WASHINGTON, Oct. 16— Ron Paul is, above all, patient.
As the Presidential candidate of the Libertarian Party, Dr. Paul knows he will do well to get 2 percent of the vote on Nov. 8. Still, the 53-year-old physician and former Congressman continues to travel the country virtually without a break, trying to get into newspapers and on television, giving speeches and preaching his party's philosophy of ''get the Government off our backs'' to students at colleges and high schools.
''Get rid of the personal income tax,'' he declared at the University of Houston recently. Then he added: Bring American troops home, abolish the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency and dismantle every other agency except the Justice and Defense Departments.
Dr. Paul, reflecting on politics in a recent interview during his swing through Houston, said the school visits are just as important as the rest of the campaign. It did not seem to bother him that only 10 of about 300 students he addressed at a high school near Houston were old enough to vote and only 5 were registered. Building for the Future
''We're building the Libertarian Party and we're just as interested in the future generation as this election,'' said Dr. Paul, a slight, gray-haired obstetrician from Lake Jackson, Tex. ''These kids will vote eventually, and maybe, just maybe, they'll go home and talk to their parents.''
This sort of patience is a hallmark of the Libertarian Party, whose first Presidential candidate, John Hospers, won 3,671 votes in 1972. Roger MacBride got 173,000 votes in 1976 and Ed Clark got about 920,000 in 1980. But David Bergland won only about 227,000 votes in 1984.
''It's been an uphill struggle and we realize it's going to take a while, but there will be a Libertarian President someday,'' said Elizabeth Barthlow of Jersey Village, Texas, who has been a Libertarian since 1972, when President Carter started talking about reinstating the draft and she quit the Democratic Party.
Dr. Paul represented the 22d Congressional District of Texas, which includes the southern suburbs of Houston, for seven years. He left Congress in 1985 after an unsuccessful run for a Senate seat, and quit the Republican Party in February 1987.
At the University of Houston, speaking in front of the student union cafeteria at high noon, Dr. Paul explained why. 'They Are in Our Wallets'
''I listened to Ronald Reagan in the '70's. He told me that he would balance the budget, cut back and get the Government off my back. They are not off our backs, they are in our wallets and into our bedrooms and into our private lives more than ever before.''
By the time Dr. Paul finished, about 200 students were listening, but only about a dozen said they supported the Libertarians.
''I'm going to vote for him,'' said Bradley Frizzell. ''Dukakis says what he wants to do but never how he's going to pay for it. Bush is not a leader; he's always been a yes man for the Republican Party.''
But most of the students were like Timothy Vining, who said, ''I had a couple of minutes before my next class, so I thought I'd listen to a few words.''
Dr. Paul is serious about his Presidential bid, in which he is on the ballot in 46 states and the District of Columbia. ''I don't think I'm going to win,'' he said. ''But I run to win and not as an academic exercise.''
He tells his audiences that the Federal Government has only one role: to protect liberty. And, he explains, the only rule worth following is that one must not harm another person or his property.
If elected, he says, he would abolish public schools, welfare, Social Security and farm subsidies. All drug laws should be repealed, Dr. Paul maintains, a position that drew hisses at the university.
Dr. Paul believes that America should leave the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and not contribute to other nations' defense. He has no trouble saying which new nuclear weapons programs he would cut: all of them.
In his first year in office, Dr. Paul says, he would cut one third of the Pentagon budget, or $100 billion, and $100 billion in domestic programs. Put this money ''back into the economy,'' he argues, and everyone will be better off.
Although he scoffs at Vice President Bush's oratorical ''thousand points of light,'' the idea that more fortunate citizens should be reaching out to help those in need, Dr. Paul believes in ''individual responsibility.'' Jousting With Hecklers
If someone wants to fight in a ''foreign war,'' fine. But, Dr. Paul warns, do not expect a Libertarian Government to foot the bill, or pay for any part of the space program not essential to national defense.
Dr. Paul refuses to call himself an isolationist, but that is how many others see him. A man who relishes a fight with hecklers, he sometimes draws angry reactions.
At Jersey Village High School northwest of Houston, a student shouted accusingly: ''No armed forces in other countries? No foreign wars? This was basically the same idea that got 6 million European Jews killed during the Second World War.''
Though the students cheered, Dr. Paul replied, ''We were there and we still didn't prevent it.'' A $2 Million Campaign
Randall Paul, Dr. Paul's 25-year-old son and aide-de-camp, said the campaign has raised about $2 million and spent most of it, including $500,000 to get on ballots everywhere except North Carolina, West Virginia, Indiana and Missouri. The party is still fighting to be included in Missouri.
There may be last-minute advertising, but most of the money goes to travel for Dr. Paul, who will not take loans or Federal funds. His campaign is a world apart from the long motorcades, chartered airplanes and consultant-laden Republican and Democratic efforts. Even so, his son said, travel expenses come to $40,000 a month.
''It costs $40,000 a month for me to travel?'' Dr. Paul said with evident surprise during a quick lunch stop at a McDonald's north of Houston, where he cadged french fries off his son's tray.
Dr. Paul's national media appearances are few. After taping an interview for the CBS News program ''Nightwatch,'' he said it went well.
''But I have to tell you,'' he added, ''they really did seem more interested in Shirley MacLaine, who was there, too.''
photo of Ron Paul (AP)
