For Liberty Examines the Kingmakers
For Liberty, a documentary of the Ron Paul grassroots movement, deserves attention. Ron Paul enthusiasts will recognize familiar names and faces and relive unforgettable moments, and students of elections, campaign managers and political activists of all persuasions should see it. Everyone concerned with the direction of the country and the breakdown of political discourse would find something moving. The seeds of this grassroots movement are still growing.
One Amazon customer review
lauds, "this movie simply and eloquently captured the passions of an
unlikely coalition of people from all across the political spectrum who
quickly came together in response to a uniquely American message, and
who unexpectedly, enthusiastically and sometimes haphazardly ended up
immersing themselves entirely in a political campaign." Why then did
the campaign do so poorly? "The grassroots felt [the official campaign
staff] were at best incompetent" protested
Adam de Angeli of the Campaign for Liberty, the remnant of the official
presidential campaign on which he worked. He then doth protested too
much defending the failures of the official campaign in a documentary
about the grassroots. Incoherently, de Angeli criticizes the
documentary for avoiding examining mistakes while still harboring
delusions that the official Ron Paul presidential campaign brought
"hundreds" of Republican National Convention delegates in its fight for
the nomination (Green Papers shows Ron Paul winning only 20 of 2,380 delegates with 15 final votes).
This
movie puts faces on the people demanding a radical change towards a
more moderate government. Ross Perot mined this good government vein
in his two presidential bids with a call to put our own house in order
before promising new grandiosities and foreign interventionism. About
two-thirds of Americans are angry at government solutions and do not
think either party has the answers according to a recent Rasmussen poll. Recently Joe Scarborough
revisited a 2003 economic prediction from his guest Ron Paul that
warned that if we were to continue to inflate this bubble we would have
our housing crisis with damage world-wide; Arianna Huffington went out
of her way to agree with Dr. Paul.
People now protesting against the bailouts, out of control
government
spending and out of touch politicians in both parties
show the movement has grown beyond the Ron Paul "r3volution." A few
hundred thousand people, by my best estimates, recently converged on
the Capitol for the Tea Party protests. David Brooks explains these Jeffersonian roots. In my unscientific poll of the
9/12 Tea Party protesters, few recognized Ron Paul's name and nearly
all of those who did were dismissive or expressed a highly negative
reaction.
Two years ago, my friend Nicholas Sanchez prophetically remarked,
"This political train-wreck Republicans face can largely be traced to
Bush’s philosophical metamorphosis from a traditional,
non-interventionist conservative to the neoconservatives’ exemplar of a
'War President', and his positioning of the Republicans as the 'War
Party'." In fact, polls and other indicators increasingly show both a
resurgence of conservatism as well as disillusionment with the
Republican Party. After Dr. Paul warned the party has lost its way,
the Republicans suffered a crushing defeat. Support for foreign wars has since plummeted to an all-time low says CNN.
For Liberty: How the Ron Paul Revolution Watered the Withered Tree of Liberty
introduces us to the people who decide elections and the future of the
country--not just the activists but the swing voters. A 2006 study
by David Boaz and David Kirby found that about a fifth of voters hold
generally libertarian views. Grover Norquist labels it the "leave us alone" coalition. The pieces of a political realignment
waiting to happen are wonderfully edited on screen. As Ron Paul
demurred, "it was the message not the man": liberty is popular and the
constitution brings us together.
With a third of the country behind one of the two major parties, For Liberty examines
the people standing in the middle who decide elections. Those who want
to win over increasingly discriminating voters in 2010 and 2012 should
study this movie. As one woman in the film explains, the more they talk with their
neighbors the more they find they agree. The Rovian approach of divide
and conquer loses in the end. For Liberty beautifully shows us what Markos Mousitlas called the only true people-powered campaign in 2008.
Follow J. Bradley Jansen on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bradleyjansen
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What a terrific review. For all of 2007 an 2008, so many of us invested ourselves in the Ron Paul presidential campaign, sacrificing so much to see the America we once loved. Like so many on here, Dr. Paul cured my apathy - never again was I to look upon politics in the same nonchalant light I had for so many years.
What is truly remarkable is the fact that the Ron Paul campaign has never ended - just metamorphosed. Sure, many have left, and a bit of activity has died down, but the ones who actually mattered, the hardcore supporters are still out there in full-force. I'm proud to say I'm one of those people.
Thanks for the excellent review, and I can't wait to watch this movie in full.
While it was wonderful that Lowden invited Dr. Paul to speak at the convention, that was the ONLY gesture made towards him & his supporters. I actually wonder whay she made it, as the hall was filled with McCain posters & banners that were put up by the GOP convention staff. The convention program, which had no schedule, was also ALL McCain. No one else was invited to advertise or put up posters/banners. A big shindig was held for Romney the night before at an expensive ball. The Ron Paul people met at a local high school gym with Ron. It was free. When Romney & the other GOP presenters spoke, all they could do was make low jibes at Hillary & Obama. It was embarrassingly high school. This was around the time Obama bowled that pathetic score. Romney tthought that was more important than the war, the economy, etc. When Ron Paul gave his speech, there was obvious disinterest & disdain from Lowden & her gang. He was ushered to the dias & then quickly away after his speech. He was the "elephant in the room" they didn't want to acknowledge. If you watched the footage, you'd be outraged that this is how a state convention was conducted. Nevada wasn't the only place this happened. But aside from these facts, Paul's speech was brilliant, as usual, and his opinions on important topics never attacked, they only showed us what could be if we'd only follow our Constitution.
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"While it was wonderful that Lowden invited Dr. Paul to speak at the convention, that was the ONLY gesture made towards him & his supporters."
No, it wasn't. After the popular vote (and Romney dropping out, I think), they approached the official campaign respectfully and brokered a gentleman's agreement with them. By all accounts the delegate voting chaos was a result of the Ron Paul staffers not honoring their word. Again, like I said, from there it spiraled downward quickly.
In some states (Louisiana, parts of Texas), the treatment by the establishment was terrible. In other states (DC, Michigan) the state parties put Dr. Paul on the ballot despite the official campaign screwing up. In other states (Virginia, Illinois) it was the grassroots who saved their ballot status over the incompetency of the campaign. The treatment by state party officials was a variable all over the map. The incompetency of the Paul campaign staffers was a constant.
I am anxiously waiting to receive my copy of this DVD. Does it actually cover the behavior of other members at the state and local conventions?
What about the Nueces County Republican Convention where they decided to ignore chosen delegates and replace them arbitrarily with 151 people who were never voted on? Or how about the Hawaiian Convention, where the entire thing was written down ahead of time, in a script that included all the results of votes! The treatment was worse than terrible - it was cheating! The outcomes were pre-determined! And the fact that the GOP is considered a "club" made it impossible for the cheated to rectify the situation - a situation that still exists. In fact, right now the Republican Party of Florida is busy kicking out members who have expressed criticism of their actions. http://rlcnews.org/?p=88
Thanks for your response J.B.! Here in Nevada, the GOP state convention was abruptly "recessed" in violation of Roberts Rules of Order, and the lights in the hall & sound turned off. Over a thousand people were milling around in the dark asking WTF? All because the Ron Paul people were winning the state delegates' elections. The ballot boxes were put in a safe & never counted. Our state GOP "leadership" does not even know where the boxes of ballots are now. Instead, they taook a raaft of their hand-picked McCainites & lived the high-life at the taxpayer expense in St Paul at the convention. A protest was brought before the RNC about this behavior & Sue Lowden & her gang were censured, but it was an empty gesture. Meanwhile, the few Ron Paul delegates who were there were treated like lepers & told in no uncertain terms they were going to vote for McCain, or else. Meanwhile, over at the Rally for the Republic, liberty ruled & those who were in the Target center (who outnumbered the Republican Nat'l Convention) got a taste of how great this country could be if we only followed our Constitution. I will never forget the experience & "For Liberty" will help me remember. I was so honored that some of my own video from the Rally for the Republic was used in the production.. In Nevada, we are still fighting for our Constitutuion
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Nevada certainly made news! It was still frustrating to watch the official Paul campaign demonize the state chair early in the process after she was the first one to invite Dr. Paul to speak at any state convention. I think there was a reaction (even from many libertarian-oriented Republicans) against the Ron Paul delegation because of the double-crossing from the staffers. From there it seemed to go downhill quickly. Image the impact we could have made in other states if more chairman had been encouraged to invite Dr. Paul to speak at their state conventions instead of being turned off.
The slim numbers of delegates for Ron Paul at the Republican National Convention in no way reflects his support in the grassroots. Across the nation. state Republican conventions which were dominated by Ron Paul delegates, were shut down so that these delegates could not have their say. At the national convention, gestapo tactics were used on Ron Paul delegates to get them to give up their votes. The POTUS nomination process is corrupt & that's the next scandal that HAS to be brought to light.
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Ausscyn,
Your premise is right, "The slim numbers of delegates for Ron Paul at the Republican National Convention in no way reflects his support in the grassroots." The simple fact is that the official campaign staff never had an effective strategy to win delegates--and at the convention it was former campaign manager Lew Moore who was reported ratting out the Ron Paul supporters so they could be monitored.
Awesome post. I will have to check out the movie. It is refreshing to see the comments that there are some thinking people. The Republican machine should be ashamed of themselves for ignoring Dr. Paul in the primary. Comming from someone that watches a lot of Fox News, I've never been more disgusted with Fox than when they excluded Ron Paul from the debate. He was the only one of the bunch who would give you a straight answer to a question. The only canidate who if you ask him a yes or no question will give you an unqualified yes or no answer.
Which is why, try as they might, the neo-cons will NEVER succeed in corralling the freedom movement into something they can exploit for their own agenda. These hypocrites are spending a lot of cash co-opting and marketing the pro-constitution, Don't-Tread-on-Me, small government message as their own. But they will NEVER be able to speak with honesty, and without honesty there will be no support!
Ron Paul was by far the best candidate.Sound money ,audit the Fed ,bring home troops on foreign soil, every thinking person should have voted for him.Its a shame Republicans sabotaged his campaign he was the only real conservative.
Ron Paul. A true statesman. I hope he runs in 2012. I would vote for him in a hearbeat!
"Those who want to win over increasingly discriminating voters in 2010 and 2012 should study this movie."
They should study the Constitution, Austrian economics, and their own consciences to see if they are worthy of the respect of this movement as well.
Good review of the documentary - I am looking forward to checking out a copy. I campaigned for Ron Paul door to door in Michigan and Illinois, after voting Democrat in every prior election.
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I think you'll enjoy "For Liberty." There are lots of people like you in the documentary.
Ron Paul's campaign proved that freedom brings people together.
I saw all sorts of people at his rallies; Democrats, Conservatives, gays, whites, blacks, pot heads, farmers, the works! Every imaginable type of person was there supporting a message of personal liberty, sound money, constitutional government and pro-peace.
His campaign started something that won't go away for many years to come.
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Yes, that was the most striking aspect to most of us: the previously unimaginable diversity of supporters all working well together to make the country better.
Hopefully this will bring the good non brainwashed Libertarians, Liberals, and conservatives together so we can take out government corruption. People should ignore anyone who tries to drive wedges between good people with differences who want to get together in a common cause to face a worst enemy than the wedge issues people use. The banks, corporations and the government is out of control so the focus should be anti corruption..the rest is just a show.
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That was pretty much the point Arianna was making to Joe Scarborough about Ron Paul's efforts when they were on the show together (I linked to it in my review).
In my own small way, I'm still campaigning for Ron Paul. It's always good to see him get some copy. Thanks!
Thanks J. Bradley Jansen, you can count me in as one of your fans.
I watched the movie yesterday and it is absolutely fantastically done and I fear that Dr. Paul is the last of his kind and we may never see this kind of grassroots again. I was proud to be a part of it.
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Thanks, gbrooks. I think that was a special experience, but the beginning of lots of different kinds of opportunities now.
Ron Paul 2012?
One thing you can give to Ron Paul, he is a man of the people.
Yeah, as long as they are white males.
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Beegood, try to look past your own biases. Dr. Paul took part in the Baltimore Republican presidential debate at an historically black university on minority issues and brought the house down. Polls showing him polling better with Hispanics than many other Republicans. Arabs and Muslims strongly supported his campaign. And yes, many of all of these groups were women too.
I've never actually seen any politician with a broad and diverse following as Dr. Paul. Watch the documentary and then see what you think.
I worked my heart out for Paul.
I am not a white male, but an immigrant from the 3rd world.
This is a very insincere comment and race baiting to the extreme. Further research would show that libertarian belief does not include 'groups of people' as people are just people. Libertarian belief believes in individuals and race, groups, or green martians are irrelevant.
To make such a comment is complete and utter nonsense from a libertarian perspective. Dr. Paul's message is about INDIVIDUAL liberty and freedom....race or group is completely irrelevant as your liberties are derived by your creative force whether it is God, Allah, Vishnu, Gaia, or the Big Bang.
Let go of your hate and divides....understand that they only further a divide between all Americans who possess all of the rights stated in the Constitution naturally.
One of Congressman Paul's points about ending the war on drugs is because it doesn't work and has become a war on the people. He explains in a debate that while only 20% of those arrested for drugs are black that more than 60% of those in jail for drugs are black and it seems to be a targeted group for the war on drugs. So I guess he's trying to do good for all people but some people just don't care enough to research on their own.
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