Back last February, I was sitting in my car in the parking lot of a McDonald's restaurant in Black River Falls, Wisconsin coming back from a high school wrestling tournament. Before going in, I popped open my cellphone and participated in my first Ron Paul Revolution conference call with the Clifton Coalition.
Has it been that long? 11 months? It seems it's all flown by so fast. I guess that's the way time goes when you get older. But so much has happened since that day I and many of you heard from Lew Rockwell that Ron Paul was going to be running for President. Look at where we were back then and where we are now.
It's funny, but I remember being a guest on a radio show, the "Sloan Ranger Show" on WGNU out of St. Louis promoting my book "Beating the Powers that Be" in December of 2006 and saying to the host there was really only one person who could unite many of the desperate elements and factions that made up the non-major party community in a bid for the White House and that was Ron Paul. I'm sure many of us who had followed the good doctor's career in Congress, posted his speeches online, maybe even voted for him back in 1988, probably felt the same way. There were a lot of people in the online political community who were waiting for a Ron Paul presidential bid, far more than Dr. Paul knew. That's why, I suppose, he's so surprised at all the support he's been receiving. He thought people had forgotten about him or didn't know him. And yet we did know him, quite well in fact.
From the monthly conference calls with Clifton Coalition that suddenly got too big to be with, I and many others joined meetup.com groups wherever we could find them. I joined one in May. I had to work with a group of people in the Twin Cities because there weren't any in western Wisconsin where I live (at least not until the fall). It was like a summer fling. I held a sign and distributed free bottles of water at a festival in Stillwater, Minn. I passed out slim jims at the Minnesota State Fair and the Pierce County Fair in Wisconsin. We went down to Des Moines in June for Ron Paul's first big rally after we were snubbed by that rinky-dink candidate's forum put on by the Iowa Christian Alliance and the Iowa Taxpayers Association.
What a day that was! My friends and I from Minnesota drove three hours to Des Moines in the early morning daylight and we came right into an empty parking lot behind the Veterans Memorial Auditorium. Was it true the campaign was only a couple of basement spammers here and there? Well after a few hours people began to drive in from not just from Minnesota, but Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, some even all the way from South Carolina and Tennessee. We walked all over downtown Des Moines, passing out literature and parading with our signs and bullhorns. We filled a hall I didn't think we could fill in the Hy-Vee Center and packed it with more people than that so-called candidate's forum drew. For the first time we came together as one community regardless of who we were and what we believed in. We realized we weren't alone in this big country of ours. To work inside the Minnesota state Libertarian Party headquarters and at the Minnesota Constitution Party booth at the state fair brought joy to my eyes for this is what I had dreamed and hoped would happend that came right out of the pages of my book: non-major party activists working together instead of in their little enclaves for a major party candidiate they could support and make a difference for.
And then there was the Ames Straw Poll. Oh yes, Ames. How our meetup group worked hard to mail letters and DVDs to Iowans. How we packed the Bali House Inn and danced together despite the humid conditions and how we sweated in the hot sun working at our tent or going around the grounds with signs and literature. How we cheered our heads off inside the Hilton Coliseum for Dr. Paul's speech and shouted and chanted before they announced the vote totals. I was horse and nearly got heatstroke from being out in 96 degree temperatures, but I survived. Carol Paul survived (Thank God). We all survived. Two candidates who finished ahead of us in the vote totals are gone now and we're still here.
The demands of my job kept me from meetup duties throughout the fall and early winter. I'm sad I couldn't do any more with people I met with the Minnesota meetup group because they were a great bunch, but I stayed active by writing letters and emails and following what was going on with the campaign on Ron Paul Forums.com. I was intently watching the money bombs go off on Nov. 5 and Dec. 16 as one watches a sporting event. I also watched that crazy blimp get off the ground too, incredulous that it even happened. I thought it was a joke at first. We came here and commiserated after each so-called debate and we held spirited discussions over topics germane and not-close-to-having-anything-remotely-to-do with the campaign. We argued, clased, made-up and clased again, but our numbers grew no shrank as the months went by.
Now we are at the end of 2007 and near what we've been waiting for, the Iowa Caucuses and the start of the presidential primary and caucus season. It's two days away. I'm sure all of us have similar stories we can tell throughout the past year, perhaps even more interesting, romantic, adventurous or even dangerous than mine. We all have our reasons for being with this campaign. Our first time hearing Ron Paul's message or knowing about the man has become like that first kiss, first encounter, first love.
I don't know what the new year will bring. I don't want to hazard to guess. All I know is that I hope we can stay together in the same spirit as we have these past 11 months. None of it been easy on any of us. I'm sure some marriages have been strained and job performance issues have come up as they have for me. Our wallets and our collective health, both mental and physical, have taken hits. But I also know I wouldn't trade this for anything else. We, the Ron Paul Revolutionaries, have made this upcoming election exciting and important. Just think what it would be like without us. Just think where we would be without it. That alone is our biggest accomplishment. We made this election matter. And we did so by ourselves, using our talents and our creativity, our drive and our passion to its fullest extent. A blimp, money bombs, Ron Paul Radio, Ron Paul Audio, Ron Paul TV, websites, blogs, videos, songs. All of this for a man some would hardly characterize as charismatic, let alone good looking. A backbench man of the House of Representatives from which only one man has ever been elected president let alone nominated.
What do we know that the other campaigns don't? Why aren't they like us? What makes us so special? And what makes Ron Paul so special that we would knock oursleves out like this? All I can say, is this is probably one of the only campaigns in recorded political history that just let us be us. They didn't try to direct us, steer us, command us, mold us or package us. We did it oursleves. We saw what we wanted to do and we did it without being asked or prompted or be told what to do. If there was not a hunger out in this fair land of ours for a campaign that wasn't a creation of one man or corporate donors or Washington hucksters, but of real people, amateurs, poltical junkies, students and the apathetic brought back to life, then there would be no Ron Paul campaign period.
We are truly the creators and owners of our own revolution. No better words can be said to sum up what we're all about. The new pioneers of a new politics. Whatever happens on Jan. 3 and beyond in 2008, they can't take that away from us.
So I say again all you Ron Paul Revolutionaries wherever you are, may we all have a happy, blessed and if not at least, interesting New Year. Let it unfold!
Sincerely
Sean Scallon
a.k.a. Badger Paul
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Originally Posted by RJB
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