN. Il n'hésite pas à s'attaquer aux icônes. Abraham Lincoln, par exemple, qu'il critique pour s'être engagé dans la Guerre civile en 1861. "Acheter les esclaves et les libérer aurait évité de faire 600 000 morts." Autre tabou : le 11 septembre 2001. Il pense que si les Etats-Unis sont détestés, ils ne peuvent que s'en prendre à leur politique étrangère.

Au début de la campagne, son staff se limitait à une personne, un étudiant bénévole. Aujourd'hui, Ron Paul ne sait plus comment dépenser son argent. Il a dépassé ses rivaux républicains dans la collecte de fonds au dernier trimestre de 2007 (20 millions de dollars, soit autant que les démocrates Hillary Clinton et Barack Obama). Son outil : l'Internet. Le 17 décembre, il a battu le record de contributions reçues en vingt-quatre heures par un candidat : 6 millions de dollars. En une journée, 25 000 nouveaux petits donateurs ont été enregistrés. "Tous ces gens ont entrepris une tâche énorme : s'attaquer au complexe militaro-industriel, au complexe industriel de la médecine et aux intérêts spéciaux", a-t-il affirmé dimanche sur CNN.

A 72 ans, Ron Paul remplit des salles dans les universités, où les jeunes, même s'ils ne partagent pas ses idées, notamment sur l'immigration, sont ravis d'entendre un discours antisystème. Il avait été candidat à l'élection présidentielle pour le Libertarian Party en 1988 et n'exclut pas totalement de recommencer en novembre. "Une large part de ceux qui nous envoient de l'argent souhaitent que l'esprit de la révolution continue", dit-il.

Sa percée, sur le plan financier, témoigne de la colère de la base républicaine de se voir entraînée si loin des canons traditionnels du parti par George Bush. Ron Paul a obtenu 10 % dans l'Iowa, soit plus que Rudy Giuliani. Il espère faire mieux dans le New Hampshire, terreau indépendant. Mais il n'a pas réussi à franchir le barrage des médias, qui le suivent peu. Ce qui montre la limite de l'influence de l'Internet en politique.

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-829254,36-996519@51-904503,0.html

Plutôt positif, non? Pas trop de réactions mais l'article est plutôt positif même si la présentation du libertarianisme est plus que succinte..

[Apollon]

Grillé

ici

(c'est mieux d'ouvrir un fil)

L'article analyse correctement le succès financier de RP à mon avis.

[walter-rebuttand]

Pourquoi n'y a-t-il que pour Ron Paul que les journalistes insistent constamment sur le fait qu'il n'a aucune chance alors que d'autres (Thompson, McCain) ne sont guère mieux lotis?

[Chitah]

Pourquoi n'y a-t-il que pour Ron Paul que les journalistes insistent constamment sur le fait qu'il n'a aucune chance alors que d'autres (Thompson, McCain) ne sont guère mieux lotis?

Demande à Jean-Marie Le Pen!

[Apollon]

Dans le dossier permanent consacré aux candidats sur lemonde.fr (pas Le Monde) RP s'est rpésenté une fois sous l'étiquette… "libertaire". Il y a du progrès depuis l'Iowa.

Notons encore qu'on voit sa photo dans les rubriques de colonnes, en fixe. Plus de visibilité pour les libertariens dans les prochains jours.

[Lexington]

Pourquoi n'y a-t-il que pour Ron Paul que les journalistes insistent constamment sur le fait qu'il n'a aucune chance alors que d'autres (Thompson, McCain) ne sont guère mieux lotis?

Parce que les journalistes français sont néo-cons peut être

[Rincevent]

Parce que les journalistes français sont néo-cons peut être

[Apollon]

Parce que les journalistes français sont néo-cons peut être

[walter-rebuttand]

Vous êtes mignons tout plein.

[Sous-Commandant Marco]

Parce que les journalistes français sont néo-cons peut être

Tu peux enlever le néo.

[Rincevent]

Tu peux enlever le néo.

En effet, c'est pas nouveau.

[Apollon]

Pour le plaisir de comparer :

Now for a Real Underdog: Ron Paul, Libertarian, for President

LEAD: Ron Paul is, above all, patient.

Ron Paul is, above all, patient.

As the Presidential candidate of the Libertarian Party, Dr. Paul knows he will do well to get 2 percent of the vote on Nov. 8. Still, the 53-year-old physician and former Congressman continues to travel the country virtually without a break, trying to get into newspapers and on television, giving speeches and preaching his party's philosophy of ''get the Government off our backs'' to students at colleges and high schools.

''Get rid of the personal income tax,'' he declared at the University of Houston recently. Then he added: Bring American troops home, abolish the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency and dismantle every other agency except the Justice and Defense Departments.

Dr. Paul, reflecting on politics in a recent interview during his swing through Houston, said the school visits are just as important as the rest of the campaign. It did not seem to bother him that only 10 of about 300 students he addressed at a high school near Houston were old enough to vote and only 5 were registered. Building for the Future

''We're building the Libertarian Party and we're just as interested in the future generation as this election,'' said Dr. Paul, a slight, gray-haired obstetrician from Lake Jackson, Tex. ''These kids will vote eventually, and maybe, just maybe, they'll go home and talk to their parents.''

This sort of patience is a hallmark of the Libertarian Party, whose first Presidential candidate, John Hospers, won 3,671 votes in 1972. Roger MacBride got 173,000 votes in 1976 and Ed Clark got about 920,000 in 1980. But David Bergland won only about 227,000 votes in 1984.

''It's been an uphill struggle and we realize it's going to take a while, but there will be a Libertarian President someday,'' said Elizabeth Barthlow of Jersey Village, Texas, who has been a Libertarian since 1972, when President Carter started talking about reinstating the draft and she quit the Democratic Party.

Dr. Paul represented the 22d Congressional District of Texas, which includes the southern suburbs of Houston, for seven years. He left Congress in 1985 after an unsuccessful run for a Senate seat, and quit the Republican Party in February 1987.

At the University of Houston, speaking in front of the student union cafeteria at high noon, Dr. Paul explained why. 'They Are in Our Wallets'

''I listened to Ronald Reagan in the '70's. He told me that he would balance the budget, cut back and get the Government off my back. They are not off our backs, they are in our wallets and into our bedrooms and into our private lives more than ever before.''

By the time Dr. Paul finished, about 200 students were listening, but only about a dozen said they supported the Libertarians.

''I'm going to vote for him,'' said Bradley Frizzell. ''Dukakis says what he wants to do but never how he's going to pay for it. Bush is not a leader; he's always been a yes man for the Republican Party.''

But most of the students were like Timothy Vining, who said, ''I had a couple of minutes before my next class, so I thought I'd listen to a few words.''

Dr. Paul is serious about his Presidential bid, in which he is on the ballot in 46 states and the District of Columbia. ''I don't think I'm going to win,'' he said. ''But I run to win and not as an academic exercise.''

He tells his audiences that the Federal Government has only one role: to protect liberty. And, he explains, the only rule worth following is that one must not harm another person or his property.

If elected, he says, he would abolish public schools, welfare, Social Security and farm subsidies. All drug laws should be repealed, Dr. Paul maintains, a position that drew hisses at the university.

Dr. Paul believes that America should leave the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and not contribute to other nations' defense. He has no trouble saying which new nuclear weapons programs he would cut: all of them.

In his first year in office, Dr. Paul says, he would cut one third of the Pentagon budget, or $100 billion, and $100 billion in domestic programs. Put this money ''back into the economy,'' he argues, and everyone will be better off.

Although he scoffs at Vice President Bush's oratorical ''thousand points of light,'' the idea that more fortunate citizens should be reaching out to help those in need, Dr. Paul believes in ''individual responsibility.'' Jousting With Hecklers

If someone wants to fight in a ''foreign war,'' fine. But, Dr. Paul warns, do not expect a Libertarian Government to foot the bill, or pay for any part of the space program not essential to national defense.

Dr. Paul refuses to call himself an isolationist, but that is how many others see him. A man who relishes a fight with hecklers, he sometimes draws angry reactions.

At Jersey Village High School northwest of Houston, a student shouted accusingly: ''No armed forces in other countries? No foreign wars? This was basically the same idea that got 6 million European Jews killed during the Second World War.''

Though the students cheered, Dr. Paul replied, ''We were there and we still didn't prevent it.'' A $2 Million Campaign

Randall Paul, Dr. Paul's 25-year-old son and aide-de-camp, said the campaign has raised about $2 million and spent most of it, including $500,000 to get on ballots everywhere except North Carolina, West Virginia, Indiana and Missouri. The party is still fighting to be included in Missouri.

There may be last-minute advertising, but most of the money goes to travel for Dr. Paul, who will not take loans or Federal funds. His campaign is a world apart from the long motorcades, chartered airplanes and consultant-laden Republican and Democratic efforts. Even so, his son said, travel expenses come to $40,000 a month.

''It costs $40,000 a month for me to travel?'' Dr. Paul said with evident surprise during a quick lunch stop at a McDonald's north of Houston, where he cadged french fries off his son's tray.

Dr. Paul's national media appearances are few. After taping an interview for the CBS News program ''Nightwatch,'' he said it went well.

''But I have to tell you,'' he added, ''they really did seem more interested in Shirley MacLaine, who was there, too.''

By ANDREW ROSENTHAL, SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES

Published: October 17, 1988