First let me say that it was a lovely day, warm but with a breeze. I had never seen the USC campus before, and it's nice in a socal way, with lots of open space. Two quads later I and two Silverlake rockers find Tommy Trojan. I took pictures, but have yet to find the cable for the camera. (what, me cellphone?)
Also, pretty girls in the sunshine is always nice, more on that later.
I called the core crowd at about 200, with maybe 1-200 more surrounding. Many signs, but there can never be enough, folks. For me one big surprise was G. Edward Griffin on the scene to give the 4 minute intro, coining his 11 word soundbite (IIRC) "there is only one hope for America, that is Ron Paul." I was pleased to see that many knew who Griffin was, which leads me to believe that Jekyll Island is penetrating some diverse demographies. More on THAT in a later post.
The crowd was loud in a good way. We chanted and cheered when he arrived, and then shut right up, because we're polite and knew he only had a short time. Very un-mob-like, which largely explains my presence there: to check up on your asses. Ron, of course, ad libbed the whole thing, covering his platform in a very stream of consciousness manner. Good thing he knows what he's talking about, and good thing we do too, because sometimes you take the scenic route to your point, Sir. I think I want to write speeches for you, but I don't really want you "making speeches" per se. That too will be a later post.
Considering USC, I wasn't surprised that civil liberties vis a vis state's rights was a big cheer. Troops home was too, and I ask: do we forget how old the grunts really are? No wonder college campuses are antiwar, right? But I was impressed with how well the crowd understood economics and law, or at least civics. He segued from general "keep the government out of your lives" to "and out of your bodies," and I was pleased to see the smart and presumably liberated girls get the message -- it's YOUR rights, not the states and not the feds. You own your body, it is your property, it is your right to use it as you please, and no-one may infringe that right, under penalty of law. Got it? Good. Yours. I ALSO happen to think a viable fetus has rights to ITS property, as does Dr. Paul, but we'll leave that aside.
Now, as Paul's positions are unwavering, his shorter speeches are highly, ahem, consistent. Let's switch to broader ideas.
Back to the girls. Females made about 30-40% of the crowd, many were college to grad school aged, but the 30-45 age group was representing too. And of course there were plenty of activist elders from Reagan's California. But it's you ladies who can make or break this election. We need to excise the institutional socialism, and frankly girls, they've got you by the proverbial balls. Shit, you're PLENTY liberated to learn Austrian economics and critical thinking. And you're as screwed as I am if we don't get the crazy alpha MALES out of power. I have no problem with a woman president, if her name is Ronita Paul -- that is, if she's a strict constitutionalist. NO problem, ladies. That females who are not college students made a healthy showing is a very good sign. Females who ARE college students, what the hell are they teaching you there, that you show up at a Ron Paul rally? Libertarianism? I presume you learned stuff like that out of the classroom.
The crowd dispersed quickly because we'll just meetup online. On the way out one girl was talking to what I imagined to be a parent about Paul being a classic republican in person. My gosh are there a lot of cellphones on campus. The guy at the gate asked us how it went. A cohort noted that the crowd was "very informed on the issues". Despite the sun, Paul pointed to some dark clouds on the horizon, and the crowd took it on the chin as truth, as something we will need to work very hard to accomplish. He said, "the dollar almost collapsed completely in 79-80, which is why I got into politics in the first place; the situation is much worse now [emphasis his]". Predicting bad things for your presidency is usually not a good way to get elected, but our situation is anything but "usual", by the standard of historical America. I do not think that Dr. Paul will lose too much from stressing the enormity of these issues. Just makes me want to work all the harder.
Paul mentioned that they had expected 50 to show, and I conservatively say 250 heard the whole speech. Ron Paul Radio was broadcasting on location, but unfortunately I had no chance to talk to them. Ron looks healthy and happy, "in the zone" if you will. We're the nicest people in the world and he is too and we recognize it in each other. He and we are the message of hope and individual freedom to create change, moreso than any since Kennedy's rhetoric. Of course my dream ticket is Jefferson/Henry, and Reagan was a wimp.
The "remnant" is in fact the backbone, I said the other day. I question whether all the liars and cheaters and slackers in the world could ever dislodge us from this continent. Whether the minarchist proof could ever be denied.
In the face of the onslaught that is the future of technology, anything but a free market of ideas is impossible. Statism is dying, and must die, for us to evolve. We were born truly free they say, we should live and die truly free.
9/12/2007
9/08/2007
Another Good One From DailyPaul
This guy gets points for nailing another core issue: that the primaries will be over in 4 months.
"In any campaign, the most valuable resource you have is time. People think it is money, but you can always find some money or a way of working around problems. We have all been extremely creative, and this whole campaign is a testament that there is more than one way to run for office. For instance, it was the grassroots that made the campaign become really popular rather than the other way around, and this shows that we can be adaptable. This is great.
However, the thing we have to remember is that time is very short. Three or four months is barely any time at all, and there are many people who need to be made aware of the message, convinced of their doubts, and we must continue to expand this movement, especially off the internet.
Herding the Angry Cats into a Pride of Lions: Communication Strategy
Abstrusezincate has a good post over at dailypaul.com. My favorite bit:
"Did you know that most of the really momentous historical revolutions usually began with a group well under a hundred people? They were focused, smart, and strategic. They looked where they could get the most attention, and though they often disagreed on many things, their leaders focused them enough to convince them to focus on the common cause (for us, getting Ron Paul elected) where they were able to succeed."
Perspective on Ron Paul in New Hampshire
Perspective on Ron Paul in New Hampshire
[disclaimer: I grew up in New England, and am a member of the Free State Project]
Forget Hannity and Huckabee. From the loaded questions to the audience microphone tricks, dismiss FOX's exquisitely obvious and ill-conceived manipulations. As the good Doctor said: these things are totally irrelevant.
Observe instead the underlying trends -- the causes, or cause.
Dr. Paul says "freedom is popular," and he is correct. It came up again the other day when I used it to explain the death of racism in America with "... and the other great unifying principle of America is that it is a Melting Pot." I am certain to write on that too, but the "other" I was speaking of is The Constitution Of The United States. The law of the land.
See, America is different. It is unlike any other country on Earth. By design, America has no other identity than a constitutional republic, a form of government that serves only by the formal consent of the sovereign people of the territory that adopt it. This government is OURS, and we are not THEIR subjects nor civilians, ever. This is not true in any other country on Earth.
Dr. Paul correctly identified this fact, stated it publicly, and is getting the massive approval he deserves. Our current government is not just a wee bit unconstitutional here'n there, it is 99% absurdly over-the-top unconstitutional, exceeding its mandate to dare I say an alarming degree. To the extent The People approve of this is the metric of how much we are missing the point of government itself, or at least THIS government. One argues that, in fact, as governments ostensively exist to solve disputes, the ultimate motive of any bureaucrat will be to perpetuate disputes, so that they may keep their job. However, and however noble the motive, The Constitution was written (by some very smart folks, I'll add) toward the end of preventing exactly that: the stifling uselessness that is an oppressive State. It clearly delimits the exact scope of what the Federal government is, and is not.
Is it any wonder how we now have a grossly oppressive government? "You will [emphasis HIS] lose your liberties," said Ashcroft. Do we wonder why The People respond to a man who points straight at the damned elephant in the living room and says "THAT elephant"?
If you do, you shouldn't. The Constitution is THE great unifying principle of this nation. Not "democracy", not "civil rights" -- The Constitution, or possibly the so-called Rights of Man that the former was written to protect. No need to split hairs, though. I'm pointing at the 900lb document in the room, and it says "We The People...".
Well, here we are, The People. If you're already a rEVOLutionary, you know that there's blood in the water, that it's different this time. I'm sure many don't know why it's different (which is why I post), but there is no doubt that the RPR™ is a political juggernaut that is going to steamroll over any opposition, as it has been doing consistently since he announced. This is not the schoolgirl starry-eyed idealism of FDR or JFK (or Obama) -- no, what most RP supporters feel is a deep burning conviction that they are being attacked and must defend themselves. That their rights are at stake. And many are beginning to see that when the rights go away, so do the bread, circuses, mortgages, gas prices, body parts, and honest political debates.
Paulites, your soundbite is: "The Constitution is the ultimate centrist position, the great unifier, the one thing we MUST all agree on".
They can't dismiss it and they can't ignore it, and if Dr. Paul's enormous popularity is any indication, they cannot suppress it either.
I think that in most folks in this nation there's some left over memory from high school civics that knows there's a reason why they're supposed to like The Constitution. Something about checks and balances, or rights maybe. I think they've been so lied to and so distracted that artificial senility has taken hold, and that many can't remember very much at all beyond last night's sports scores. But when they see this obscenely unchecked and unbalanced (in every sense of that word) government careening around like P. J. O'Rourke's teenage boy with whiskey and car keys, some flicker of intellect fires in those long dormant corners of the mind. And then you get this Democratic Congress -- doing everything in their power to evade doing what they were so clearly elected to do: end the war.
Is there any wonder that the sleeping giant is waking? The alarm clock is as loud as a jackhammer on a Saturday morning, how could we possibly miss it?
I also think that most of us see it when we look in the mirror, and that fewer are willing to suck in the paunch and pretend we "still got it". I've made my decision, in the abstract literal: I've made ALL my decisions, when it comes to politics, and I endorse Dr. Paul as the only guy who even comes close to being able to fix this clusterfuck. That he actually hits the nail on the head nigh perfectly is nigh irrelevant as well -- he's the ONLY choice.
And America is beginning to understand that, even if FOX does not, Alan Colmes excepted. Hence why Paul won the debate, the UNH students, and frankly the vast majority of residents of the Live Free Or Die state. That primary is his.
RP08!
[disclaimer: I grew up in New England, and am a member of the Free State Project]
Forget Hannity and Huckabee. From the loaded questions to the audience microphone tricks, dismiss FOX's exquisitely obvious and ill-conceived manipulations. As the good Doctor said: these things are totally irrelevant.
Observe instead the underlying trends -- the causes, or cause.
Dr. Paul says "freedom is popular," and he is correct. It came up again the other day when I used it to explain the death of racism in America with "... and the other great unifying principle of America is that it is a Melting Pot." I am certain to write on that too, but the "other" I was speaking of is The Constitution Of The United States. The law of the land.
See, America is different. It is unlike any other country on Earth. By design, America has no other identity than a constitutional republic, a form of government that serves only by the formal consent of the sovereign people of the territory that adopt it. This government is OURS, and we are not THEIR subjects nor civilians, ever. This is not true in any other country on Earth.
Dr. Paul correctly identified this fact, stated it publicly, and is getting the massive approval he deserves. Our current government is not just a wee bit unconstitutional here'n there, it is 99% absurdly over-the-top unconstitutional, exceeding its mandate to dare I say an alarming degree. To the extent The People approve of this is the metric of how much we are missing the point of government itself, or at least THIS government. One argues that, in fact, as governments ostensively exist to solve disputes, the ultimate motive of any bureaucrat will be to perpetuate disputes, so that they may keep their job. However, and however noble the motive, The Constitution was written (by some very smart folks, I'll add) toward the end of preventing exactly that: the stifling uselessness that is an oppressive State. It clearly delimits the exact scope of what the Federal government is, and is not.
Is it any wonder how we now have a grossly oppressive government? "You will [emphasis HIS] lose your liberties," said Ashcroft. Do we wonder why The People respond to a man who points straight at the damned elephant in the living room and says "THAT elephant"?
If you do, you shouldn't. The Constitution is THE great unifying principle of this nation. Not "democracy", not "civil rights" -- The Constitution, or possibly the so-called Rights of Man that the former was written to protect. No need to split hairs, though. I'm pointing at the 900lb document in the room, and it says "We The People...".
Well, here we are, The People. If you're already a rEVOLutionary, you know that there's blood in the water, that it's different this time. I'm sure many don't know why it's different (which is why I post), but there is no doubt that the RPR™ is a political juggernaut that is going to steamroll over any opposition, as it has been doing consistently since he announced. This is not the schoolgirl starry-eyed idealism of FDR or JFK (or Obama) -- no, what most RP supporters feel is a deep burning conviction that they are being attacked and must defend themselves. That their rights are at stake. And many are beginning to see that when the rights go away, so do the bread, circuses, mortgages, gas prices, body parts, and honest political debates.
Paulites, your soundbite is: "The Constitution is the ultimate centrist position, the great unifier, the one thing we MUST all agree on".
They can't dismiss it and they can't ignore it, and if Dr. Paul's enormous popularity is any indication, they cannot suppress it either.
I think that in most folks in this nation there's some left over memory from high school civics that knows there's a reason why they're supposed to like The Constitution. Something about checks and balances, or rights maybe. I think they've been so lied to and so distracted that artificial senility has taken hold, and that many can't remember very much at all beyond last night's sports scores. But when they see this obscenely unchecked and unbalanced (in every sense of that word) government careening around like P. J. O'Rourke's teenage boy with whiskey and car keys, some flicker of intellect fires in those long dormant corners of the mind. And then you get this Democratic Congress -- doing everything in their power to evade doing what they were so clearly elected to do: end the war.
Is there any wonder that the sleeping giant is waking? The alarm clock is as loud as a jackhammer on a Saturday morning, how could we possibly miss it?
I also think that most of us see it when we look in the mirror, and that fewer are willing to suck in the paunch and pretend we "still got it". I've made my decision, in the abstract literal: I've made ALL my decisions, when it comes to politics, and I endorse Dr. Paul as the only guy who even comes close to being able to fix this clusterfuck. That he actually hits the nail on the head nigh perfectly is nigh irrelevant as well -- he's the ONLY choice.
And America is beginning to understand that, even if FOX does not, Alan Colmes excepted. Hence why Paul won the debate, the UNH students, and frankly the vast majority of residents of the Live Free Or Die state. That primary is his.
RP08!
First Principles
Non Serviam is my political self. I serve nothing and noone, save natural law and the requirements of my existence in it.
My politic is Autarchism, rule of Self by Self.
This blog intends to analyze the political world, ever in the context of absolute personal liberty.
I'll change the style sheet and update the blog roll etc as I go.
My politic is Autarchism, rule of Self by Self.
This blog intends to analyze the political world, ever in the context of absolute personal liberty.
I'll change the style sheet and update the blog roll etc as I go.
9/07/2007
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