Joseph
06-15-2012, 08:45 AM
I have been following Ron Paul since early 2007 and have always loved his principled stance. We all know Ron Paul has been right for 30 years, we all know the positions he takes are right. Ron Paul's strategy has always been to move the GOP in our direction. Campaign for Liberty was suppose to be about getting more liberty candidates into office so that people like Ron Paul would no longer be the sole 'no' vote. We have done very good in that department, but we still have a long way to go.
It saddens me to see this movement which has come so far lose so much in such a short amount of time. The reaction to Rand Paul recently proved that many people in this movement don't care about moving the GOP in our direction. They only care about voting for a personality in the form of Ron Paul. By refusing to further the movement through anyone other than Ron Paul we doomed the movement from the start. We seem to be proving the accusations about cultist followers right. We seem to be just as superficial about Ron Paul as the neocons are about Mitt Romney.
If people really cared about furthering the Liberty movement than the hood ornament on the car (i.e. the president) should not matter as much as the driver (congress). Getting our people into positions at the state, local and especially federal level in the legislative branch is even more important than who the President is. If we really wanted to advance our movement, rather than insult the single best senator in the country, we should be doubling our efforts to take over the remaining spots in the senate so they can help Rand Paul keep Romney accountable if Romney becomes President.
As far as writing in Ron Paul, I'm not going to do that. I love Ron Paul and I got my chance to vote for him in the primary. It's sad that he isn't going to be the next president. After working toward that goal for six years, I know how hard it is to say. I can't blame any of you who do choose to write in Ron Paul, it would make a statment and it would be a refusal to compromise a principled vote. I could not ask anyone to support Romney, especially because I don't. To those who would prefer Romney over Obama and choose to vote for Romney I can't blame you for that either.
I can only tell you what I plan to do and why. I plan to vote for Gary Johnson for the same reason many of you will write in Ron Paul. Gary Johnson represents the same thing as Ron Paul and getting votes to the libertarian party would make the same kind of anti-establishment statement, however I think the in a practical sense voting for Gary Johnson does more to advance our IDEAS than a write-in vote for Ron Paul. For the same reason that condemning Rand Paul hurts our movement. It makes it about one man rather than ideas. Ron Paul isn't running in the general, Gary Johnson is.
Is there a scenario in which I can see myself voting for Mitt Romney? Yes, if and only if, one of our people was his VP pick. If Rand or Ron Paul or someone like Justin Amash or Andrew Napolitano were VP I could vote for the ticket. Obviously there is no chance of a Romney/Napolitano ticket, my point is that if the VP were someone we knew we could trust, then and only then, could I cast my vote for that ticket. It would not be a vote for Romney as President, but a vote for Rand is VP.
As I said before voting for the hood ornament matters very little, it's the congress that we have to change. It's the state legislatures that we have to change. It's the party leadership that needs to change. If we don't get Liberty people into those positions than all Ron Paul has worked for has been for nothing. All these years and millions of dollars campaigning will have been for nothing. So, I say to you now, let's not make this movement fall because of our stubbornness, let's not make everything we worked for be in vain. Let's instead rise and take back this country and make the GOP what it was meant to be! Let's flood every position we can with liberty minded candidates so that we can advance the issues we all claim to believe in! Let's go out and win ourselves a R3VOLUTION!!!
It saddens me to see this movement which has come so far lose so much in such a short amount of time. The reaction to Rand Paul recently proved that many people in this movement don't care about moving the GOP in our direction. They only care about voting for a personality in the form of Ron Paul. By refusing to further the movement through anyone other than Ron Paul we doomed the movement from the start. We seem to be proving the accusations about cultist followers right. We seem to be just as superficial about Ron Paul as the neocons are about Mitt Romney.
If people really cared about furthering the Liberty movement than the hood ornament on the car (i.e. the president) should not matter as much as the driver (congress). Getting our people into positions at the state, local and especially federal level in the legislative branch is even more important than who the President is. If we really wanted to advance our movement, rather than insult the single best senator in the country, we should be doubling our efforts to take over the remaining spots in the senate so they can help Rand Paul keep Romney accountable if Romney becomes President.
As far as writing in Ron Paul, I'm not going to do that. I love Ron Paul and I got my chance to vote for him in the primary. It's sad that he isn't going to be the next president. After working toward that goal for six years, I know how hard it is to say. I can't blame any of you who do choose to write in Ron Paul, it would make a statment and it would be a refusal to compromise a principled vote. I could not ask anyone to support Romney, especially because I don't. To those who would prefer Romney over Obama and choose to vote for Romney I can't blame you for that either.
I can only tell you what I plan to do and why. I plan to vote for Gary Johnson for the same reason many of you will write in Ron Paul. Gary Johnson represents the same thing as Ron Paul and getting votes to the libertarian party would make the same kind of anti-establishment statement, however I think the in a practical sense voting for Gary Johnson does more to advance our IDEAS than a write-in vote for Ron Paul. For the same reason that condemning Rand Paul hurts our movement. It makes it about one man rather than ideas. Ron Paul isn't running in the general, Gary Johnson is.
Is there a scenario in which I can see myself voting for Mitt Romney? Yes, if and only if, one of our people was his VP pick. If Rand or Ron Paul or someone like Justin Amash or Andrew Napolitano were VP I could vote for the ticket. Obviously there is no chance of a Romney/Napolitano ticket, my point is that if the VP were someone we knew we could trust, then and only then, could I cast my vote for that ticket. It would not be a vote for Romney as President, but a vote for Rand is VP.
As I said before voting for the hood ornament matters very little, it's the congress that we have to change. It's the state legislatures that we have to change. It's the party leadership that needs to change. If we don't get Liberty people into those positions than all Ron Paul has worked for has been for nothing. All these years and millions of dollars campaigning will have been for nothing. So, I say to you now, let's not make this movement fall because of our stubbornness, let's not make everything we worked for be in vain. Let's instead rise and take back this country and make the GOP what it was meant to be! Let's flood every position we can with liberty minded candidates so that we can advance the issues we all claim to believe in! Let's go out and win ourselves a R3VOLUTION!!!