By Doug Newman

November 20, 2007

(My speech to the Denver Ron Paul Meetup group,
encouraging Libertarians to register temporarily as Republicans to support Ron Paul.)

Posted at Freedom4um.

America is in trouble.

It cannot go much longer in the direction it is headed.

It won’t last.

You know it and I know it.

The fact that you are here this evening tells me some good things. It tells me that you care about the future of this country and that you are willing to get off the couch in order to do something about it.

I applaud that and commend that.

I want to take the few minutes that JW has been good enough to give me and rap with you about taking action.

Almost 16 years ago, I had become sufficiently disenchanted with the Republican Party that I could no longer remain part of it.

I believed in limited government. I believed in severely limited government as spelled out in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I believed that the legitimate duties of the federal government were, in the words of James Madison, few and defined.

Make that very few and strictly defined.

I had seen Republicans, who claimed to be a party of limited government, recklessly disregard the principles set forth in the Constitution and become just one more big government party, just like those evil, wicked, mean, nasty, morally reprobate Democrats that they said they hated. I just wasn’t down anymore.

Supporting the lesser of two evils still meant supporting evil. It was not an option for me.

And so it was, in May 1992, that went down to the library in Mesa, Arizona, and I re-registered as a Libertarian. This is a decision I have never regretted.

Over the years, I manned many booths for the Libertarian Party and various functions. I wrote letters to the editor on behalf of the Libertarian Party. I ran for state legislature as a Libertarian four times.

Others gave far more of themselves than I did for the Party. I am just telling you my story.

Some time earlier this year, when rumors started circulating that Congressman Ron Paul might run for president, SG of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Colorado asked if any RLC members would be willing to re-register as Republicans in order to vote for Ron Paul in the Colorado caucuses.

To tell you the truth, I did not have a reaction.

I had huge respect for Ron Paul. I had contributed money to his congressional campaigns. And I was fond of saying that Ron Paul just might be the reason that God Almighty had not done to Washington, DC, what He did Sodom and Gomorrah.

However, the Ron Paul for President Campaign has grown and prospered beyond what anyone could have possibly imagined. People from all walks of life love the libertarian message that Ron Paul proclaims everywhere he goes. They love what the libertarian message means to them and to America. They admire Ron Paul’s integrity, consistency and candor. They respect the class and dignity with which he has comported himself.

They respect the way in which he has not compromised this message in order to curry favor with either the left-wing liberal media or the right-wing neocon media, which we know are two sides of the same coin.

The Ron Paul for President movement is a true, bottom-up grassroots movement of WE THE PEOPLE. Ron Paul does not take money from lobbyists and corporations, so he is not beholden to them.

As the great “money bomb” of November 5 indicates, he receives his support from everyday people like you and me. Hence, his message is pure and his integrity is not for sale.

Ron Paul is communicating the libertarian message unlike any political figure in my lifetime.

This is why he is no longer merely a curiosity candidate. This is why his candidacy cannot be ignored. Unlike Marlon Brando who merely could have been a contender, RON PAUL IS A CONTENDER FOR THE REPUBLICAN NOMINATION FOR THE WHITE HOUSE!!!

This is why I have re-registered as a Republican in order to vote for Ron Paul in the caucuses on February 5, 2008.

 I could have done my usual thing and run for state house as a Libertarian Party line holder and gotten my 600 or so votes.

Or I could get firmly behind Ron Paul and be a world more effective in spreading the libertarian message to vast numbers of people who never would hear it otherwise.

MN, who has given so much of herself to this cause, is right: a political party is a tool for getting people elected. Country and Constitution supersede party. The most effective thing any of us can do right now is re-register as a Republican and vote for Ron Paul in the caucuses of February 5, 2008.

You can join me in re-registering as a Libertarian on February 6, 2008.

Like I said at the outset, America is in trouble. Ron Paul just may be the last chance we have for constitutional government.

Let’s do everything we can to put him in the White House.

Thank you.

If you would like to post this, please e-mail me and include the above URL.

Freely Speaking: Essays by Doug Newman

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