I see what you are saying, but take it a step further. People are used to the status quo. Would someone shaking things up, swinging through the institutions we have built, for ill or naught, make things better or worse.
Many of the supporters of Paul, and others of his school of thought talk of abolishing this and cutting that as soon as possible. Two things come to mind. First it won’t happen because many of they actions have to pass through congress. Two, if they could happen, it would spiral us out of control overnight, since there would be no fall back in place.
You want change, it will have to come slowly. Find you a candidate who is less radical but just as dedicated, one who understands the concept of transition and protecting what we have during that effort. Find one who also understands the 21st century geopolitical realites. RP is not that man.
First, the damage came to us suddenly and covertly in 1913 with the Federal Reserve Act December 23, 1913. It was wholly unconstitutional, and many of the things Ron Paul wants to change are reasonably interpreted as being such. He also has plans not to just rip out the Federal Reserve but to supplant it gradually be allowing precious metals like Gold to be traded without unconstitutional excise taxes. Once that would occur, stable commodities such as Gold would immediately encourage people to stop using the unbacked dollars, and then the transition could happen over time.
None of this has to bring the house down. With sound financial policies, our economy would actually have the characteristics that you wish we had now, and seem to see (however hollow the appearance is in actuality).
We could compete with China. We could and would race back to the top of the global economy with freedom to innovate, communicate, and keep the fruits of our labor. It's truly a wonderful notion to reopen our economic system and break the shackles of control that have been placed on us by the corporatist and global socialists.
We should never fear returning to the rule of law. We should fear anything that requires us to maintain our current lawlessness.
You need to listen more to Ron Paul. He has repeatedly said that he does not intend to throw people into the streets and that any transition will be slow. Unlike the other candidates, however, it is true that RP does have a final goal of a free society in mind. Their motivations don’t appear to extend beyond winning an election.