Ron Paul was one of very few Republican Reps to support Ronald Reagan over Gerald Ford in 1976.
I don’t know why you need to mention Reagan here, though.
Ron Paul is a social conservative, believing in traditional conservative values.
He is against big goverment though, and prefers not to use big government methods.
One on one against a Dem, he would get an enthusiastic turnout from limited government conservatives (roughly the tea party). He has the best record on this, by far, of any of his probable opponents on the R side, and is vastly superior to Obama on this.
He would also get a very strong turnout from social conservatives. He would say “I am 100% against Roe v Wade” and that would take care of that against a Democrat who always would appoint judges who would uphold Roe v Wade.
And he would sign the Sanctity of Life Act. Those would be big victories for Pro-Life. Bigger victories than Reagan or either Bush got.
He would not do well with some “military conservatives”, especially the most vocal ones here. But maybe the “military” “conservatives” might want to take a breather from the endless wars. (As an aside, were “military” “conservatives” in favor of the various military actions under Clinton? I’m not sure that “military” “conservatives” will be all that fired up to go out and vote for the Republican candidate no matter who it is, because Obama is bringing plenty of the wars that they like so much. Maybe if there was a war shortage, a Republican might be needed to come in there and bring an exciting new war, and new enemies for us to hate, but with Obama, there is no war shortage, so “military” “conservatives” won’t be starving for a war, and won’t be fired up anyway.
I don’t see military conservatives voting for Obama, even though he’s bringing the war, because most military conservatives (except the neocons, who are Trotskyites) are also at least somewhat interested in keeping the growth of government somewhat in check, at least some of the time.
Reagan actually DID things. Paul poses for holy pictures as though he would do the precise opposite of what he does and intends to do. He has a faux "constitutional" excuse for his every reflexive refusal to DO ANYTHING.
NO military conservative would ever vote for the paleotreasonboy if he were the only candidate available on the ballot. Comrade Obambam is to paleoPaulie's right because he is able to be bludgeoned into line to continue a war like Afghanistan. It has taken a while but the left is beginning to learn as El Run Pauilie never does that you can't play as a pacifist on the big stage in American politics.
The "neocons" are a group of FORMER Trotskyites, mostly in NYC and now octogenarians and nonogenarians if still alive, who turned sharply rightward when the Demonrat Party was seized by Stalinists under McGovern in 1972. That the paleobirdbrain set joins the Nation and the New Republic in conveniently misusing the term to apply to those of the New Right in the 1970s. It has been noticed that the term "neocon" is often misused by paleos when they would really like to explicitly bash Jewish people. Neocon becomes a convenient and safer term to attack and the paleos know (wink, wink) who they are talking about. Conveniently military conservatives favor Israel over her and our enemies. Oh, the humanity!!!!
PaleoPaulie would appoint judges who would sell the lighthouses to get away from socialism (besides, a lighthouse might spot enemy shipping). You can take to paleoPaulie's favorite bank the fact that he would appoint judges who would rfind every excuse in the playbook not to interfere with babykilling. And NO, it does not matter what the lying scum SAYS about the issue when he adamantly refuses to DO anything.
We need to mention Reagan to remind the paleoimbeciles of what actual conservatives look like. To the Paulistinians, "big government methods" means doing anything other than useless yak-yak.
No one need fear the paleotreasonguy going one on one for POTUS against any Demonrat. The GOP would have to be laid up by LSD in the water system for that to happen. Go back and check the performance of useless Paulie in POTUS primaries.
The Tea Party is a lot more complex than you give it credit for and has broader vision than mere cheapskatism. The conservative movement is a mansion of many rooms (to borrow an old phraseology).
I will answer your question about Kosovo. I don't think that Serbia or Kosovo is worth a single American life. They need to be ignored. If they cause us trouble, they need to be annihilated but they have not reached that point. I am also reflexively opposed to modern Demonrats running wars. Comrade O inherited Afghanistan from a far better man. He has already cut and run from Iraq making him a paleo on that war.
What are the provisions of this "Sanctity of Life Act?" It does not matter what Paulie SAYS. It matters what he would actually do: NOTHING. If the bill would save lives in any meaningful way, Mr. 10th Amendment will claim it is beyond federal jurisdiction. He thinks that the big problem with Roe vs. Wade is that it offends his tender sensibilities as to the constitution almighty (as he interprets it) and not that there are 50 million slaughtered babies. Like the Middle East, Paulie the Libertoonian figures that it is none of our bidness or at the very most: Tsk! Tsk!