As The Sun Sets

 I am not sure where to begin. I have been told, if I should ever have trouble composing my thoughts from the beginning, into an article, to start in the middle, or at the end.

 And so, I shall.

 After the atrocious events of the RNC yesterday and the way in which the Republican contenders and the party have, lacking all semblances of integrity, conducted their efforts, I understand why and how many of my liberty loving friends and Ron Paul supporters can feel dismayed. Some even feel like giving up, quitting the party and voting for Gary Johnson.

 I can understand this.

 As I watched the news feeds come in yesterday I too, could not help but feel some of their frustration.  Reports of delegates that were, for all intents and purposes, kidnapped, and the immoral unseating of delegates, the illegitimate way in which they were replaced to the way the new rules were presented, and adopted. I heard the Ayes, then I heard the Nays as my tiny phone speakers struggled to remain incased. The nays may not have had a factual majority, but they definitely had the tenacity. Points of Order were ignored and any hope of a roll call vote was quashed.

 I heard that several states requested, completed and submitted paperwork for the nomination of Ron Paul, then I watched as the "8" rule was slipped in, seemingly minutes after the documents were submitted, but coincidentally before it was presented to the committee.

 I have seen videos of the party bosses in other states show a complete disregard for Robert's Rules of Order when conducting their local and state delegate conventions. I have seen lights turned out, point of order requests ignored; people get arrested, old men pulled to the ground and bones broken. 

 I have asked, as have many others, where is the count for this precinct? Why does the vote count from the precinct chair differ from that of the party tallying the votes? Why is it that ballots were locked in car trunks or counted in secret locations? Is this not the party that ran on a platform of openness and transparency in 2010? It was, and we all hoped it would be.

 I read the news reports and watched the videos that told of the city of Tampa and the Republican party orchestrating nothing short of a police state to surround the convention. I read prisoners in a certain jail were released to make room for arrests at the convention, and outside it. I watched as one-thousand armed police in riot gear were dispatched to quell a fairly peaceful protest of two-hundred-fifty persons. I read the statement from RNC security regarding what could and could not be brought in. Most I agreed with on the principle of common sense, but some prohibited items were just plain comical, in a pathetic sort of way.

 The city and party had created, geared and greased this police state machination to protect itself from "fringe" elements and "rogue agent provocateurs" that, in reality, only wanted to be treated fairly during the process. Free speech zones and the prohibition of 2x4 carrying seem fitting in light of what happened yesterday. One has to wonder though, why a seemingly invincible political party, would request and go to such great lengths of political intimidation, to protect itself from a "small minority" or "fringe" group of persons? What is it exactly that Goliath has to fear from David? 

 The liberty movement, the Ron Paul supporters, the undecided and the "crazies" comprised such a small percentage of the total delegation that it could hardly have been feared Romney would lose, right? The total delegate count for Romney was over two-thousand and the total "Other" count was just over two-hundred. Last time I checked, ten percent was definitely not a majority.

 So then, why the need for the overwhelming show of force? Was it to show us who the boss really is? Was it to show us, the liberty movement, that we really have no power, or liberty? Maybe they thought they could "nip this in the bud" before it had a chance to grow and become a force uncontrollable. 

 It is quite possible they thought they could corral, dishearten and pound us into submission. If these were and are the reasons, there is one thing they have overlooked - the disenfranchised never truly submit. The black sheep, cast outs, fringe groups, rebels and free spirits only rebel more, we only fight harder against the establishment, be it our parents, bosses, cops and government. It just pisses us off.

 I can only imagine the hidden fear the party bosses and Mitt Romney held when questions of Ron Paul were raised. I am sure he was laughed at and shrugged off. I am sure they were confident that they would be able to change some rule at the last minute and insure that both he and his supporters were left out. And they did…almost. They almost pulled it off.

 We were there! We actually did it. You did it. Every single person that has ever espoused and truly believed the ideas that are Ron Paul: Liberty, personal responsibility, limited government, sound money, non-interventionist foreign policy, integrity, truth and hope, did it. Every person that has ever written a blog, article, meme or made a sign did it. Every person that has ever participated in a sign wave, money or friend bomb did it. Those of us that have had to suffer through countless hours listening to the incessant rambling and sheer moronic diatribes just so we could argue the case for Ron Paul and his movement did it. 

 All of us and each of us, that wear our Ron Paul and Audit the Fed shirts proudly. Every Vet, delegate, chairman, committee member, Youtuber, internet debater, ear hustler and casual comment dropper made it happen. We are the rEVOLution. You are Ron Paul.

 This is why there was an overwhelming show of force prior to and during the convention. This is why the cops outnumbered the protesters 4:1. This is why they had to shut us out. This is why they had to lie, cheat and steal throughout this contest. This is why they arrest us and break our bones. This is why they steal our vote and silence our voice…or try to. They fear us.

 They know that we cannot be stopped. They know that our idea's time has come; it is in its teenage years now and full of piss and vinegar. They know that their time in the sun is coming to an end and that one day, there will be a reckoning. They understand that for every one of us they silence through intimidation or despair, five more will take their place. They know we will not go quietly into the night and they know we will certainly not conform and toe the party line. What happens when you tell a teenager to shut up? Exactly.

 They have tried to co-opt this movement and found that it can only be done with limited success and for a very brief period. They know we are becoming a hydra, just like they are. You cannot co-opt and corrupt an idea as pure as freedom for long. Eventually the moves made against it will be brought to light. Those in this movement that would seek to discourage, divide and inhibit its growth will soon show exactly what they are. 

 They cannot infiltrate, co-opt and derail or crush our rEVOLution because it is not just an idea, it is an emotion and it is a moral compass and inherent trait possessed by every single man, woman and child that has ever been born.  Freedom is something that is built in, hardwired and programmed into, not only our psyche, but the very fibers of our life. As children, once we become cognizant of freedom, we want more of it. Man was born to be free, not to be a slave. The creator, or evolution, gave us free will and it is not something that another man can take away. 

 Those of us in this movement have come to realize this as a truth. It has been said that we are only comprised of the young. Age is relative I think, but it is used to again, divide us. This idea, freedom, encompasses all age groups and all color lines. If asked a man that is sixty-five will answer the same as a sixteen year old, "Do you like being free?"

"Yes."

 My truth is the one main difference between our movement and others that have come before us; we refuse to grow up. The hippies had a good concept, but they grew up. They swallowed the bait; hook, line and sinker. They fought so hard and railed so defiantly against the man, only to end up taking a 65 year mortgage out on the establishment. They grew up and gave up…or most of them did.

 They started out as revolutionaries. They changed some minds along the way and brought topics to light and out for discussion that had been kept in closets for years. They tuned in, tuned up, but unfortunately, they dropped out.

 The Tea Party that was, whether they admit it or not, started by Ron Paul's December 2007 Money Bomb, had a chance, a real chance to make a difference and effect some positive changes to the political spectrum. They did institute some change and once again they brought issues to light and topics for discussion that had been locked away. 

 The problem the Tea Party has and will continue to have is, they filled their ranks with neocons and warmongers. The same people that rallied against the bank bailouts have no problem bailing out foreign countries. Support Israel and bomb Iran. Kill Osama because he did 9/11.  Keep American jobs here, but I won't work for less than twenty dollars an hour.

 You cannot have your cake and eat it to. You can't have social security, Medicare, Medical and Medicaid and a free Hoveround scooter if you want to have sound money. You cannot have good jobs and cheap goods, it doesn't work that way. If you want to make more, then the cost of the goods you make increases and the next guy has to make more to buy your products.

 The Tea Party started off with a bunch of aware and awake Ron Paul supporters, but the principles they soon espoused caught on. They became an organization and commercialized themselves, lock, stock and barrel. Soon their ranks were filled with the John McCain's, Sarah Palin's and Michele Bachman's of the world.

 The Occupy movement had the right idea…almost. They started off as a bunch of younger people that were pissed at the bailouts and foreclosure crisis. While the Tea Party and the Occupy movement have a few ideologies in common, they are essentially polar opposites.

 Where one group advocates fiscal conservatism with little to no bailouts, the other thinks bailouts are acceptable, as long as they are being bailed out. Where one group advocates preemptive wars and nation-building, the other opposes them, as long as people are not being murdered by a totalitarian government. Where one group integrated and organized into a leviathan, the other more closely resembles a hydra - with muscular Dystrophy.

 The Occupy group has also been infiltrated by agent provocateurs. It has been said, and I have seen some evidence that OTPOR is the hidden base around which they rally. It has also been said that George Soros is a major financial contributor to OTPOR, and by association, Occupy. One group will leave a venue clean, while the other leaves a mess. One group insists government leave them alone and stop spending their money unwisely, the other insists the government pay their college tuition, mortgages and provide free I pads.

 A disconcerting point of the Occupy movement and its members is that, some of them are very, very educated on history, but by history, I mean true history, not MSM history. Some of them even rally against the Fed, but others rally for communism and socialism believing it can work, if only we had a benevolent leader to oversee it. The jury is still out on this question, "Were they infiltrated and co-opted, or were they, in fact, the co-opt?"

 This movement, the liberty movement, the Ron Paul rEVOLution, our rEVOLution, can never be fully co-opted, nor can it ever fully be silenced. While it may be true that certain segments of the movement can be infiltrated and sabotaged, the movement as a whole can never be destroyed.

Now, let me tell you why.

 When the Tea Party started, the message was pure: Limited government, Sound Money and Fiscal Conservatism. The bailouts pissed many people off and they needed a place to vent. Feeling cast out and shunned by their elected leaders they needed a place to belong, a place where they fit in and where people of like minds would sit and listen to their frustrations, share their own and then group together to do something about the situation. 

 The problem with this was that you had many angry people that shared entirely too many different ideas. The base, now severely diluted, once was a group that supported Ron Paul's ideology, but is now a group of pissed off people. 

  Now the ranks of the Tea Party are filled with people from all walks of life, and normally that would be a good thing, however, the overwhelming majority of these "new comers" share little to no political beliefs with the people that founded the movement. A perfect example of this statement is the various Tea Party candidates that ran for President this year: Herman Cain, former Fed chairman, Rick Santorum, Black Bible Tyrant and Michele Bachman, Compulsive liar, and now - Swiss national. 

 It should be noted that these three campaigned on War with Iran and Muslim terrorists. Most of them mocked the very foreign policy that the tea party started with, yet the Tea Partiers in the debate crowds loved them. They literally hung on every word they spoke. 

 Another example of how the Tea Party has been co-opted is the resignation of some of the founders and upper echelons of the party a few years back. Two of the most significant emails and letters I read regarding the circumstances stated, in summation: that the party has strayed too far from its original intent and purpose, the board no longer served the interests of the people or the party and were merely there for personal gain. Numerous attempts to make some political headway along the lines of the founding principles had been overruled by the board and that the party, via the board members and president/chairman, had been completely corrupted and were in the process of corrupting the ideology of the organization. You were warned against courting Newt and his like, but you didn't listen, did you?

 Co. Opt. Ed.

 The Occupy movement is not much better, but it is different. I think both groups have or had the same basic principle and argument; stop wasting our money and giving it to your friends. To me, nothing is wrong with this, on the contrary, everything is right. They should stop wasting our money and they definitely need to stop giving it to their friends.

 In my opinion where the Occupiers went wrong is, they allowed the values of socialism, communism and stat-ism to fill the void. One woman even said, "We want all the good, and none of the bad."

 Unfortunately, in life, you can't have it that way. Life is not fair and life does not care whether you eat or starve, whether you have an IPad or a notepad. It really doesn't, and guess what, neither do most people in this world. If you go to college on a stranger's dime, you should expect that you would someday have to pay that stranger back. 

 If you spend eighty-five-thousand dollars on tuition and major in Aboriginal art, then can't find a job when you graduate, whose fault is that? Did you really think that what interests you would be interesting to enough people to supply you with the outrageous income you feel you deserve? Last time I checked, no one really cared about the aborigines, except for the aborigines or Mick Dundee.

 If you buy a half million-dollar house with retail wages, you should expect that someday, you might have to move out of that house...involuntarily. If you buy seventy-eight-thousand dollars in toys, but you only make thirty-six thousand a year, you should expect that some big, buffed guy is going to come and take your wake-board boat...and skidoo, and quads, and truck. It's just common sense. 

 The failure of your movement is in that you built it on an entitlement attitude. It is not that you didn't reach critical mass, or that the media painted you as a bunch of anarchists. You painted yourselves as a bunch of ignorant, know-it-all, spoiled brats that were smoking weed, shitting in buckets and throwing it in the street. America will never support that. 

 You allowed the arrogance and ignorance of your youth to overrule the wisdom and truth of history. One communist/socialist sympathizer actually argued with a guy from Czech about the great potential of communism/socialism. Arguing with a guy whose mom, dad, aunts and uncles lived under the iron, psychopathic fist of Joseph Stalin. Really, are you fucking kidding me?

 You argued with a guy who may have lost a friend or relative to the secret police. When he asked you why then, if you thought communism was so great, "Why communist dictators always turn on the people then oppress and slaughter them? Why is that?"

 Your answer, "I just think that the wrong people have been put in power by the people."

 Wow. Just wow. That...that right there is why your movement was destined to fail - from the beginning. As wide-awake as you and the current Tea Partiers think you are, you only dreamt you woke up.

 One thing I know for certain, is that when you discover the truth, that Ron-Paul-End-the-Fed-End-the-Wars-Jihadists-Are-Not-Everywhere-Sound-Money-Non-Interventionist-Foreign-Policy-America-Should-Not-Police-the-World-Inalienable-Right-to-Life-Liberty-and-the-Pursuit-of-Happiness truth, it slaps you in the face, drags you out of bed by your foot, then punches you in the stomach.  And once you wake up to that, you can never fall back to sleep. 

 Both parties know this and it is exactly why they fear us. They know we are awake and awakening others at a pace faster than their propaganda machines can spit out lies. They know that we have educated ourselves on the real issues that plague this country and they know we have studied history and found the root causes. We are awake, we have the knowledge, we have the passion and we have the facts to back up everything we say.

 So you see we cannot ever be fully co-opted. We cannot ever be fully contained and we cannot ever be completely stopped. They know this and it scares the hell out of them. The truth is coming out more and more every single day.  And with it, people are starting to ask questions. 

 The first rays of morning are beginning to shine through the blinds of the room in which they sleep. Once a person begins to feel the warmth of knowledge they develop a craving for it. At times, things learned can hurt, anger and scare us, but there remains that ever present thirst and hunger for more; more truth, more warmth and more light.

 There is too much at stake to quit now. There is too much at stake to become divided and there is too much at stake to let the exodus of summer soldiers discourage us. This is not about one man or one woman and it never has been!

 The good doctor was and is, courageous enough to stand as our focal point. He stood for over thirty years as a beacon of light, spreading the message of liberty. He stood for us when no one else would. He has faced the ridicule and resistance of those not only outside of his party, but from within as he spoke words of reason and sanity.

 He may not be the Republican nominee and he may not run as a third party, but in the end, when it is all said and done, he will still be my President. No amount of paper will ever change that. 

 Ron Paul cured my ignorance and apathy. His message has helped me become a better person, a better husband and a better father. I owe it to him to see this thing through, we all do. 

 This is our rEVOLution.

This is your rEVOLution.

 And this, is my rEVOLution.

I am Ron Paul.

In Liberty,

Richard Camacho