Ron Paul announces campaign for liberty! The revolution continues...

hammer4nc

Moderator
Comment: I got this email from the Ron Paul campaign this morning. A refuge for conservatives, unsatisfied with the choices presented today?

It appears McCain has chosen to ignore rather than include his so-called base, with party planks or speaking spots at his coronation in September. Wouldn't it be something if Dr. Paul's alternative rally in Minneapolis garnered more interest than the pro-forma convention itself? Just a thought.

Perhaps those who've embraced Ron's message these past months, would consider accepting this invitation to become a member of his Campaign for Liberty.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/

Dear Supporter,

These past 17 months have been among the most exciting and eventful of my life. Together you and I delivered a message of freedom the likes of which American politics had not seen in decades. I wasn’t sure the country was ready for it. But it was a message, I discovered, that many Americans had been waiting for a long time to hear.

I have been blessed with the most informed, well read, and enthusiastic supporters of any presidential campaign. Your extraordinary efforts in organizing and fundraising grabbed the attention of millions of Americans and shocked just about everyone in politics and the media. I still cannot get over all the fantastic work you did.

Something of great significance has just occurred in our country’s history.

With the primary season now over, the presidential campaign is at an end. But the larger campaign for freedom is just getting started. Therefore, I am happy to announce the official launch of the Ron Paul Campaign for Liberty.

The work of the Campaign for Liberty will take many forms. We will educate our fellow Americans in freedom, sound money, non-interventionism, and free markets. We’ll have our own commentaries and videos on the news of the day. I’ll work with friends I respect to design materials for homeschoolers.

Politically, we’ll expand the great work of our precinct leader program. We’ll make our presence felt at every level of government, where just a few people with our level of enthusiasm can make a world of difference. We’ll keep an eye on Congress and lobby against legislation that threatens us. We’ll identify and support political candidates who champion our great ideas against the empty suits the party establishments offer the public.

We will be a permanent presence on the American political landscape. That I promise you. We’re not about to let all this good work die. To the contrary, with your help we’re going to make it grow – by leaps and bounds.

This is the most ambitious venture of my political career, and I think it can achieve great things. But I can’t do this alone. I need you to help me. I need your energy, your creativity, your ideas, and your dedication.

People frustrated with our political system often wonder what they can do. I have founded this organization to answer that question, to give people the opportunity to do something that really makes a difference in the fight for freedom. Please join me by becoming a member of the Campaign for Liberty. Our goal is 100,000 members by September. Can we reach it?

Our campaign netted 1.1 million votes in the primaries of a shrinking Republican Party. Millions more support us. I need you to help me reach them – and to keep making new converts to the cause. What a force we can be, if only we rise to the occasion.

Now what about the Republican Convention in St. Paul? Our delegates will attend, of course, and I expect our contingent to have a visible presence there. Without disruption, we will do whatever we can to influence the party and its platform, and return the GOP to its limited-government roots. This is very important.

This brings me to my second announcement. I invite you to join us at Williams Arena at the University of Minnesota on Tuesday, September 2nd, for a grand rally. We intend to draw over 11,000 people. We’ll have live music and entertainment, and special guests. I’ll address you all as well. A massive rally will generate still more interest in our ideas. And what a great time it will be.

Remember that it was Senator Robert Taft, who shared our views, who was called Mr. Republican. But we are not merely the Republican Party’s past. If the enthusiasm of young people for our campaign is any indication, we are also its future.

Right now I will need your patience and input as we develop our program and assemble just the right team of individuals. But it is my intention to launch the Campaign for Liberty in its full capacity at our rally in Minneapolis this September.

Over the past week we’ve learned that the Democratic presidential nominee, supposedly an antiwar candidate, is committed to the same rhetoric, the same propaganda, and the same aggressive intentions toward Iran as the Bush administration. As usual, the major parties refuse to offer Americans a real choice.

The Campaign for Liberty will lay the groundwork for a different America, the kind of America you and I, and millions of our fellow countrymen, want to inhabit.

“Dr. Paul cured my apathy,” a popular campaign sign read. Others said our campaign cured their cynicism. We have now reached a moment of great moral decision: will we let ourselves retreat into apathy and cynicism once again, or will we dig in for the long haul and fight all the harder? Will we retire from the scene quietly, or will we give the establishment the fight of its life?

“In the final analysis,” I wrote in my new book The Revolution: A Manifesto, “the last line of defense in support of freedom and the Constitution consists of the people themselves. If the people want to be free, if they want to lift themselves out from underneath a state apparatus that threatens their liberties, squanders their resources on needless wars, destroys the value of their dollar, and spews forth endless propaganda about how indispensable it is and how lost we would all be without it, there is no force that can stop them.”

The time has come to act on these words. May future generations look back on our work and say that these were men and women who, in a moment of great crisis, stood up to the politicians, the opinion-molders, and the establishment, and saved their country.

Join us, and be a part of it.

For liberty,

Ron Paul
 
It's time for Ron Paul to admit a least to himself defeat. He never had a chance to begin with. People have to face the fact for good or bad we have a two party system, always have always will.
 
Little harsh Stage 2. If he wanted to really draw media attention he would break with the Reps and vow to run as a Libertarian. Dr. Paul is not doing that. His laudable goal is to work to bring the party back to where it should be, not abandon it.

Of course there is a predominating notion in the RNC that unless you blindly support a war with no clear or obtainable objectives and agree that no form of benchmarks should be forced upon our "allies" you are somehow a nut.
 
In other words, "I just can't admit defeat and will do anything for continued media attention.
Yeah, that's it -- all RP cares about is media attention. :rolleyes:

No one ever really expected him to win. It would have been nice if he'd surprised everyone, including himself, but that wasn't in the cards. So America is once again faced with the choice of a warmonger or a Marxist, both of whom have stated openly in recent speeches to the AIPAC that they will spare practically nothing for the sake of Israel's "security" (read: regional dominance). I guess our national debt still isn't high enough.

Ron Paul has been the best friend freedom-lovers have had in Congress for many years, and his voting record proves it. If America isn't to continue on the path toward a militarized police state, then conservatives need to return to their roots: small federal government, protection of personal liberties, reduced spending (including on horrendously expensive and pointless wars of aggression), strict constitutionalism, etc.

I think this campaign could present a good starting point for a movement to restore the Constitution. Let's hope it goes somewhere, as it may be the last chance we have to do so by working within the system. But sadly, I'm not optimistic about its chances. Most Americans are completely oblivious to the very real dangers that "our" government poses to our freedoms, and they are going to have to learn the hard way once again.
 
Stage2, sad really. You can't support him, so you have to attack his character. How liberal minded of you.

Yes. I do question his character, and his judgment. Folks with common sense know when its time to quit. America has made it clear to the good doctor, several times, that he has no place in the senate or the executive office. The honorable thing to do would be to go back to being a congressman and fade into obscurity. Instead, the doctor is going to keep feeding off the donations of naive college kids and "independents". I guess free money is hard to turn down.
 
Isn't a vote for a lesser evil still a vote for evil?

Obama is pure anti, McCain isn't a winner on the subject either. It's kind of like saying should I vote for Stalin or Marx because the third guy that supports democracy hasn't a chance. Why is America headed downhill? Because we are so far removed from the founders ideas. To hell with democracy as long as the cable works and the mini-van starts. Freedom and personal responsibility are to hard for most Americans. I'm the opposite of Michel Obama lately, I've never been so not proud of being an American as to see how a straight talking old school Republican with old fashioned respect for this country, gets treated by his own party.Enjoy the socialist utopia folks, it's just around the corner. Make plenty of trips shooting your Ar-15's too as there will be a change to that freedom under Obama.The next Columbine will have Americans cave just like they have given up freedom under the Bush Administration for a little percieved safety. Enjoy going to a gun show and selling another free man a hunting rifle without having to get permission from the government while you can as McCain is against that etc.. Pardon my rant but I'm sick of the closed minds and personal attacks on Ron Paul and soon enough Bob Barr. Obama won't be in office because Ron or Bob took votes from McCain, it will be because McCain wasn't good enough to get those votes from people willing to vote for the lesser of two evils.
 
Then I would suggest visiting an optometrist.
That kinda myopia can't be cured with corrective lenses. :D

I believe in a government that upholds and defends the Constitution. I believe in personal freedom and responsibility, fiscal conservatism, and limited federal government.
You know... "conservatism".
And I think that as long as we're limited to 2 viable parties, at least one of 'em should adhere to conservatism.
The way I figure it, McCain can either lose with my vote or lose without it. He's gonna have to lose without it, 'cuz I ain't endorsing his views or his platform.
It will continue to be this way until the Republican field a candidate who understands their oath of office and in the meantime I'll help promote candidates who do.
 
I guess free money is hard to turn down.

Not that hard. He seems to have no trouble turning down taxpayer money in the form of extremely lavish Congressional retirement benefits. I wonder if John McCain and his zillionheiress wife will do the same?
 
Anyone who questions McCain-Feingold, McCain-Kennedy, McCain-Leiberman, and the idea of continuing to attempt nation building in Iraq for 100 years must be a loon! ;)
 
Signed on.
Folks, don't mind Stage2. He's been behaving this way all year.

He's right tho, at least in this case. RP is all washed up but can't get it through his head the vast majority of American people don't want him. If they did he'd have won the nomination. He didn't even come close.
 
RP is all washed up but can't get it through his head the vast majority of American people don't want him.
Nowhere near 'washed up' and acutely aware that the vast majority doesn't want him. The 'vast majority' doesn't want us to have "assault weapons" either.
Doesn't matter. This isn't just about him and there's an enthusiastic minority who wants what he espouses. This is how we work to bring it about.
 
Ron Paul has conceded the primary presidential race; stated so on many occasions. The emphasis now is on promoting core concepts like limited government, sound fiscal policy, and non-interventionist foreign policy. And supporting other local candidates across the country who stand for these principles.

Those who continue to attack Ron the person, seem to be doing so purely out of spite.

What's puzzling is that most folks won't come out and openly argue in favor of out-of-control federal spending, ever-growing government; yet, seem hell-bent on promoting candidates who espouse these damaging ideals.

Real disconnect here.:confused:
 
The Run has had one effect. It has demonstrated the existence of real dissatisfaction with status quo. Paul to his credit has moved the image of libertarianism (note the small L) from lumberjacks with an attitude to Joe and Martha Sixpack with an attitude. He needs our thanks and appreciation for a job well-done.

That said, The Run had no chance for one simple reason. Americans don't vote third party without significant reason. The reason for the latest attempt has not yet grown to proportions which warrant wholesale destruction of an entire party. The Run is a successful demonstration project. The next stage is to retail the movement spreading its appeal and influence. Here is where I think Ron Paul will shine. He will attract young, agile, and idealistic people and put them into a framework which will begin the grunt work of forming a new "party" (if that is what develops). A national retail organization will be able to attract and support local like-minded candidates effectively forming a farm team. It won't take too many election cycles to produce a slate of viable national candidates.

If Ron Paul does what I think he can do and if the republicans do what I think they are inclined to do, we'll see the two groups cross paths and the stature of Paul's people increase the republican deteriorate into a really pathetic imitation northeastern liberals and knee-jerk globalists.
Stage 2 said:
In other words, "I just can't admit defeat and will do anything for continued media attention.
Don't agree. Paul has concluded the demonstration of the political viability of a consistent ideology of liberty. He is now moving into the retailing of ideology.
 
I agree, to hades with McCain and all his big government, pro status quo supporters. I'm going with Bob Barr for lack of a viable alternative.
 
The reality is that Ron Paul can not win. It completely amazes me that Ron Paul supporters have not learned the lessons of the 2000 election. At that time, the loony left said that there was no difference between Gore and Bush, so they would vote for Nader instead. Guess what? That cost Gore the election. After a few years of Bush, those loony lefties finally realized there was a huge difference between Gore and Bush. Gore still wasn't as far left as they wanted, but he was a darn sight better than Bush. In the meantime, Bush got to nominate Alito and Roberts to the US Supreme Court.

Now the loonies on the right are making the same mistake. They don't like McCain because he is not libertarian enough for them. The problem is, if McCain loses Obama wins. McCain isn't perfect, but he's far, far closer to libertarian views than Obama.

Furthermore, the presidency often has a "gift that keeps on giving" -- US Supreme Court nominations. There will be at least two nominations to the US SC in the next presidential term. While I don't think I would necessarily like McCain's nominations, I know that I would dislike Obama's a lot more.

Ron Paul supporters: your guy lost. Get over it. Stop cutting off your nose to spite your face.
 
There will be at least two nominations to the US SC in the next presidential term.

I hear that every election, and have for years. Since Bill Clinton was first elected, we should have seen 8 new SC Justices appointed. How many have there been? 4, I believe.

While I don't think I would necessarily like McCain's nominations, I know that I would dislike Obama's a lot more.

I doubt he would appoint anyone who disagrees with him on McCain-Feingold, McCain-Kennedy, or McCain-Lieberman, so how much difference could there be between a McCain appointee and an Obama appointee?

Your argument is the one which ALMOST got me to vote for GW Bush, but I expected that he'd appoint an unqualified crony, so I didn't vote for him. I was right. He appointed that Meier woman. But then something strange and unexpected happened: the nominee was shoved aside by political force.

In retrospect, we wound up with Robers and Alito, about the best we could expect these days. If I had known Bush would appoint such men, I would have voted for him. I expected worse, got it, and then it went away.

With McCain, my expectations are far lower than they were with W, and I really can't see voting for him. Maybe we'll be unexpectedly rescued from his choice, as we were with W's, but it's not something I'm counting on seeing again.
 
It completely amazes me that Ron Paul supporters have not learned the lessons of the 2000 election.
Oh, we understand the lessons perfectly well. We just don't rate the choice between Obama and McCain as highly as you.
I'm personally so ambivalent about the two I don't really care which one wins. But I do care about the future direction of this party and I know that voting for McCain won't get it back on track.
 
It completely amazes me that Ron Paul supporters have not learned the lessons of the 2000 election. At that time, the loony left said that there was no difference between Gore and Bush, so they would vote for Nader instead.

Your argument will become relevant just as soon as Ron Paul announces that he is no longer a Republican and is the nominee of some third party.

You wait for that to happen, and I'll wait for Ron Paul to win the Republican nomination, and we'll both be doing the same thing: waiting for something which isn't going to happen.

So why bring up an irrelevant argument?
 
I don't think Ron Paul ever thought he would win the nomination, I don't think most of his supporters expected it either, I sure didn't. What I do think both RP and those who support his ideas expected was some honest dialogue about where we are going and why we're in this handbasket. What it's about now is making sure that there are some changes in the GOP machine to bring back the focus on small government and individual rights. It may be nothing but Quixotic tilting at windmills but it is still worth doing.
 
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