nobody's_hero
12-16-2011, 05:55 PM
I made a bad decision to post this in grassroots and it quickly got buried, lol. I should have known today was going to be a busy day for that subforum. Anyway, the format here is a bit sloppy because I copy-pasted it from Word. I'm sure for most papers it is too long, so I'll have to do some editing later. I wrote this in a fit of inspiration after watching Ron Paul in the debates last night. And since I could only afford to donate $100 to him today, I wanted to make up the difference elsewhere.
One paper (really more like a 'monthly magazine') has published my writing before, but I just focused mostly on issues like sound money and the drug war. This would be the first time I push Ron Paul.
---------------------------------------------------------Letter start------------------------------------------------------
The G.O.P. is about to receive help it didn’t ask for
—What remains to be seen, is whether or not it deserves that help.
Let me begin by saying that this is actually meant to be a polite ‘wake-up call’ to the G.O.P. I have my moments where I become, let’s say, a ‘tough lover’. I will warn you in advance that this open letter to Republicans is less about the fate of the G.O.P. as a political party (of which—if I am to be 100% honest—I could care less), but rather, the fate of a free nation as a whole.
I watched with a mix of horror and disbelief as another G.O.P. debate on Fox News aired on December 15, 2011. I watched as many of the G.O.P. candidates and the media pushed the issue of WAR! WAR! WAR! up to the forefront as though it were some trivial game, trying desperately to dredge up a past strategy that failed them in 2008.
. . . Okay, let me just put it bluntly—the fear-mongering doesn’t have that ‘wow!-factor’ to it anymore. I feel obligated to inform the G.O.P. (and the Democratic Party) of this fact: Americans are steadily becoming unimpressed by scare tactics. In all actuality, we are at best bored, and at worst, thoroughly annoyed with the status quo.
The point I want to make very clear is this: We are sick and tired of being reminded to be afraid. It’s all we ever see on T.V., in the papers, on the radio, etc. It may have worked very well for ten years, but it’s time for the folks in Washington, D.C. to learn a new trick. —There, I said it.
Another relevant point to make is that before 2008, I could not have cared less about any of the Republican primary debates. I could not have cared less about any Democratic primary debates, for that matter. You see, my “political” philosophy is quite simple: “I’ll try to leave you alone. Please try to leave me alone.” Even the Libertarian Party, which adopts, essentially, the philosophy I just mentioned, could not motivate me drop down into the mud and play the political game.
I hated politics. Deep down, I still do. I despise the idea of having to beg, grovel, and plead to not be bothered by a handful of idiots in power. I find the practice very . . . un-American —but if I must play this silly game, I begrudgingly accept the challenge.
The G.O.P. has but one man to thank (or vilify) for my awakening. He brings out the young people on the college campuses in droves [The G.O.P. pundits recoil in horror, “Who invited these young people to the party?! Go away!!!”]. He brings out the young-at-heart, as well—I refer to the parents who are starting to give in to the passionate arguments of their sons and daughters, who [God bless them] absolutely will NOT SHUT UP about rights and freedoms, while sitting at the family dinner table. He brings out the democrats betrayed by Barack Obama’s failure to offer “hope and change.” He brings out the independents whose often-wavering political support is determined mostly by what they see as their best chance of self-preservation—after all, they’re hopelessly running between two nearly-identical political parties, while living in a “representative-democratic” society which prides itself on ‘voting to bring about reform’ (yeah sure, whatever). And finally, he brings out people like myself—the ones who hate politics and do not care about politics. Well—*did* not care.—until now.
He is Dr. Ron Paul from the Texas-14th. Whether you like it or not, he’s a candidate for the 2012 G.O.P. nomination. —Oh, but this is the kicker: Ron Paul is the G.O.P.’s best chance to grow the Republican Party.
Judging from a quick glance at the current national polls (mid-December 2011), about ten percent of those classified as “likely republican voters” are actually awake. I suppose most of you will sleep up until the point that Ron Paul saves your party (or for those with our priorities in order, saves the country). Some of you will undoubtedly and unnecessarily fight against the opportunity to wake up for as long as you live, which . . . sucks, because you’re really missing out on America.
I have, with a sort of twisted fascination, actively watched the playing field for only a few years now, ever since my entry into this political world (a world which I loathe). I even learned a bit of Republican history, mostly by accident while looking up Ron Paul’s positions. I’d venture to say that I know more things about the G.O.P. than it has forgotten about itself. I know that many of the issues you call ‘radical’ today were taken for granted as ‘normal’ just a generation ago. I know that only a dozen years ago, the Republican president George W. Bush ran a campaign on having a ‘humble foreign policy’, and ‘leading by example’ rather than spreading ‘democracy’ by force or engaging in nation-building (Youtube, “The Bush you forgot”). I know that if the rising Neo-Conservative leaders in the G.O.P. had gotten what they wanted—meaning, had the 1980 nominee for the G.O.P. been decided solely by lock-step Republican voters who tend to choose ‘winning candidates’ over ‘principled candidates’—Ronald Reagan (a man for whom the G.O.P. has great respect these days, and whose name is invoked repeatedly during debates in an attempt to garner support) would NOT have been president.
The G.O.P. is, yet again, on the verge of getting help it did not ask for. The young, the young-at-heart, the disenchanted democrats, the libertarians, the constitutionalists, the paleoconservatives, and the ones who hate politics—We are no longer simply watching.
We will vote in the Republican primaries.
Join us by voting for Dr. Ron Paul, and together we will create the most seemingly-unlikely band of misfits to which the cause of freedom has ever been entrusted—and there is no story more American than that.
-------------------------------------------------------letter stop ---------------------------------------------------------
One paper (really more like a 'monthly magazine') has published my writing before, but I just focused mostly on issues like sound money and the drug war. This would be the first time I push Ron Paul.
---------------------------------------------------------Letter start------------------------------------------------------
The G.O.P. is about to receive help it didn’t ask for
—What remains to be seen, is whether or not it deserves that help.
Let me begin by saying that this is actually meant to be a polite ‘wake-up call’ to the G.O.P. I have my moments where I become, let’s say, a ‘tough lover’. I will warn you in advance that this open letter to Republicans is less about the fate of the G.O.P. as a political party (of which—if I am to be 100% honest—I could care less), but rather, the fate of a free nation as a whole.
I watched with a mix of horror and disbelief as another G.O.P. debate on Fox News aired on December 15, 2011. I watched as many of the G.O.P. candidates and the media pushed the issue of WAR! WAR! WAR! up to the forefront as though it were some trivial game, trying desperately to dredge up a past strategy that failed them in 2008.
. . . Okay, let me just put it bluntly—the fear-mongering doesn’t have that ‘wow!-factor’ to it anymore. I feel obligated to inform the G.O.P. (and the Democratic Party) of this fact: Americans are steadily becoming unimpressed by scare tactics. In all actuality, we are at best bored, and at worst, thoroughly annoyed with the status quo.
The point I want to make very clear is this: We are sick and tired of being reminded to be afraid. It’s all we ever see on T.V., in the papers, on the radio, etc. It may have worked very well for ten years, but it’s time for the folks in Washington, D.C. to learn a new trick. —There, I said it.
Another relevant point to make is that before 2008, I could not have cared less about any of the Republican primary debates. I could not have cared less about any Democratic primary debates, for that matter. You see, my “political” philosophy is quite simple: “I’ll try to leave you alone. Please try to leave me alone.” Even the Libertarian Party, which adopts, essentially, the philosophy I just mentioned, could not motivate me drop down into the mud and play the political game.
I hated politics. Deep down, I still do. I despise the idea of having to beg, grovel, and plead to not be bothered by a handful of idiots in power. I find the practice very . . . un-American —but if I must play this silly game, I begrudgingly accept the challenge.
The G.O.P. has but one man to thank (or vilify) for my awakening. He brings out the young people on the college campuses in droves [The G.O.P. pundits recoil in horror, “Who invited these young people to the party?! Go away!!!”]. He brings out the young-at-heart, as well—I refer to the parents who are starting to give in to the passionate arguments of their sons and daughters, who [God bless them] absolutely will NOT SHUT UP about rights and freedoms, while sitting at the family dinner table. He brings out the democrats betrayed by Barack Obama’s failure to offer “hope and change.” He brings out the independents whose often-wavering political support is determined mostly by what they see as their best chance of self-preservation—after all, they’re hopelessly running between two nearly-identical political parties, while living in a “representative-democratic” society which prides itself on ‘voting to bring about reform’ (yeah sure, whatever). And finally, he brings out people like myself—the ones who hate politics and do not care about politics. Well—*did* not care.—until now.
He is Dr. Ron Paul from the Texas-14th. Whether you like it or not, he’s a candidate for the 2012 G.O.P. nomination. —Oh, but this is the kicker: Ron Paul is the G.O.P.’s best chance to grow the Republican Party.
Judging from a quick glance at the current national polls (mid-December 2011), about ten percent of those classified as “likely republican voters” are actually awake. I suppose most of you will sleep up until the point that Ron Paul saves your party (or for those with our priorities in order, saves the country). Some of you will undoubtedly and unnecessarily fight against the opportunity to wake up for as long as you live, which . . . sucks, because you’re really missing out on America.
I have, with a sort of twisted fascination, actively watched the playing field for only a few years now, ever since my entry into this political world (a world which I loathe). I even learned a bit of Republican history, mostly by accident while looking up Ron Paul’s positions. I’d venture to say that I know more things about the G.O.P. than it has forgotten about itself. I know that many of the issues you call ‘radical’ today were taken for granted as ‘normal’ just a generation ago. I know that only a dozen years ago, the Republican president George W. Bush ran a campaign on having a ‘humble foreign policy’, and ‘leading by example’ rather than spreading ‘democracy’ by force or engaging in nation-building (Youtube, “The Bush you forgot”). I know that if the rising Neo-Conservative leaders in the G.O.P. had gotten what they wanted—meaning, had the 1980 nominee for the G.O.P. been decided solely by lock-step Republican voters who tend to choose ‘winning candidates’ over ‘principled candidates’—Ronald Reagan (a man for whom the G.O.P. has great respect these days, and whose name is invoked repeatedly during debates in an attempt to garner support) would NOT have been president.
The G.O.P. is, yet again, on the verge of getting help it did not ask for. The young, the young-at-heart, the disenchanted democrats, the libertarians, the constitutionalists, the paleoconservatives, and the ones who hate politics—We are no longer simply watching.
We will vote in the Republican primaries.
Join us by voting for Dr. Ron Paul, and together we will create the most seemingly-unlikely band of misfits to which the cause of freedom has ever been entrusted—and there is no story more American than that.
-------------------------------------------------------letter stop ---------------------------------------------------------