Remember, Remember the Fifth of November...

Ron Paul just set the Republican record for single day fund raising. Playing on themes from V for Vendetta and Guy Fawke's Day, his supporters rallied around anti-Iraq war/anti-Bush sentiment to raise 4.2 million dollars. Paul's popularity, and his supporters' enthusiasm, is establishing a significant schism within the Republican party.

Many Republicans are not willing to accept another four years of war based on George Bush's lies and ego. They, like many on our side of the aisle, demand that candidates clearly and in detail, declare a divorce from current American foreign policy and require a declaration that, if elected, the troops will come home.

Further, Paul's popularity illustrates growing divisions in the once solid Republican Party. Seven long years of Bush/Cheney have left them worn out and bitter. The old messages of "the liberals are bringing down America," while still popular, just don't motivate the Party like they used to. After all was said and done, the established candidates did nothing for them.

Personally, I think it couldn't have happened to a nicer party. I, for one, am thrilled to see the Republicans trying to keep a coalition together with their bare hands, only to watch as the pieces fight each other. I'm thrilled that Ron Paul is getting the media attention that used to be reserved for the year's biggest sellout; John McCain. I'm thrilled that fiscal conservatives may finally be waking up and abandoning a party that has been lying to them for nearly thirty years.

Do I realistically think the Democrats will actually pick up many of these voters? No, not many, but the real benefit is that the Republicans won't be able to hold the political system hostage anymore. Their absolute monopoly on values voters is starting to slip as they come too late to issues like the war and the environment. Their use of abortion as a political weapon is going to be limited, now. It's just not what most people are worried about.

Ron Paul's popularity has shown that Republicans are weakest on the issue Americans care the most about: the war. It let's us know that the Republican grip on the democratic conversation is slipping and maybe the American People want to replace their Fox News/Megachurch-dominated conversation with an honest one.