A Message to The Revolution

Tenth Amendment Center: Constitutional Conversation

For many Ron Paul supporters, the first major shock this year was Rand’s endorsement of Mitt Romney. Others felt the blow from Jesse Benton and John Tate. Still, others looked at the Campaign for Liberty’s obvious shift from liberty only to a republican advocacy group as reason for dismay.

And just this last weekend at the Paul Festival, many supporters were freaked out by what people considered a Romney endorsement from Sheriff Richard Mack.

One prominent activist that I hold a great deal of respect for put it this way:

“Well… I guess i needed this weekend to know that i dont belong or fit in anywhere in politics, including the liberty crowd…. Final straw, finding a new way to change the world…”

From charges of the good Doctor getting squeezed out of debate time, to shenanigans in the caucuses, to surprising endorsements of the opposition, to rejecting convention delegates and proposed rule changes that would have made the Republican party an even more centralized power structure than it already is – the frustration level of many of the most dedicated Ron Paul supporters is at a fevered pitch.

I do agree that there’s plenty to be frustrated with, even if the concern of some might be blown out of proportion in some cases.

I was moderately active in the Ron Paul meetup group #1 back in 2007, and felt that – wow, here’s a guy that even if I disagreed with him on something, he’d start and end all of his actions with the Constitution. The same couldn’t be said for a single politician – in my entire lifetime. That – in and of itself – was something worthy of support.

But my dismay started early on – with the direction of “the revolution” as many were already calling it.

I remember watching a short CPAC introduction speech by Jeff Frazee, head of Young Americans for Liberty – a group whose existence was tied to Ron Paul as his message. Jeff got up on stage and proudly proclaimed that “YAL was the country’s top organization of young conservatives.”

Hmmmm. Wow. My gut reaction? Did this dude just change the name of the organization to Young Americans for Conservatism? To me, that’s really all I needed to hear. While I have a great deal of respect for Jeff and the work over at YAL – I don’t particularly want to be part of a movement to expand conservatism, just as much as I don’t want to be a part of a movement to expand progressivism.

I just want liberty.

You see, liberty isn’t about politicians, or political parties, or political ideologies either. Liberty transcends all of it.

But, I digress.

Ron Paul has, all along, considered himself nothing more than a messenger.

“I’m an imperfect messenger, but the message is perfect,” is one of his famous quotes.

But long ago I had to accept the fact that this message – of the Constitution and your liberty – is unwelcome in Washington DC. And I’ve even grown beyond that understanding too. It’s not just unwelcome, there’s unbridled hostility towards it. Just ask a Ron Paul delegate to the Republican convention what it’s like to be blocked, buried and cheated at virtually every turn. That’s not a “you’re not welcome here” message – it’s a “we hate you and never want to see you again” message.

So what’s a good person to do? Ron Paul has certainly stuck to his principles – through attack, ridicule, success and failure. That’s obviously one of the big reasons for Ron Paul’s dedicated support. “He’s the only one with principles,” is something I often hear.

Guess again. Washington DC is overflowing with people who stick to their principles. It’s just that these people have a different set of principles. They are megalomaniacs. They’re thieves. They’re liars. They’re thugs. They’re killers. And they’ve been sticking to their principles for generations.

I would argue that a person of principles – someone who wants to advance the cause of liberty..or any cause for that matter…would do a far greater service to their goals to stay as far away from Washington DC and the national political machine as possible.

That’s why I’ve worked so hard for years now to be a part of a different kind of solution. A new way to change the world.

As the famous philosophical question goes, If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, does it make a sound?

I like to apply that to other issues too. If the president starts another executive war and no one shows up, will there be any fighting? If Congress passes a law and no one cares or obeys, is it still a law? And if these people keep holding their imperial conventions and we all turn our backs on them – will they really even matter?

Just think about that for a minute. If all the time and effort put into lawsuits over Obamacare was instead put into efforts to nullify it no matter what the federal government people had to say, that so-called law would be dead and gone already. Twenty six states wouldn’t be figuring out the next lawsuit. They’d be resisting.

If all the antiwar activists during the Bush administration had spent time nullifying instead of voting for a peace candidate that bombed Libya (and others), there’d be far less war too. If advocates of gun rights, due process, industrial hemp, free markets, civil liberties, better education – and an endless list of other issues – spent their time, money and energy close to home – with the courage to nullify DC instead of hoping to fix it – we’d all be far better off.

I know Ron Paul revolutionaries have heard about nullification. Ron himself has spoken in support of it a number of times. Tom Woods wrote a book about it and speaks on the subject quite often. The Mises Institute held a course on it. A number of Lew Rockwell columnists have written about it. And my columns have appeared there and on the Campaign for Liberty website too – before they made their big shift.

Liberty isn’t going to come by trying to take over Washington DC, or the republican party, or the democratic party, or your state caucus or a national convention. There is no “lesser of two evils.” They’re all evil.

Become a member and support the TAC!

Liberty will only advance by rejecting these people and the entire criminal system they’ve foisted upon us.

I want the government people to get the hell out of my life, and the only way that’s going to happen is if we work together to nullify all of them into oblivion. The next step for Ron Paul revolutionaries? If you want liberty – it’s not another political campaign. It’s right here.

Please come home. We’ve been waiting for you!

“I would rather be beaten and be a man than to be elected and be a little puppy dog. I have always supported measures and principles and not men.”
–Davy Crockett

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