I knew I was going to support Ron Paul when....

[leonster]

Not sure where Osan AFB is... Pyeongtaek, perhaps? To the south of Seoul then, if so.

Ilsan is northwest of Seoul, getting kinda up near North Korea actually. Supposedly safest major city in Korea from nuclear attack, as the fallout here would reach Kaesong city across the border. Not that I think they'd be suicidal enough to attack or anything. Anyways, it's a new neighborhood, about a half million people. Semi-posh, nice place.

I know there are lots of US soldiers scattered in Korea, but in my 5 years here I've rarely come in touch. Met a few soldiers at a Seoul Ron Paul meetup in Itaewon, and also have seen some soldiers around Itaewon in general (some of them dumbasses, but oh well) when I venture there.

Edit: sorry, off topic but was supposed to have been a reply to dusman.




ON topic now... I saw him in the spring of 2007 in a debate and instantly liked him on foreign policy... I'd voted Bush in 2000 based on "a humble foreign policy, no nation building" then got disillusioned on Iraq and voted Badnarik in 2004 despite knowing absolutely zero about him except the (Libertarian) next to his name. Thought Ron Paul didn't stand a chance though, so kinda ignored him and tuned out to the whole thing. Then I randomly saw a bunch of people had raised millions of dollars for him on Nov. 5th, started thinking maybe he DID have a chance, started browsing YouTube and within a day found this forum and joined. I may not have been a terribly active poster over the several years, but I don't think there's ever been more than a few days gone by when I didn't drop by and read what others were saying.

 

[wowrevolution]

I don't remember exactly when or how. I do remember in either 2004 or 2005 I wrote Dr. Paul a letter in which I simply said: "You have to run for President, you're the only one that can win and restore hope to this country." (or something to that effect)

I created a WoW Guild called <Vote Ron Paul> that had a successful raiding career until it became <The Revolution> after the book once he withdrew from the race. I think I made sure he had name recognition for 10s of 1000s of people and every day I saw lights coming on as people would see him on TV and then in the game. I pride myself on helping with creating name recognition.

I believe that may be successful again but I'm not sure if Dr. Paul needs name recognition any more. I may just bring that guild back to life anyways but I'd really like more support if I did. Managing a WoW Guild really is a lot of work.

 

[sailingaway]

in 08 i supported obama simply for his wanting to end the wars, and it seemed like he wanted change. after his first term i stopped supporting him. just more of the same. early this year i started looking at the gop field and found ron paul on youtube. the rest was history.

Welcome to the forum!

I was on another politics forum during 2007 and some people there said I'd like Ron's views, and explained a few of them. They sounded ok, but I had read bad spin against him (the usual) and reserved judgment figuring I'd look into him before I voted. I did glance at his web page but his issues page was nothing special. The one thing that did strike me was that he had never voted for some things, like raiding social security and the patriot act, even the first time. The point being that what got me was not what he was saying now, but that he'd been consistent when others hadn't been. People kept tying the Constitution to him, which intrigued me, because I am pretty attached to the Constitution. I did donate a bit in Nov and again in December but only after the second big money bomb on December 16th did I actually look into the newsletter smear, which popped like a soap bubble. I went on youtube and watched some videos -- ELiberty and Avaroth etc....and a lot of others.

Once I realized how consistent he was to the Constitution and civil liberties, as much as war issues, I lost my apathy so to speak. I'm not sure if I ever voted in a primary, before that....

 

[Ronpauljones]

I know people hate to hear this, but I have to give credit to AJ. I've been "awake" since 2003 and first heard RP on AJ's radio show.

+ rep simply because I know people hate hearing the name Alex Jones. For whatever reason.

 

[R3volutionJedi]

Fmr. Huckabee supporter.
I woke up to the NWO through Alex Jones' films, then heard Ron Paul on the radio; Looked into him a bit, then ran into him in front of the capitol.

 

[Shane Harris]

I was 18 at the time of the 2008 general, and i voted for McCain. I didn't vote in the primary and paid no attention. It was clearly R v. D. no need to go any further. One year earlier I had read the fountainhead by rand and that had turned a light on inside me that was already there and waiting. the notion of the collective v. the individual all of a sudden became very important to me, and had got a little interested in Milton Friedman, but hadn't put the political pieces together. i was never presented with the option. i found ron paul about December 2008 when my dad mentioned him being interesting and suggesting i look him up, after sparking my dads interests by suggesting we eliminate the income tax and large departments of the government. i did. and this was the missing piece. everything fit together and all i wanted was for him to run in 2012 so i could vote for him. i read revolution over Christmas of 2008 and like some others i had been raised very neocon and so the foreign policy pill was the hardest to swallow (and took about 2 years to swallow completely) but now i have seen the light and could never vote for an interventionist. it is one of my favorite things about paul. rp has lead me to peter schiff, tom woods, austrian economics, henry Hazlitt, etc. RON PAUL CHANGED MY LIFE.

 

[USAFCapt]

First president vote: Supported Buchanan in 1999, then stumbled upon HARRY BROWNE and the Libertarian party. Expected Browne's views to get him millions of votes in 2000...he only got 500k while Gore received 51 MILLION - became aware of two party duopoly. Then voted for Badnarik and placed a Ron Paul bumpersticker "The Taxpayers Best Friend" on my first car because he wanted us to stop funding the UN. When I saw his exploratory website in late 2006 I about had a conniption.

 

[CaptUSA]

When I realized the American public may actually be waking up to what's been going on and that Ron Paul acutally had a shot.

I must admit that I watch 2008 with curiosity, but didn't get involved because I knew America would never elect him. Now, I feel differently. After 2010, it seems that people are beginning to realize the destruction that has been done to our country. Many of these people are going back to sleep or never really understood it, but there's an opportunity here. This is one that didn't exist in 2008. It's up to all of us to re-ignite this in the American public in 2010.

 

[Carehn]

sometime back in 07 or 06 I was convinced I would never vote again. I was told by TV that republican meant smaller government and democrat meant more. this was the depth of my political thinking. I was in high school so give me a brake (edit- I had been out of high school for 3 years but stopped caring back in high school) . At least at the time I was thinking enough to know that nether party represented small government. I just decided I would not waist my time anymore.

Then I was walking out of the mint, a diner in Haylie Idaho (spelling?) and seen a slim jim posted on a cork board. I read it and googled Ron Paul when I got home.

Ron Paul was the gateway drug that lead me to other parts of the liberty movement.

So ya, slim jims work and I put them all over now.

 

[ronpaulfollower999]

Good thread. Proves that every little thing we do does bring in supporters! I found out about him in October, but didn't really go full on until I heard about the November 5th money bomb.

Slim jims, bumper stickers, money bombs, sign waving, Alex Jones, etc…they all work. Though, I'm curious if anyone was brought in because of the blimp.

 

[sailingaway]

Good thread. Proves that every little thing we do does bring in supporters! I found out about him in October, but didn't really go full on until I heard about the November 5th money bomb.

Slim jims, bumper stickers, money bombs, sign waving, Alex Jones, etc…they all work. Though, I'm curious if anyone was brought in because of the blimp.

The blimp definitely caught my attention, and was cool. It was the people on the other forum who seemed to share some of my views and thought I would like him who actually got me to research him and donate to him, though.

 

[LinuxJedi]

I first heard about Ron Paul when he had the guts to address the TSA mass-molestation, and government-mandated radiation scans. Hearing him introduce legislation to ban this practice was the first time I felt proud to be American since around 2003. My refusal to fly under these conditions are a major obstacle to my personal life, and career. Later on when I heard he was running for president, I was excited... and somehow I found out more about the guy, and now I'm spreading the message, and doing everything I can to help get him elected.

 

[Paul4Prez]

When I first heard that he had formed an exploratory committee, in early 2007. I voted for Ron Paul in 1988, and had hoped he would run in 2004. An online draft effort that year drew only 3,000 signatures. How times have changed....

 

[D.A.S.]

Back in 2007, I was leaning solidly Democratic, and the Republican Party looked to me like big-business cronies that wanted to screw the average American to help their corporate pals. The Democrats always seemed to be the people's party, friendlier toward the environment, compassionate toward the less fortunate, and generally anti-war.

In the 2007/2008 presidential election cycle, I was intent on watching all the Republican and Democratic debates on TV -- the Republican ones mostly for entertainment only because I couldn't see myself supporting any Republican candidate at that time. The pivotal moment for me was when during the first Republican presidential debate Ron Paul openly came out against George Bush's wars, stated that he actually voted against the Iraq War, and proceeded to blast our foreign wars and foreign policy. I was FLOORED!! I just couldn't believe that there would be someone with so much spine to come out against his party and actually stand up for the cause and show real principle. I still flirted with Democratic candidates, but I always paid special attention to what Ron Paul had to say during the Republican debates.

In early 2008, I voted for Ron Paul in the NJ Republican Primaries. In November 2008, on the day of the general election, I knew Ron Paul didn't have a chance to be elected, and that saddened me, but I was proud to exercise the "write-in" feature, and I wrote in Ron Paul.

In the 2008 cycle, I didn't run into any Ron Paul supporters, didn't see any bumper stickers, t-shirts, slim jims, etc. As of now, I'm yet to run into someone in NJ with a Ron Paul bumper sticker or a t-shirt. So I do my part here by sporting a bumper sticker and wearing a Ron Paul t-shirt here in central NJ.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

When I looked at his voting record in 2007 and read that he wanted the U.S. to end funding of NATO and to disengage completely from the United Nations and basically everything he supported was sound to restoring the United States Constitution.

 

[Crystallas]

When I got off my libertarian high-horse and finally said, f--- it, I'm voting for Ron. I knew about Ron for a long time, and I have always liked him. I guess it was that one stupid hurdle that I had to get past, and it has been well worth it!

 

[ILikeRonPaul]

took me a while cause in 2007 i became deathly ill and was not in the mood for politics . but by 2009 i was already back to normal health and i started looking for any candidate that wanted to legalize marijuana cause i was disappointed in Obama's stance . i came across Ron's so-called "banned" 20/20 interview on YouTube and was quite shocked at what i was hearing . i was a pretty gnarly dude and i still got a little intimidated by his views on government . but i started researching what he was talking about, thought about it real hard, saw a couple documentaries (zeitgeist, obama deception) and sometime in late 2009 i fully endorsed Ron .

 

[Crickett]

Was a hardcore Democrat until after the '06 midterm elections when Pelosi did an about-face and said Bush wouldn't be held accountable for war crimes and that impeachment was off the table. Started getting into Alex Jones' documentaries and website, where one day I saw this ad:

I will never understand why a Democrat took impeachment of Bush off the table when I was a Republican and wanted him impeached because he did IMPEACHABLE things! Now he is trying to raise money for a Presidential Library when he should be living in shame. In fact, I hate Pelosi more than Obama.

 

[Corydoras]

In the spring of 2007 I read Naomi Wolf's "Fascist America, in 10 Easy Steps" in the U.K. Guardian. She mentioned the American Freedom Agenda. I found out that Ron Paul was the only candidate who signed their pledge.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/apr/24/usa.comment
http://www.americanfreedomagenda.org/About/freedompledge.htm

 

[kojirodensetsu]

In 2007 when he was on Stephen Colbert. He started talking about cutting things like department of education. I was confused as to why you would cut departments like that. Looked into him and got hooked.