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Thread: Drug addict finds Ron Paul book lying on the ground, changes his life

  1. #1

    Drug addict finds Ron Paul book lying on the ground, changes his life

    Ryan Tracy writes [to Tom Woods]:

    Four years ago I was a twenty-one-year-old heroin addict living on the streets of Portland, Oregon. I was walking to my job and I noticed a dollar bill lying in the grass along the sidewalk next to a book. For whatever reason I picked that book up, along with the dollar, and read it. The book was The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul. I could not put it down. I read every page as many times as it took for me to understand the content. I finished the book two weeks later in inpatient drug rehabilitation. I had never felt anything so incredible as the liberation that I got from the principles outlined in that book. Near the end Dr. Paul recommended Mises’ book Human Action with an added note about the difficulty. I bought it two days out of rehab. It took me three months of non-stop reading and re-reading to get through all four volumes.

    I will not bore you with the story of my life between then and now. To make a long story short I ended up hearing about your website through a friend right when I began devouring literature on Austrian economics. Your blog and archives changed my life and gave me clarification as I read through well over one hundred books by nearly every prominent Austrian scholar and libertarian philosopher, including several of your books. I wish that I could convey to you just how grateful I am for your work and the impact that you have had on my life, but any words that I would write now would be futile in explaining my deep and sincere appreciation.
    (Mr. Tracy, who now works with addicts, told me there was no reason not to use his name.)
    http://www.tomwoods.com/blog/ron-pau...-another-life/



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  3. #2
    Freedom is good for your health.

  4. #3
    My mind skipped the word "book" in the title and I thought this was some near smear article!
    Let's move forward to the Constitution.. I am the new GOP. I stand with Rand.

  5. #4
    The Mayans had several calendars, not just one, and one of them was used to name their children after the day that they were born on. This gave them two independent names, a first and last, that they believed translated into what one's purpose or function in life is.

    So within that philosophy, people who are drug addicts, very depressed or who have a very difficult time in life are only that way because they are being prevented by society from performing their function in life.

    This guy was either shown his function in life or at least came to the realization that there is an artificial mechanism within society, specifically government, which is holding back individuals in society from performing their life purpose or function. This in and of itself can be a very important realization for a person in these types of circumstances because often times people feel like the world that rejects them is very static and cold and not made for them, while the freedom philosophy shows that many individuals are chained to a large extent and that we should strive to create a society where everybody's talents can thrive instead of those merely endowed by authority.

    Interestingly, my Mayan name translates into 'planter of seeds'
    Last edited by dannno; 05-31-2013 at 12:58 PM.
    "He's talkin' to his gut like it's a person!!" -me
    "dumpster diving isn't professional." - angelatc
    "You don't need a medical degree to spot obvious bullshit, that's actually a separate skill." -Scott Adams
    "When you are divided, and angry, and controlled, you target those 'different' from you, not those responsible [controllers]" -Q

    "Each of us must choose which course of action we should take: education, conventional political action, or even peaceful civil disobedience to bring about necessary changes. But let it not be said that we did nothing." - Ron Paul

    "Paul said "the wave of the future" is a coalition of anti-authoritarian progressive Democrats and libertarian Republicans in Congress opposed to domestic surveillance, opposed to starting new wars and in favor of ending the so-called War on Drugs."

  6. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by V3n View Post
    My mind skipped the word "book" in the title and I thought this was some near smear article!
    ha

  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by dannno View Post
    The Mayans had several calendars, not just one, and one of them was used to name their children after the day that they were born on. This gave them two independent names, a first and last, that they believed translated into what one's purpose or function in life is.

    So within that philosophy, people who are drug addicts, very depressed or who have a very difficult time in life are only that way because they are being prevented by society from performing their function in life.

    This guy was either shown his function in life or at least came to the realization that there is an artificial mechanism within society, specifically government, which is holding back individuals in society from performing their life purpose or function. This in and of itself can be a very important realization for a person in these types of circumstances because often times people feel like the world that rejects them is very static and cold and not made for them, while the freedom philosophy shows that many individuals are chained to a large extend and that we should strive to create a society where everybody's talents can thrive instead of those merely endowed by authority.

    Interestingly, my Mayan name translates into 'planter of seeds'
    Very interesting.

  8. #7
    He traded one addiction for another. Not all addictions are bad
    Insanity should be defined as trusting the government to solve a problem they caused in the first place. Please do not go insane!

  9. #8
    Ron is going to love this story!
    Based on the idea of natural rights, government secures those rights to the individual by strictly negative intervention, making justice costless and easy of access; and beyond that it does not go. The State, on the other hand, both in its genesis and by its primary intention, is purely anti-social. It is not based on the idea of natural rights, but on the idea that the individual has no rights except those that the State may provisionally grant him. It has always made justice costly and difficult of access, and has invariably held itself above justice and common morality whenever it could advantage itself by so doing.
    --Albert J. Nock



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  11. #9
    This story reminds me of this video for some reason (I couldn't find the original which was a project by the guy in the video. I'll replace this with that if I find it.)

    Last edited by sailingaway; 05-31-2013 at 02:32 PM.
    "Integrity means having to say things that people don't want to hear & especially to say things that the regime doesn't want to hear.” -Ron Paul

    "Bathtub falls and police officers kill more Americans than terrorism, yet we've been asked to sacrifice our most sacred rights for fear of falling victim to it." -Edward Snowden

  12. #10
    I was wondering where my book went.

    (just kidding, I do donate my Ron Paul books to the library when I finish them, so maybe I've helped some addicts in my own area, if they go to libraries I mean)
    Quote Originally Posted by timosman View Post
    This is getting silly.
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    It started silly.
    T.S. Eliot's The Hollow Men

    "One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." - Plato

    We Are Running Out of Time - Mini Me

    Quote Originally Posted by Philhelm
    I part ways with "libertarianism" when it transitions from ideology grounded in logic into self-defeating autism for the sake of ideological purity.

  13. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by nobody's_hero View Post
    I was wondering where my book went.

    (just kidding, I do donate my Ron Paul books to the library when I finish them, so maybe I've helped some addicts in my own area, if they go to libraries I mean)
    That's a great idea! I have given some away, but I bought them on purpose for that -- I keep my own....
    "Integrity means having to say things that people don't want to hear & especially to say things that the regime doesn't want to hear.” -Ron Paul

    "Bathtub falls and police officers kill more Americans than terrorism, yet we've been asked to sacrifice our most sacred rights for fear of falling victim to it." -Edward Snowden

  14. #12
    I wonder if Tom Woods made up the story, just like he pretended not being the ghostwriter of that book when he wrote an over-the-top review of it.

  15. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by jj- View Post
    I wonder if Tom Woods made up the story, just like he pretended not being the ghostwriter of that book when he wrote an over-the-top review of it.
    Trolololololololo
    Quote Originally Posted by PaulConventionWV View Post
    You're not making the claim that there's no objective best diet, are you?
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

  16. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by jj- View Post
    I wonder if Tom Woods made up the story, just like he pretended not being the ghostwriter of that book when he wrote an over-the-top review of it.
    Can we please have lowpreferencegirl banned again?

  17. #15
    He wrote it from Ron's speech notes using Ron's words, unless you think Ron is a liar, so while it definitely is edited to his style, which I like, I don't see how it really matters.
    "Integrity means having to say things that people don't want to hear & especially to say things that the regime doesn't want to hear.” -Ron Paul

    "Bathtub falls and police officers kill more Americans than terrorism, yet we've been asked to sacrifice our most sacred rights for fear of falling victim to it." -Edward Snowden

  18. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by sailingaway View Post
    He wrote it from Ron's speech notes using Ron's words, unless you think Ron is a liar, so while it definitely is edited to his style, which I like, I don't see how it really matters.
    That just means that Woods is a really good ghostwriter. The part I don't like is when he misleads people by giving a way over-the-top review to the book, without revealing important information: he wrote it. That makes him less impartial, and he gave another impression. That is extremely deceptive, so anything that Tom Woods says when it comes to promoting his own book should be examined very carefully.



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  20. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by jj- View Post
    That just means that Woods is a really good ghostwriter. The part I don't like is when he misleads people by giving a way over-the-top review to the book, without revealing important information: he wrote it. That makes him less impartial, and he gave another impression. That is extremely deceptive, so anything that Tom Woods says when it comes to promoting his own book should be examined very carefully.
    Dude, do you think that anyone picked up Ron's book, flipped over to the back, and said "Wow, look at what great things Tom Woods has to say! I hated Ron Paul before, but if Tom Woods says this book is great, count me in!"

    It would have been more surprising actually if Woods hadn't put something on the back of the book, being one of the most prominent libertarian authors of the last 10 years.
    Quote Originally Posted by PaulConventionWV View Post
    You're not making the claim that there's no objective best diet, are you?
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

  21. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by malkusm View Post
    It would have been more surprising actually if Woods hadn't put something on the back of the book, being one of the most prominent libertarian authors of the last 10 years.
    This has absolutely nothing to do with my point.

  22. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by jj- View Post
    This has absolutely nothing to do with my point.
    I can see that he might have included in his statement how great it was to work with Ron and review his years of speech notes in putting them into shape for the book, to kind of flesh out the whole picture.
    "Integrity means having to say things that people don't want to hear & especially to say things that the regime doesn't want to hear.” -Ron Paul

    "Bathtub falls and police officers kill more Americans than terrorism, yet we've been asked to sacrifice our most sacred rights for fear of falling victim to it." -Edward Snowden

  23. #20

  24. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by enhanced_deficit View Post
    I don't know what it is but this Ron Paul forum is more addictive than anything else I know.
    The mods have started to put you under their kooky-libertarian spell, run before it's too late.
    Quote Originally Posted by Sister Miriam Godwinson View Post
    We Must Dissent.

  25. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by enhanced_deficit View Post
    I don't know what it is but this Ron Paul forum is more addictive than anything else I know.
    One of the good lines a piece a supporter wrote, which someone else liked so much they turned it into a video,was about people dissing Ron saying 'stoners just like him because he thinks drugs should be legalized', saying they don't understand that freedom is much more addictive than drugs....

    I'll see if I can find the video...
    "Integrity means having to say things that people don't want to hear & especially to say things that the regime doesn't want to hear.” -Ron Paul

    "Bathtub falls and police officers kill more Americans than terrorism, yet we've been asked to sacrifice our most sacred rights for fear of falling victim to it." -Edward Snowden

  26. #23

  27. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by enhanced_deficit View Post
    Spikender, naa, I think the secret ingredient is what sailingaway alluded to in above post, flirting with freedom or the idea of it is probably what it is.
    I see that it's too late for you.

    These insane whack-jobs have clawed into your cranium and are sucking the intelligence out of you as we speak.

    I'm going to retreat to my bunker and cling to my bottle of Jack Daniels and McCain-print Snuggie. Stay away from me, you hippie libertarian crack pot.
    Quote Originally Posted by Sister Miriam Godwinson View Post
    We Must Dissent.



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  29. #25
    This was the video, and the written text originally written can be found through this link: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...People-(Video)

    The original author is a member here and posted during the election, and a little after. Then someone liked it enough they were inspired to turn it into this video.

    Last edited by sailingaway; 06-04-2013 at 07:29 PM.
    "Integrity means having to say things that people don't want to hear & especially to say things that the regime doesn't want to hear.” -Ron Paul

    "Bathtub falls and police officers kill more Americans than terrorism, yet we've been asked to sacrifice our most sacred rights for fear of falling victim to it." -Edward Snowden

  30. #26
    Great story. Lousy derailment.
    "Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one."
    —Charles Mackay

    "god i fucking wanna rip his balls off and offer them to the gods"
    -Anonymous

  31. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by kathy88 View Post
    Great story. Lousy derailment.
    LPG is at his best.

  32. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by kathy88 View Post
    Great story. Lousy derailment.
    It's a great video
    "Integrity means having to say things that people don't want to hear & especially to say things that the regime doesn't want to hear.” -Ron Paul

    "Bathtub falls and police officers kill more Americans than terrorism, yet we've been asked to sacrifice our most sacred rights for fear of falling victim to it." -Edward Snowden

  33. #29
    inspirational !
    Ron Paul 2012: Liberty, Peace and Prosperity for America !

    Ron Paul: Predictions of 24 April 2002 - see how many came true
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGDisyWkIBM

    Vote On Principles, Defend Our Constitution, Follow the Path shown by the Founders !

  34. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by jj- View Post
    I wonder if Tom Woods made up the story, just like he pretended not being the ghostwriter of that book when he wrote an over-the-top review of it.
    I also was struck with that thought. Certainly a neat story if true, though!
    Last edited by KingNothing; 06-05-2013 at 09:48 AM.

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