Scared.

[garrettwombat]

iv been sitting here thinking...
this has been my first election i have ever participated in.
i am 19 years old.

iv never seen so much enthusiasm for a candidate... is this a normal thing?

am i a part of something regular that happens every 8 years, or is this something different and amazing?

there is something powerful happening iv never seen with my eyes, is it normal?

[me3]

This is not normal. Despite the bickering, this is something truly special and unique.

[Benaiah]

//

[Corydoras]

Remember it the rest of your life. This is something amazing and wonderful.

We can hope and pray that it will be the first of many great campaigns, but that is not likely.
In any case, this is the first time. Nothing like this grassroots has ever happened before.

Remember this always.

[steph3n]

iv been sitting here thinking...
this has been my first election i have ever participated in.
i am 19 years old.

iv never seen so much enthusiasm for a candidate... is this a normal thing?

am i a part of something regular that happens every 8 years, or is this something different and amazing?

there is something powerful happening iv never seen with my eyes, is it normal?

never given, never been involved, apathy is too easy, this is hard work.

[madcat033]

Dude, I'm 21, and even though I voted in the last election this is the first election I have ever participated in as well.

This is NOT normal. At all. Thanks to the internet, the people have broken free of the chains of the mainstream media. They no longer rely on being spoonfed information by biased news outlets. This is not just a revolution in politics, but a revolution in social and political structures. Power is REALLY being shifted to the people.

This is something amazing to be a part of. Ron Paul is a truly amazing candidate, and he NEEDS to win this election. For the good of our country, the good of the world, and the good of our species.

It's funny, because me and my friend were talking the other day about what the future will be like. Not just technology wise, but socially and politically. And the most interesting thing happened, he said to me, "you know what? This future we are envisioning? I think it will come a lot sooner if Ron Paul is elected." And I couldn't help but agree.

I mean, what are the long term goals for our species? Don't we want world peace? Right now we are the world's lone superpower and we are starting wars. How will we EVER expect to achieve peace, when we have the most influence and we START wars? We are AGGRESSIVE! We are imperialists and we take advantage of other countries.

There is a saying that goes "be the change you want to see in the world." Are we really doing that right now? I'd say no. Would Ron Paul's America be the change we want to see in the world? I'd say so.

Can you IMAGINE if every country was led by a Ron Paul? That would be the future that my friend and I were envisioning.

[JustBcuz]

iv been sitting here thinking...
this has been my first election i have ever participated in.
i am 19 years old.

iv never seen so much enthusiasm for a candidate... is this a normal thing?

am i a part of something regular that happens every 8 years, or is this something different and amazing?

there is something powerful happening iv never seen with my eyes, is it normal?


Not in my lifetime.

Some people are gonna try and compare this to Ross Perot, but this isn't the same. Perot never hit the nail on the head...he kinda flailed around. And while Perot brought disenfranchised voters back in the fold, but he didn't really bring new voters in.

Also, the 'fervor' was much, much less intense; and was fueled by the media, not stifled by it.

This is bigger than Perot. Much bigger.

[Paul4Prez]

iv been sitting here thinking...
this has been my first election i have ever participated in.
i am 19 years old.

iv never seen so much enthusiasm for a candidate... is this a normal thing?

am i a part of something regular that happens every 8 years, or is this something different and amazing?

there is something powerful happening iv never seen with my eyes, is it normal?

I'm 42, I voted for Ron Paul in 1988, and there's never been anything like this in my lifetime. Ross Perot caused quite a stir in 1992, but it was top-down and money driven. Howard Dean was an internet and grassroots phenomenon 4 years ago, but I think the Ron Paul Revolution has more staying power. Dean was the Democratic front-runner in the early polls, which helped him attract more support. Ron Paul's support has been growing slowly all year, even though most of the "experts" gave him no chance to win.

[TechnoGuyRob]

I'm kind of saddened that I can not vote in this election, as I will be 2 months and 13 days too young.

However, I predicted something like this would happen (although I didn't realize it would center around a political candidate) a few years ago: a peaceful information revolution will greatly empower and change the world, due to the internet. I think this is also what is responsible for the 100+% increase in atheism/agnosticism over the past decade (truly no offense to you moral and intelligent religious folk, just an observation).

[Revolution9]

iv been sitting here thinking...
this has been my first election i have ever participated in.
i am 19 years old.

iv never seen so much enthusiasm for a candidate... is this a normal thing?

am i a part of something regular that happens every 8 years, or is this something different and amazing?

there is something powerful happening iv never seen with my eyes, is it normal?

The day the world turned upside down
Enter stage center the cosmic clowns
With a wink and a twinkle in the blink of an eye
The future is present and the past is the why

The circle goes round and round and round
When you post to the center momentum slows down
When you're all that it matters the slip of the slide
Will push all your mass to the circles outside
Hold to the zero, you hold to your ground
The day the world turned upside down.


We are going to defeat the beast powers with natural law. It is in the cards.
It's all in the cards

Best
Randy

[Elijah]

very, Very, VERY unique situation. This is HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ginobili]

I cant say there has ever been anything like this that I can recall (although im only 17 :P)... but... comparably to past events in this country... the only thing I think it can compaire to is the struggle between our founding fathers and the motherland of England. The zeal, the passion, the dedication to change our goverment into something to be proud of, is simply beyond imagination.

[American]

I'm kind of saddened that I can not vote in this election, as I will be 2 months and 13 days too young.

However, I predicted something like this would happen (although I didn't realize it would center around a political candidate) a few years ago: a peaceful information revolution will greatly empower and change the world, due to the internet. I think this is also what is responsible for the 100+% increase in atheism/agnosticism over the past decade (truly no offense to you moral and intelligent religious folk, just an observation).

Well dont you worry, getting Ron Paul into the white house is the beginning, then we need to elected senators and other link minded congressman that share his views. So this by no means will be done when he makes President.

This is a revolution and it being a peaceful revolution it will take years. But the fight is worth fighting.

Get into politics, run for office, any public office. Thats goes for all the young people here. and the not so young people as well.....;)

This is by no means the normal election cycle, might be because of the war and it might be because we have a dictator in office now. Either way this is a very special election.

I do know FOX announced today of "home grown" terrorist attacks, and they didnt know where they would come from. This might be normal but with that new bill it might be the beginning of something really bad.

BUY GUNS and LEARN HOW TO HUNT

[xd9fan]

I'm only 28. I've been addicted to politics, history, news, and current affairs for the past 10 years. I could be wrong, but I believe that there is some truth the to Ron Paul "Revolution." I do believe that a revolution is on our doorstep. Will there be one? Guess we'll see.

To answer your question, no, this is not normal. I have not seen anything like this in my life time (I was active in the past two elections).


[edit] I turned my grandparents onto Ron Paul. My grandfather was involved with the BiCintenial celebration in DC, and he was involved in city politics in the 6th largest city in our country, for decades. For the first time in my grandparents life, they have a political bumper sticker on their car, and have a political yard sign. My grandparents don't agree with Paul on some huge issues, but they have the fever and are more excited for him than any candidate in their entire lives.

I'm 37.......and I agree 100%
This IS the beginning......

[voisine]

What's happening here is something unprecedented in our history. Libertarian ideas have been gaining ground for a few decades, but we've hit some kind of inflection point on the growth curve and now it's exploding. Ron Paul was a hero in libertarian circles and pretty much a nobody everywhere else, but people are so pissed off with the current administration that it's thrown the Republican party into turmoil. They tossed out a bunch of candidates to find one that would stick, and none did. Ron Paul had enough money and support from the libertarians to get a message out to the Republican voters, and it's exactly what they've been waiting to hear, the true core Republican voters that the party thought they could safely ignore, and still count on for support. Add to that the fact that his ideas are *correct* so he's able to speak clearly and directly without doublespeak and lies like every other politician and you've got something that is unknown in living memory.

Ron Paul is one of those great voices in history that arrives at the right time during a confluence of major events, and delivers a message in a desperate time that changes the course of civilization. The monetary collapse and spreading war I think are going to hit just as he comes to the fore, with understanding and answers and the ability to communicate them to a people desperately seeking them. He told us this would happen 30 years ago, and now it's coming to pass just as he is finally able to step forward. This is no mere coincidence, this is destiny.

[BeFranklin]

iv been sitting here thinking...
this has been my first election i have ever participated in.
i am 19 years old.

iv never seen so much enthusiasm for a candidate... is this a normal thing?

am i a part of something regular that happens every 8 years, or is this something different and amazing?

there is something powerful happening iv never seen with my eyes, is it normal?

This is different. BTW: I voted for Ron Paul in 1988, which was the first time I was eligible to vote too - Congratulations!

[skeet]

I have supported and/or voted many times and I must admit I have never given as much time or money to any campaign prior to this one. And yes this is just the begining. I will be encouraging locals (myself included) to run for office. Win or lose the message will spread.

[conner_condor]

Remember we are the childrens future and they are ours. We just live and die like everyone else. But what a better way to die than fighting for their future as many have done for ours before. Many people think for the day and not tomorro. For as the song goes.we are just dust in the wind. I want my life to be given for something I believe in. And since RP came into my life,freedom is the choice. It is something I can give back to our country and children. But we can't do this alone. I think many people will soon realize this and stand as one as RP has brought us together for a better future.

[Thomas Paine]

The last time I something like this happened was in 1980 when College Republicans across the nation helped propel Ronald Reagan past GOP establishment frontrunners like George Herbert Walker Bush, John Connolly, Howard Baker, etc. However, the last truly grass roots driven effort was in 1964 when Barry Goldwater defeated GOP establishment candidate Nelson Rockefeller for the GOP nomination.

[Man from La Mancha]

I saw live Ruby killing Oswald and the Cuban missile crisis and seeing Martin Luther King speak and I have never saw anything like this or have read about any other candidate for president since founding fathers that was not being backed by nefarious people. This is a once in a multi century man. You better enjoy it and get him ellected while you can. He is the closest to any leader I would ever consider dieing to protect.



http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/9435/blackwsmallyh7.gif (teaparty07.com)

[Thomas Paine]

BTW, even though Barry Goldwater went on to lose the '64 presidential election, the foregoing election sparked the political career of one of Goldwater's supporters who delivered a last minute televised appeal on the eve of the election. That political newcomer was Ronald Reagan who subsequently ran for and won the office of Governor for California before eventually running for and winning the office of President in 1980 to complete the Revolution of 1964 that his mentor, Barry Goldwater, failed to attain years earlier.

[thehittgirl]

I'm kind of saddened that I can not vote in this election, as I will be 2 months and 13 days too young.

However, I predicted something like this would happen (although I didn't realize it would center around a political candidate) a few years ago: a peaceful information revolution will greatly empower and change the world, due to the internet. I think this is also what is responsible for the 100+% increase in atheism/agnosticism over the past decade (truly no offense to you moral and intelligent religious folk, just an observation).


You know, I am amazed that many of you are as young as you are. I had no idea til you say something.
1. It's so cool you are into it.
2. You young ones sound so mature and smart :)

[BeFranklin]

The last time I something like this happened was in 1980 when College Republicans across the nation helped propel Ronald Reagan past GOP establishment frontrunners like George Herbert Walker Bush, John Connolly, Howard Baker, etc. However, the last truly grass roots driven effort was in 1964 when Barry Goldwater defeated GOP establishment candidate Nelson Rockefeller for the GOP nomination.

FYI Need more college chapters. Meet up is too restricting with the $79 price tag. A better choice for quick startups is Google groups. Its free (ideal for someone starting a group at college), and from my experience of using it, more powerful. http://groups.google.com/

[BeFranklin]

FYI Need more college chapters. Meet up is too restricting with the $79 price tag. A better choice for quick startups is Google groups. Its free (ideal for someone starting a group at college), and from my experience of using it, more powerful. http://groups.google.com/

FYI: Do you realize around $79,000 has been spent creating meet up groups when other viable services like Google groups do the same thing as well or better for free?

[sunny]

iv been sitting here thinking...
this has been my first election i have ever participated in.
i am 19 years old.

iv never seen so much enthusiasm for a candidate... is this a normal thing?

am i a part of something regular that happens every 8 years, or is this something different and amazing?

there is something powerful happening iv never seen with my eyes, is it normal?

this is something different AND amazing indeed!
i have never been so excited about a presidential campaign in my entire life!
this campaign IS making history! it is unprecedented what is happening!
dr. ron paul cured my apathy!!!

[Kingfisher]

Nothing like this since Barry Goldwater. If he'd had the internet he would have won.

[inibo]

iv been sitting here thinking...
this has been my first election i have ever participated in.
i am 19 years old.

iv never seen so much enthusiasm for a candidate... is this a normal thing?

am i a part of something regular that happens every 8 years, or is this something different and amazing?

there is something powerful happening iv never seen with my eyes, is it normal?

No, this is not normal. I'm 52 years old. That's just old enough to remember the excitement about John F. Kennedy. That election and perhaps Ronald Reagan's are the ones that have come close to what is happening now, but even though both of those men had considerable crossover support they we're still party candidates. They were clearly running on the platforms of their party, but the both articulated them well enough to attract people who normally would not vote for candidates of the party they represented.

Never in my life has there been a candidate like Ron Paul. Sure, he is nominally Republican, but the positions he taking on the issues he is addressing, the fundamental orientation of US foreign policy, the underlying concepts of domestic monetary policy, the very purpose of government are completely alien to the political philosophy that has been accepted without question for more than a century by both parties and by the citizens of this country.

He is causing the scales to fall off of our eyes. This is liberating for those of us who get it, it is terrifying for those who don't. A line has been crossed, questions that have never really been asked are now out in the open. However this election turns out people will look back at this as a watershed moment US politics.

[VRP08]

It is rare. We are not used to it. We are not used to the truth.

[Cindy]

I think one of the most awe inspiring aspects that is so different about this presidential election is how much ACTIVE support Paul is getting from around the globe, from residents in other countries. The grassroots efforts in our country is one thing, yet seeing what others are doing trying to help raise awareness of Ron Paul and his message in other countries, is just so wonderfully strange.

There is a movement happening here that is larger then Paul, this election and this country.

I do not find it scary though. I welcome it with open arms as I say,"

"It's about time the people of the world stood up, peacefully, to government tyranny!!!!":):):)

My husband and I were watching all of the foriegn videos on him last night, and reviewing all of the International Ron Paul meetup groups and were just humbled and amazed. I wish the media would cover it. That is not normal for a Presidential election either.

[RonPaulStreetTeam]

I'll tell you.
28 years old.
First time ever registered to vote.
the excitement and hope is in the air as it's the first election over.

Now hopefully it's not followed by Civil War.

[slantedview]

It is not normal, but it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. For you it just happens to have come when you were 19.

[kylejack]

We have Bush to thank for much of our success. He thought he could use social programs to quell the liberals, without realizing that he would infuriate the fiscal conservatives. 9/11 gave him some leeway, but the resentment continued. People like Rudy and Romney saw Bush's success and thought they could follow in his footsteps, but fiscal conservatives have had enough of Bushonomics. And of course, the war helped.

[LibertyEagle]

We have Bush to thank for much of our success. He thought he could use social programs to quell the liberals, without realizing that he would infuriate the fiscal conservatives. 9/11 gave him some leeway, but the resentment continued. People like Rudy and Romney saw Bush's success and thought they could follow in his footsteps, but fiscal conservatives have had enough of Bushonomics. And of course, the war helped.

Yes, and on top of that the failing economy. People are noticing. In addition to folks like Judge Napolitano going around the country talking about the Patriot Act, the loss of habeas corpus and all the rest.

If we can just pull it all together in time. This is truly our big chance to get our country back.

[jgmaynard]

People like Rudy and Romney saw Bush's success...

Well, why not? Dennis saw a UFO ;) :D

Seriously, I remember being a small but politically-interested kid in 1979, watching the Reagan movement develop and I noticed the same thing already happen here in NH as what happened then. Reagan became the most talked-about candidate amongst normal people just a couple months before the NH primary. Historically, probably only Goldwater and McCarthy were also similar. But, this is probably the most cross-party movement in history. :)

JM

[CelestialRender]

This is not normal. I've followed current events and politics since I can remember (Literally: My first memory of TV is the Breaking News of Desert Shield becoming Desert Storm.)

I've never gotten this excited about any race.

[Pharoah]

This is new to me. I always thought that to rise to the top in the so-called two party system, you had to be the most corrupt, back-stabbing, two-faced criminal... and none of the reporting on politics here in Australia or from America had convinced me otherwise. Our political systems have much in common. Promises made are never delivered - while threats made are always backed up. Therefore I never saw any point in voting for yet another candidate that was owned by a system designed to prey on the people.

By the same token, I believed that anyone that was honest, principled and genuine would be a pariah in his own party, scorned by the status-quo-loving media and therefore robbed of political oxygen and doomed to never reach the supporters that hungered for his message. [So I was mostly right. ;) ]

But then came "the Internets" and Ron Paul - at a time when freedom, privacy, justice and life itself is under thread on a global scale. The Neo-cons thirst for blood and absolute control can only be matched by the desire of the long suffering people for peace and liberation. Newton's 3rd law - for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction. I have come to believe that we are that reaction.

[AlexMerced]

Yeah, I've followed politics and this is y second election and while there is some youthful enthusiasm in the general election, it's rare to see this kind of enthusiasm in the primaries. What Dean had last time around looks like melancholic approval compared ot this.