Where Were You Before Ron Paul?

[tbone717]

Libertarian Party. I'm done with those clowns now though. However, I will never join the GOP.

If I vote in the future, I will just vote for candidates who I think are very principled libertarians no matter what party they are in. I don't see myself affiliating with a party though unless the LP gets its act together at some point.

But what about primary elections? There are a lot of libertarian-leaning candidates running in competitive GOP primaries not only this year, but there will be in years to come.

 

[Wooden Indian]

Voted Bush in 2000... was pissed at myself in 2003... didn't vote again until the 2008 primary... Then again this year.

It still makes me sick that I supported that douche.

 

[DerailingDaTrain]

9) Not Registered (Under 18) - this means you were under the age of 18 when this whole thing got started and you registered GOP right from the start

I was 14 in 07/08 lol.

Same here but I've always considered myself a Libertarian. The only reason I'm in the Republican party is for Ron Paul.

 

[tbone717]

Same here but I've always considered myself a Libertarian. The only reason I'm in the Republican party is for Ron Paul.

Just curious, will you stay now that you see that there are dozens and dozens of libertarians running for office in the GOP?

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?365683-List-of-Liberty-minded-Candidates-for-US-Congress

 

[seekingliberty]

I was a mainstream Republican. I listened to the talking heads and faux news. Would prob even be considered an "evangelical" republican. I voted for Huckabee last time around. Couldn't stand McCain but liked Palin and voted for the pair. Didn't even consider Ron, after all he was a kook and had a horrible foreign policy. A whole lot has changed in the last few years! Awakening to the truth was a real experience. I'm grateful to Ron Paul for being so patient with those of us that are a little slow. I feel like we owe it to him to continue on. It's much easier now days with all the support. I couldn't even imagine going through everything he has.

 

[DerailingDaTrain]

Just curious, will you stay now that you see that there are dozens and dozens of libertarians running for office in the GOP?

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?365683-List-of-Liberty-minded-Candidates-for-US-Congress

Yeah. I can't see myself voting for an LP candidate after what Bob Barr turned out to be and there are far too few Dems I agree with anything on.

 

[LisaNY]

Voted Bush in 2000... was pissed at myself in 2003... didn't vote again until the 2008 primary... Then again this year.

It still makes me sick that I supported that douche.

Me too, especially when I think of my cousin who got killed in Iraq. I actually helped put a man in office that ended up killing one of my relatives.

 

[tbone717]

Yeah. I can't see myself voting for an LP candidate after what Bob Barr turned out to be and there are far too few Dems I agree with anything on.

My issue with the LP and CP is that they spread themselves too thin, 40 years and never a Congressional win is not a good record. And only 12 state legislator victories in all those years, again a poor record. When I flirted briefly with the CP I had the ear of the state chairman, I asked him why they didn't focus on one or two House races rather than spending all their money on trying to run for Governor, etc. It fell on deaf ears.

 

[BuddyRey]

I was a commie supporting Obama. That is the truth. I actually have a copy of the Communist Manifesto in my room.

However, as I learned more about Ron Paul, I realized Libertarianism achieves the same social justice that Communism strives for, but without need of violating our freedoms or government intervention.

Essentially, by eliminating unnecessary government, there is no need to tax large businesses because it makes the business environment fair for everyone due to the nature of competition.

I was never registered however. I am Canadian.

Yup..."Socialist" or at least "social democrat" would have been the the closest label that would have fit me back then. I never bought the Communist Manifesto, but I did check it out from the library once (bet I'm on all kinds of nifty gov't databases for that).

It's weird how quickly libertarianism "clicked" with me once I started thinking about what it actually meant instead of viewing it in the terms I had been taught to. I always thought libertarians were just greedy people who only cared about the bottom line and wanted corporations to run everything. But when I realized their disdain for government arises out of a more general desire to steer society away from institutionalized coercion and violence, that's when all the pieces came together.

I went from Marxism to Rothbardianism in about three years. And Ron Paul was the conduit that made it possible.

 

[bunklocoempire]

GOP (Mainstream) Apathy

 

[DGambler]

Mainstream R, came to Ron in 2008. I left POTUS blank in '04 as "it" had started in my thoughts and something smelled fishy about W. I did vote for Perot the first year I could vote.

 

[TheGrinch]

Voted Bush in 2000... was pissed at myself in 2003... didn't vote again until the 2008 primary... Then again this year.

It still makes me sick that I supported that douche.

Yep, Bush in 2000 was the last GOP candidate I ever supported, though in our defense, he did talk about not going around "national-building" , and I sure wasn't voting Gore, but you know, in the words of Bush, "Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."

At different times over the last 10 years, I've considered myself every one of those labels, but all that means is that at the end of the day, I'm going to support the ones who seem to have the country's best interest in mind, which has pretty much resulted in all 3rd party/libertarian votes; But I couldn't be happier that it ended up being Dr. Paul with the answers, after all the years of searching....

 

[mport1]

But what about primary elections? There are a lot of libertarian-leaning candidates running in competitive GOP primaries not only this year, but there will be in years to come.

If that is the case, I'd vote for them. They'd have to be very principled though. I'm not wasting my time voting (which is already a waste of time) to vote for the lesser of two evils. I'm just saying I have never and will never identify myself as a member of the GOP.

 

[ChristopherShelley]

On disability without direction, frustrated and angry. Now I have hope of getting off of disability, knowing there are people out there who believe in something real.

 

[mad cow]

Card carrying,dues paying member of the Libertarian party from about 1985 until about 2005,$25/month off my
credit card for about 2 decades,until I started to get discouraged.I was amazed by the support Ron Paul got from
the young in 2007,and it has only grown.

Don't get discouraged.

 

[Uriah]

Any room for a studious anarchist still examining the political scene?

 

[tbone717]

Any room for a studious anarchist still examining the political scene?

In terms of the 10 choices I put up there, I'd say that would be apathy because you weren't registered, but were of age - correct?

 

[mport1]

Any room for a studious anarchist still examining the political scene?

There is always room for anarchists in the political scene

In terms of the 10 choices I put up there, I'd say that would be apathy because you weren't registered, but were of age - correct?

But being an anarchist doesn't mean one is apathetic. I'm an anarchist and am very far from apathetic or uninvolved in politics.

 

[raystone]

I was a commie supporting Obama. That is the truth. I actually have a copy of the Communist Manifesto in my room.

However, as I learned more about Ron Paul, I realized Libertarianism achieves the same social justice that Communism strives for, but without need of violating our freedoms or government intervention.

Essentially, by eliminating unnecessary government, there is no need to tax large businesses because it makes the business environment fair for everyone due to the nature of competition.

I was never registered however. I am Canadian.

thank you for sharing. Profound, I thought

 

[Lishy]

Yup..."Socialist" or at least "social democrat" would have been the the closest label that would have fit me back then. I never bought the Communist Manifesto, but I did check it out from the library once (bet I'm on all kinds of nifty gov't databases for that).

It's weird how quickly libertarianism "clicked" with me once I started thinking about what it actually meant instead of viewing it in the terms I had been taught to. I always thought libertarians were just greedy people who only cared about the bottom line and wanted corporations to run everything. But when I realized their disdain for government arises out of a more general desire to steer society away from institutionalized coercion and violence, that's when all the pieces came together.

I went from Marxism to Rothbardianism in about three years. And Ron Paul was the conduit that made it possible.

Hail, comrade! The proletariat shall rise one day! (I still lulz how some people actually talk like that... Even when I was a commie, I found it awkward hearing people call me comrade...)