Oedipus Calling! Does Ron Really Want Rand to Be President?

You don’t have to be Sophocles to know father-son relationships can be complicated, especially when the son threatens to outstrip the father.  Take Rand and Ron Paul.  Rand has already gone beyond father Ron — at least titularly — by making it into the Senate, while Ron only made it into the House.

Now Rand is running for president, seeking to distance himself from his ultra-libertarian, isolationist padre, particularly in the area of foreign affairs, where — in the era of ISIS, Iranian nukes, Boko Haram, etc. — old Ron seems, to be kind, out of touch (or, to be more realistic, crazier’n a hoot owl).

So as Rand does his two-step of separation, what has Ron been up to?  Well, you may have seen the apocalyptic ads now in rotation on Fox News or heard them on the radio.  Stylistically, they resemble the cheesy affairs produced by law firms hustling mesothelioma victims.  Only Ron is telling us we’re all victims — or soon to be:

PAUL: “Hi, Ron Paul here. Today I have an urgent message for every American who’s retired or thinking about retiring soon. You see, our own government’s disastrous policies have now put you, me, and everyone over the age of 50 at great risk. Sometime in the near future, we’re going to have yet another financial crisis. This one won’t be solved with bailouts, and it will hit seniors the hardest. I fear there will be civil unrest, a drop in stock prices, pension fund collapses, big changes to Social Security and Medicare, the erosion of personal liberties, bank and brokerage closings, and ultimately a major crisis, as the U.S. dollar is rejected for almost any non-paper alternative.”

NARRATOR: “Don’t let this happen to your retirement. Dr. Ron Paul strongly believes when the next crisis hits, there will be no warning, and the government won’t save you. Go online to www.ronpaulwarning6.com, where you’ll learn simple steps you can take to protect your retirement. Go to www.ronpaulwarning6.com.”

The website link takes you to Stansberry Research, a dodgy outfit accused in many quarters of scamming the stock-buying public.  I don’t know the ins-and-outs of that, but if I were running for president, or the father of someone running for president, I’d stay far away from adverts for stock tipsters.

If you play the video at the link (warning: long and repetitive) you will hear Ron going even further than the quote above, warning us that an economic armageddon is coming worse than the Great Depression.  Is that true?  Who knows? Anything’s possible, I suppose, but the way it is handled here sounds deeply flakey, not to mention huckster-like.

Is Ron Paul motivated by envy of his son?  I wouldn’t bet against it. He seems like a man deeply in need of public attention.  If this continues, possibly even grows, it will become an even greater problem for Rand.  Something to watch as the election season heats up.  I wouldn’t want to be in Senator Paul’s shoes.