Have I said what kind of person I am yet? No? Sheesh! I have to correct that, because Ron might be reading this forum, and I want him to know why I have supported him for twenty years!
I was born and raised in rural California. That's the red part of this blue state. My father was somewhat moderate (coming from a New Dealer Democrat household) but my mother was staunchly Republican. I was steeped from a very early age in individualism, free enterprise, anti-communism and fundamentalist Christianity. I read Robert Welch as a child! I was still a high school senior when Ronald Reagan ran for his first term, but I voted from him in college for his second term.
But my mother taught me too well about freedom and liberty! It was only a matter of time before things started to click together. I stumbled across the the existance of the Libertarian Party, and I was hooked. I was in 98% agreement with their platform. I remember a broadcast interviewing a member of the John Birch Society saying "Oh, those Libertarians. They're even more conservative than we are!" I remember a fundamentalist pastor preaching against the drug war.
And then Ron Paul ran for President!
There were a few parts of the Libertarian party that rubbed me the wrong way. The cultist objectivists, the indulgent libertines, the get-rich-quick hucksters with John Edwards haircuts. But then Ron Paul entered the scene and I realized that there was indeed room in the Libertarian Party for ordinary salt-of-the-earth people. I remember Russell Means and FIFE (Freedom Is For Everyone). I remember Andre Marrou campaign for *vice* president. I remember Ron Paul coming to San Diego, and me being lucky enough to sit at the same dinner table with him! I still have his autograph in my copy of Freedom Under Seige. I've got old copies of Libertarians for Life and the Free Market newsletter.
I found two 1988 campaign bumper stickers in my closet last week. They read "Ron Paul Libertarian for President." I didn't have a car back then to put them on. I do now. I'm putting them on my car, because I'm tired of waiting for my new Ron Paul Revolution bumper stickers to show up in the mail! I've never had any bumpers stickers on my cars. Ever. But I am now!
I've also put my copy of Freedom Under Siege and Case For Gold in my reading list stack, to read all over again. Interjection: Wow, I've got a 1988 Ron Paul campaign brochure as a bookmark in Freedom Under Siege. I didn't know that was there. Did you know that Ron Paul had exactly the same platform in 1987 that he does in 2007? The picture in the brochure makes him look twenty years younger, that's the only difference! The other Republicans in the race only *dream* about consistancy such at that!
But like today, I remember the media ignoring him. I remember two television appearances back then. One was a deplorable shock-jock show, whose host has long been forgotten. But the other was William F. Buckley's Firing Line. I used to watch that show religiously. That was back in the era when conservatives were erudite and thoughtful proponents of liberty. Bill Buckley used to debate Cornell West with respect and insight. My how the times have changed!
Anyway, Buckley had Ron Paul on. There were two notable events during that broadcast. The first was Buckley offhandedly admitted he was a libertarian. The second was when Buckley asserted that Paul's campaign was, like Buckley's earlier New York run, a "didactic campaign", whose aim was to educate the people on liberty.
"No!" said Ron Paul. "I'm not running a didactic campaign!" Buckley raised his famous eyebrow. "I'm running to win!"
Some moments in time etch themselves indelibly into your memory. That was one of them. I've been his fan every since. No other candidate, in any race, has ever captured my excitement like Ron Paul did in 1988.
It's twenty years later, and by God, I think he's finally going to win that election he told Buckley he was going to win!
My story is getting too long, so I must cut it short. It's been a strange twenty years, but I am ecstatic that Ron Paul is again running for President. I feel like I'm a kid again. Thank you Ron Paul! Thank you for not giving up on the American People these past two decades! Thank you for not giving up on me!
