I first heard of Ron Paul during the 2008 election.At the time, he seemed a Ralph Nader-esque candidate, one who ran with no possible chance of actually winning but had the potential to gum up the works for my favored candidate nonetheless.

With a distant second place finish in the New Hampshire primary vote and a third place finish at the Iowa Caucuses, Paul really doesn’t have much to brag about. But you wouldn’t know that if you asked any of his vehement defenders.

The most disturbing thing about the people who revere Paul so highly is how many of them are in my age bracket—18 –25. It’s almost trendy now to think of yourself as one of the brave patriots with enough moral conviction to support Paul.

There’s only one problem. He’s a deranged lunatic who has more legitimacy as a cult leader than a candidate.

He pollutes the minds of Americans with his absurd rhetoric that is not only insane but dangerous. His supporters like to hang their hats on the fact that he foresaw the current economic climate more than two decades ago.That’s all well and good, but it’s not as if he was the only one to do so. Several economists predicted the crisis,yet they aren’t compelled to run for president.

A self-described Constitutionalist and Libertarian,he’s stuck to his guns for years, and that alone is commendable. But stop right there with the high-fives and pats on the back because Paul is a few cards short of a full deck.

He believes that looser gun control leads to less crime. He voted “no” to a bill that would require owners of public Wi-Fi Internet who know of illegal visual media being transmitted on their network— namely child pornography—to report their knowledge to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Thankfully, it still passed.

He’s stated that if elected, he’d cut the federal budget by $1 trillion.That kind of action would throw the country into a depression almost immediately. No, not a recession, but a full-blown 1929-style depression. But it’ll be OK, because there won’t be a Department of Commerce around to meddle with people’s lives.

Paul is a medical doctor with another Ph.D in biology, yet he doesn’t believe in evolution. Oh, and he’d also repeal the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because, as everyone should know, racism is no big deal.

The lack of research on the part of people my age is perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the whole situation.

But the kids like him because he wants to legalize marijuana. Makes sense, right?