Topic: Ron Paul
War of the Roses Nobody ever said revolution was easy.by Billy Joe
(Libertarian)
Monday, January 14, 2008
Some say love, it is a river that drowns the tender reed
Some say love, it is a razor that leaves your soul to bleed
Some say love, it is a hunger, and endless aching need
I say love, it is a flower, and you it's only seed.
Observers of the Revolution may be forgiven for thinking that we, the movement behind Dr. Ron Paul, are motivated by anger: Anger at the coercive state, anger at the hostile establishment, anger at the indifferent majority. That anger certainly exists, but behind that anger is a fierce passion and burning desire for freedom: Freedom from endless wars of conquest and occupation. Freedom from an ever-growing government leviathan, Freedom from the tryanny of collective groupthink. We have been under the thumb of these forces for so long that fighting against them appears futile and quixotic. Yet we soldier on in the face of overwhelming odds and media ridicule. Why? Because although we acknowledge the dominance of statism, WE NO LONGER FEAR IT!
It's the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance
It's the dream afraid of waking that never takes the chance
It's the one who won't be taken that cannot seem to give
And the soul afraid of dying that never learns to live
Dr. Paul has shown us the emperor has no clothes. He has shown us that one man or woman, standing alone in his convictions can--along with Truth--overrule the majority. Right is not determined by consensus. It is not determined at all. It is ignored or it is recognized. We hold these Truths to be SELF EVIDENT: that all people are created equal. That we are endowed by our Creator with unalienable rights. Among these rights are life, liberty, and the persuit of happiness. If government secures these rights, we keep it. If government does not, WE CHANGE IT.
It is not hyperbole to say this movement is a r3volution. It is no accident that our signs and posters have the word "love" embedded in them, because love is our true motivation. We don't think it a quaint, outdated notion to love our enemies. We don't believe it is a naive cliche to love our neighbors.
As another man named Paul once wrote:
If I speak in the tonguesof men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Sometimes we feel discouraged that we still have so much to do. We have money to raise, votes to get, people to persuade. That's ok. It's not what we feel, but what we do that counts. The planting of a tiny seed is just as important as the harvest of a mighty crop. So as we toil on in this winter of our discontent, slogging through snowdrifts or hunched over keyboards, keep your eye on the Prize. Victory will not come to the most who want it, but to those of us who want it most. We can be confident that--though liberty will and must prevail--we are speeding it on its course.
When the night has been too lonely and the road has been too long
Bet you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong
Just remember in the winter, far beneath the bitter snow
Lies the seed that, with the son's love, in the spring becomes the rose.*
*from Bette Midler's The Rose
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