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

[dusman]

I'm one of them! I'm an (American) English teacher here in Ilsan, Korea.

But 20%?? Wow, that's high!

I'm jealous! I considered doing the same thing, because it's a great career to have there.

Where is Ilsan in regards to Osan AB?

 

[Ronpauljones]

I wasn't awake back in 2007/08 but Paul was one of the few candidates I liked. I ended up voting for McCain because there already were strong hints at what we were going to get from Obama. Since then I have gradually woken up more and more. This election cycle I was a big supporter of Herman Cain. Until I began researching the candidates and found out all of them are globalist puppets except Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann. I still think Bachmann is too but I can't find anything on her (she is fake Tea Party for sure). So by process of elimination I left with Ron Paul. I have since researched alot about him and realized I should have been supported him as the one and only true candidate since 2007.

 

[Maximus]

Youtube after the 2008 primaries but before the general

 

[XTreat]

I read The Revolution: A Manifesto

This. I didn't even vote in '08 because of questioning the two party system, and just happened across the right book at the right time.

 

[Ekrub]

To be honest I didn't really like any of the candidates in '08 except for RP in '08 but I was still on the fence about the wars. Swallowed some pride and hard truths, admitted to myself I was foolish for supporting them and after McCain got the nomination I really began looking into Ron Paul and I "woke up." spent months looking at Youtubes, found the DP a little while later and then eventually found RPF.

 

[sorianofan]

... when I heard him in one of the 2007 debates schooling Rudy and the rest of the muppet show on foreign policy. I had already felt that the wars were immoral and unjustified and everything he said made perfect sense and introduced me to the concept of blowback. I started researching him more, and I realized that everything he was saying made perfect sense!

When/what made you decide to support Ron Paul??

He was on Alex Jones for years and I knew he was libertarian. Only afterward did I appreciate he was a Christian. He woke me up concerning the evils of abortion.

 

[Ronpauljones]

Good friend of mine was knee deep in conspiracy theories for about a year. I had written him off as crazy for months. When he brought me a flyer that's headline said George W Bush is the anti-Christ I got defensive and wanted to prove to him once and for all he was crazy. At the bottom of said flyer was a article about Ron Paul. Started doing research and fell in love. Foreign Policy was the hardest pill for me to swallow initially, but now it is what I appreciate the most about our good Dr.

Some people get way too deep into the "conspiracy theory" thing.

 

[surf]

i'm not that old, but i've got everyone here beat so far: 1988 when he won the libertarian nomination. he's always been a clebrity as our only elected congressman and it was with strong reservations that i joined the GOP in 2007, became a PCO, and convinced some neighbors to go through the whole heartbreaking caucus process with me. i'm feeling more optimistic this time. people are definitely willing and excited to vote for him if we give them a chance.

 

[Invi]

In 2008, I didn't vote, but I kind of liked Obama because, lol, he said he'd bring the troops home. I vaguely remember seeing Paul in an 07 debate, but I didn't know who he was, and I wasn't paying attention. I wasn't into politics. Bringing the troops home struck me because my dad is in the army, and has been for a lot of his life.

Early last year, a user here whom I met over the internet on another site got me to look into Ron Paul. I don't think I was really sold until I finished reading End The Fed, and realized how serious our monetary issues are, and the ways inflation comes about.

I was already open to him because of his view on foreign policy, but everything after that.. Well, down the rabbit hole, apathy out the window. Now I'm here, and stress about the way things are going way more than I ought to. :|

 

[JohnRego]

Found out he was a friend of Rothbard. I've now distanced myself from Rothbard because I don't believe in natural law, but I retained my allegiance with Ron Paul as the person closest to my position with political power. Especially since he considers himself an voluntarist, a word which I'm sure he knows the meaning of.

 

[BuddyRey]

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:

It looked kind of silly with the wig and everything so I didn't take this guy seriously at first, and I didn't think he was running on a major party platform either. But then in May '07 I saw a familiar name and face on the debate stage in SC where he thoroughly trounced Rudy Giuliani on foreign policy and came across as an extremely bright, reasonable, and compassionate person (qualities I'm not used to seeing in politicians). From there on out, I knew I had found the guy I was going to support in '08 and beyond. He even cured me of my socialism, though that took a bit more time and effort, plus learning from the folks here at RPF's.

 

[Eric21ND]

What a silly picture, and I've never even seen it before. lol

 

[tfurrh]

When he schooled Chris Wallace on heroin at the SC debate.

 

[BuddyRey]

What a silly picture, and I've never even seen it before. lol

LOL! I know, right? Now imagine that this image was your very first glimpse at RP before knowing anything else about him. I thought, "that guy looks absolutely insane and off-the-rails." It was a classic example of a first impression being proven completely inaccurate.

 

[Aldanga]

It was really a homeschool textbook that got me moving in my junior year of high school. I had a class on government (I picked it, as I did not know much about social studies), and read this book with amazement. When the Constitution was covered, what was stated in it was so plain and clear, and yet I knew it wasn't followed. I wondered why it was ignored and what could be done to fix it. The writers of the book (some large Christian university out east; I don't remember the name) made excuse after excuse for the path of the government, but I refused to buy it. That started a chain reaction that would not be stopped.

Since I had just turned 18, and having already been on a path of questioning what I had been told by Republicans, the media (particularly Limbaugh, as I had been a big listener in jr. high and high school), and just conventional wisdom, I was open to any candidate. I had considered joining the Constitution Party or Libertarian Party, but didn't see them going anywhere soon. So I had no outlet for my strong beliefs.

I was on another (very small) forum and there was a thread around June '07 discussing the '08 Republican nomination race. Someone mentioned he was supporting Ron Paul, so I googled him and looked up his issues page. I saw he was totally right about everthing—the perfect candidate it seemed—save for the wars. (Yes, it is very possible to be pro-war and a small-government conservative, albeit a mislead one.) I said, "Well, if he's exactly right about all of these things, he might be right on the wars too. But he probably doesn't have a chance." So I forgot about him for a while and continued on.

Later down the road (probably around September), I had come to a point where I believed the wars were not in our best interests, and that Ron Paul was right, so I started looking into Ron Paul again. I was paying some attention to the debates, and read RPF some. I decided that if Ron Paul was right, I needed to support him if I wanted to have any shred of credibility. Even if he wasn't going to win, I was going to still support him. I eventually donated during the November 5th money bomb and that set history in stone.

 

[Birdlady]

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.

 

[mosquitobite]

I've been a Ron Paul fan since somewhere between 2003-2004. I was THOROUGHLY disgusted with the Republican congress and Bush for not shrinking our federal government in the slightest. Ron Paul was the only republican politician speaking out against it and I was in love! I voted for Badnarik in 2004.

When Dr Paul announced he was going to run in 2008 I was thrilled. I have donated to EVERY moneybomb he's ever had. I went the Indiana Republican Convention as a Ron Paul delegate, at 5mos pregnant.

Between 2004-2007 I had hoped that Mark Sanford was going to run in 2008, and had McCain picked him as his running mate, I probably would have voted for McCain holding my nose. As it was, I voted for Barr in the general.

Still debating whether or not to try being a delegate this time around. I'm sure I'll be remembered as "one of them" if I try...

 

[JohnGalt23g]

... when he decided to run on the Libertarian ticket in 1988.

 

[ProBlue33]

YouTube 2007 debate clips, he just made logical sense, and all the other guys came off as fanatical war mongers that were just scared of the bogeyman.
Funny thing is I had seen Ron Paul in other clips before but I never new what he stood for. When the Nov.5 moneybomb hit I knew something special was developing, and signed up with RPF.

 

[Jared Thrasher]

I never really paid much attention to politics in High School. I started to wake up to some things shortly after 9-11 when I was in Vo-Tech School. I still never had really felt like I had seen a candidate who seemed like a real human. After stumbling across a Ron Paul video on YouTube back around '07 I thought, now there's a guy I could vote for, but I was pretty ignorant about the whole Primary process. I had always been registered Independant, and never realy understand anything about Oklahoma ballot access laws, so I just assumed that Ron would be on the ballot in the general. I was disappointed for sure when he wasn't an option in the general for 2008. I voted for Obama because when faced with the choice of someone who says that they want the war to go on for the next 100 years vs someone who is talking about ending the war - of course I chose the peace candidate. Alas, I slipped back into apathy. Time went on and I had just about forgotten about Ron. Then I see that he makes the anouncement about forming an exploratory commitee for 2012. Remembering how pissed I was when he wasn't an option on the 2008 general ballot motivated me to register as a Republican so I could vote for him this primary. I have since read The Revolution: A Manifesto and Liberty Defined. Once you go Ron Paul, you never go back!