IPFS Powell Gammill

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More About: Revolutions, Rebellions & Uprisings

Has Ron Paul betrayed his supporters?

Has Ron Paul betrayed his supporters? 
He has 4.7 million reasons to do so.

The R3VOLution started for me January 11, 2007.  I was asked if I would like to help turn the R3VOLution logo into a Ron Paul R3VOLution by Ernest Hancock.  My immediate response was Ron Paul was not a perfect libertarian.  His response was, 'yes but he is running as a Republican.'  I immediately grasped the significance of the fun that lay ahead -- though not even 1% of the extent that the Ron Paul R3VOLution infection would spread throughout the globe!  I was on board.  It has been a fun ride, and now the Ron Paul portion is over and the question is where to now?  But before I give my suggestions on that I have a confession to make.

I must confess that for the past two weeks I have known Ron Paul was going to officially drop out.  One deadline came and went, and I hoped that wiser heads had prevailed upon him once more to delay such an announcement until his supporters in all 50 states have had their state conventions pass.  Imagine how the Nevada Precinct Committee people must feel now? 

But yet again we are treated to another mixed signals from the Ron Paul campaign.  In the past this has been fun and gotten some good press.  Not to mention rid us of some of the lightweights who abandoned the movement the moment the mainstream media told them it was over.  Bon voyage! 

Last night, I tried to watch the live broadcast from the Texas Convention area where Ron Paul was ostensibly announcing his campaign was over.  Unfortunately, JustinTV again failed to deliver.  That is not really JustinTV's fault -- what they are trying to accomplish with a roving WiFi camera what is technically very hard with radio dead spots, interfering wavelengths, variable lighting etc. that are impossible to predict and difficult to overcome when present, transmitted live to their website using equipment affordable to the average guy -- but I note their website still does not contain footage of the announcement.  As of this writing, neither does Youtube, Blip.tv, etc.  I wonder where the R3VOLutionaries with their video cameras were?  Perhaps they stayed at home.  Perhaps they cannot bear to edit the footage.

Ron Paul's campaign web site is now crippled, with a splash sheet 'thank you' posted in which Dr. Paul clearly ends his campaign for the presidency.  And Dr. Paul has a new web site, devoted to his vision of what he wants the Republican Party to return to.   I say the Republicans were never anything but the other half of the Washington Party deception.  And they will never be allowed to be anything else, or something will be promoted to take its place.
 
I have been privy for the past few months to the Paul campaign switching from campaign mode to how can we transfer all this loot into a self sustaining fill in the blank?  It has not been a pleasant thought.  Or pleasant to watch its 3VOLution.  Oh, I am not saying the best of intentions were not present (see mission statement).  Sort of a Ron Paul web site based newsletter.  But understand, the concern shifted from actively trying to influence the nation through campaigning to influencing Republicans through a web site.

This assumes Ron Paul's supporters have any intention of becoming Republicans.  I doubt a majority of them will.  It also assumes that current Republicans can read.  Surely they cannot, or they are the most reprehensibly amoral parasites to eat and suck the liberty and earnings from their fellow citizens since . . .  well, the Democrats were in charge. [Note to self: The Democrats are back in charge -- what is the difference?]  Instead the Republicans have FOX News and Rush Limbaugh wannabes to read to them.  To 'inform' them of 'what is going on.'  As the Neocons have boasted: Reality is what we make it.  Which is true to those willing to swallow the OAFicial line. (Or is that OAFicial lying?)

So disillusioned Republicans will turn to Ron Paul?  No way.  They have been told not to, and it has worked well. 

Sure the R3VOLutionaries have done a magnificent job of getting the word out.  Of being soooooo in your face that they could not be ignored.  They had fun.  They raised massive amounts of money spontaneously that were squandered on banal ads so boring that the donation tit quickly went dry.  Where was the anti-war ad?  Where was the anti-PATRIOT Act ad? The anti-Fed ad?  Ask Ron Paul.  The buck stopped there. [sorry bitter moment]

They even became Republicans at the request of campaign organizers with the hope of using the GOP's rules to take over the party and the CONventions.  Well that was an success.  No really.  Oh sure, the establishment did every nasty dirty trick to prevent Ron Paul's supporters even getting into the door.  But, you R3VOLutionaries got a first class eduction into the parliamentary process.  Now when we say he who wields the gavel rules the room you understand.  So why play the game?  The only way to win is not to play.  Why would you want to control what you have just exposed as evil?  An interesting question for Dr. Paul.

Let the babies have their bottle. 


An italicized excerpt from Dr. Paul's new web site:

But the larger campaign for freedom is just getting started. .... The work of the Campaign for Liberty will take many forms.  We will educate our fellow Americans in freedom, sound money, non-interventionism, and free markets.  We’ll have our own commentaries and videos on the news of the day.  I’ll work with friends I respect to design materials for homeschoolers.

Politically, we’ll expand the great work of our precinct leader program.  We’ll make our presence felt at every level of government, where just a few people with our level of enthusiasm can make a world of difference.  We’ll keep an eye on Congress and lobby against legislation that threatens us.  We’ll identify and support political candidates who champion our great ideas against the empty suits the party establishments offer the public.

We will be a permanent presence on the American political landscape.  That I promise you.  We’re not about to let all this good work die.  To the contrary, with your help we’re going to make it grow – by leaps and bounds.

Sort of a Ron Paul CONtinues....

If you find this appealing you are encouraged to join the site with a goal of getting 100,000 "members" by September (the currently list 33,561).  I canceled my emailings from the two email addresses they had from my campaign donations.  But please feel free to choose for yourself.  I see the above as a think tank whatever that may or may not 3VOLve into something good.  Either way it is a GOP thing.  A not too offensive thing.  Reading their mission statement, can you imagine anything especially controversial from these people?  I will wait and see.

In my opinion we are way beyond being nice guys as the economy collapses around us.  I don't really need education.  I am getting that already in droves.  My fellow countrymen are going to get it whether they like it or not (and they won't) every time they pull into the gas station or walk into the store.

The Ron Paul R3VOLution exists because it was able to focus on the man.  It became something quite special.  Now the man is gone.  And frankly that is good.   For all he was able to do to get people to rally around him, he was never about revolution and always about the status quo.  He may want to diminish the tyranny, but he never trusted his fellow man enough to not require them to submit to the yoke of government.  That was always fine by me.  I always said I could live far, far better in Ron Paul's vision of government than my present dilemma.  Hoping that my fellow citizens -- finding themselves unburdened and freer than they ever imagined -- could then be persuaded to go the final step of ending all but the government of unanimous consent. 

So the R3VOLution Continues...

What does that mean?  How do we keep it from becoming a CONtinues?  Well, it can't become a CON unless you are lulled into it.  The R3VOLution's strength was from its spontaneously chaotic uncontrolled action from individuals conceiving of some action and then carrying it out with or without others assistance.  Nothing can stop that.  In fact, it makes it more fun if someone tries.

No one controls the R3VOLution except you.  You either continue to participate in those things you think will promote your liberty or you don't.  You now know you can.  You know how.  You know you are not alone.  You know the bad guys are not going to just allow you to express yourself.  You know how much fun it is when you do something and the authoritays object.  You know how much punch you can get for little cost while making the bad guys spend capital.

Now the question is are you willing to keep it up?  Since Ron Paul's campaign is over, I think I will go out and hang a Ron Paul sign.  Not to support Ron Paul's campaign.  But to let the bad guys know it ain't over until everyone agrees it is over.  And I am not finished.

Claire Wolfe wisely wrote a great collection of books centered around the theme that it is too late to change things, but too early to shoot the bastards.  The R3VOLution is what you do while you wait for the revolution.  To let the bad guys know you know.  To let others know they are not alone in their doubts.  To overtly provide examples of what to do for the imitators.  To inspire.  To continually ask the question, 'is it time yet?'

So please support Dr. Paul in his new endeavors if you wish.  Or sit back and lurk.  Or as I hope, continue to do your own R3VOLution.  In then end it was always about you: your life, your liberty and your property.  You choose.  Welcome to the party.

One final note:  Ron Paul and his people are still capable of some fine mischief. I would encourage anyone to attend some of the rallies scheduled: The July 12 R3VOLution March on Washington, and especially the Sept. 2 rally in Minnesota coinciding with (but wisely well away from) the 2008 GOP national CONvention.  Outshining someone like the GOP is a time honored way of sending a message.  And if Paul gets his 11,000 people attending well, that would be something.  And an excellent experience both for experience R3VOLutionaries and those who will see with their own eyes the absolute police state that has existed at the last two CONventions.  And I mean police state!  But if Ron Paul has demonstrated anything it is that he can pull defeat from the jaws of victory with timidity.  I worry that he will not offer anything more substantive than a heaping of creamy mashed potatoes to his faithful.  Bland and deliciously filling --- but not for too many repetitions.
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