Wow! What a great episode! While they were telling Ron Paul stories I was reminded of a few of my own (I don't think I've told these yet).
Back when Ron Paul was running in 2012, my cousin Joe (the original owner of this account) was invited to stay the weekend at his best friend Vincent's house. His other best friend Kyle would be there, and the three had known each other for years. Before Joe arrived on Friday night, Vincent made a $50 bet with Kyle that before Joe left, he would say Ron Paul's name 50 times. Joe was really enthusiastic about Ron Paul so Vincent felt confident that he would win his bet. However, neither Vincent nor Kyle to my knowledge were big Ron Paul fans, or were even following politics, so it's not like Ron Paul would come up in casual conversation. Both Vincent and Kyle kept count the whole weekend, and by the time Joe was leaving on Monday morning he had said "Ron Paul" a total of 45 times. Which is kind of a lot of times considering they were 19 and 20 year old guys just hanging out over the weekend. It looked like Kyle was going to get $50 until Vincent, in a move of genius, said "Hey, Joe, who's that politician you like so much? Was it Ron Paul? Oh yeah! RON PAUL! .. RON PAUL! .. RON PAUL! ..." and began chanting Ron Paul's name. As Joe joined in and a look of horror came over Kyle's face, Vincent changed his chant: "RON PAUL! .. RON PAUL! .. RON PAUL! .. FORTY-EIGHT! FORTY-NINE! FIFTY!"
The way I got introduced to the liberty movement was unique because I was so young. The only thing I knew about government and politics in 8th grade when Ron Paul was running again (2012) was that it was the most boring subject to learn about in school. Which branch of government makes laws? Which branch executes them? What does execute mean? What's the difference between Congress, the House, and the Senate? My opinion on politics was "just let the men in suits handle things". Then one day Joe showed me the For Liberty documentary, and it changed my life. The first time I watched it, I didn't understand any of what was being said. It didn't matter though, because the documentary moved me. How could so many people be so excited about politics? The most moving moment for me in the documentary was when Marc Scibilia sang "Hope Anthem" at the rEVOLution march on DC and when Michael Maresco biked across the country. I didn't know what the fuss was about, but I wanted to be a part of it. I borrowed Joe's "Manifesto" and came away from reading it with a different point of view. "The men in suits" are the people who should NOT be running government! As a matter of fact, those people are making all of our lives worse! Politics isn't boring, it's exciting! Because LIBERTY is exciting and that's why all the people in the documentary were excited. It's a shame that my beginning came at the end of the excitement, but at least I will have the opportunity to be part of the next big exciting thing!
