Major email bag on my Ron Paul piece –117 emails and counting. I have the full range of views, from this reader at one end:

Derb—I understand what you are saying but instead of making excuses why it will not happen I think you should be bold and make it happen. It is so easy to be a critic and a naysayer. It is much harder to believe in something and fight for it. If the system is wrong then this could be the first step in fixing it. And then maybe 20 years down the line we will look back and see this as the first step towards restoring liberty. I challenge you to believe in what seems impossible.

To this one at the other:

Mr Derbyshire—[Quoting me] ‘…but on the war in Iraq, I don’t see much of a problem for him base-wise.’ Did you HEAR the reaction Paul got at the last debate when he blamed us for Al Qaeda? Did you also hear the cheers Rudy got when he rebuked him for it? I could not disagree with you more. If my wife and I are anything like the rest of the base- and I have an email list about as long as my arm of people who think just like us- then Iraq and the war on terror is the leading reason for Dr. Paul’s unpopularity. Not the only reason, but the leading reason. Barry Manilow is sending Paul campaign contributions. Have you been smoking some of those substances Paul wants to legalize? I think it’s time for a cold shower.

Main theme: A strong desire to see someone (though not necessarily Dr. Ron) chase the money changers from the constitutional temple.

Subthemes:

–Gold standard GOOD,

–Conservatives can so be revolutionary, e.g. Founding Fathers (which is a good point: always salutary to recall that those stiff old gents with knee britches, powdered wigs, & heads full of Latin, were considered dangerous radicals by the European establishments of their time),

—Ron Paul has got the Jew Thing,

—I am an a***ole

Most interesting idea:

Derb—You said: ‘Imagine, for example, President Ron II trying to push his bill to abolish the IRS through Congress. Congress! — whose members eat, drink, breathe and live for the wrinkles they can add to the tax code on behalf of their favored interest groups!’ That’s a good point, but please consider this: if elected President, Ron Paul can bring the income tax grinding to a halt by very publicly giving full pardons to anyone convicted of violating the IRS code. He could even deliver television speeches encouraging Americans to stop filing returns. Faced with a public rebellion, and with the “teeth” pulled from the IRS by the pardons, Congress would have little choice but to bow to Paul’s will. See? I can dream too!