Topic: Political Literature
Ron Paul's Political Light Will Linger, While Darkness Falls
The Bright Light Of A Ron Paul Presidential Run Is Still Shining
by Scott from Oregon
(libertarian)
Sunday, February 10, 2008
As the flames of a Ron Paul run for president fade into hot embers, I too am left with a "what could have been" feeling as I do a little moping, a little deep reflecting in the wake of an uplifting but disappointing endeavor. My own political epiphanies aside, it is illuminating to go over the past six months' events to see what I've come away with.
There is one striking bi-product of Ron Paul's presidential bid that shines forth from all of my disappointment, and I'd like to share it with all of those who "got it" and wished for it and supported the very simple idea that the government has grown too big for its own (and our own) good.
I'll share it with the rest of y'all too.
Ron Paul was a bright light that shined in some very dark places. Ron Paul was like the town crier who rode through on his horse with his lantern, shouting the obvious to all of those with windows open to hear. Some people indeed stuck their heads out and applauded the efforts of the old man. Some closed their windows and pulled the curtains. One thing for sure though, is that the message still lingers in the darkness of the darkening night.
Let's take a look at some of what has been exposed due to a Ron Paul presidential run.
The Media- Ron Paul showed us that the media is in bed with someone besides the American people. The media is not who they pretend to be.
Lou Dobbs is not the raging populist he claims to be. He is in fact, a liar.
Anderson Cooper is not the man of the people he makes himself out to be. He is in fact, beholden to his superiors, taking marching orders from above, manipulating the facts in favor of those who are not us. Anderson Cooper is also a liar.
Sean Hannity gets his marching orders from his superiors. His is nothing more than a propaganda mouthpiece. Sean Hannity is not concerned with fairness and honest elections. Sean Hannity has an agenda he is trying to push, following the dictates of his employers, Fox News, who are not a news agency at all, but a propaganda machine masquerading as a news agency. Sean Hannity is also a liar.
MSNBC is a manipulative network also pushing their own agenda. The Ron Paul presidential run has shown us this. In fact, the Ron Paul run for president has shown EVERY MAJOR NEWS OUTLET to be blatantly dishonest. I say this without a conspiratorial bone in my body. I say this because I have witnessed it with my own eyes and ears. As an American citizen, I have grown exceedingly alarmed at this state of affairs. I too, wish for all to hear this cry from those of us who have been shouting it lately.
The Republican Party- Ron Paul showed me that the Republican party is not a party about the people. The party is about the party. Ron Paul showed me the deviant side of the party, how it strives to control the vote of the people, how it attempts to manipulate outcomes and control the will of the populace. Most striking to me, watching how Ron Paul was treated inside of his own party, was how childish and bullying the party is/was to its members if they don't fully toe the party line.
I watched with dismay as the Republican party candidates not only stood by while the media cut Ron Paul out of its coverage, THEY LEERED AND JEERED. As a regular American, this slapped me in the face hard. I will never support a candidate for the highest office of the land, who possesses this kind of moral fracture. John McCain AND THE PREACHER MAN Mike Huckabee, were both complicit in the snubbing of Ron Paul the candidate and did not stand up for the process that the American people would simply desire to be fair.
Ron Paul, just by adhering to his principled views, showed me that the Republican party is a corrupt and un-American organization with little moral decency to go along with its long vaunted claims of being the party who possessed all of America's moral "values". No way. The Republican party has shown itself, once again, not to possess the morality it constantly tries to make claim to. The hypocrisy sickens me. I will not ever vote for a Republican candidate, until these sad state of affairs are rectified and apologized for. Ever.
The Democratic Party- Watching the Democratic party in full debate and stump mode with Ron Paul on my shoulder, I had to keep asking myself "Who is going to pay for all of these things?" I kept having to ask myself "What makes you think you are better at solving my problems than I am?" I had to keep asking myself, "How much that comes out of your mouth DO YOU KNOW is BS?"
I love listening to Barack Obama speak. He has got the timing down. He has got the inflection down. He even has the catch phrases down so that his audience can chime in at the appropriate moments and feel like they are part of something "hopeful". Listening to Barack with Ron Paul whispering in my ear, though, made me wonder, "Where's The Beef?"
We are a debtor Nation getting buried by our own governments' wanton spending, and Barack is offering us more "programs". Since government doesn't create its own wealth, I wonder who is Barack going to get to pay for all of his schemes? Us? If we don't want to go along with him, will he have us arrested? Does Barack actually think federal government by coercion is good for Americans? Does he really feel he should take from its citizenry what he needs to create the society he thinks we want? Is he really that egomaniacal? I can't vote for someone who is that egomaniacal. I just can't.
Hillary wants to mandate that I pay into a collective health care scheme she is devising for us. "Mandate" means government officials getting into my business, demanding my servitude. Will she have me arrested if I decide I don't need the government to dictate to me my health concerns? If I think my health is strictly between me and my doctor, and I do not want the federal government keeping records on my gonads and my prostrate gland and my cholesterol level, will she have me arrested? If the woman can't keep her own husband in line sexually, how in the heck does she think she can keep Americans from not going along with her plan to further encapsulate our lives into governmental nightmare bureaucracies? Why would I give her the power to choose my toothpaste flavor, much less control over all of my health choices? Thank you, Ron Paul, for making me realize just how pernicious this type of seemingly good intentioned thinking actually is. I can't vote for a Hillary Clinton type candidate. She thinks I need her, when, in fact, I do not.
The Military- Ron Paul made me think about the vast amount of American money and machinery that resides overseas in places like Germany and Korea and Japan. He asked the fundamental question that nobody else would go near, and that was "Why are we spending so much money that we no longer have, protecting countries that can afford to protect themselves?" He asked the obviously ironic question "Why are we borrowing money from the Chinese to give to a dictator who overthrew an ELECTED government in Pakistan, while spending more borrowed money to prop up dictatorships in the ME, while we spend more borrowed money to try and create Democracy in Iraq?" He asked us why we are sending money all over the world in the form of aid when we are swiftly burying ourselves in debt at home.
I'm still waiting for someone to answer these questions.
The Economy. Ron Paul put a spotlight on something very plainly sinister and ominous. America has stopped producing and has been relying on creating money to drive ourselves along. While the rest of the world has gone along with this scenario, it may just decide to stop. When that happens, America will be as a whale on a beach, full of immenseness rendered helpless. Because our economy is bloated with regulators, consultants, lawyers, IRS agents, inspectors, over-seers, accountants... (in short, a nation full of non-productive people, people who produce nothing) our swim back to a healthy economy will be mired by lots of flopping around and going nowhere. Ron Paul's presidential run made me see this for myself, and for that, I am glad the old guy put out all of that energy.
I owe him thanks, and thanks again and again, for being the guy on the horse with the lantern...
©2008 Scott from Oregon, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.
Published: Sunday, February 10, 2008
Last modified: Sunday, February 10, 2008
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Reader Comments:
Posted By: Paul
Date: 2008-02-10 16:16:35
Well said. 6 months ago, I did not know the name Ron Paul, and now I am as amazed at the total lack of concern for the state of the nation as you are. It seems hopeless on the surface, but I'm sure that I am just one of the millions who heard his message. It sounds corney, but the truth is now out, and I think more and more people will become receptive to it. This has everything to do with the Congressman's run. Thank you, Mr. Paul
Posted By: Ric
Date: 2008-02-10 16:43:47
Ron Paul certainly won the election even if he doesn't get to move into the White House (although, I'm still not giving up hope that it will happen). My ballot will carry Ron Paul's name whether it's a legitamate vote or not.
Posted By: Robert
Date: 2008-02-10 16:56:52
What a well written, well thought-out article about a true patriot and my hero...everyday I find myself unable to say or do enough for Ron Paul.
What a brilliant man. What a decent man.
Posted By: WCH
Date: 2008-02-10 17:05:43
Hello Scott from Oregon.
You hit all the major points. Unfortunately, this candidacy has shown, as it was inevitably doomed to show, that about 10% of the population "gets it". And the rest just can't be bothered. Or, even worse, that 90% shows another side of human nature: The majority are, at best, kennel dogs who want someone to be their king, their be-all and end-all. And that is exactly what they will get. It has always been so. It is extremely rare that the 10% who "get it" ever have a chance to come to political power. It happened in 1776, and I am not sure when it happened before or after. Those who have self confidence, and who grasp that far away centralized bureaucracies can only serve one thing: vast centralized bureaucracies (nearly always controlled by a Power Elite who get real rich off the process, just like America today) can easily be shouted down by the 90% who are lap dogs who will rise to the simplistic but effective bidding of the power elite, who have the tools of mass psychology down pat. You illustrated that well in your blog.
History is replete with examples: 1. Whether you see the Bible as the inviolate word of God, or a compilation of fact and fancy from long ago cultures, read how the Israelites responded to an outside threat in the book of Samuel. They asked God to give them a king. He warned tham that a king would tax them, take their sons and daughters, and deprive them of civil liberties. They responded, "give us a king." God gave them a king (Saul), and they also got all the other things God warned them about. And they still wound up in captivity a few decades later. 2. "How eager you are to become salves" - Tiberius to the Roman Senate. 3. "How fortunate for the leaders that the people never think." - Adolf Hitler. 4. Read the warnings from James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Washington, Lincoln, Gore Vidal, and many others. The power elite had the outcome dialed in before it even started.
As a protest I intend to write Ron Paul in in November. The Power Elite won't care, because they know that I am far far too small potatoes to be considered a threat. If I were, you would be reading about me being charged with some totally unrelated crime, probably related to taxes, Medicare fraud, or any one of many other complex bureaucratic issues.
I enjoyed the glow while it lasted. Reality is another thing. Brazil is a pretty nice place if you do your homework. France is even nicer, if more expensive, and that's where most of the ideas our country's founders used, came from anyway.
Cheers,
Bill from California
Posted By: LibertyNH
Date: 2008-02-10 17:08:03
great piece! one thought though regarding the statement that the party (republican) is for the party, it seems like the uppers in the gop who have set the agenda (prop up a yes man and silence Ron Paul) don't even care if the party self-destructs as long as it keeps Ron Paul from getting the nomination (or much attention other than the jeers). The gop is already in trouble after 8 years of W (significant number have jumped ship), if McCain (a man they know full well can't beat any democrat he would be running against) gets the nomination it would alienate so many more people it would be a deathblow to the party, not to mention it would essentially be handing the white house over to the dems (one would think they'd want to hold onto that after the loss in 2006), all while doing everything they can to destroy the man that could bring people to the party unite the party and give them a real shot at a victory next november. seems to me that they care more about their war in iraq (or their pride) than they do about their own party or their own country...
Posted By: DX10
Date: 2008-02-10 17:54:53
Very good article. And, Bill from California some little remembered facts about the demand for a King in Israel. That they would make the demand was prophesied long before and they not only wanted a King in order to be like the nations around them, but they wanted a King to fight their wars for them. Sound familiar?
We have been enduring socialism for a long time now and it always produces the same result. First, the overall cost to society goes up. Second the quality of service goes down. And third, the centralization of power and money results in corruption.
Here is a little story for you to illustrate. One of my employees came to me in tears. His wife had been to doctors here in the States for five months and nothing they could do was stopping her continual weight loss. She was dying. I sent her and him along with a friend to the hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. They put her through a battery of tests including sending a camera through her system taking 29,000 pictures. After all tests they finally determined that the doctors in the US were killing her with the prescriptions they had her on. They changed her prescriptions and she immediately began to gain her weight back. Cost of the doctors and hospital in this free enterprise system including air fare was a particle of the cost for the same service here in the States. So, our system is pretty bad now but the license plates in the hospital parking lots in Minneapolis are still heavy Canadian. What do you think it will be like when Hillary gets through with us?
I want a plan from the Campaign. If we are going to be a coordinated effort to make a difference with a planned write in program or something to that effect, then let's hear it!
When 9/11 happened some of my employees ran up to tell me about it and the first thing I said was that our foreign interventionism had come home to roost. So, the neocons have been using the bugaboo of Islamofacism ever since to get the sheeple to back their stupid wars. Well, the Muslims have been trying to take over the world for nearly 1400 years and they won't do it by flying a few airplanes into buildings. The germ is the Koran and the only way they will succeed is to convert us to their idolatrous religion.
Sorry about carrying on like this, but I think you can see that this old man is pissed. My FRN's are going into hard assets to try to offset the upcoming dollar collapse and I suggest you do the same.
Bill from New Mexico.
Posted By: scott
Date: 2008-02-10 19:06:33
Ron Paul came by my house as well, and his lantern lit mine and I will keep it shining. My eyes have been opened to many of the same things you mentioned Scott, but I was immediately drawn to the Cngressman's campaign because I was waiting for someone to run for President on these same principles that Dr. Paul ran on. Looking at who the majority is voting for I don't know whether to laugh or cry. It seems Americans want the nanny state.
Posted By: Abul Kalam (AK)
Date: 2008-02-10 19:22:54
Scott from Oregon, wonderful article, I could not have said it better myself, my sentiments exactly.
I want to point out though that Ron Paul's stands on entitlement and immigration issues needs some adjustment, in my opinion, to get the poor and the disadvantaged and the Latino voting block on board and also from practical economic and humanitarian stand-point. Some sense of righting historical wrongs cannot be totally dismissed, as history is not something we can ignore.
DX10, thanks for understanding the Muslim problem, "Islamofascists want to take over the world and put all women under burka" - this is the standard zionist/neocon/corporatist line to marginalize 1/4th of humanity, whose world has been taken over and dissected for the past several centuries. As a Muslim American, I know this intimately and I am thankful that Ron Paul can see through this crap.
If 5-10% of the US population gets it and supports Ron Paul, why can't we form a Ron Paul party and be done with Republicans, Libertarians or anyone else for that matter. Ron Paul has interested sons to lead this group and I am sure that there are plenty of other inspired leaders among the supporters. I think it is best to start from scratch rather than dealing with the baggage and trying to worm your way into a party that don't believe in your message in the first place. I think it is harder to make people believe in something if they are not ready and it is better to not waste time trying to do it.
I hope Dr. Paul or some of his close aides are listening.
I support forming a new party, a clean break from the past, everything about Ron Paul and his supporters and no body else to tell us what we can or cannot do.
Posted By: FIelding J. Hurst
Date: 2008-02-10 19:34:55
Great article. I agree with all, except the part about Lou Dobbs.
FJH
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Posted By: Nathan Balon
Date: 2008-02-10 20:16:49
I agree that we owe Ron Paul thanks for standing up for the American public.
Posted By: Mark Bures
Date: 2008-02-10 21:02:45
For those of you asking yourself - what can I do now? Please check out the Free State Project (www.freestateproject.org).
Posted By: Let Freedom Ring
Date: 2008-02-10 22:06:52
"It seems hopeless on the surface, but I'm sure that I am just one of the millions who heard his message. It sounds corney, but the truth is now out, and I think more and more people will become receptive to it."
You are right, Paul. From here
till here
through here http://www.ronpauleurope.net/
there are millions that heard his message. This revoIution is becoming a world movement.
And you, ALL, are the front-runners.
There's only one way! ;-)
Adel
Posted By: Let Freedom Ring
Date: 2008-02-10 22:19:41
The second link is broken. Here it is:
Posted By: NH
Date: 2008-02-10 22:29:36
Ron Paul continues to pick up steam. He has won WA state with a majority of delegates. Meanwhile McCain and Huckabee are fighting over the straw poll votes which don't matter.See: http://www.ronpaulhive.com/hive/?p=201
Posted By: Encouraged in Georgia
Date: 2008-02-10 23:26:57
An excellent summation, Scott. I am one of those who had given up voting because of the evident similarity of the so-called
Posted By: Encouraged in Georgia
Date: 2008-02-10 23:32:22
An excellent summation, Scott. I am one of those who had given up voting because of the evident similarity of the so-called "choices" offered up for election. That is, until 3 months ago when my girlfriend said, "Have you heard about this guy Ron Paul?". And when I looked into it, lo and behold, "Holy crap! There's actually an honest statesman running for president?"
I tell you what, let's not mope. Let us talk about this to our friends and relatives, to people who may not have heard about Ron Paul and what he stands for. Let us be encouraged to know that millions of people still think for themselves. I sense something very important building here, and I delight in knowing that this is not going to fade, it is in fact going to spread. A sleeping giant is waking up.
Posted By: Larry
Date: 2008-02-10 23:55:54
Good article. I'd like to add one more thing that this election showed me. The so-called value voters are nothing but hypocrites. They claim to be pro-life yet they support the killing of our men and women plus innocents in a senseless, unjust and unconstitutional war.
I like Abul's suggestion of just starting a whole new party - the Ron Paul Party (RPP)
Posted By: Marco G
Date: 2008-02-11 00:01:40
Ignorance is bliss, that's what is happening in this country, people have been molded and conditioned like rats in a laboratory, to believe only what the media propaganda and the powerful elite want them to believe . But Ron Paul is helping to open people's eyes. America will eventually wake up.
Check out this link:
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/151.html
Posted By: blakmira
Date: 2008-02-11 00:02:34
Hey, thanks for burying Ron Paul before the body is even cold. Sounds like you couldn't even wait until he's actually announced he's dropping out.
You love listening to Barack Obama speak?
You need a serious wake-up call.
The elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about is the electronic voting machines. Yes, they were present in the primaries. The only counties Ron Paul places 1st or 2nd was in the paper ballot counts.
The New Hampshire vote recount is a total joke.
I intend to keep fighting in my own state to abolish and decertify the electronic voting machines.
You need to watch America: Freedom to Fascism. Then get back to me how "the old guy," as you refer to him, put out all that energy just so that you could bury him and not even bother to take heed to what he was really trying to tell us.
Posted By: Kirk
Date: 2008-02-11 12:38:58
WE should start a NEW party. One that is backed by Ron Paul and all those that back Ron Paul and his platform.
Possible name: The Constitutionalist Party
Posted By: warispeace
Date: 2008-02-12 00:56:28
Woo hoo!!!! It's not over by a long shot folks!
Ron Paul has called for a march on Washington DC!!!! Everybody get ready, we're going to do it...the Ron Paul R3VOLution is taking the country back! He also suggested there might be some dirt coming out on the other candidates between now and the Convention...
Watch the video campaign update just released!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryMliyeIDp4
It's now or never people, let's do it!
Posted By: George P. Mc Ardle
Date: 2008-02-12 10:30:33
I have never been more inspired by any candidate running for the higest office in the land then Ron Paul I found him to be the most honest man seeking that high office, The powers to be did not want any candidate who told the truth, it scared them half to death, they cut him off at the pass and would not allow him to speak.
The media and the republican party wanted no part of him.
It became very obvious during the debates, and my only hope was that the American people would see through the injustice in the way Dr. Ron Paul was treated.
I do not believe in my life time we will ever see another great statesman as Ron Paul.
God bless him for his dedication, and his love for his country.
Posted By: Randy Isaacs
Date: 2008-02-12 21:39:14
This article almost brought tears to my eyes. Tears of anger, frustration, sadness, and fear for this country. My eyes are open now, never to be closed again. I swear. My question is, what can we do now? What is next? Where can I join?
risaacs1999@alltel.net
Posted By: Freedom
Date: 2008-02-16 20:08:25
Thank you Ron Paul. You rekindled the flame I thought extinguished. This revolution will continue, this revolution will be written down in history as the revolution that not only awakened America but the world, and your name in the forefront of it all. Thanks again Good Doctor.