Dropping the Ron Paul Revolution Ball
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How does a movement die? How did it happen? Why did it happen? How can we ignite it again and make it something greater than it was before? These questions, some if not all might be rolling around in the brain pans of those that were there in 2008 and 2012. “What’s this there?”, you might ask, the Ron Paul revolution is the ‘there.’ It was a while ago but when looking back upon it doesn’t seem all that long ago. In 2008 many young people were hit with a dose of reality when they were first introduced to then congressman Ron Paul running for the republican nomination for president. It was the start of a revolution. This revolution was one of thought where people were encouraged to learn about topics they had never heard before. Ron Paul would speak about fiat currency, the federal reserve and fractional reserve banking, he was able to speak about these topics so clearly that thousands would leave his campaign events and purchase books to learn about this material. This revolution involved education and self improvement, not rhetoric and straw man arguments. This revolution was one of the mind and for the very soul of America, and it was igniting with the youth of America. Ten years later and many seem lost and not sure where to go if anywhere to continue this fight, the fire seems gone and the revolution looks injured.
The blame for the injury upon the revolution for some time was chalked up to just mismanagement, now though it is clear that the GOP and Libertarian Party (LP) have been against it for sometime. The GOP made it clear early on that they wanted nothing to do with the revolution though some still made there way there to start the “Republican Liberty Caucus”. In the LP there seemed to be a far different approach. Though many of the principles that Ron Paul espoused were also those of the Libertarian platform there seemed many in the party unwilling to open their arms to those that were looking for a place to continue the revolution. There were literally millions of people looking for a place to now call their home as it were in the political party realm. The two major parties wanted nothing to do with them, the LP seemed to be the same, seems true growth is something they were not worried about at all. When the opportunity came up to embrace these people the LP seemed uninterested and there were even many in leadership roles and factions of the LP that spoke out against them coming to the party. When the LP needed strong leadership the most it lacked horribly in that department. The 2016 LP presidential run could have been something to speak of in a positive manner, now it is thought of as what it was, a joke. Even with the poorly chosen candidates by the LP they still should have had a chance to make an impact in 2016 yet due to the lack of leadership and acceptance of those that were looking for a place to go it was a lot to do about nothing.
The LP’s leadership has been weak for far too long and the time is now to change it. This year the LP’s national convention in NOLA will see huge changes in the leadership roles…. And it is about time. To have dropped the ball this bad in the last decade is embarrassing and truly highlights the failures in the leadership. A golden opportunity was given to the LP and it was simply botched in more ways than one. The Ron Paul revolution is out there and still waiting to make a resurgence, strong leadership in the LP could bring that about. The brush fires of liberty are still out there, they just need some help and a place to go. The LP can and should be that place.
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Keep that coffee warm for us.
LWS
