Ron Paul and Freedom: A Memo to the Faithful

This post is posted here by popular demand, and is edited from its original. (a few typos)

"THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." Thomas Paine

I think like a lot of people in the freedom movement, results of the recent poll in Ames Iowa did not meet my expectations. A lot of the so called second tier candidates did better than Ron Paul, who has numerous advantages over them. But, as has been stated most often by Dr. Paul himself, Liberty is Popular. I think it would be naive of us to assume that we can just say to the establishment, who have people who dedicate their whole lives and intellect to their goals, that Ron Paul is here and everything that they have money and organizations set up to do is going to magically come to an end.

I think Historically Freedom is a hard sell. Much like the Americans who threw tea into the Harbor in Boston, we are met with a determined resistance even among our own countrymen. The long slow road to a free society is met with constant obstacles and painful defeats. Some will undoubtedly look at the results of Ames and say the time has come to throw in the towel. Freedom has often had grief inconsolable and heights never imagined. Freedom is an experiment which measures the goodness inherent in the human soul. Oftentimes the free take for granted that there are people who are not, even ignore our own noblest traditions in favor of a less free approach, because people who are free have an almost unshakeable belief in the fact that they will remain so, and that nothing they could do could ever jepordize that. We should expect that this notion will be an obstacle to our success in the same way, if not even a way that is more incalcuable than the money in the primary process. In some ways the greatest enemy of the freedom movement is itself, for among the righteous who have great outcry over the wrongs of the establishment are the most cynical as to the inevitable victory for freedom in this great struggle. Kid yourselves not, this is a great struggle of ideas and is one that aims at the very heart and soul of who we are as a people. One of the greatest things about being an American is the pride that one gets in stating that we are, for we all know what that means to every one of us. Lately, the pride has been less, we've become more ashamed of who we are, and some of us have permanently disconnected from the political process. Do not let the establishment win by giving up and saying all is lost, the enemy is too numerous.

"But let it not be said that we did nothing. Let not those who love the power of the welfare/warfare state label the dissenters of authoritarianism as unpatriotic or uncaring. Patriotism is more closely linked to dissent than it is to conformity and a blind desire for safety and security. Understanding the magnificent rewards of a free society makes us unbashful in its promotion, fully realizing that maximum wealth is created and the greatest chance for peace comes from a society respectful of individual liberty. " Rep Ron Paul