A Closer Look at Dr. No

Who is Ron Paul? The answer can be complicated. He is an inspiration for the nascent Tea Party while remaining a critic of many of its leaders and ideals. He has, at times, been a darling of the Right's fiscal conservatives and a villian of its neo-con wing alike. He is an isolationist at heart who has been critical of the military interventions of both Democratic and Republican presidents. He has called for the abolition of the Federal Reserve. He has used his libertarian views to justify suggesting that marijuana decriminilization could be the best way to handle America's War on Drugs.

Some of these core beliefs, consistent to the extreme, have informed his decisions beyond all notions of political expediency to ensure that his are often the very lonely votes of dissent in the House of Representatives he has been a member of since the 1970s. This has gained him the name 'Dr. No' a moniker he has, no doubt, found a bit endearing in its way. However, he is no heel from a James Bond novel. Indeed, it is due to his fabled consistency, lone-wolf tendencies and difficult to pigeonhole set of views that more and more Americans outside his Texas district are viewing him as a political hero and visionary rather than as the curmudgeonly obstructionist that his actions might suggest.

Unless he is able to succeed in a potential future bid to gain the presidency after past failure, he may have just been presented with his best chance to represent this growing segment of the population he counts among his admirers in an official capacity after fellow representatives named him chairman of the House subcommittee on domestic monetary policy. This will put him in a position to oversee the Federal Reserve as well as the currency and the valuation of the dollar after establishing himself as perhaps the foremost critic of both the Fed and US monetary policies. For the curious The New York Times has additional details (found here on CNBC's website.)