Faced with several third party options, Ron Paul did not endorse the candidate of the Libertarian Party -- which was surprising, since Paul was once the Libertarian Party candidate for president himself.  He also did not endorse the candidate of the Green Party, many members of which have admired, among other things, Paul's anti-war and marijuana reform views.

But those who have been tempted by the politics of Ron Paul for whatever reason (especially the growing popularity of the notions of nullification and secession) or know someone who is, should consider that rather than going Libertarian or Green, Ron Paul endorsed Florida megachurch pastor Rev. Chuck Baldwin, the presidential candidate of the openly theocratic Constitution Party for president in the general election of 2008.  And while it is true that Paul's fans cut across quite a range of American politics, it is reasonable to think that the fullness of Paul's views, while not a neat fit with any of the parties, probably has more in common with the Constitution Party than any of the others.

If this is so, it is worth hearing Chip Berlet's warning here at Talk to Action at the time:

Let's be clear, the U.S. Constitution Party would impose a form of theocratic neofascism in the United States. And I am not a person who tosses the term fascism around lightly.

There is much that could be said about both Ron Paul and Chuck Baldwin, who remains a member of the Constitution Party's executive committee.  Ron Paul of course, remains active in public life, and his home school curriculum will no doubt receive a great deal of attention when it becomes available in September. Chuck Baldwin has since moved to Kalispell, Montana, from which he has recently been holding forth about "revolution."

In last week's column I said, "Throughout the United States, there are tens of millions of fully-armed citizens who are more than capable of defending themselves and their communities against any enemy-whether that enemy is an internal or external one. In fact, many millions of these citizens have been trained in the US armed forces. Firearms-especially semi-automatic rifles-in the hands of millions of American citizens is truly the only thing that stands between freedom and tyranny for the people of the United States. That Barack Obama and Dianne Feinstein want to disarm the American people should be considered an act of war against our liberties! In other words, ladies and gentlemen, this is a line in the sand that none of us can afford to ignore."