Problem is, he's persona non-grata in the Republican party. He's making them look bad by comparison and they want him out.
The problem is that Republican party power brokers decide who gets the nomination before the primary. Instead of a place for debate and decision making, the primary then is reduced to a cheerleading session, and people like me are completely excluded from the process.
So what do we do? We make our own party. If our party causes damage to the R's and they lose elections, maybe they'll decide to open up the primaries. Until then, there's not much else to be done. I don't like it either, but that's reality.
Either way, I'll be damned if I'll vote for police state candidates. I just don't have it in me.
No, that's not it.
You said exactly what should be done in the beginning. You pointed to Ron Paul. He ran as a Libertarian. Lost. He ran as a Republican. Won! Get it?
This third-party thing is akin to reinventing the wheel. Monetarily and logistically it is unfeasible.
What should be done is run more Ron Paul-types as REPUBLICANS, not third-party candidates. I like the guy a lot, although I deplore his foreign policy stance.
Look at the late '60s and early '70s. What did the socialists do to the Democrat party? Mmmmm, hmmmm... They got far more of what they wanted by going the RAT route than they ever could be running as socialists.
Don't reinvent the wheel. Use the avenues that are already in place.