Will Ron Paul betray his young faithful with a Mitt Romney kiss?

A little advice to the young people who believe in Ron Paul: Ask Ron and his campaign managers whether they have had secret conversations with Mitt Romney and his campaign managers, and whether there is any price Mitt Romney could pay, which Ron Paul would accept, for Paul to endorse Romney. Read the story in The Washington Post today that implies such nonpublic talks might be under way.

I hope that the young people who support Ron Paul, with my admiration, do not end up feeling betrayed if Paul turns out to be just another politician who makes his own deals for his own reasons, as some young people who supported Obama in 2008 ended up feeling.

Today's Post story tracks a piece I wrote here recently asking why Ron Paul is so genteel and friendly to Mitt Romney, while he attacks more conservative candidates whose views are closer to his.

It cannot be denied that Ron Paul helps Mitt Romney by virtually never criticizing him, by criticizing his conservative opponents, and by further dividing the conservative vote.

Mitt Romney is the candidate of the most reactionary of the 1 percent of bankers and Wall Street financiers. On the matter of the Federal Reserve Board, Mitt Romney stands for everything that Ron Paul says he opposes and raises a fortune of campaign money from these sources.

On the great economic issue of the Ron Paul campaign, monetary policy and the Federal Reserve Board, Mitt Romney is the antithesis of everything that Ron Paul says he stands for. So why has Paul refused to strongly criticize Romney about this and usually targeted more conservative candidates instead?

On the great foreign policy issue of the Ron Paul campaign, Mitt Romney is a champion of far more aggressive military entanglements, which again is the antithesis of what Ron Paul says he stands for. So why does Paul refuse to aggressively criticize Romney about this?

I do not know whether there are secret deals or secret talks between Ron Paul and his staff and Mitt Romney and his staff. But I do know that if I were a young person who believes in Ron Paul I would be asking the candidate and his staff this question, publicly and strongly.

Lest anyone think I am fronting for Democrats, I championed the young people who supported Obama in 2007 and 2008. Anyone who denies that some of those young people feel they were merely used is not telling you the truth.

The truth is that the gamut of opinion from young people toward Obama today ranges from continued support with great enthusiasm from some and less enthusiasm from others, to apathy and indifference by some to feelings of betrayal by others.

I hope Ron Paul ultimately passes the test of trust from his faithful and devoted young supporters. I think it is great when young people join the political process and refresh our republic with their enthusiasm and idealism and ability to see through the phoniness that pollutes our politics today. I believe this whether young people support Ron Paul, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or any other candidate.

I hope that Ron Paul and his staff fully understand the test of trust required of any politician who raises the hopes of young people. They should not be used for insiders to get a seat at the table of power, or bartered to advance the career of a son in the Senate at the price of trying to elect somebody who stands for the opposite of what those young people believe in and fight for.

This is true whether the candidate is Barack Obama or Ron Paul. We will only know who passes this test of trust after the test of time, and the time to ask the hard questions is now, while the battle still rages.