In Pursuit of Liberty
columnist: USAF Vet Dan

Topic: Ron Paul
Our Republic on Life Support

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In today's America, truth and reality are akin to the sounds of a tree falling in an unoccupied forest.

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by USAF Vet Dan
(libertarian)
Wednesday, June 4, 2008

In order to validate the main point of this article, it is first necessary for you to know my perspective and from where it came.

Those who read my column know that I'm not a new "Constitutionist". I've been actively working to restore our Constitutional Republic for about 20 years now. In the early 1990s, I co-founded a national grass roots organization (the Council on Domestic Relations (CDR) ) which identified, exposed and countered pending unconstitutional legislation. We passed the 10^th Amendment / State Sovereignty Resolution in 26 states in our attempt to reign in an out-of-control federal government. In 1996, I ran for Congress in Illinois' 8^th CD against long-term incumbent Phil Crane when decided to support NAFTA, GATT, etc.

While the CDR did produce some measurable successes, I felt like we were bailing water from the Titanic with a sewing thimble. There just weren't enough of us or our money to counter the leviathan that was actively destroying our nation. Broke, tired, discouraged, and with a new family to support, I changed my course and focused my attention on building a business. Luckily, I had far more success with the latter endeavor. My "sabbatical" from the pursuit of liberty was to be temporary. I had concluded that things in America would have to get much worse before the "sheeple" would wake up, take notice, and stand united in their demand to place once more the chains of the Constitution upon their federal government.

Then, a decade later, along came Ron Paul's presidential race

A Reawakening?

In addition to the book, The Creature from Jekyll Island, Ron Paul's writings, speeches, and congressional special orders were among the first things I read that transformed me from a "happy idiot" to an informed citizen. So when I heard he was running for president, I was elated. And when I saw that so many people were listening and understanding his message, I thought it was time for my sabbatical to end. I started networking on the pro Ron Paul forums, joined the local Ron Paul Meetup Group, waived signs on street corners, handed out bales of slim jims, collected petition signatures, dug deep to contribute to the money bombs, etc., etc.

A few months ago, I was approached by the Libertarian Party to run for Congress in Illinois' 14^th CD (Denny Hastert's old seat). The Super Tuesday special election to temporarily replace Hastert resulted with the election of Bill Foster - a socialist Democrat. For the first time in decades, this very conservative district changed directions... in part because the Republican challenger (Jim Oberweis) was a pro-war neoconservative Bush-clone. Deciding to run was a no-brainer for me. After all, the sheeple were waking up, right? Running against a Marxist and an already-rejected neocon should provide a great chance for success. I was pumped!

OK, so we have to get 14 times more petition signatures than either of the RepubliCrats... more than 11% of all the 14^th CD voters who voted on Super Tuesday. A big job, but people are starving for a real choice so we should be able to accomplish this. Our "troops" will put their boots on the ground and, if necessary, we'll solicit donations of ten or fifteen thousand bucks to hire professional petitioners.

In the mean time, I'll bring the "message" to the voters via a series of speaking engagements, and newspaper and radio interviews. This should go a long way toward building our army and resources.

So, how has it all turned out thus far? Let's see... with a June 23^rd deadline looming, our petitioners have produced less than 10% of the signatures they pledged. So we saw the necessity to raise the money to hire the pros. The Libertarian Party didn't have any for us so we took our plea to local Libertarians and the national Ron Paul network. With our fundraising deadline past, we collected a whopping $925 of the $15,000 goal... even with my pledge to match donations up to $10,000.

How about the sheeple's reaction to our message? While I don't want to toot my own horn, I must say that I'm a fairly good speaker... accustomed to addressing large groups and somewhat skilled at balancing passion with credibility and shock with hope. The reaction to the speeches I gave to groups like the Kiwanis Club of Elgin was quite telling. Their blank faces and glazed-over eyes were symptomatic of the brainwashing they've received from the mainstream media. Their apathy was a reflection of their disconnection from the "hopeless political process". Their "who cares" facial expressions were the results of their selfish, "look out for myself and screw everyone else" mentality that is derived from our nation's overall degradation of morals, sense of responsibility, and character. In today's America, truth and reality are akin to the sounds of a tree falling in the unoccupied forest. With the exception of a few, nobody is listening.  And if nobody hears it, it is as if it doesn't exist.

It is with great reluctance that I have no choice but to end my bid to seize the golden opportunity that exists in the 14^th CD. The race would have drawn national attention for reasons already stated. I was prepared to hammer the hell out of my RepubliCrat opponents... exposing them for the collectivist enemies of the Constitution that they are as evidenced by their platforms. And despite the apathetic sheeple I met along the way, I thought that a lot could happen between now and November. I truly saw this as a winnable race. But you can't run if you don't get on the ballot.

So, where do we go from here? It is my intention to file my petitions anyway. When their numbers are challenged and subsequently rejected, I intend to sue the State of Illinois in an attempt to change the ballot access laws. It won't help this election cycle, but it will help in two years when I or somebody else wants to challenge the RepubliCrats. It may also help to expose the stranglehold that these incestuous organizations have on our electoral process.

If you have children, you are quite aware of the brainwashing to which they are subjected. Ron Paul is right: we must demolish the US Department of Education. Our kids are constantly bombarded with propaganda promoting socialism, collectivism, revisionist history, the global warming myth, etc., etc. As to the latter, they are not told of the thousands of meteorological scientists who have declared that the .0045% of our atmosphere that is carbon dioxide can not possibly create a measurable effect on the earth's temperature. They are not told that the sun itself (more precisely, its sunspot cycle) is directly and predominantly responsible for the earth's temperature fluctuations. They are simply brainwashed to a level not unlike that depicted in the movie, Idiocracy.

Then there's the polluted stream media picking up where our education system leaves off... ensuring that truth is replaced by perceived "reality" and moral integrity supplanted by immoral selfishness. With images of Orwell's 1984 haunting us, the very concept of freedom and liberty has been redefined via phyletic gradualism. The masses now truly see five fingers when only three are displayed.

While I'd be the last person to downplay the most positive results Ron Paul has had in waking up the masses, I must state that, in this war of hearts and minds, we have been overwhelmingly outmanned and outgunned. I just cannot get the images of the sheeple's faces I addressed out of my head. The vast majority have bought into the "Brondo's got what plants crave" myth.

Are they all too far gone? Have they so cavalierly abandoned the true concepts the freedom and liberty for which so many hundreds of thousands of brave American souls sacrificed their lives? Have their morals and character declined to such a level that they no longer have the capacity to demand the preservation of our Republic? I previously believed that when the purveyors of global socialism were ready for their final charge, their abandonment of the slow, patient, gradualistic strategy that served them so well in the past would wake up the masses. In view of the post-9/11 rapid erosion of our Constitutional Republic and the general apathy I've witnessed over the past few months, I'm not so sure anymore. True, the worst is most likely yet to come, but while the benign dog lying in the corner has already been kicked pretty hard, it has yet to bear its teeth. Perhaps it perceives the government's assumed authority and power as beyond challenge, beyond control, and beyond its ability to bite back when subjected to its abuse. Time will tell what the dog will do when its getting its guts stomped out.

In the end, Americans will get the government they deserve. Jefferson said it best, "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."

Contrary to my own recent experiences, I acknowledge the great victories achieved by my brethren. Their battle with the Nevada GOP is most inspiring. The fact that Ron Paul obtained 24% of the vote in Idaho, even after the GOP's unofficial coronation of the leftist war mongering McLame, is very uplifting. Therefore, it would be my folly to assume that all of America is as lost and hopeless as that of Illinois' 14^th CD. But just like our own local Ron Paul Meetup Group, many others are on their way or have already met their demise in spite of the efforts of some to keep them going. I guess it should be expected that the "fair weather patriots" would drop out at the first bump in the road.

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©2008 USAF Vet Dan, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.
Published: Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Last modified: Wednesday, June 4, 2008

The views expressed in this article are those of USAF Vet Dan only and do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. USAF Vet Dan is solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.

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