United Liberty

As I have previously mentioned, I am a Ron Paul supporter and have served as a grassroots coordinator and served in the delegate process. These write-ups are not so much “news” as they are “views of the revolution” from an activist’s point of view. I had originally done a recap of this past weekend’s state conventions. That can still be found below after I discuss the big developments from yesterday.

So yesterday afternoon I started seeing twitter postings that caught my eye, I then proceeded to open up my email inbox and read the following message from Dr. Paul.

Almost instantly, I saw a few retweets from Drudge Report on my feed. “Paul’s Out,” screamed the headline…it was yet another example of why I’m so glad I started boycotting that hack’s site almost a month ago over his complete silence of anything relating to CISPA (can’t make Republicans look bad). But I digress…

What proceeded over the next couple of hours was nothing short of information overload: Media outlets basically running with the MSM fallacy of Paul leaving the race or suspending his campaign mixed with Paul-friendly sites trying to squelch that misinformation with their own media surge. It finally got to the point where the campaign had to send out another communication. There were also fellow activists either talking like it was the end of the world or theorizing about how it was this Machiavellian stroke of sheer genius. And naturally, there have been surly comments of Paul “selling out” or trying to set up his son’s political future.

I think the truth, as it almost always does, lies somewhere in the middle. The big thing, in my opinion, is that this was unavoidable. Paul simply did not have the resources to continue actively trying to win primaries. Simple as that. By doing this, he doesn’t have to worry about results, particularly from his home state of Texas. And as the campaign mentioned, they can place emphasis on the delegate strategy, which has always been the foundation of his 2012 campaign.

Also, and I think that Jesse Benton confirmed this, things did seem to be disintegrating. Things were getting uglier and more contentious with every state convention. I really think things were starting to get out of hand, and I believe that Dr. Paul felt the same way.

Now this is where we start getting into the “stroke of genius” stuff. Let’s say a nice, clean-cut Mormon boy who is the son of a certain presidential candidate gets booed off the stage at a state convention, well…it’s those crazy Paultards! Dr. Paul is not actively campaigning anymore, right? And let’s talk about a state like Minnesota, where the delegates are unbound and the Paul forces have a very good shot at cleaning house at that party’s state convention this weekend, just like they previously did in Maine and Nevada. Well…now Paul’s “out,” and most of the rank and filers who have no doubt been inundated by their state leadership about the threat of the Paul forces and how their presence is of the utmost importance, may not feel as compelled to attend. It’s definitely quite possible.

I think the biggest thing to take away from this is what Dr. Paul has said all along—it’s not about him. It’s not about one man. It’s the message that matters. The decades-long cause that he has been fighting for is the main thing here.

Personally, I think we are witnessing a renaissance of freedom and liberty that can not be defeated. We have reached critical mass. We have the momentum. I posted this on a write-up I did here last year, but I always think of a Hunter S. Thompson quote when I reflect on what we’ve seen over the last 5 years,

There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning…And that, I think, was the handle — that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn’t need that. Our energy would simply PREVAIL. There was no point in fighting — on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave…

 

The delegate stragegy is still in play. The Revolution continues…

My original follow up regarding the Arizona and Oklahoma conventions follows:

Another weekend…another round of fighting for the heart and soul of the Grand Old Party. For those of you keeping score at home, the Paul forces are basically taking over many state parties and the GOP “is being remade in the image of Ron Paul.” The results of the past weekend’s battles in Arizona and Oklahoma seem to be, at this time, a mixed bag; although it is quite possible this could go down as a great weekend for the Paulians.

In Arizona, where, once again, dirty tricks and tactics may have been used by the GOP Establishment, the Paul forces have seemingly secured a historic victory and have officially made Paul eligible for the ballot in Tampa. Interestingly enough, the Paul forces had supposedly offered the Romney/Establishment folks a deal—we’ll give you 50% plus one, and we’ll take the rest.

Apparently, the Romney folks balked at this and decided to go to war even though they had the minority. Even one of Mitt’s sons who was in attendance tried to get involved and was quickly booed off the stage by Paul and Romney supporters alike. Arizona’s 29 delegates are bound for the first ballot in August. The votes haven’t been counted yet, but it seems almost a given that Paul will have the majority of delegates that Arizona sends to the convention in August. So, if it goes past the first round of voting in Tampa, Paul would have a majority of those delegates. As of this time, though, it is hard to say exactly what the final outcome will be.

In Oklahoma, things look a little bit dicey as well. Despite the Paul forces also having the majority there, it seems like a Romney/Santorum/Establishment Unity Slate was able to sneak its way into victory; however, there are multiple reports that the slate was never properly accepted and the convention was illegally closed. The Paul forces, and, allegedly, some of the Romney delegates, proceeded outside where the convention was reconvened and a slate was elected. So…we’ll see. In terms of bounding of delegates, Oklahoma is a little bit different from most states in that delegates are bound for all rounds of balloting until those delegates are released. As it stands, approx. 2/3 of those delegates are not bound to Romney.

Regardless of these outcomes, I don’t think there is any doubt by anybody, Paul supporter or not, that the GOP, and really the entire American electoral process, will ever be the same. And to me—that’s a good thing.

I’ll be posting updates to this post as new information presents itself. Coming up, we have Georgia’s state convention this weekend as well as Minnesota’s. Should be interesting…