America has a magnificent opportunity to redeem herself from eight years of the most spectacular presidential failure in her history, next November. I'm not talking about Barack "from the cradle to the White House" Obama, nor am I talking about Hillary: Warrior Princess. And forget about those two ludicrous fascist frauds, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani. But who, then? The man in question is the only Republican candidate to vote against the Iraq war, the only candidate that voted for the legalization of medical marijuana during his time in Congress, and the man who sponsored a bill to overturn the Patriot Act. He sounds too good to be true. His name is Dr. Ron Paul, and a small but growing group of UW students is awakening to his message. You remember those slogans that were chalked at a number of campus locations about this obscure little man all over campus a few weeks earlier. A few of them are still there. It turns out that Dr. Paul isn't as obscure as one might assume. A diverse grassroots movement has sprung up on the Internet and college campuses across the country to support something other than the elephant that lost its way somewhere in the donkey's ass. And with an estimated $5 million raised in the 3rd fundraising quarter — a 114 percent increase from the 2nd — Dr. Paul is only going to become more prominent. How is this intruder from Texas, the man who wants to abolish, among other departments, the IRS, getting so much money? The answer lies with groups such as Badgers for Ron Paul, a UW student group related to the Madison student chapter supporting Dr. Paul. Although their numbers are miniscule compared to that juggernaut of a single-celled organism known as the Madison chapter of Students for Obama, these cadres of Internet loyalists actually add up, as evidenced by Dr. Paul's third quarter figures. When Dr. Paul set a fundraising goal of $500,000 for the last week of the third fundraising quarter, small donors allowed him to exceed that objective by $700,000, raising $1.2 million dollars in one week. Badgers for Ron Paul, two of whom I had the pleasure of speaking with this Saturday, do not enter into a quasi-orgasmic state whenever their candidate is mentioned. Indeed, Steven and Kyle have vastly different reasons for supporting Dr. Paul. Both are impressed with his foreign policy, which calls for the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from foreign soil immediately and the opening of trade with these countries instead. Often referred to as isolationism, the actual term for this idea is non-interventionism. And, as Kyle told me, "It's refreshing to have a candidate who wants to return to the America envisioned by our founders." But what does that mean? By now all of our ears are saturated with bovine garbage about "building a stronger America, together." I hope I didn't just steal a slogan. But if I did, it was no doubt Mr. Obama's. Dr. Paul was the only member of Congress who voted against creating a National Archives exhibit on Slavery and Reconstruction. Why? Because the creation of the exhibit was a use of taxpayer money not explicitly authorized by the Constitution. My respects, Dr. Paul. I am unaware of any other presidential candidate with such a healthy respect for our basic principles. But why, then, is Dr. Paul receiving so little coverage in the media? He is receiving some, but the limited coverage the good doctor is getting is exposure no candidate would desire. Indeed, in the wake of the discovery that his fundraising figures for the third quarter were so high, an MSNBC host that reported that Dr. Paul was an isolationist, twice. And when Dr. Paul beat Rudy Giuliani in a Michigan straw poll, he received absolutely no coverage. Nonetheless, Dr. Paul and the UW students who support him are prepared to stun Americans again, by setting a fundraising goal of $4 million this month. Although Dr. Paul's election chances appear dim, it is not difficult to imagine what the implications of his candidacy could be far beyond the influence of one man. In Dr. Paul's ideology, it is not so difficult to hear the founders' frustration across the centuries, reminding us of how our government was supposed to run this country, and maybe even the beginning of a real American Libertarian Party. But please pardon that last reference to one of those evil fringe groups who must be kept out of our sterilized political dialogue. The governmental rationalism advocated by Dr. Paul and Madison's students obviously has no place in the politics of today. Sam Clegg ([email protected]) is a freshman majoring in English.