spacehabitats
03-10-2008, 12:39 PM
I seem to detect a schism developing within our movement based on differences over the urgency of our struggle to restore liberty to our nation. We all seem to agree on the core issues. We all agree that they are extremely important. The controversy seems to center around how quickly we can or must progress toward our mutual goal. We have not agreed on whether this is a sprint or a marathon. Just as the average voter sees the act of voting as the extent of his responsibility, some of us believe that working on the campaign is the only relevant political activity. To such an individual, educating the public about the Federal Reserve System or the North American Union is only seen as a means to an end (electing Ron Paul as president) rather than a worthwhile end in itself. In contrast, there are those of us who see voting (or even getting out the vote) as only the beginning of a long, difficult, but potentially far more rewarding process. We are struggling to become delegates, Republican committeemen, joining and forming political organizations because we see the campaign as only the beach head of a major invasion.
As a married man I see the distinction as being similar to the difference between falling in love and being in love. Who could ever forget the exhilaration of watching Ron Paul, a presidential candidate, actually speaking the truth in front of a national television audience? How about the intoxicating rush of watching your fifty dollar donation explode into 6.2 MILLION, right before your eyes!?! But after Iowa and New Hampshire the reality set in. The honeymoon was over and we found out that any worthwhile relationship was going to involve that four letter word, “work”. Actually the schism isn’t just between us; it is within each of us. And we all must decide if we are going to make this a one night stand or if we are in this “for better or for worse”.
Ron Paul obviously sees this from a long term perspective. As a man married to the same woman for over fifty years, he knows about commitment. After 30 years of struggling to reach even a small percentage of the population with his message, it is hardly surprising that he would be pleased with the events of this last year. Some have criticized the wisdom and timing of his "winding down" video. Again, however, his critics fail to appreciate the dilemma that he faces with the current movement. On the one hand, his presidential campaign has been a great vehicle for raising the consciousness of hundreds of thousands of American citizens, revitalizing libertarian organizations, and recruiting an army of new political activists. On the other hand, political campaigns tend to be one-hit wonders with a very short life span and an even shorter agenda, getting the candidate elected. Ron Paul did not want to miss this marvelous opportunity to form the nucleus of a long-term revolutionary organization. At long last he could see the light at the end of the tunnel, if only he could keep our energy and numbers from evaporating along with the collapse of his presidential hopes.
We have already lost many fair-weather patriots. They will return when the time is right. Unfortunately, we will never lose the infiltrators and agents provocateur that will continue to snipe at us from the sidelines. They will tell us: that we are fools, that we are wasting our time, that if a candidate says they will get us out of Iraq that we should settle for that, that if we work within the Republican party that we are “selling out”, that we should give up on America and move to an island, that we should settle for the lesser of two evils, that we should grab our camouflage suits and AK-47’s and head for the hills, that if we can’t convince everyone immediately that 9/11 was a conspiracy that it was all for naught, that if we haven’t won in November we will never win…..
Even if they can’t peel us away from the movement, they will do their best to confuse and divide us. They will create factions, hurt feelings, and spout obscenities. They will start inflammatory and tantalizingly almost relevant posts to distract us and bury all of the useful and encouraging information. They will find intelligent, thoughtful, and carefully written articles and desecrate them with hateful, noisy, and rambling comments. And as more of the weak and misinformed fall away there will be a greater and greater percentage of THEM.
I am not (and certainly Ron Paul is not) being a defeatist. We are realists. I agree with his strategy to transition his campaign into a sustained political movement and sympathize with the difficulty of his decision about how and when to suggest this to his supporters. He did not want to appear to be sabotaging his own campaign, but he did not want to wait until after too many had lost touch with his organization, discouraged by working on a "hopeless" campaign. He is not speaking in code. He really does want us to continue to fight for every vote and every delegate we can muster. He does want us to take this to the Republican National Convention, fighting for every shred of media coverage and every platform concession that we can muster along the way. And he also wants us to begin the long process of becoming the power elite that control the political parties, the media, and, ultimately, the government.
For the sakes of our children and grandchildren, for the sake of our beloved republic, we can never give up.
For this cause we must again be willing to commit “our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor”. Has there ever been any other price for liberty?
As a married man I see the distinction as being similar to the difference between falling in love and being in love. Who could ever forget the exhilaration of watching Ron Paul, a presidential candidate, actually speaking the truth in front of a national television audience? How about the intoxicating rush of watching your fifty dollar donation explode into 6.2 MILLION, right before your eyes!?! But after Iowa and New Hampshire the reality set in. The honeymoon was over and we found out that any worthwhile relationship was going to involve that four letter word, “work”. Actually the schism isn’t just between us; it is within each of us. And we all must decide if we are going to make this a one night stand or if we are in this “for better or for worse”.
Ron Paul obviously sees this from a long term perspective. As a man married to the same woman for over fifty years, he knows about commitment. After 30 years of struggling to reach even a small percentage of the population with his message, it is hardly surprising that he would be pleased with the events of this last year. Some have criticized the wisdom and timing of his "winding down" video. Again, however, his critics fail to appreciate the dilemma that he faces with the current movement. On the one hand, his presidential campaign has been a great vehicle for raising the consciousness of hundreds of thousands of American citizens, revitalizing libertarian organizations, and recruiting an army of new political activists. On the other hand, political campaigns tend to be one-hit wonders with a very short life span and an even shorter agenda, getting the candidate elected. Ron Paul did not want to miss this marvelous opportunity to form the nucleus of a long-term revolutionary organization. At long last he could see the light at the end of the tunnel, if only he could keep our energy and numbers from evaporating along with the collapse of his presidential hopes.
We have already lost many fair-weather patriots. They will return when the time is right. Unfortunately, we will never lose the infiltrators and agents provocateur that will continue to snipe at us from the sidelines. They will tell us: that we are fools, that we are wasting our time, that if a candidate says they will get us out of Iraq that we should settle for that, that if we work within the Republican party that we are “selling out”, that we should give up on America and move to an island, that we should settle for the lesser of two evils, that we should grab our camouflage suits and AK-47’s and head for the hills, that if we can’t convince everyone immediately that 9/11 was a conspiracy that it was all for naught, that if we haven’t won in November we will never win…..
Even if they can’t peel us away from the movement, they will do their best to confuse and divide us. They will create factions, hurt feelings, and spout obscenities. They will start inflammatory and tantalizingly almost relevant posts to distract us and bury all of the useful and encouraging information. They will find intelligent, thoughtful, and carefully written articles and desecrate them with hateful, noisy, and rambling comments. And as more of the weak and misinformed fall away there will be a greater and greater percentage of THEM.
I am not (and certainly Ron Paul is not) being a defeatist. We are realists. I agree with his strategy to transition his campaign into a sustained political movement and sympathize with the difficulty of his decision about how and when to suggest this to his supporters. He did not want to appear to be sabotaging his own campaign, but he did not want to wait until after too many had lost touch with his organization, discouraged by working on a "hopeless" campaign. He is not speaking in code. He really does want us to continue to fight for every vote and every delegate we can muster. He does want us to take this to the Republican National Convention, fighting for every shred of media coverage and every platform concession that we can muster along the way. And he also wants us to begin the long process of becoming the power elite that control the political parties, the media, and, ultimately, the government.
For the sakes of our children and grandchildren, for the sake of our beloved republic, we can never give up.
For this cause we must again be willing to commit “our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor”. Has there ever been any other price for liberty?