My name is Richard Camacho, I live in California, and I am a Ron Paul fan.
I first heard of Ron Paul in the summer of 2007. I was at my brother’s house, though now I can’t remember exactly why. I think the reason and subsequent activities were over shadowed by what I was about to see.
After the usual banter and chit chat the conversation turned to politics, as it often does when the subjects of family, money and the like come up. I can’t remember what we were talking about, but I clearly remember my brother asking, “So, who are you going to vote for?”
At the time I was 29 and I had only delved shallowly into the political world, and had not yet learned the importance of doing my due diligence in selecting a candidate. I was married recently and my beautiful wife had given birth to our first son only months before. In life, there truly are many distractions that may keep us from looking at things with a more critical eye, let alone a magnifying glass.
I responded simply to my brother’s question, “I don’t know yet, but I am liking this Obama guy so far.”
My brother, Jon, nearly fell out of his chair. His obvious shock at my statement struck me as odd, but even though he is my older brother, I wasn’t worried about an imminent heart attack.
“What? Oh man, come on, are you serious? He is just like all the rest of those politicians.” Was the response he gave after he had re-seated himself and caught his breath.
My response was something to the effect of, “I’m not voting for McCain so who does that leave?”
“Ron Paul.” He replied.
What I am about to say next, though it may seem funny or insensitive, I assure you it is what I said.
“Ron Paul? Isn’t she some weird pop singer?” For the sake of some readers who may not know, Ru Paul, is the singer I was referring to.
Ultimately, I was corrected in my similar name association error, and then I was educated. Jon opened his laptop and searched for Ron Paul on YouTube. That was the first of many videos I was to watch on him that day. I won’t go so far as to say that I was instantly converted, but the seed had been planted that day and grew into a strong and beautiful tree, with deep seated roots.
I want to keep this as short as possible because I know, probably better than some, that the mind can only comprehend what the seat can endure. In that interest I will do my best not to digress, regress or talk more than less, if possible.
I think I want the same things as most Americans, and humans want.
I want the right of Self Determination.
I want to be free from tyranny, government intrusion and unnecessary wars.
I want my dollar to be worth the same dollar it was yesterday and the day before that.
I want it to be worth a dollar in the future.
I want to be the master of my domain.
I want to be free to use my personal property as I would like.
I want to know that the fruits of my labor will not be squandered if I should so choose to part with it.
I want to be able to protect not only myself, but my family.
I want to be able to protect those that cannot protect themselves.
I want to be able to do what I want and when I want as long as I do not cause harm to another's person or property.
Now you might say, “Geez, you don’t ask for much do you?”
No, really I don’t. I only ask for the things that our founders fought and died for. I only want these things that were etched in blood soaked stone over 230 years ago when this great idea became a nation. These things are Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness.
Over the next few weeks I started looking into John McCain and Barack Obama. What I found was eye opening to say the least. In my mind, the “other candidates” never had a chance so I didn’t bother with them.
Over the years we have become accustomed to the same arguments, debate topics and “issues” that seem to, not only plague our great nation, but the political cycle: Education, Poverty, War, Jobs, Taxes and the current Administrations Incompetence. These issues are cyclical and they always have and always will plague our system. The interesting things is, every candidate was either saying the same thing, not saying anything or saying something completely different than what they had previously said.
The Republican Party platform of 08 was war, war and more war. The Democratic Party platform of the 2008 election was change, transparency and hope. Now, if we ask ourselves and answer truthfully, which platform sounds more appealing? Yes, the Democrats.
The only problem with their man was, even though he was saying all this stuff about hope and change, he really wasn’t saying anything!
Honestly, all McCain, Giuliani and just about the rest of the mainstream Republican Party was saying was, “We need to go to war. We need to go to war. We need to go to war. For a hundred years if that is what it takes.”
A hundred years! Are you serious? With a baby at home and at least one more to come in the next few years, is there any way I would ever vote for a party that would ultimately want to send my children off to war?
There is no way in hell that I would ever do that. I don’t know of any parents that would.
So now I have to choose between the guy that wants to send my kids off to war, or the guy that is talking about hope and change without talking about hope and change.
Enter Ron Paul.
Finally, here is a candidate that I agree with almost everything on. I admit, he does have a few quirky positions, but in reality, they all do and we as humans will naturally tend to disagree on one or seventy-five things. That’s just the way we are. We have learned to communicate so that we can communicate.
To this day I have a hard time understanding why more Americans disregard his message and positions. I can barely fathom the logic behind some of the arguments I have heard against him. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, yes I know, but if you are going to have an opinion, you can at least make sure it's your opinion.
At that time Ron Paul was only getting about 1% of the media coverage and still to this day I can’t understand it. To me, here was a candidate talking in-depth about things that not only were important to me, but things that I agreed with. McCain wanted to kill my kids and Obama, well; I honestly didn’t know exactly what he was saying.
I’m just a regular guy; I drive a forklift at work and I fish when I can. I love my boys and my wife more than anything in this world. I believe that my hard work will pay off sooner or later if I just keep at it. I get yelled at by my wife for not “helping enough” and when the boys are bad, she says they are, “your kids”.
I try to teach them right and wrong, to respect their elders and to always do their best, no matter what. Everything I do is for them. When, Ben, My oldest was born, my life changed instantly. I now had this little person depending on me for everything. Here was this little man that looked at me with nothing but trust and love. It was no longer just about my wife or me.
My every action is weighed against my own integrity and the things that I feel are right. They may not always be popular, but that does not make them any less right. I get tired and my wife does too, but we can't give up and we cannot fail them. If we do, then who will teach our children? Who will make sure that we leave our little piece of the world better than we found it for them?
I do not wish to leave a world wracked with war to my sons. I do not wish to leave a country that has given up its freedom for security to my sons. I do not wish to leave a country that has allowed its wealth to be squandered by a faith-based currency system. I do not wish to leave a future to my sons in which they have little hope or opportunity of ever regaining the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
I refuse to look my sons in the eye when I am old and apologize for abdicating my duty to ensure a better future for them. They deserve better than that, because they have made me better, they have made my world better. Is it not my responsibility to do the same for them? The responsibility that I welcomed almost five years ago, the integrity to which I now judge all my actions by, the principles that I have since come to know and understand, they all require that I vote for Ron Paul.
Aside from all of the politics, scandals, corruption, debates, platforms and party lines, there are two reasons that I must vote for Ron Paul. Those two reasons have names, Benjamin and Liam.
In Liberty,
Richard Camacho
