Posted on 02/01/2008 8:12:50 PM PST by JOAT
I went to the Ron Paul rally tonight to get a sense of the candidate and the people who support him. The venue was the Colorado Convention Center in downtown Denver. The hall was packed, standing room only. I would estimate over 3,000. I didn't expect to find that many people on a Friday evening. (Event time was 6:00-7:30pm)
The session was opened with a prayer then the usual string of self-congratulatory speeches by various campaign workers.
Dr. Paul got up to speak and because the Rally coincided with his 51st wedding anniversary, he spent a few moments praising his wife and family. The bulk of the hour was spent talking about the importance of the Constitution (imagine that from any other candidate) and how we as a nation have strayed so far from the principles enshrined in that document.
It was interesting to me to see the eclectic mix of people cheering the Constitution. From nasty dreadlocked hippies to men in business suits. Long time party activists to first time politicos. The majority of the people in the crowd were very young idealistic student types, but all age groups were represented. (It seemed odd to me that the 20-somethings were the biggest component in this crowd for some reason.)
The only common denominator was that the crowd was yearning for freedom.
To the hippies this of course means smoking pot with impunity. To the business owner this means keeping government regulation out of his business. To the conservative constitutionalist this means shrinking the government to its boundaries as defined by the document.
As I sat in the back of the auditorium and watched the crowd it was informative to observe who cheered and when. There were some who I noted had a hard time cheering during certain parts of the speech, but would cheer wildly at other times.
The crowd convulsed when 'a certain candidate' (Dr. Paul never mentioned McCain's name) was quoted as saying the US might need to stay in Iraq another 100 years.
The people running the campaign seemed to understand that the idealism of the youth was not translating into effective grass roots campaign work, therefore instructions regarding caucus attendance and becoming precinct committee people were touched upon. Ron Paul also echoed this, essentially saying that regardless of how his campaign went, the people in the room needed to stay involved in the process afterwards to keep the government from straying further away from the founders intent.
Super Tuesday will determine, in all likelihood, that the Republican Party will select a RINO candidate this year. Too bad.
The Constitution was a beautiful thing.
Do you have a link? 45 trillion in the hole sounds a bit much. What are your sources?
Oh no, we are the US mommy who takes care of things.
Even Bono said so.
Perhaps, but even addled minded pot headed hippies do grow up Abbeville.
Any “Troofers” there with their 9/11 conspiracy posters?
It was Ron Paul’s supporters that made me doubt him more than Ron Paul himself.
Yeah, ‘cause they got out when they realized there was no way they could win...and that was when they were receiving 10%-15% more support than Paul.
First of all, Paul is not anti-war. He's a non-interventionist, but he will fight a war if it was necessary.
Second of all, states would still regulate marijuana. Paul would just decriminalize it at the federal level. And if someone wants to smoke a joint, who cares?
Even bono said so? Well this is hugh!
Nobody really cares what I think.
Paul has beaten Fred in all of the contests except MI and SC.
Because you don’t want:: gonorrhea, herpes.....the man might not be a polished politician,he does believe in the Constitution,,don’t you...?
It's against the law to smoke cigarettes in certain areas, including ones home, apt, etc. As a non smoker, great for me in restaurants, but someone's own home?
WY was a coronation for Romney from the party hacks, and MI should be IA, that was a typo.
Certainly, a preface though:
Terms like “debt” Deficit” and “Liabilites” are not the same in Governmental Accounting practices, if corporate accounting methods were used:
“Bottom line: Taxpayers are now on the hook for a record $59.1 trillion in liabilities, a 2.3% increase from 2006. That amount is equal to $516,348 for every U.S. household. By comparison, U.S. households owe an average of $112,043 for mortgages, car loans, credit cards and all other debt combined.
Unfunded promises made for Medicare, Social Security and federal retirement programs account for 85% of taxpayer liabilities. State and local government retirement plans account for much of the rest.”
From:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-28-federal-budget_N.htm
Now before the accusation of “Bush Bashing” happens, IMO GWB has done a pretty good job on this stuff with recent tax revenues into the Treasury reaching record levels, the problem is more systemic then attributable to a single Administration or President or Congress.
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