30,015 Mitt Romney
30,007 Rick Santorum
26,219 Ron Paul
While it is disappointing that nearly 80 percent of Iowa Republicans support the status quo, it is not at all surprising and the strength of Ron Paul’s showing indicates there is a growing understanding among the electorate that the present political structure, dominated as it is by the two factions of the Bank Party, is going to fail. This is why Ron Paul must run as a third-party candidate in the general election, to give Americans the genuine choice between the national interest and the Bank Party they will be otherwise denied. Rand Paul’s assessment is completely wrong, as the Tea Party will remain toothless so long as it remains in the Republican Party and is subject to being used by the Red Party faction. The continued increase in federal spending and federal debt despite more than 100 new Republican House members, the majority of whom voted to increase the debt limit, suffices to prove that.
Unlike most Americans, Iowans were given a genuine choice. They decided to support the status quo. So, shed no tears for them when they suffer the consequences of their decision. Have no sympathy whatsoever for anyone who supports the likes of Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, or Barack Obama, then complains about losing their job, not keeping up with the interest payments on their debts, having their house foreclosed, losing their pension, or being victimized by an immigrant. All of those things are the predictable result of the continuation of the status quo, which they materially support.
That may sound bitter, but it’s truly not. I pronounced the casting of the die several years ago I certainly didn’t expect Ron Paul to win enough caucus support to reach double digits. But barring some extraordinary events in the next three months causing a great awakening among primary-voting Republicans, it is too little, too late, for the nation.