Glancing up to see a ‘Ron Paul for President’ hoodie meandering through my place of work was vertigo-inducing, to say the least. More so when he came directly up to me with a question, bypassing others closer by and more capable at giving assistance. I answered his question flatly, but walked with him, confessing my admiration for Paul and involvement in the two campaigns. Surprise registered on his face, followed by a shadow, then good-natured resignation. We had never met before, yet we both saw in each other ghosts of our respective pasts. Strange meeting there, on a New Year’s Eve, five years after hope died for Paul’s campaign. “They’re all still there, they just need someone to lead them”, were his last words before leaving. I wished him well, but disagreed entirely with his sentiment. What Paul created became something more than him. He didn’t lead, he began a revolution and stepped aside as we took over. Someone can start a wildfire, but they aren’t themselves the flames. I don’t like this attitude that so many have of waiting around for a savior, a prophet, a god, to drag them out and give them a religion to fight for. What we fight for is a world without a king, equals under the law, not subjects of a crown. A revolution for liberty should be no different. Ron Paul’s revolution was never about Paul himself. He gave us our black flag, but we flew it. Some still are. But they’re jaded in the way my acquaintance was. He sees an end, but it feels like a beginning, like something cycling back around, a boomerang thrown a decade into the future. It’s coming back around, you’ve better not given up on it.
“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.”-Ron Paul
