Ron Paul has done more than any politician or activist in history.
That might be a bit over-stated, but your point it taken in any event.
He has educated that governments and baureocrats are not the answer, but that reaching the hearts and minds of the people is. Which is 1,000% true.
Bastiat did the same, as did Spooner, and perhaps one or two more.
That aside, reaching hearts and minds is apparently not quite sufficient to break people of the serf's mindset and the now-normal state of corruption in the Meaner. We have all this edumacation freely available, and yet we remain effective slaves to the punk Tyrants who regard us with such deep contempt, that they steal elections in bald-faced manner, abandon tens of thousands of Americans to the viciously murderous Muslims of Afghanistan, involve us in wars of foreign aggression, make us pay for them, tax us to death with nothing in return but more tyranny, foist fake epidemics of bio-engineered viruses upon us, act like raving lunatic clowns, and so on, while we sit idly by and take it all in. The best I've seen from "us" has been the moaning and complaining about SOME of it, but doing not a thing that is materially effective in altering our reality for the better.
A respect Dr. Paul and agree with most of his positions, but let's be serious now and dispense with the gratuitous idol-worship, much as the good doctor might deserve it: the net effect of his 36 years in the House has not been positive in the broader perspective. He held to his principles, and for that I respect him greatly, but in terms of real results he accomplished little. Now, before you burst an artery, allow me to be very clear here: that is not a bad reflection on Dr. Paul, but just evidence to show that one boy scout has more than his work cut out for him when he finds himself in a den of vipers.
While I am thankful for Ron Paul, I hold no illusions as to the grand-scheme effectiveness. Had it been otherwise, and forgetting that he would then have almost certainly been framed or assassinated, the nation would almost certainly be in far better shape than that in which we currently find it. That's more a statement as to the unworthy nature of the Meaner, than of Dr. Paul's inadequacy. It just goes to show precisely that the Meaner is such a rotten creature, perhaps there is no level to which a man can work that would bring people to sense and decency.
Liberty comes from within.
That's where it starts, but when awareness is all that men are willing to come to, refusing to act in materially effective ways to gain widespread freedom, that is also where it ends. This is the situation in which we currently find ourselves. Everyone wants freedom (or so they say - I remain doubtful), but they want someone else to secure and maintain it for them. So long as that condition remains, Ron Paul could stand on his head and spit nickels and it would make no real difference.
Those who fail or refuse to understand this will continue to keep the system alive.
And here we remain.
Sad stuff. but there you have it.
Humans: not much to recommend us.