A Ron Paul Counterrevolution!

The turn [from the dangerous concentration of power at the federal level] will come when we entrust the conduct of our affairs to men who understand that their first duty as public officials is to divest themselves of the power they have been given.

It will come when Americans, in hundreds of communities throughout the nation, decide to put the man in office who is pledged to enforce the Constitution and restore the Republic. Who will proclaim in a campaign speech: “I have no interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or that have failed in their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is ‘needed’ before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents’ ‘interests,’ I shall reply that I was informed their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can.”

-- “The Conscience of a Conservative”, Barry Goldwater, Hillman Books, 1960, pgs 23 –24

While Americans have not yet elected a president as described above, the Ron Paul “revolution” represents the first opportunity to do so since those words were penned. Reagan’s rhetoric came close, but Ron Paul’s rhetoric and ACTIONS are sans pareil.

I’m not fond of the cultural connotations of the word 'revolution'. Moreover, to apply it to Ron Paul’s philosophy is simply not accurate. Our present system of government contains some of the form and structure of the old republic, but there has been, in the words of Old Right essayist Garet Garrett, a “revolution within the form”. That is, we hear incessantly about freedom, rule of law, separation of powers, and democracy, yet the concepts behind these words have been perverted.

It is this "revolution within the form" that Ron Paul wants to reverse. Thus Ron Paul is a counterrevolutionary. His core agenda can be summarized as 1) a strict adherence to the U.S. Constitution, 2) a vigorous defense of national sovereignty, 3) a deconstruction of the military-industrial complex and a return to a non-interventionist foreign policy, and 4) the abolition of the Federal Reserve and a return to sound money. This agenda is an attack directed at the very heart of the Establishment that has had a grip on the levers of power in our nation for decades.

OK, I'll admit that in a sense, this counterrevolution is revolutionary! As long as you understand the distinction outlined above, I’ll let it ride. So, LET’S START A REVOLUTION!!

"I want to be president mainly for what I don't want to do: I don't want to run your life, I don't want to run the economy and I don't want to police the world."

--- Ron Paul speaking to Republican straw poll in Center Strafford, New Hamphire