"A Statesman's Manifesto And Movement"

Most presidential campaign books come at the beginning of the campaign season. This gives even a bad campaign book undeserved relevance. But the increased relevance is generally offset by discernable reductions in candor and specificity, so as not to provide one's opponent with too many inviting targets.

Ron Paul's "The Revolution: A Manifesto" defies this convention. Writing at the end of his campaign, and therefore knowing he will not be the next president, Mr. Paul forcefully articulates our bedrock constitutional principles and energetically advances his argument that these principles can restore American greatness for years to come ,if we will only return to them now.

And although Mr. Paul's presidential campaign is over, this is indeed a manifesto, not a memoir. These are political principles for our future, things Mr. Paul wants us to remember after he has left the rostrum.

Mr. Paul's central thesis is that we have departed from the principles of our nation's Founding in ways that systematically make us less free. Consequently, we now have a much larger, more powerful national government, one our Founders would not recognize - or might recognize as an empire doomed to the fate of all previous empires.

Mr. Paul's ideas on these subjects are not new, but they are well explained and supported here. Often, he draws on his personal experiences, as a doctor, a congressman and a candidate. He marshals facts. He does not split hairs. (On Social Security: "The fact is, there is no money in any trust fund. The government spent it on other things.")

Indeed, a great virtue of Mr. Paul's manifesto is that he states his views strongly and then deals openly with the counter-arguments his formulations invite. He knows, for example, that calling income taxation "forced labor" will raise eyebrows and that most will regard his proposal to abolish it as impractical.

But Mr. Paul counters that income taxes on individuals account for only about 40 percent of federal revenues, and asks, "is it really so radical? In order to imagine what it would be like to live in a country with a federal budget 40 percent lower than the federal budget of 2007, it would be necessary to go all the way back to . . . 1997."

We should all take his manifesto seriously. The McCain and Obama campaigns should both study Mr. Paul's "Revolution" as they fight for independent votes in November. This would be a closer fight than Mr. Paul's image as a "far right" Republican would suggest, and one on which Mr. Obama may in fact have the edge.

As for Mr. Paul himself, his presidential campaign has been converted into the "Campaign for Liberty," an advocacy organization that will try to inject Mr. Paul's paleoconservative principles into our political discourse and support candidates who share them. Could Mr. Paul's "Revolution" reverse the "do something" bias in American politics and create a consensus for letting government do less? Mr. Paul puts the choice starkly before us: "If freedom is what we want, it is ours for the taking. Let the revolution begin."

Ron Paul Explains Campaign For Liberty

       Though the MSM (main stream media) has basically ignored the Presidential candidacy of Congressman Dr. Ron Paul and the libertarian Republican has suspended his Presidential campaign, his "manifesto" and movement to restore America to Her Constitutional roots continues. His "Campaign For Liberty" principles can be embraced by both Democrats, Republicans and Independents whether there is agreement with all the Libertarian party platform or not. Though some may feel the Constitutional principle of inviolate civil liberties, rights and duties within the representative democracy of a limited federal government is outdated and no longer relevant, in my opinion, the only other alternative is "Big Government" controlled by war profiteering corporations and banks (the Fed), that will use "national security" issues as an excuse to strip away the Constitutional civil rights, liberties and duties of American citizens. May the Spirit that inspired the Founding Fathers rise up again in every freedom loving American and lead them in a bloodless revolt against the corporate oligarchy that has gained control of our Republic, these United States of America. Take back America!

tags: ron paul  politics  takebackamerica  the revolution a manifesto  2008  libertarianism  campaign for liberty  the fed  

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