The Ron Paul Beacon

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Here we go …. after months of being consumed by the candidacy of a certain Congressman we want to be president, after months of emails and ad designs and sign waves and lit drops and phone calls and rallies and yes, even moneybombs, here we are on the Sunday before a Primary Election in New Hampshire.

I started off my day with a little project that had been pulled together earlier in the week and which I had decided just the night before to join. A few phone calls, a pick up of tri-folds from a car parked next to a Catholic church in Nashua, and I found myself at a second church in Nashua, tri-folds at the ready, listening to the Mass in French. Resurrecting my long-ago but still surprisingly intact knowledge of that language, I began rehearsing what I would say to people as they left the parking lot after Mass. As it turns out, they all speak English, but it was still nice to practice, and to listen to the spoken word of the beautiful language that is French.

Mass ended and handouts were handed to those who wanted them. Unfortunately some assumed that mine was “just another candidate,” or even mistook my offering for the literature they had just retrieved from their car windshield, placed there on behalf of another candidate. No, this was something quite different, “Catholics for Ron Paul,” with an absolute must-read on the back “Theology, not Politics – Ron Paul, April 2005.”

Then it was on to the 10:30 Mass at another church in Nashua. I arrived in plenty of time to actually attend, which is something I’m not often able to do, so this was a quite wonderful addition to my day. Hand-outs were again handed out after that Mass and then it was back to the New Hampshire Liberty Forum to hear Ron Paul speak at noon. Or was it one pm? In my barely minimal checking of emails that morning, I had noticed a schedule change. No time to confirm it, so just go. This is a common theme in the Campaign, this waiting on where to be and what to do. It takes a certain degree of faith and patience which are always good qualities to have, so that’s another benefit that comes from campaigning for Ron Paul.

This turned out to be the best speech I’ve ever heard the good doctor give, and he did say that we, the audience, were the reason. We were all just so happy to hear the things he was saying being said. Two men later told me, separately, that his speech had brought tears to their eyes. I can see the headline now “Ron Paul Makes Grown Men Cry.” Of course we all know that it isn’t Ron Paul, it’s the message, the one we have held so near and dear and quietly in our hearts for so long, and we just love to hear it being shouted.

Speech ended, hustle and bustle and crowd control ensues. Ron Paul disappears. Roger and I ask each other what to do next. Oh yes, you’ll want to know who Roger is. I had met him the previous night at the Liberty Forum because he was in need of a ride to Providence. Altogether at least three people had stepped forward to get him there – me being one of them – and the decision that it be me had been reached just before Ron Paul’s speech. Again, the nature of our campaign. Wait and see, and the best possible alternative will naturally present itself.

Now we were back in wait-and-see mode. There were rumors flying everywhere at this point. Canvassing packets to be had at Murphy’s Taproom (should we pick some up and canvass for a few hours?) Phone banking in Concord (but a few people had just been sent up there so the phone bank might now be full.) A rally at 5 pm on Commercial Street in Manchester (was this where the infamous Fox Forum was being filmed? or was it where the Ron Paul Town Meeting was being held – his response to being shut out by Fox? Or had the campaign purchased an hour of TV time to have our man’s message run concurrent with the Forum?) And what about the rally of 10,000 at St. Anselm’s in Goffstown? I had been seeing bits pieces about that online for a good week. Was it real, or phantom? Impossible to know. Questions, questions, questions and no answers at this point.

However, since you constantly run into people you know, you almost always have someone to ask. One calls Concord to see if the official campaign has anything planned. No answer. They must be busy up there (duh!) Another says St. Anselm’s it is, but don’t bring signs, they won’t let you bring them on campus. What we need to do is to bring our voices, so that even though we will probably be restricted to a “First Amendment Zone,” perhaps we’ll be able to shout loud enough for the world to hear what we think of the “fair and balanced” Fox News Channel.

But is the Forum still even being held at St. A’s? Someone claims they’ve changed the venue to a bus that is now on the road. I wonder why they would do that. And the time. I had heard 6 pm, now someone was saying 4:30.

Then something brought us back down to earth. We realized that we were hungry. Hmmmm, Murphy’s Taproom definitely has food, and may have canvassing packets … that seems like a good idea. So we left the Crowne Plaza and headed north to Manchester, and as we drove we watched a plane trolling a Ron Paul banner overhead. This was great!

We reached Murphy’s to find a strange scene. There was parking everywhere. It seems there never is parking at Murphy’s when Ron Paul is in town, and sometimes even when he’s not, but there it was, empty spaces to be had. I was pretty thrilled actually, to be able to use real Murphy’s parking for once in my life. This we did, only to find the front door locked, with a closed-for-the-day sign upon it. And inside, Murphy’s didn’t even look like Murphy’s, they were re-fitting it for some private party being held that evening. Okay, well, let’s see if there are canvassing packets. We can always find food somewhere else. We knocked and someone answered. By now three others had shown up. We all stepped inside. Roger went looking for canvassing packets as we four remaining RP supporters chatted. Then Rand Paul showed up. They were looking for lunch too. We overheard the recommendation, a place called PJ’s further up the road.

There were no canvassing packets to be had, so we left for PJ’s. We figured if it’s good enough for Ron Paul, it’s good enough for us. And it was good. Soon after Roger and I had sat down, a waitress came by asking if we had any campaign literature. She said there was a cook out back – a young man of 18 - who was a huge Ron Paul fan and wanted to ask for his autograph, but had nothing for him sign. Campaign literature? You’ve come to the right place. Have him come over and we’ll go to my car and he can take his pick.

The nice advantage to this was that it reminded me that I had finally remembered to bring the something I had been hoping to have autographed, and frankly if the waitress hadn’t come over I probably would have forgotten to even ask for it. This 54-year-old brain of mine is just way too full of stuff and I’m constantly forgetting little details like that.

Next arrived the three we had met at Murphy’s, a young lady and two young fellows. They took the table next to ours and we all had lunch. At some point in the middle the young cook came out and we went to my car, talking a blue streak of course. His mom’s a supporter and so is his roommate. I told him how my generation is thrilled that his generation loves Ron Paul too.

We did a little strategic planning as to how to ask for the autographs – you can’t interrupt someone’s lunch after all – and finally we managed to do so. I told Dr. Paul what I thought of the speech he had just given. He thanked me.

Then the three from Murphy’s approached us. It turned out that two of them had to leave that very minute to catch their flight back to Michigan and the third, a young fellow named Chris, needed a ride – could we take him along?

Hmmm … I pictured my daughter’s Chevy Aveo, which she had traded just that morning for my Kia Amanti in order to move her stuff back to school. I pictured it with Roger’s luggage and my 2 x 4 Ron Paul signs, among others, in the back seat, and my four small bags of stuff. Then I said “sure.” He’s thin, he can fit. So, off the two went to Michigan and we three, Roger, Chris and me, rearranged a few items and squeezed into the Aveo, in search of what’s next.

We now had two choices. Too late to do any good up in Concord, so shall we head for Commercial Street, or St. Anselm’s? Roger had been to the latter just the day before. Not that he knew how to get there, but he did have a pretty good idea of what to expect should we be able to find it. The GPS I don’t own would have come in handy just then, but I had the next best thing – my brother lives a stone’s throw away, and he was home and answered when I called, lost, somewhere on the east side of Manchester.

He got us there where we discovered that you needed a pass to get onto the campus. Now what? Park somewhere and walk? Are the 10,000 even there? It was pretty quiet, so we figured not. I called my contact who had earlier advised me of the Commercial Street thing. She said “come on down, there are people over here.” So, it was back to the west side of Manchester where, after getting lost again, we managed to find a piece of the crowd. Word was that there were more people up at Bridge Street, or at some 1 Plaza place. We wandered around on Commercial Street for twenty minutes or so. The first word had been that something (Town Hall Meeting?) was happening at 540 Commercial and they wanted people outside with signs when Ron Paul left the building. Then someone said it’s at 545 Commercial. Then someone said no, we should go up to Bridge Street, there are tons of people there. And that’s what we did.

It was somewhat of hike up what seemed to be ten stories, to the bridge overhead, then a trudge in the snow up a small hill, to Elm Street where there was, indeed, somewhat of a crowd. It seemed rather small but at least it knew what it was doing, standing there on four corners with signs and chants and many, many people driving by and beeping for Ron Paul, better than the crowd that had been milling around down below debating what to do, but still not quite in the range of 10,000.

Then someone came up and said that it was actually seven blocks south where the ton of people were. This made sense because that’s where the media were hanging out. Should we go, and if so, should we walk or go back for the car? Chris and I decided on the car plan and Roger headed off to the new rallying point. We got there some twenty minutes later, with lots of beeping and shouting Ron Paul out the window as we drove through the packed intersection. Some policemen were just starting to arrive – I guess it had gotten big enough for that. We parked and joined the crowd. There was a little restaurant on the side street we were on, with a separate crowd outside of it. Word was that they were waiting for Sean Hannity to come out, which he did soon after. He and a companion headed for the nearby Radisson Hotel and the crowd followed, shouting epithets at Fox News (relatively nice ones as far as I could hear, it was a very well-behaved crowd). I managed to see Mr. Hannity in profile, confirming that it was indeed him. Not long after this I noticed a crowd plastered against that same restaurant, again yelling Fox News epithets. The unconfirmed report was that the infamous Frank Luntz, “pollster” was inside and the speculation was that a hallowed Fox News Focus Group was being conducted at that very place. And so virtual reality meets the real world as those who spin are confronted by those who just want to know the truth.

There came a time when we decided it was time to leave, to drop Chris off not far away, in Manchester, and set off Providence-way. Just then we met Steve from New York, and struck up a conversation that could have continued all night, frankly, because it was that interesting. Steve’s truck was parked back down on Commercial Street, so of course the question “would you like a ride” came up and he said yes. I drove him down, we talked for another 15 minutes, and then I pulled myself away, thinking of Chris and Roger waiting back up on Elm. I got a little bit lost trying to get back to them. I really don’t know how I ended up on the outskirts of Bedford when they were something like five blocks away, but anyway, no harm done. I turned around and found my way back, arriving some twenty minutes later. They didn’t seem to mind the wait at all. There was still plenty going on. We dropped Chris off at a house full of Ron Paul supporters crashing for the night and then finally Roger and I headed south.

Roger thanked me at least five times for taking him to Providence that night. And I said, at least five times, no problem at all. In fact, the value of the conversations we had during our nearly two-hour trip far outweighed the extra time I had taken to get him there. This was in part due to the fact that Roger practices law and I have a very keen interest in that, mainly in what the law actually says versus what people assume it says. The question that keeps coming to my mind is how and why did our law, so simple and true at the founding, get to be so cumbersome and confusing?

Now, about this revolution we are having, I have a friend who will forever say that it takes just ten people to turn a town around. Just ten to send state government packing, out of the town schools (if the townspeople choose to have schools), out of its finances, out of everything that makes up the life of the town, and its Liberty. Ten people to put that state government back under the guidelines by which it was created in the first place. Ten people to remind everyone that their town is not a vassal of the state it created, but rather a Sovereign, an extended family not unlike the one forming today via the Ron Paul Revolution, incorporated for the protection of all who live there.

And so, as this family we call the Ron Paul R3VOLution grows, I wonder, where will this lead? Will it be ten Ron Paul supporters town-by-town, until we get them all back? Or will it be some other mechanism, still unclear, something new and of these times in which we live? Time will tell and I wonder what my children and my children’s children will inherit.

I know that those who came before us wondered this too as I turn to the Preamble of my state constitution to read this:

We, therefore, the people of Massachusetts, acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the goodness of the great Legislator of the universe, in affording us, in the course of His providence, an opportunity, deliberately and peaceably, without fraud, violence or surprise, of entering into an original, explicit, and solemn compact with each other; and of forming a new constitution of civil government, for ourselves and posterity; and devoutly imploring His direction in so interesting a design, do agree upon, ordain and establish the following Declaration of Rights, and Frame of Government, as the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.