Posts tagged CPAC
Rand Paul at CPAC
0Rand is only just getting started in his political career! Such a polished, clever, creative guy. Can’t wait to see how far he can go.
Ron Paul: The Founding Father
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From Esquire.com
He is a constant in a changing world, an emissary from an older America. A self-styled constitutional purist, he has for forty years been a voice in the wilderness. But now he has sparked a movement that has put him at the center of the struggle over what kind of country we want to be. But is America ready for his radical vision?
Now it’s time to go backstage. Down the narrow space between the back wall and the high blue curtain, washed by the white noise of eleven thousand overcaffeinated believers waiting in a huge ballroom filled to standing room, plus two overflow ballrooms where the man’s message will be received on giant screens. Here’s the door to the small drab room where assorted politicians wait to audition to be the future of America. And here’s Ron Paul, smiling and holding out his hand. “Nice to see ya,” he says.
“You seem a little busy.”
“Yeah, we’re just about to get ready here.”
On the other side of the cinder-block wall and high blue curtain, voices cry out one and two and then a sudden chorus, Ron Paul, Ron Paul, End the Fed, Ron Paul! Ron Paul! End the Fed! RON PAUL! RON PAUL! In another twenty minutes, he’ll walk out into the wall of lights and the crowd at this Woodstock for conservatives will explode in cheers and applause and shouts of Ron Paul! and End the Fed!, another step in his amazing journey from eccentric regional oddball to the red-hot center of the American debate — after a lifetime of ridicule and obscurity, sweet vindication indeed.
Now he sits back down, pulling a padded office chair up to a round linoleum table. He’s small and trim as a ten-year-old, with an unshakable air of small-town decency, and his expression seems to have just two settings: In repose, at seventy-five years old, with white hair and dark emphatic eyebrows and those deep bags slashed across his cheekbones, he’s every inch the stern patriarch. But when he smiles, his features soften and suddenly he’s Tom Sawyer cruising the neighborhood on his beloved Schwinn.
Carnegie, Revolution at CPAC 2011
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Even with over 15,000,000 copies sold, Dale Carnegie’s guide to lasting influence, authentic rapport, and must-have communications expertise How To Win Friends and Influence People is as powerful, valuable, and useful as its ever been.
I thoroughly sympathize with the frustration, anger and even rage that people in America and abroad are feeling towards their politicians these days.
It’s often a sad and stark reality that we face after being swept up into the campaigns and slogans of our eleceted lot only to later find that they’ve sold us out.
This emotional whiplash, fervor for change and desire to better this country’s existence now drives many people who consider themselves to be libertarians and/or among a new breed of conservatives with organizations like Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty, GOOOH (Get Out Of Our House), and Tea Party Patriots, among others.
Demonstrating incredible devotion to their cause, authentic love of country, Constitutional character and–for better or worse–righteous indignation at our elected officials; these hardcore Tea Party contingents of modern libertarians and conservatives are forces to be reckoned with.
We are also a force in need of refinement, restraint and respect.
In order to successfully step out from the debate halls, back room bars and wild eyed verbal contests that many libertarians are used to inhabiting and into the complex, fragile and difficult realm of modern politics we must act accordingly and adjust our actions so that despite incredible disagreements, we can maintain the rapport necessary to make change.
Until the day “we” out number “them” by massive margins, this is a must.
I have a lot of respect, admiration and faith in Campaign for Liberty and its President John Tate, and as much as his speech at CPAC made me swell with pride, passion and purpose, it also made me cringe at times when I heard the somewhat belligerent nature of his message shine through.
“We have taken CPAC by storm!” Tate proudly declared during his speech at CPAC.
Despite the truth, power and inspiration of that statement, are we really wanting to seem that divisive?
“Honor your father and mother.” Gotta pay respect to get respect…
Granted, outbursts like this one at Cheney do bring a rebellious shine to my eye:
And Rumsfeld getting booed did make me smile:
These moments probably get us no where and rather make progress all the more difficult for the movement at large.
In the same Liberty Forum presentation, Jack “The Southern Avenger” Hunter calls out Donald Rumsfeld for getting the “Defender of The Constitution” Award and celebrates the poor response he got from the crowd at CPAC.
Remember, even the world’s greatest products need a good sales pitch. And yes, we are liberty salesmen and saleswomen.
I believe that their speeches were made in a private forum, but the point remains the same and the soundbites are just as easy to edit out for later finger pointing and tools of manipulation, strategy and avarice by the powers that be.
Are Cheney, Rumsfeld and a pile of other “neo-conservatives” probably war-criminals for what’s happened on their watch? A lot of people seem to think so–heck, Cheney even admitted to it on ABC News.
At the moment they’re not on trial, but in the meantime, we should probably be more be mindful, appreciative and understanding that many people–who in time might just “join the movement” and support the beliefs of freedom, non-interventionism and honest money–currently have a great affinity for these people and would likely be so offended by our approach that they’d never, ever, again entertain “libertarian” ideas like auditing The Fed, ending the warfare/corporate welfare system, and eliminate market-wrecking, corruption-breeding, economically worthless vacuums of the human spirit organizations like The Department of Education, Department of Agriculture (click to think about why we should end both of them) or Department of Homeland Security.
Is the only hope for change in the wild-eyed madness that scoffs at caution, patience and tolerance and climbs the Capitol building wrapped in an American flag and a “9-11 Was An Inside Job” t-shirt?
I hope both his strategy and slogan are incorrect, and I don’t think Big George would quite approve; but I know we should all follow his example a little more attentively.
FOX News apologizes over Ron Paul’s CPAC footage
0No one can prove if this was a mistake or an intentional effort to slander the guy and make his success seem less powerful–however, one would assume that who ever is editing the footage is a very professional and detail oriented person who is unlikely to make such an rookie mistake…
Neocons versus Libertarians at CPAC
4Libertarians were well-represented at this year’s CPAC, but given Ron Paul’s victory, should that be expected? After the victory, the mainline “conservative” reaction has been to downplay, marginalize and slander libertarians at large and minimize the impact of Ron Paul’s victory at the straw poll.
Fox News has now been caught manipulating video feeds from last year’s straw poll (also a Ron Paul victory) and this years to make Dr. Paul’s victory seem less powerful and popular.
We all know the GOP has strayed far from its Constitutional roots, now they’re complaining when liberty groups show up and call them out on their follies. As of right now, neo-cons control the rhetoric, but that seems to be changing.
Here’s a clip from the slanderous article by Kevin McCullough at Foxnews.com that accuses “disrespectful” libertarians of “hijacking” CPAC:
“Libertarians and Conservatives are as different as Libertarians and Liberals. The truth is libertarians are the worst form of political affiliation in the nation. Combining the desire of economic greed, with the amoral desire to promote any behavior regardless of its cost to our culture is a stark departure from the intent of the Founding Fathers.”
What a crock….
CPAC had its fair share of silver haired conservatives that propose legislating morality, yet hold their hand out for immoral wealth transfers via Social Security and Medicare. However, the demographics of the conservative movement are changing. Over half of the 3,742 people that voted in the 2011 CPAC Straw Poll were under 26 years of age. With groups such as Young Americans for Liberty exploding in membership we can expect many good things to come.
As this young generation of liberty-lovers grows up we will see their influence become a force on American politics.
Fox Pretty Much Attacks Ron Paul For Winning
8The beginning of the video might be an unfair comparison, but the video’s content does make a pretty strong case that some of Fox’s news certainly is propaganda and not really “fair and balanced.”