sailingaway
03-15-2013, 01:20 AM
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Former U.S. Congressman Ron Paul is either loved or hated, but his appearance at the Manning Centre Conference shows “conservatives are not afraid” debate ideas, says Preston Manning.
“What you should observe from this conference is that conservatives are not afraid of self-examination. We don’t just have conferences to self-congratulate ourselves on previously established positions, which I would argue is the dominant characteristic of the Liberal leadership [race] right now,” Mr. Manning, the centre’s founder, told reporters following Mr. Paul’s address.
Manning Centre director of communications Olivier Ballou told The Hill Times some criticized the decision to invite Mr. Paul. “There was also controversy—we had people who were very upset that he was invited,” Mr. Ballou conceded. “People either love him or hate him.”
Mr. Ballou said student registration is up nearly 50 per cent over last year and credited Mr. Paul, the retired U.S. congressman and libertarian firebrand, with being a major reason for the increase in youth engagement at the annual conservative networking event. He credited Mr. Paul’s candidness and “anti-establishment” persona for the appeal.
Mr. Ballou said that about 30 per cent of this year’s 900 registrants for the weekend conference at Ottawa’s Convention Centre are students. In the past, Mr. Ballou said, students have typically accounted for 20 per cent of convention registrations.
“He speaks to youth,” Mr. Ballou said. “He has a very loyal following and we at the Manning Centre are interested in using that to get people who might not otherwise come to a policy conference.”
Mr. Ballou acknowledged that Mr. Paul’s views may be hard to implement, but he attracts young people to debate conservative ideas.
The 77-year old retired obstetrician represented Texas districts in the U.S. congress for more than 20 years during which time he earned the moniker “Dr. No” for refusing to support so many federal legislative initiatives throughout his career. Mr. Paul ran as the Libertarian Party’s presidential candidate in 1988 and more recently sought the U.S. Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2012.
Despite never winning the Republican nomination, Mr. Paul commands one of the most loyal followings of any U.S. politician, with many of his supporters organized online and drawn from college campuses across the United States.
It was standing room only in the Ottawa Convention Centre’s Gatineau Salon for Mr. Paul’s keynote address.
In a wide-ranging speech, Mr. Paul hit on many of the key themes that he has become known for during his recent presidential nomination races: individual liberty, free market economics, and personal responsibility.
“I don’t see rights as designated by women’s rights, or gay rights, or minority rights. It’s individual rights. Everybody has an individual right to their life and they should be treated equally under the law,” Mr. Paul declared at one point, igniting applause from a large and noticeably younger audience.
“If it’s your life, if it’s your liberty, wouldn’t it be correct to assume that the fruits of your labour are also yours to keep?” Mr. Paul enquired of the audience in a classic libertarian appeal. “[D]oes this mean there wouldn’t be an income tax? That’s right. We wouldn’t have income tax because it would be your money.”
Mr. Paul has in the past equated taxation with slavery. His provocative views are a major reason for his appeal with youth—a fact that wasn’t lost on him.
“Exciting change is especially with so many young people as I go tour college campuses. There’s a recognition that what I’m saying is true,” Mr. Paul told the audience.
Low taxes and personal responsibility may be conservative sacred cows, but some of Mr. Paul’s other views are clearly at odds with the Republican establishment in the U.S., as well as Stephen Harper’s (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) Conservative government. His views on foreign policy and the U.S.-led international war on drugs are more aligned with the far left.
Mr. Paul has argued against foreign intervention by the U.S., particularly in the Middle East. He has also called for an end to the war on drugs. In his address he rallied against the “irrationality of the drug laws that tell people what they can put in their mouths and what they can put in their bodies.”
“I think drugs are very, very dangerous, but if you compare the so-called illegal drugs to prescription drugs, a lot more people die from prescription drugs,” he stated.
“Once the government gets into the business of producing economic equality and making you morally a better person, you have sacrificed the principle of liberty and you have given the government too much power. Inevitably throughout all history, governments, when they get that power, always expand that power, until there’s the next revolution. That’s what we have to stop,” Mr. Paul said, before the room again erupted in applause.
more: http://www.hilltimes.com/news/politics/2013/03/08/ron-paul-a-polarizing-figure-but-conservatives-not-afraid-of-self-examination/33961
Former U.S. Congressman Ron Paul is either loved or hated, but his appearance at the Manning Centre Conference shows “conservatives are not afraid” debate ideas, says Preston Manning.
“What you should observe from this conference is that conservatives are not afraid of self-examination. We don’t just have conferences to self-congratulate ourselves on previously established positions, which I would argue is the dominant characteristic of the Liberal leadership [race] right now,” Mr. Manning, the centre’s founder, told reporters following Mr. Paul’s address.
Manning Centre director of communications Olivier Ballou told The Hill Times some criticized the decision to invite Mr. Paul. “There was also controversy—we had people who were very upset that he was invited,” Mr. Ballou conceded. “People either love him or hate him.”
Mr. Ballou said student registration is up nearly 50 per cent over last year and credited Mr. Paul, the retired U.S. congressman and libertarian firebrand, with being a major reason for the increase in youth engagement at the annual conservative networking event. He credited Mr. Paul’s candidness and “anti-establishment” persona for the appeal.
Mr. Ballou said that about 30 per cent of this year’s 900 registrants for the weekend conference at Ottawa’s Convention Centre are students. In the past, Mr. Ballou said, students have typically accounted for 20 per cent of convention registrations.
“He speaks to youth,” Mr. Ballou said. “He has a very loyal following and we at the Manning Centre are interested in using that to get people who might not otherwise come to a policy conference.”
Mr. Ballou acknowledged that Mr. Paul’s views may be hard to implement, but he attracts young people to debate conservative ideas.
The 77-year old retired obstetrician represented Texas districts in the U.S. congress for more than 20 years during which time he earned the moniker “Dr. No” for refusing to support so many federal legislative initiatives throughout his career. Mr. Paul ran as the Libertarian Party’s presidential candidate in 1988 and more recently sought the U.S. Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2012.
Despite never winning the Republican nomination, Mr. Paul commands one of the most loyal followings of any U.S. politician, with many of his supporters organized online and drawn from college campuses across the United States.
It was standing room only in the Ottawa Convention Centre’s Gatineau Salon for Mr. Paul’s keynote address.
In a wide-ranging speech, Mr. Paul hit on many of the key themes that he has become known for during his recent presidential nomination races: individual liberty, free market economics, and personal responsibility.
“I don’t see rights as designated by women’s rights, or gay rights, or minority rights. It’s individual rights. Everybody has an individual right to their life and they should be treated equally under the law,” Mr. Paul declared at one point, igniting applause from a large and noticeably younger audience.
“If it’s your life, if it’s your liberty, wouldn’t it be correct to assume that the fruits of your labour are also yours to keep?” Mr. Paul enquired of the audience in a classic libertarian appeal. “[D]oes this mean there wouldn’t be an income tax? That’s right. We wouldn’t have income tax because it would be your money.”
Mr. Paul has in the past equated taxation with slavery. His provocative views are a major reason for his appeal with youth—a fact that wasn’t lost on him.
“Exciting change is especially with so many young people as I go tour college campuses. There’s a recognition that what I’m saying is true,” Mr. Paul told the audience.
Low taxes and personal responsibility may be conservative sacred cows, but some of Mr. Paul’s other views are clearly at odds with the Republican establishment in the U.S., as well as Stephen Harper’s (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) Conservative government. His views on foreign policy and the U.S.-led international war on drugs are more aligned with the far left.
Mr. Paul has argued against foreign intervention by the U.S., particularly in the Middle East. He has also called for an end to the war on drugs. In his address he rallied against the “irrationality of the drug laws that tell people what they can put in their mouths and what they can put in their bodies.”
“I think drugs are very, very dangerous, but if you compare the so-called illegal drugs to prescription drugs, a lot more people die from prescription drugs,” he stated.
“Once the government gets into the business of producing economic equality and making you morally a better person, you have sacrificed the principle of liberty and you have given the government too much power. Inevitably throughout all history, governments, when they get that power, always expand that power, until there’s the next revolution. That’s what we have to stop,” Mr. Paul said, before the room again erupted in applause.
more: http://www.hilltimes.com/news/politics/2013/03/08/ron-paul-a-polarizing-figure-but-conservatives-not-afraid-of-self-examination/33961