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Ron Paul See other Ron Paul Articles Title: Ron Paul greeted by cheering crowd in Lewiston LEWISTON — Urgent message to Rep. Ron Paul: You're going to need a bigger hall. At the Ramada Inn on Friday night, it wasn't just standing-room only. It was shoulder to shoulder and elbow to elbow, and that was a full hour before the presidential hopeful had arrived. "We may have to take that wall down," local conservative activist Paul Madore said a half-hour before Paul was due to speak. "And put up some chairs." They did remove the wall, doubling the size of the room. Still, the space was crammed full as several hundred people showed up early and a few more trickled in late. And if anything was more striking than the size of the crowd, it was the diversity of it: Men and women well past the age of retirement stood next to kids not yet old enough to vote. There were men with beards and men who had shaved and put on suits. There were women in skirts and teenagers in jeans. Parents brought their kids to hear Paul speak and a few teenagers brought dates. The young and old came in near equal numbers and when Paul took the stage, the applause was thunderous. It went on all night. They applauded when he spoke about the national debt and income taxes. They applauded when he spoke of getting American troops off foreign soil and letting other nations fight their own battles. When Paul spoke about matters of individual liberty, on the other hand, the clamor grew to something much greater than simple applause. It became thunderous again. "Turnout has been great for the cause of liberty," Paul assured the room. "The freedom movement is growing by leaps and bounds." It was what many in the crowd had come out on a rainy, slushy night to hear. They roared their approval and chanted. They pumped their fists and held up campaign signs, showing support for a candidate who embraces personal freedoms above all else. "He wants to get us back to the Constitution — back to what made this country great," said Barry Bixby, a 53-year-old who made the drive from Hebron to hear the candidate he has supported for years. "This man brings those principles back." "Right now, I have fears," Bixby said. "Fears of the government. With Ron Paul, I wouldn't have those fears." The chances of Paul making it all the way to the White House are universally considered to be slight. Even so, some analysts say that being the only candidate to campaign in Maine, coupled with the passion of his supporters, could give Paul a shot at winning the Maine Republican caucus next month. Madore, state chairman of Paul's campaign, reminded the crowd that applause is not enough. Paul's supporters have to get involved in that caucus to give the candidate a shot at victory. "This doesn't go anywhere," Madore said, "unless we take part in that process." If the intensity of the crowd at the Ramada Inn is any indication, Paul's supporters genuinely believe the candidate has a chance. One teenager referred to Paul as a "no-brainer" among the current pool of candidates. Others, including Bixby, draw a contrast between Paul and the others, whom they see as little more than insincere Washington drones. "Integrity is a big thing with me," Bixby said. "I strive to keep my own and to see that in Ron Paul is comforting, to say the least. He's not motivated by money. He can't be bought." That was a common theme of Paul's short, energetic speech: The government has taken over our lives and seems intent on getting bigger and more powerful. It passes laws that allow them to spy on private citizens. It has made it legal to imprison or even assassinate U.S. citizens without due process. "Our problem now is that we've been so careless with the Constitution that there's not much left to it," Paul said. The candidate's most ardent supporters are those who are tired of being told what to do and when to do it by what they see as increasingly intrusive leaders. "You can't buy whole milk or raw milk," Madore said, "without the government's approval." Fortunately, Paul said, more and more young people, leaders of the future, are beginning to understand what is being done to their rights. That fact is illustrated, Paul said, by the number of young people who attend his town meetings and zealously work on his campaign. "Anybody who believes in liberty has to have a young spirit," he said. At 53, Bixby says he has such a spirit. Much of his free time, he says, is spent online, talking about political matters with people around the world. Years of deep study and reflection led him to Paul as a favored candidate. No amount of rain and slush could have kept him away from Lewiston to hear that candidate speak. "This," said Bixby, "is kind of like a dream for me." Paul's visit to Lewiston was part of a two-day, six-stop tour of the state. He's the only one coming before the caucus. He was the only one to do so in 2008, too. Paul is no stranger to Maine and, he says, there's a reason for that. "I think we have every reason to be optimistic that we can turn this around," Paul said, "because there's so much enthusiasm out there. People are deciding that we better do something. We can't just depend on the government. "There's an intellectual revolution going on," Paul said. "And it's alive and well in Maine." Poster Comment: This makes me happy! Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: christine (#0)
Great article. I went with a friend to one of the closest towns Ron came to back in 2008. I was fortunate enough to get one of his big campaign signs and he autographed it for me. I hung it here in my bedroom and it has been right there ever since.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. Lord Acton The human herd stampedes on the fields of facts and the valleys of truth to get to the desert of ignorance. Saman Mohammadi "If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner." Mencken "..if the military is going to defend our freedoms, then we need freedoms to defend. Our freedoms must be restored before the military can defend them..." Lawrence M. Vance Você me trata desse jeito só porque eu sou preto. Junior (my youngest son)
Up until Herman Cain was pushed out of the race, I would not have supported Ron Paul. However, the ousting of Cain has left a huge foul stench in the minds of many GOP voters. Ron Paul is a viable candidate for POTUS at a time when the Dems and Repubs are equally too squishy and far too self-absorbed to do whats right for the United States. That was the first and only reply at source. Does anyone else see the obvious flaw in this persons thought process? "I am not one of those weak-spirited, sappy Americans who want to be liked by all the people around them. I don’t care if people hate my guts; I assume most of them do. The important question is whether they are in a position to do anything about it." - William S Burroughs
Is that a trick question....meng?
The flaw is that he thinks Ron Paul is anything like Cain. I doubt they could be much different. Ron is a statesman and Cain would have been just another establishment flunky keeping us involved in wars that we shouldn't have gotten into to start with. And I never thought much of his tax plan either.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. Lord Acton The human herd stampedes on the fields of facts and the valleys of truth to get to the desert of ignorance. Saman Mohammadi "If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner." Mencken "..if the military is going to defend our freedoms, then we need freedoms to defend. Our freedoms must be restored before the military can defend them..." Lawrence M. Vance Você me trata desse jeito só porque eu sou preto. Junior (my youngest son)
It amazed me how strongly Cain came on at first, almost as though there was some unseen force pulling media strings to let voters know he was a "front-runner". I'm uneasy (to put it mildly) with the apparent fact that people will vote for whoever runs the most TV ads. "I am not one of those weak-spirited, sappy Americans who want to be liked by all the people around them. I don’t care if people hate my guts; I assume most of them do. The important question is whether they are in a position to do anything about it." - William S Burroughs
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