Ron Paul's stance on foreign policy, in 2007 and now again in 2011, has been called "dangerous," "naive," and Bill O'Reilly on the 'Today' show on Monday even said it disqualifies Paul not only as a candidate, but "as an American."
Sean Wheeler, a clinical hypnotherapist in Atlanta, could not disagree more. A Ron Paul supporter since 2007, Wheeler decided to spend his nights and weekends over the last three months creating a video he half-jokingly hoped would "change the world," or at the least change some minds about Ron Paul's foreign policy. He kept hearing people say that they liked everything about Ron Paul, except his foreign policy. He said, "It occurred to me that if voters understood and supported his foreign policy, he would win the Republican nomination in a landslide."
Wheeler, 37, and his fiancé, Shelli Crouse, spent over 100 hours on the video; Wheeler did the research and editing, while Crouse worked on the graphics. The 13-minute video reaches out to those many conservatives who love Ron Paul's domestic policy ideas, but think he's dangerously out of touch when it comes to protecting our nation against the threat of terrorism.
Unlike a 30-second or 1-minute campaign ad, Wheeler's video "You Like Ron Paul, Except on Foreign Policy" spends time focusing on America's history in the Middle East, highlighting interviews with former CIA agents, veterans, and explaining "blowback" that Ron Paul has mentioned in debates, but may not be easily understood to the average viewer.
Wheeler said,
It's impossible to explain blowback or monetary policy in 30 seconds during a debate. Because our country has strayed so far from the principles of liberty, Paul's words and ideas can indeed seem "crazy" without the proper context. Sanity is defined by sharing a reality; if his audience doesn't understand the relationship between our military interventions and the resulting blowback, his foreign policy does seem crazy. However, once you do understand the history, our current foreign policy is what seems crazy.
Our videos provide the context that Dr. Paul's words require in order for them to make sense. The power comes from seeing the whole picture.
Posted on YouTube just last week, the video has already gotten over 189,000 views. Wheeler says the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Viewers tell him that the video brings them to tears, that they've watched it multiple times, and then they email it to their families and their entire mailing list. Wheeler said that he believes when honest people discover the truth that most of them will do the right thing.
He also thinks that when Americans hate Ron Paul's foreign policy it is based on fear.
I believe most Americans -- even those who support our militarism -- have positive intentions. We learn an incomplete version of history in school, and then we're informed by the media and our politicians that our current foreign policy of interventionism is a good thing and makes the world a better place.
The problem is that Americans have been misinformed. They've been led to believe that bringing our troops home will put us in greater danger, and that there are thousands of terrorists with suitcase nukes just waiting to blow up an American city; that's a frightening thing. The truth is quite liberating, though…which is why I so strongly believe that millions of Americans will support Ron Paul's foreign policy once they have a better understanding of history.
Critics say that Ron Paul has hit his "ceiling" of support and that he won't be able to branch out and become a serious contender for the nomination because of his controversial views on foreign policy. Ron Paul supporters are calling Wheeler's video "the deal changer" because it is converting people that Paul had not yet been able to reach (and Paul didn't have to spend a dime). Already, the messages from viewers are pouring in and making all the hours of hard work it took to create the video worth it for Wheeler. Minds across America are opening to Ron Paul's message of non-interventionism.
Here is a small sampling of the many messages Wheeler has received in just one week --
Matthew Urzua, a disabled veteran who served in the active army from 2006 to 2010 declared,
I'm a Ron Paul supporter as of this video. What stood out most in this video is when Paul said to put our money back into the economy and let the countries defend themselves. So many times I've seen soldiers killed because the Iraqis refused to combat terrorism and go on missions.
Josh Brown, of College Station, Texas, wrote,
I am a fairly conservative person who grew up in a traditional blue collar Republican household in Texas. In the past few months, I have been listening to all the Republican candidates, and Ron Paul's stances have sounded more and more appealing to me, but I never made the leap to vote for him because of his foreign policy. That is until I saw your video.
I am now convinced that he is not a crazy isolationist like others have made him out to be. His stance on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and relations with Iran make complete sense.
Charles Eson wrote in a comment that when he heard conservative talk show hosts constantly attack Ron Paul's foreign policy stances, he began to question them himself and began to lose confidence in his candidate. He said,
I began to think that a Ron Paul presidency would endanger our national defense, UNTIL I saw this video. Now I have no doubt whatsoever that Ron is right on ALL the issues that matter.
Jacob Areford of Savannah, Georgia, wrote,
I was able to convert my dad with this video. He used to believe the Bush/Mccain foreign policy and now has been converted. I've been trying to do this for a long time, and I think this was the trigger video.
A commenter on YouTube with the username "triggerhappy899" said,
I showed my parents this video the other day. They were blind like me, they believed that these "terrorists" hated us because we were free and prosperous. We had no idea before this video of what blowback was or how the CIA caused some of the motive behind 9/11 and the hostage situation in the 70s. And now they agree with Ron Paul, that we get into these situations because we don't mind our own business.
Wheeler's first Ron Paul video, "Ron Paul: The Only One We Can Trust" was posted in September and was met with a tremendous response as well. It's currently being used by a private internet company in a multi-million dollar internet marketing campaign on Facebook to target voters in Iowa and New Hampshire. Viewers of "The Only One We Can Trust" sent Wheeler YouTube links to videos about Ron Paul's foreign policy positions that helped shape the focus of the new video and were included in the final product. Wheeler noted that, in a way, it was a team effort by Ron Paul supporters.
Wheeler said he and his fiancé, Shelli, would love to make videos all day long, but they, of course, have full-time jobs. Before becoming a hypnotist, Wheeler majored in Broadcast Journalism and Political Science at the University of Miami, and he used to work for CNN. He's been editing video for nearly 20 years. He added that they do plan on making another video if Ron Paul wins the Republican nomination.
He sincerely hopes Paul will win the nomination, as he and Shelli are planning to start a family soon and are worried about our nation's future. He said,
We want our children to grow up truly free, in a country that respects the lives and liberty of its own citizens, as well as the lives and liberty of people around the world. We really believe that Ron Paul will change things for the better, and that this is the best opportunity we may ever have to elect an honest man as President of the United States.
We have a strong belief in freedom and personal responsibility, and he's the only politician we've ever seen who supports those principles in action, rather than merely paying lip service to them.
Now that Wheeler works as a clinical hypnotherapist, one of the things he does is work with people to cure fears and phobias. Wheeler says that now his goal is "to cure America's phobia of terrorism."
That is no small feat, but already his video seems to be doing just that.
http://www.examiner.com/independent...ideo-on-ron-paul-foreign-policy-converts-many
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