Ron Paul's Faith in Us is Real

I was thinking about the situation in the Ron Paul campaign this evening; the predicament caused by the GOP establishment going so far as to resort to violence in their effort to exclude Paul’s delegates from the state conventions, combined with the problem of subversive elements within the campaign itself and Rand Paul’s announcement on Hannity of his endorsement of Mitt Romney. Yes, Rand Paul’s announcement as well as Ron Paul’s email about not having the delegates effectively ended the campaign and the supporters are left wondering what the heck just happened. I was sickened by the announcement myself, knowing that Romney doesn’t have the delegates needed to win yet and mad at the thought that it could be possible that Ron Paul wasn’t actually in it to win it because this announcement seemed so premature and unnecessary. I was so disgusted that I resolved just to leave politics alone for a while….. but if you know me at all, that’s easier said than done.

Tonight I watched Ron Paul’s speech to the Texas Convention and really thought about what was going on. While undecided on what to believe, I’ve been trying to help others to take a wait and see approach to the whole thing because we don’t have all the information and Ron Paul’s integrity just kept me back from making the declaration that he was a sell-out or a quitter and that’s when it hit me.

I realized that Rand Paul’s announcement on Hannity’s show gave the Paul campaign three things it could not have had without that move.

First, in order to mollify the GOP establishment and keep the delegates from having to deal with the ever increasing resistance that was putting people in real physical danger, there had to be a concession that would effectively call the attack dogs off and Rand’s “endorsement” of Romney accomplished just that. What has happened in the Texas and Arkansas conventions over the weekend was smooth sailing compared to other recent conventions and rumor has it that the campaign got very good results. This was enabled because the Romney supporters believe that the Ron Paul campaign is a top-down organization just like theirs is, when it is nothing of the sort.

Second, since the announcement, information has begun to filter out that there were indeed subversive elements in the campaign. Justin Raimondo wrote an article on antiwar.com titled, “Can Ron Paul be Tamed?” which outlines the machinations that have been going on to neutralize the Paul campaign and subvert the freedom movement. If Paul had been dogged in his effort to keeping the campaign going publicly and not changed his tone from winning the nomination to one which makes people think he’s just going to try to change the GOP platform, those elements would have continued to confuse and misdirect his supporters causing further damage to the movement as well as causing long-term distrust. The effective ending of the official pursuit of the nomination has allowed those subversive elements to claim victory, but it must not be overlooked that it has also taken them completely out of the process!

Rand Paul’s announcement set the Paul supporters free to work without interference from both inside the campaign from the GOP operatives sent to sterilize it and without stiff resistance from the GOP establishment at the state levels where there are still a lot of delegate slots to be won. 

Third, the “official” end of the campaign signaled by these two announcements has freed up the Paul supporters to be what Ron Paul has always said they were in the first place and do it effectively.

I know there will be some people calling me blind for saying this but bear with me here and let me show you what I’m thinking.

I can’t say how many times I’ve heard Ron Paul say that he’s not the movement, that he’s simply along for the ride and privileged to be a part of it. I thought this was just modesty, but now I think he’s showing us that he really believes that. This is not just some platitude designed to be self-effacing. This move is an act of faith on his part. Ron Paul has just proven his integrity and faith in his supporters once again by taking himself out of the driver’s seat and allowing the true patriots of the movement to take over for him.

Reason with me for a moment. Since people outside the campaign have sniffed out the rats and patsies it only makes sense that Ron would have realized this knowledge as well. However, if he had acted on that knowledge in a manner that told the GOP that he knew what was going on, such as removing those subversive elements of his campaign and continuing the push for delegates in the name of taking the nomination, then the resistance to the freedom movement would have been all out political war. The only way to prevent this from occurring was to feign weakness and allow the subversion to seem as if it was successful.

Normally in politics, what happens when leaders begin to lose control? They fight to the death for that control because power in politics is everything. Those of us who have been involved with the party know the lure of power is so great that many idealists die a slow death inside the ranks because they are seduced by an imaginary sense of importance which short-circuits their judgment and eventually destroy their objectivity. Many libertarians refuse to enter into politics for that very reason, so what happens when a man of integrity who believes in his fellow man starts to lose control? I think we just witnessed it. He freely gives it up because as the man has said many times, he doesn’t want to run your life, he’s not smart enough to run your life and the Constitution doesn’t give him the right to run your life! Therefore, he’s allowing us, the real foundation and real power behind the liberty movement to take over. He has the faith in his supporters that no matter what they’ll know what to do, they realize that the man Ron Paul isn’t as important as the movement and for the sake of their families, friends and fellow citizens, they will push on to the convention in Tampa and do it better than he could have ever directed them to himself.

How? Because now that the campaign is “over”, they are quietly being voted into delegate slots wherever there is room and if they are wise, very few in the mainstream GOP will ever know which one is the Romney supporter and which one is the Paul supporter until the votes get counted in Tampa. In order to weed them out of the ranks, they’d have to start over with their state conventions and that would be an embarrassment to the party that they just will not allow as well as an expense that they simply can’t afford.

This one simple move by Ron and Rand Paul has effectively made each meetup group, the state coordinators and others the new campaign managers. They’ve proven themselves ready for it and Ron Paul has proven to me that he thinks they are too. Now it is up to all of us to respond to that confidence and show the GOP that Ron Paul may be one candidate, but the movement is larger than they ever imagined.