audendi

There, I said it. Straussians, especially like the people at the Claremont Institute and Hillsdale College, and the Department of Defense and the White House, have all but ruined our country. I think Leo Strauss himself was much misunderstood, in fact, and the people harming America by dragging us into war, after war, after war, are the people that we must hold to account every year by going out and voting, and more importantly, by taking action. The loss of liberty in this country has gone on too long. We must make our stand, every day, and say, “Across this line you shall not pass.”

This is of course a somewhat dramatic way to make the statement in defense of freedom in the truest, best sense of the word. But I feel that in these times it is necessary to ring the bell, sound the alarm, and wake people up. It’s not too late, but we are running out of time. The fact is enemies of freedom and liberty surround us on all sides, regardless of what party badge they wear, be it Republican or Democratic.

The time to act is coming in Ohio. Vote against the war, and vote with your brain, not just your heart. Be smart about it, Ohio will be an incredibly important state the rest of this primary election season. I am calling all of you readers (as few you may be) out. The time to do the hard work to win this country back is now.

Tell me who would win in a battle of wits, my friends (and my enemies, numerous as they may be on these internets). Leo Strauss or Ron Paul?

I’m not so concerned with the Straussians or Leo himself, but the totally crazed disciples of his that made one man’s philosophy a religion of death and destruction.

Essentially, I dare you to comment coherently in this blog. I’m sure you know I’m biased one way, and you know whom I would pick in this grudge match. Win, lose or draw, say your piece.

Your Internet Pal,

Daniel Greene

They deftly maneuver, and muscle for rank
fuel burning fast on an empty tank

Ron Paul ‘Boston’ Tea Party in Columbus, Ohio on December 16, 2007

We raised over 4 million dollars for Ron Paul’s campaign in one record-breaking day. Truly incredible. I was privileged enough to be there today Sunday to see a group of 60 plus patriots brave the weather to throw our own tea party. The boxes of ‘tea’ were thrown into the river, representing all the things Ron Paul would help us get rid of were he President. We did not litter, however, the boxes were firmly connected to strings, so don’t worry. We had a great time supporting the revolution! Here’s a write-up about this event and the relevance of Ohio, from lewrockwell.com. Viva la revolucion!

Have you ever heard of the phrase “Ballots not Bullets” - a phrase used in the 19th century? If not, it was the idea that paper ballots, not use of violent arms, was the appropriate way to settle political disputes large and small. If you look at the evolution of the political process in America, you see the overriding importance of the use of the ballot box. Concomitant with this is the importance of free access to the ballot box, the right to free association, the right to a free news media, the right to life, and so on. It seems that anymore these days, our public officials abuse their positions of power without but a peep from the people. It seems that things are falling apart and that the operators of our public institutions are asleep at the switch. Some people feel that this process is inevitable, the sign of some sort of end times, some apocalypse that will, nay must, befall our dear republic. Well, to hell with that notion. There is hope. There is a way out. But the answer must come from within ourselves. We have to lay aside our apathy, our avarice, our sheer laziness and greed. We must come together and defend this country not with violent revolution but with loving, peaceful persuasion, hard work, and consistent voting. But what does this have to do with Dr. Ron Paul, Texas Congressman running for the Republican nomination, and for President of These United States?

Well, I’m just some guy you probably have never met from Dayton, Ohio. I wasn’t born here, but I was raised here, and I love where I’m from - ok, technically I live in Beavercreek but I went to school in Downtown Dayton, so there. I don’t have a college degree, yet, but I know enough to tell you that the vast majority of the people running for president in both parties have a lot of trouble saying what they mean, and even worse, meaning what they say. You know this to be true, just watch the television for five minutes, look at their faces, watch their expressions. Most of them don’t mean a word of it, and you know it.

Ron Paul is different. Now, I don’t agree with him on everything, but he is clearly a hardworking, honest man. He has put his time in serving this country, and now that he feels the time is right, he has decided to run for President. Almost eleven months ago he announced, and people everywhere didn’t even hear about him, because he was not taken seriously by the ‘mainstream’ media. Well, that doesn’t matter as much anymore, because the media is being democratized before our very eyes, the power of information is being handed down to the regular people. People like you and me.

I am a registered independent and I really want someone that I can support in the March 4 primaries here in Ohio. Ron Paul doesn’t just stand for a lot of the things I stand for, he stands for them with great courage and conviction. He is the only candidate this election cycle that should, no, that deserves, to be Chief Executive of the United States of America.

- D. Greene
Friday, December 14, 2007

• The impact and importance of Ron Paul’s record breaking one day 4.3 million dollar fundraising total
• Ron Paul on Kudlow and Company, talking about monetary policy after his public scolding of Fed Chief Ben Bernanke
• Ron Paul Videos for the Deaf with subtitles
• Ron Paul’s 3rd New Hampshire TV ad, as described by the NYT
• Why Washington Lobbyists don’t like Ron Paul
• Ron Paul Graphs - quarterly donation statistics and lots of fun graphs about his fundraising rates and more
• Drew Carey on medical marijuana - Ron Paul supports legalizing marijuana and would stop DEA raids on legal (by their local state law at least) cannabis clinics and pharmacies

As my friend PJK can’t support Ron Paul due to his monetary policy and ideological consistency, he has decided to throw his support behind a more capable, Machiavellian candidate, namely Hillary Rodham Clinton. I thought that he, and all you other Hillary supporters out there, would appreciate this interesting video:

Just a little taste of what to expect if the Clintons take the White House again.

It went down Saturday evening, October 6 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Well, technically he was just across the border in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky at the Drawbridge Inn, addressing the Gun Rights Policy Conference. There were about 500-600 people there by my count, the vast majority of them in Ron Paul t-shirts or carrying signs. Here is a wide shot I took so you can have an idea of how many people were there, although there were a lot of people outside of even that shot:

The following video is a roundup of local television coverage of Ron Paul’s visit. The surprising thing is that when Hillary and Obama made their runs through Cincinnati, they got about the same coverage, if not less. The joke about the Cincinnati television media is “if it ain’t on fire or freshly killed it ain’t a story.” So all in all, pretty good. So far I haven’t seen any print media coverage of the rally.

Ron Paul entered to much fanfare: here’s YouTube of his entrance. He spoke for roughly twenty minutes, going into some detail about his political philosophy, including the notion that when there is some problem out there, we ought to look within ourselves for the answer instead of assuming the government ought to do something about it. You can watch the entire speech on YouTube: Part 1 and Part 2. The audio quality is not the greatest but that’s due to the sound system at the conference and because the video was shot on a handheld. Here’s the same speech at better quality in 3 parts: SAF 1, SAF 2, SAF 3. Here is an uncut version of the speech on Google Video that includes lots of shots of the venue and the crowds.

At the end of the speech, The Second Amendment Foundation, who put on the conference, awarded Dr. Paul their 2007 “Legislator of the Year” award for his work in defense of our Second Amendment right to bear arms.

In all, I think it was a great speech. I thought he was just going to be talking about the Second Amendment due to the venue, but he covered a host of topics, hammered home some of his main points, and covered a lot of ground. He made a lot of good points about health care, foreign policy, and the economy. I was glad to hear more about health care, which is something he needs to really go after. Watch the speeches, it’s worth your time. The event was a resounding success in my opinion. The place was packed and people were cheering wildly. I could feel the energy in the room and it was exciting, especially because I had never been in the same room with so many Ron Paul supporters before!

Also worth noting is that at the Drawbridge Inn there were several other events going on at the same time in separate conference rooms or eating areas. One of those events was what appeared to be a reunion of some veterans of the 11th Marine Regiment stationed at Guantanamo Bay. These men aren’t necessarily recent veterans of the War on Terror, as the United States has been stationing people at Gitmo for over a hundred years. If Ron Paul were to become president, all of the active duty members of the armed forces serving at Gitmo would be able to come home since we wouldn’t be there anymore. We wouldn’t need to be there anymore. To quote Ron Paul at the speech, we “need to understand the importance of defending liberty.”

So, last Saturday I held a Ron Paul meetup at the 2nd Street Public Market (we rented space there to hold a meeting).

After the meeting, a few curious vendors asked me who Ron Paul was after seeing several people, myself included, wearing Ron Paul t-shirts in the market. I briefly explained that he was running for President, and explained his positions on several issues, including the war, and they seemed receptive and just genuinely interested. They were concerned about RP’s positions on abortion and gay rights, and I explained Ron Paul’s federalist policies regarding those matters, to which they nodded, neither indicating approval or disapproval. I also emphasized that I was a registered Independent and that for me, the war in Iraq is the most important issue of our time.

As I was finishing my conversation, a vendor next to them chimed in and asked me if I had ever served in the military. I replied that I had not. She then said ‘that’s what I thought’. After asking her what she meant, she basically informed me that I didn’t know what I was talking about: ‘all you liberals have no idea what it’s like over there.’ Furthermore, because I had not served in the military, I had no right to an opinion on the matter. I politely replied that some of my best friends serve in the Marine Corps, that I worked for the Air Force as a civilian for several years, and that as a taxpaying citizen I am entitled to an opinion on this matter. She eventually recognized my right to hold an opinion but again re-iterated that I didn’t know what I was talking about, you know, because I had not served in the military. I tried to be as polite as possible (not easy for someone as confrontational as me), apologized to the woman for offending her, and went on my way. There was so much I could have said in response, but this lady was getting red in the face and quite visibly angry, so I opted for discretion. My only regret is that I did not inform her that Ron Paul served as a flight surgeon in the Air Force during the Vietnam War.

I’ve written up a lengthy post-debate summary here - 9/5 NH Debate: Ron Paul pwns Hannity. Here’s video of some of his highlights:

Continued »

Last Wednesday or Thursday, the DDN posted an article about the election and asked a question on their website: Who Would You Choose, Hillary or Giuliani? Many people said they would choose neither. About six people that I could count mentioned Ron Paul. Over time, the comment section for the article turned into a bit of a flame war and it appeared that the DDN took it offline. This has happened before and the comments are usually lost down the memory hole. For example, comments on the article about the City of Dayton not being able to account for 32 million dollars lasted all of an hour or so on the DDN website.

In the Saturday, August 11 edition of the Dayton Daily News, I noticed they were publishing what people online thought of the candidates. I was shocked to see Ron Paul’s picture as part of the feature. Further, I was astonished to find that the first comment about Ron Paul that they published was mine! I think they edited my comment a bit, I can’t be sure, because I commented two or three times on their website about him, but they got the gist of it right:

“I do not want to run your life, your family, or your religious beliefs. I don’t want to run the economy and I don’t want to police the world. I don’t know how, I don’t have the authority and it doesn’t work. Join us in this great campaign for freedom and liberty. Thank you very much.” - Ron Paul

The voting results for the Ames Straw Poll are already over an hour late, it appears there were ‘malfunctions’ in the voting machines. The Diebold voting machines audited by a Romney supporter, btw. Not to cast aspersions on the process or anything, but it sure looks bad.
UPDATE: Looks like Ron Paul came in 5th place - not bad considering how much money he comparatively spent on the Ames Straw Poll, which in the internet era is becoming increasingly irrelevant.

Esther volunteered at the polling places - here is her take on how the event was organized and run.