Ron Paul Has Already Changed the Future of American Politics

Impact

The message of liberty has proven to be stronger than "9-9-9," "Yes We Can," or any other empty campaign rhetoric that has been incessantly repeated in  today's election cycle. Unlike the others that merely pander to our base instincts of "Hope and Change" or our desire to have a Dr. Evil-style Moon base, there is substance to the liberty message. 

Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) has been delivering the same message of peace, sound money, and limited government for over 40 years. His entire political career has been devoted to the preservation of liberty and truth. 

As George Orwell rightly said, "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." Unfortunately, we are in living under a state apparatus that is built on lies. Bailouts, wars, and other state-sanctioned interventions are always necessary to keep us safe from the evil economy or the evil bogeymen who reside in evil caves. 

A rather significant characteristic of the message is the way it has spread: through the internet, alternative media, and grassroots movements like the Dec. 17, 2007, Tea Party money bomb that raised over $6 million in one day. That day marked the beginning of the modern day Tea Party, before it was co-opted by Fox News demagogues like Sean Hannity and other so-called conservatives in the mainstream media. The alternative media has propelled this revolution to the front lines of political discourse in this country. Thousands of students come to see Ron Paul speak on a regular basis. Paul supporters, both young and old, male and female, become students of Austrian economics and the Constitution.

An entire generation of Americans have become politically aware thanks to Paul's efforts. 

So, why has the mainstream media missed out on this intellectual, ideologically positive revolution?

It is unprofitable for NBC, Fox, or CNN to provide fair coverage of Ron Paul and the ideas he represents. They have a keen financial interest in maintaining the status quo, promoting false narratives, and giving their viewers the illusion of choice. Corporations like General Electric, who owns NBC, profit immensely from the perpetual warfare state. It is important to understand that the media bias against Ron Paul and the ideas he represents is intentional. It is psychological warfare. It is an information war. Even with the state propaganda machine working tirelessly against it, the message of liberty has reached millions of people around the world. 

Thanks to Paul's persistent delivery of this message, there is a renewed, healthy mistrust of government. The first-ever GAO audit of the Federal Reserve revealed to the American people that Chairman Ben Bernanke and the Fed handed out $16 trillion to financial institutions during the 2008 housing crisis.

Here are a few, even more ridiculous reasons to assume that the federal government has our best interests in mind: 

Obama's NDAA & Bush's PATRIOT Act The Federal Aviation Administration projects 30,000 drones will fly over the nation by 2020 Director of the CIA and former General David Petraeus wants to use smart appliances to spy on Americans Department of Homeland Security orders 450 million rounds of hollow point ammunition. SOPA/ PIPA/ CISPA $2 billion National Security Agency data center in Utah 

In August of 1774, Thomas Jefferson penned his Summary View of the Rights of British America, in which he described the attacks on the colonialists via the British parliament's taxation on tea, paper, and stamps. Jefferson stated, "Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period, and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate and systematical plan of reducing us to slavery."

Dude, where's my country? How did we get here? 

Incrementalism. James Madison, had this to say about incremental tyranny, "I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations."

When faced with tyranny, liberty is the answer. This was true in 1776 and is still true today. Ron Paul has been giving us that answer for quite some time.

The Power of Ideas

Last August, after the Ames Straw poll where Ron Paul came very close to defeating then GOP star Michele Bachmann, Fox News host Megyn Kelly asked Ron Paul if he was "disturbed" by the lack of mainstream media attention he received. In Paul's response, we find the very core of what the Liberty movement is all about:

"Well it disturbs me. I don't use the word frustrating because I think I anticipate it, I know how the system works. And I know what I'm trying to do. Because it's not like I'm just trying to win and get elected. I'm trying to change the course of history."

The ideas that have driven the Liberty movement into the mainstream are pervasive. They are political, social, and economical. Whether it's the Austrian economists who predicted the 2008 collapse, the non-interventionists who routinely predict the unintended consequences of our military adventurism, or the exposure of the Federal Reserve banking cartel that benefits the 0.1% at the expense of you, me and every person you will ever come in contact with regardless of their race, gender, religion, or political affiliation — these ideas and their proponents are moving into the mainstream — and moving fast. Liberty is a plant of rapid growth indeed.  

Ron Paul often paraphrases French novelist Victor Hugo in his campaign speeches. "An idea whose time has come cannot be stopped by any army or any government." This is true. Meet my friend: The Law of Diffusion of Innovation.

Per Wikipedia, "That is, diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system." Now, once these ideas reach a certain point in the diffusion process, the innovation reaches critical mass. This is where the innovation, the idea, the movement becomes self sustaining. 

Social philosopher and Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises stated, "In the long run even the most despotic governments with all their brutality and cruelty are no match for ideas. Eventually the ideology that has won the support of the majority will prevail and cut the ground from under the tyrant's feet. Then the oppressed many will rise in rebellion and overthrow their masters."

As drones continue to fall from the heavens, and as we get ever closer to the financial day of reckoning, these ideas will continue to be spread and understood throughout our society. The duty falls upon all defenders of Liberty to become beacons of resistance in this dark hour. Ron Paul has carried that torch for over forty years. It's our turn now.  

Revolutions take time.