By Siddhartha Mahanta
In 2008, independents frustrated with establishment politics found a hero in Texas Republican Ron Paul. Warning voters about the dangers of an overstretched and overcommitted government, Paul provided today's Tea Partiers with a blueprint for grassroots success.
More Coverage: The Insurgents Emerge
Republicans like Reps. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Mike Pence of Indiana, and Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul -- Ron's son -- have embraced the Tea Party movement. NationalJournal.com talked to Ron Paul last week about the energy of today's grassroots movements and the Republican Party's evolving relationship with the Tea Partiers.
NJ: Judging from how the Tea Party movement has grown, has the Ron Paul revolution been a success?
Paul: I’m not sure they’re absolutely related. A lot of people would say the Ron Paul revolution has been very successful, but in the very early stages, because we have a long way to go to reverse the trends of this country. But as far as getting the attention of a large number of people, I think that’s been done.
The Tea Party movement has expanded, it includes more people, and it’s not precisely a Ron Paul party movement. So they’re not directly related, but I would say that both have gotten the attention of the American people. Whether it’s the people who go to Tea Parties or the people who go to our rallies, all of us are pretty upset with what we see in Washington.
NJ: What stirred the activists’ fervor now?
Paul: I think it’s the failure of government. People are recognizing that government…. made promises, and yet now people are recognizing that they can’t fulfill their promises. They know about the debt, they know about the entitlements that can’t be paid. They know about the problems that we have around the world, they know about the corruption dealing with Goldman Sachs and others.
NJ: Can the Tea Parties continue to gain steam nationally while maintaining energy at the local level?
Paul: I’m not sure I could separate the two. If it’s a national organization, it’s usually the local people who have to do it. It’s independently organized, and there’s no one person or one group that controls them all, because they’re spontaneous. It reminds me a little bit of how our meet-up groups were formed in the campaign…. It wasn’t like the campaign went out and found people to start a meet-up group. They just spontaneously started meeting, and for the same goal. And I think the Tea Party movement is somewhat similar to that.
NJ: How will Republicans like Michele Bachmann or Mike Pence leverage their connection to the movement? Is it a useful tactic for establishment candidates to try to use some of that energy?
Paul: It’s very useful for somebody like Mike Pence or Michele to make use of the Tea Party movement. They’re smart enough to understand that there’s a lot of unhappiness, and they want to capture that…. They’re doing what is wise politically, but that doesn’t mean that they endorse what the Tea Party people believe….
When it comes to foreign policy and civil liberties, some of the conservatives who are getting involved in the Tea Party movement really don’t want to hear about that. For instance, the majority of the American people now are pretty tired of the fruitlessness of the war on drugs. And yet that’s still not accepted by mainstream, status quo politicians, especially if you’re on the conservative right.
NJ: You said the Tea Party movement isn’t likely to revive the Republican Party. But clearly it’s learning some lessons from the Tea Party. What should it take away?
Paul: The Tea Party movement can affect the Republican Party. But it can affect the Democratic Party as well, because politicians in Washington are politicians. And they are responding. I think they already have from the election in Massachusetts; even though that’s not a classical Tea Party candidate, it was people who were unhappy with the status quo….
But I don’t foresee that all of a sudden the Tea Party movement will own the Republican Party. I think the Republican Party will acknowledge it and come over and try to be friends with the Tea Party people, and that association will have to be worked out.
NJ: The Tea Party has evolved largely through citizen groups. But you also have the Nashville convention coming up, where Sarah Palin will be a central figure. How do you feel about her role in sort this movement that often prides itself as leaderless?
Paul: The question of a leaderless movement, I think that’s hard to totally conceive of. I can see an amorphous movement, where there’s not one single person that owns the movement. But I think there’s always a leader.
To me, the real leadership has to come philosophically in what you believe in, and certain individuals represent those views. But when it’s a philosophic movement, it can be amorphous. It can be spread out. To me, it’s sort of like asking, “Who’s the leader of the Keynesian economic philosophy?” Everybody’s a Keynesian in Washington because they believe in government intervention in the economy, but there’s no one single leader.
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Responded on February 3, 2010 5:37 PM
mises
Abolish the Federal Reserve! Ron Paul 2012.
Responded on February 4, 2010 10:37 AM
Craig Blevins
Dr. Paul is absolutly right on the money. There is no central leader. I am a precint leader for several groups and our loyalty is to the constitution not any individual or political party. We are very much on the lookout for politicians who would like to hijack the movement. In this precint, county and congressional district we are running liberty candidates for evry office which is up for election. If you are an incumbant from any party you will be unseated in the next election
Responded on February 4, 2010 12:03 PM
Mark Btok
Ron Paul, Judge Andrew Napolitano, Debra Medina in Texas, Rand Paul are the most Constitutional structured honest leaders I have seen to date and respect and would vote for these people! We have to be very, very careful not to vote for any elitist member, visitor of elitist friend or those who have any association with people that belong to the Bilderberg Group, Trilateral Commission, Council on Foreign Relations, IMF, Goldman Sachs, United Nations etc. as we can afford none of these Globalists in our government, if we wish to maintain and keep, a Republic now and into the future! Of course we have to Audit and Abolish the Fed, we can't have the Central foreign Banks of England under Edmund de Rothschild, running our American business affairs! Woodrow wilson got hoodwinked and manipulated by these Conmen banksters and that is what has gotten us robbed of $27 Trillion and counting today! I would love the pleasure of booting their rogue arrogant butts, right out of the Federal reserve literally, I'll tell you I'd be putting the effort of a field goal kick into my boo...
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Ron Paul, Judge Andrew Napolitano, Debra Medina in Texas, Rand Paul are the most Constitutional structured honest leaders I have seen to date and respect and would vote for these people!
We have to be very, very careful not to vote for any elitist member, visitor of elitist friend or those who have any association with people that belong to the Bilderberg Group, Trilateral Commission, Council on Foreign Relations, IMF, Goldman Sachs, United Nations etc. as we can afford none of these Globalists in our government, if we wish to maintain and keep, a Republic now and into the future!
Of course we have to Audit and Abolish the Fed, we can't have the Central foreign Banks of England under Edmund de Rothschild, running our American business affairs! Woodrow wilson got hoodwinked and manipulated by these Conmen banksters and that is what has gotten us robbed of $27 Trillion and counting today!
I would love the pleasure of booting their rogue arrogant butts, right out of the Federal reserve literally, I'll tell you I'd be putting the effort of a field goal kick into my boot that day! As the English say,"Good ridance to bad rubbish!"
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Responded on February 4, 2010 12:29 PM
LiberTed
Ron Paul is not a politician...but a real statesman who is principled, brave and honest.
Ron Paul's GOT BALLS!!!
Chances are your "bought-and-paid-for" political puppet does'nt...
Responded on February 4, 2010 12:43 PM
KSH
RON PAUL IS THE MAN!!! The US Constitution - except for the part about the IRS being established to leech us to death, is my Bible for political action. The Tea Party movement is being used for votes over by some of the same losers that voted for Bush and his prowar policies, just to get the left leaning Dems out of power. Take Scott Brown for an example. Right after he got elected, a Youtube vid shows him recanting his policy stand, and now he wants to be seated to start discussing his ideas for a public option health care insurance scam.
Responded on February 4, 2010 1:00 PM
chris
RON PAUL 2012!!! YOU CAN'T CONTROL A MOVEMENT WHOSE TIME HASE COME!!
Responded on February 4, 2010 3:03 PM
chuckypita
Get em' Ron Paul - punch the Establishment right in the nose! The Anti-Fed rallies are growing daily... stop theft via the Federal Reserve.... GO RON PAUL!
Responded on February 4, 2010 3:46 PM
David
The Tea Parties started as an offshoot of the Paul 08 campaign. They have their roots with liberty oriented people. Granted they have grown from there and have been corrupted. Case in point, how many tea party orgs are for the Constitution?
Fact is going back to the Constitution is a step backward. It is doing the same thing over again and expecting different results. It is time to expand upon the founding father's ideas and move freedom and liberty forward. Society will do this when we all realize we do not need a central authority to govern any part of our lives. We all have the ability to govern ourselves and we all would do a far better job at it then some faceless centralized authority hundreds of miles away. It is time to evolve people!
Responded on February 4, 2010 9:24 PM
devin
Ron Paul is a rare politician and I hope we have many more like him. I have read his book 'End The Fed', many journals that he had written , interviews and I have not see a man so determine to fight for liberty and freedom. The American people need to have the same conviction and determination to fight for their freedom and liberty. Everytime we look for the government to help us, we are giving up our freedom and liberty because this is what politicians want. The time has come for we the American people to change the way Washington does business. We need to put an end to big government, big deficit, increase in debt and stop the spending spree. We must end the FED before this great nation is ruined, so we the American people please keep the movement alive and kick those puppets that are working for the few elites.
Responded on February 5, 2010 9:56 AM
HumanLiberty
Ron Paul is spot-on as usual. Two things to say about the comments. Dave and KSH: I suggest our 1st allegiance be not to the Constitution but the principles of individualism it’s meant to serve. Then it’s easier to keep the baby of Constitutional structure, and throw out its bathwater of hypocrisy. We all know, America was founded on principles of universal human liberty and individualism, which, due to economic and social pressures, she instantly betrayed, denying those rights to everyone but white males. The 14th amendment, which has caused so much trouble by ambiguating the meaning of Citizenship (state vs./ federal) and inalienable vs. civil rights, is a direct symptom of this. We must replace it with one acknowledging the inalienable rights of everyone, and guaranteeing them to all people under the jurisdiction of the US or any state. No more double standards or 2nd-class citizenry. This is practical as well as philosophical, for our tolerance this injustice is used to ensnare us all. But we must keep our Constitutional shield, or we’ll have a...
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Ron Paul is spot-on as usual.
Two things to say about the comments.
Dave and KSH: I suggest our 1st allegiance be not to the Constitution but the principles of individualism it’s meant to serve. Then it’s easier to keep the baby of Constitutional structure, and throw out its bathwater of hypocrisy. We all know, America was founded on principles of universal human liberty and individualism, which, due to economic and social pressures, she instantly betrayed, denying those rights to everyone but white males. The 14th amendment, which has caused so much trouble by ambiguating the meaning of Citizenship (state vs./ federal) and inalienable vs. civil rights, is a direct symptom of this. We must replace it with one acknowledging the inalienable rights of everyone, and guaranteeing them to all people under the jurisdiction of the US or any state. No more double standards or 2nd-class citizenry. This is practical as well as philosophical, for our tolerance this injustice is used to ensnare us all. But we must keep our Constitutional shield, or we’ll have an anarchic power vacuumed, filled, in time, by despots. To evolve, but we need a stable context and anarchy ain’t it.
Russ: Coming from a half Jewish half Catholic family, I’ve seen the negatives and positives of both cultures. In-between status freed me from having to pick a side and allowed me to see the underlying forces at work in all cultures. What I see is, greed, entitlement and imagined superiority exist among all peoples as individual and often cultural traits. Take the round-table group of Cecil Rhodes - all about British superiority/duty to rule. Which culture does not hold itself as best? It’s a short list. Who knows who started the mess of vying for dominance, etc? It must have started among tribes, long before written history. Clearly some people of Jewish heritage (Rothschilds, etc) are deeply in on the NWO, but to try to pin that on my mom, or the individuals of any group, is 1) collectivism incompatible with individualism 2) ineffective, leaving you vulnerable to similar people within your own group, and destroying credibility.
It’s much better to spot psychopaths and their wannabes looking at individuals than labeling groups, and losing one's righteousness as an individualist in the process.
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Responded on February 24, 2010 1:05 PM
doomsday 2012
me and my wife have been researching 2012 for about 2 years now and have allready started planning they say by 2010 you will see it in the sky and i think thats about the time we will have everything ready we are looking to start a survival group or if anyone else has one that we can join let me know ill check back later thanks
[url=http://2012earth.net/planet_nibiru_2012.html
]Apocalypse 2012
[/url] - some truth about 2012
Responded on April 15, 2010 11:25 PM
Michael Honohan
"our loyalty is to the constitution" The problem I have with the Tea Partiers is that few of them understand the Constitution they claim to love so much. On the subject of taxes, I surely decry the way polticians play fast and hard with our money, but that is the issue, not taxes themselves. If theTea Partiers bothered to read Hamilton's Federalist #30 on subject. If you quoted Hamiltons defense of taxation as the basis for "enlarged and liberal plans", they would likely call you a socialist. If you told them Hamilton wrote that, I suspect they would call you a liar. The sad truth is the Tea Party, like Sarah Palin and the clowns at FOX are really Brutus arguing with Publius. The country they think they want back is one under the Articles Confederation. The ratification of the Constitution put those arguments to bed over 2 centuries ago. The need to stop the fantasy and get with Ron Paul or Bob Barr and fight the real fight.
Responded on June 30, 2010 4:35 AM
rappelz rupees
Talking about the stock exchange is always interesting and enlightening. I'll wait for the next posting. Thank you.
Responded on July 9, 2010 5:32 PM
Neon Karlos
Everytime we look for the government to help us, we are giving up our freedom and liberty because this is what politicians want. The time has come for we the American people to change the way Washington does business. We need to put an end to big government, big deficit, increase in debt and stop the spending spree.
Brand New Underwear
Responded on July 12, 2010 12:29 PM
Dev Juan
Actually the fact is going back to the Constitution is a step backward. It is doing the same thing over again and expecting different results. It is time to expand upon the founding father's ideas and move freedom and liberty forward. Society will do this when we all realize we do not need a central authority to govern any part of our lives. We all have the ability to govern ourselves and we all would do a far better job at it then some faceless centralized authority hundreds of miles away.Dubai Golf Courses
Responded on July 28, 2010 9:18 PM
Lose 20 Pounds a Week
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