Yes Eric, I agree that philosophically, Ron Paul may well be to this younger generation what Barry Goldwater was to the younger generation of the 1960's -- a generation that 15 years later ushered in Ronald Reagan. We can both keep our fingers crossed for that -- for their sakes.
But although I don't think that Ron Paul is "the perfect Republican candidate for 2012" because of his age, I do think that he's the best candidate we've got in -- being polite -- "a less than stellar field" of Republican candidates this go around. The only other candidates that I'd even momentarily consider voting for have a worse chance of beating Obama than Ron Paul does, so what's the point? What's left are either devoid of talent, ethics or substance and don't deserve my vote.
Just "hating Obama" wasn't enough in 2008 and it's not going to be enough in 2012, if there isn't a real Republican contender that we can believe in.
I wasn’t alive in ‘64 but I read all about Goldwater. There are some parallels between him and Ron Paul.
His campaign slogan was “In your heart, you know he’s right.”
His opponents said the same thing about him as they say about Ron Paul on FR....”In your guts, you know he’s nuts.”.