Now that he is officially
retired from Congress, Ron Paul has left behind a contest legacy.
Through his Republican presidential runs in 2008 and 2012, he
conjured a large and dedicated army of libertarian activists and
politicos where one hadn’t existed before. Two thriving
organizations, Campaign for Liberty and Young Americans for
Liberty, arose from those campaigns and survive his congressional
career.

But can lasting change within our sclerotic political system
arise from a movement as insurrectionist and outside the mainstream
as Paul’s? And will he have any heirs to keep the movement alive? A
vote total of 2.1 million is an impressive number, to be sure,
writes Senior Editor Brian Doherty, especially for such a harsh
critic of empire, drug wars, and fiat money. But it still
represents a decidedly losing portion of what was, nationally in
2012, a losing party. Will Paul’s radical ideas stick around now
that he’s gone from Capitol Hill?

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