It didn’t seem all that successful according the contributors on the Wiki.

They have successfully devalued the dollar by 50%, improved current account deficit and competitiveness of American products, and it did not lead to the collapse of the American empire.

my question is…if not RP, then who?

Someone who’s willing to work on solving real problems in accordance with mainstream economics (like 50 million Americans without health insurance and Chinese currency manipulation), not just fictituous ones (like declining dollar and government spending money on Departments of Energy and Education). Barack Obama, for example. I’d vote for Paul Krugman if he was on the ballot.

getting rid of things (IRS, etc) that may cause headaches in the short run if it means we will be better off in the long run.

I’d agree about getting rid of something if we had examples of other countries managing without it.
Unfortunately, every single developed country in the world, from Finland to Australia, has its equivalent of the IRS and the Federal Reserve.