Ron Paul OWNS Philadephia!
by Vince?Daliessio
(PHOTO: One of Ron Paul's newest, and most enthusiastic fans)
Frankly, I didn't know what to expect of the Philadelphia Ron Paul rally. My son and I drove over the Ben Franklin Bridge from New Jersey, getting several 'thumbs-up' from fellow Paul supporters, no doubt due to the giant "Ron Paul Revolution" decal on the back window of my car. We navigated toward Independence Mall, seeing bigger and bigger groups of people clutching Ron Paul signs, walking toward the site, some waving and smiling at us, we beeped back.
We went to park the car in the garage under the National Constitution Center, where a security guard of some kind stopped?us and inexplicably asked for my name. He said something about security being 'tight'. I didn't ask him how knowing my name was supposed to assist in that, particularly since he didn't ask for ID. We parked the car in the bowels of the homely government building, and took the elevator to the lobby. When we rounded the corner, we could see the already burgeoning crowd on the mall, the sound of Rockie Lynne's singing drifting toward us and welcoming us in.
Independence Mall is arguably the most desireable piece of real estate in this once-great city. It is a block-long slice of greenery in the geopolitical center of the city, situated just north of Independence Hall, the venue for the forging of the philosophical and legal underpinnings of what was once the freest society on the face of the earth. So of course, government has staked its claim to large swaths of property there. Independence Hall, The US Mint, The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, the aforementioned Constitution Center, and the Independence National Park Visitor Center were all quite visible from the stage that had been erected for the event.
After Rockie Lynne finished up, to hearty applause, Campaign Chairman Lew Moore introduced New Jersey State Assemblyman (and West Point graduate) Michael Doherty, who came on and warmed up the crowd, recounting his discovery of Ron Paul, and how two of his three military sons were Ron Paul fans. He got the assembled crowd, which was impressive and still growing, cheering and clapping, including my son, who was cheering, clapping, and chanting "Ron Paul! Ron Paul!" with the crowd (he's 3 years old, and loves parties).
Next, Ron came on and he was great, relaxed, funny, gracious, and strong. He talked about the veterans there, who were seated up front, about his own military service, and how grateful he was for the service they had rendered. He made a special comment to the Marines in the crowd, as it happened to be the 232nd anniversary of the founding of the US Marines at the Tun Tavern, within earshot apparently of the rally. He concluded this theme by stating that in a Paul Administration, the military would only be deployed in Congressionally-declared, necessary wars, and that barring that situation he would bring all of the troops home - thunderous applause.
He talked about the nation's founding, about the writing of the Declaration Of Independence and the US Constitution just literally feet from where he stood, and the great courage and foresight the men who created them had, and how he was running for the opportunity to restore these once-great documents, so admired by people in so many parts of the world then and since to their rightful places as guiding statements of human liberty. Thunderous applause again.
Dr. Paul talked about the economy, and how for most of the existance of the United States it had largely observed sound money principles. He talked about how as a result of those principles, the US had experienced theretofore unknown levels of individual and general prosperity, right up until the founding of the Federal Reserve in 1913,"not a very good year?!" , the Philadelphia branch of which was?just behind him and to his left, and how he hoped that a return to such sound money principles would mean that the US Mint, which he pointed out behind the crowd, would start cranking out intrinsically-valuable money again, to raucous applause. The crowd laughed and cheered?particularly when he proposed to audit the gold vault at Fort Knox.
He sounded all the right notes on foreign policy, the War on Drugs, freedom of association, the economy, all of it, and he had the crowd, now numbering, by my estimates 2500 - 3500 people with him all the way. As I moved around the perimeter of the crowd, trying to snap some pictures and video while keeping track of my small but enthusiastic son, I overheard Paul supporters talking to passers-by about Ron, what he was doing here, and why it was important. One gentleman remarked that Ron "sounded more like Reagan than Reagan", which I am sure he meant as a compliment. He really seemed intent on learning what he could about Ron from the literature the other man gave him, while listening intently to the speech.
And the crowd - there were of course the by-now-cliched 'colorful' Paul?devotees the mainstream media loves to fixate on when they write about him and his supporters, the young, the geeky, one or two guys offering home-burned DVDs of YouTube videos about the "truth" of 9/11, the tattooed, several guys waving Gadsden ("Don't Tread On Me") flags, one supporter dressed up as Lady Liberty, and at least one guy dressed in a Guy Fawkes mask.
The majority of the people present, hovever, looked just like, well, you and me.
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Young people, old people, black, white, asian, hispanic, young couples, families with children, even some businesspeople in suits, in short, completely, utterly normal, ordinary folks.
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To overuse an already overused political cliche, the crowd looked like America.
So much for all the mainstream media smirking about Ron's support being composed principally of "flakes", "wizards", "truthers", and "clowns".
What we saw was a bunch of thoughtful, hopeful Americans who came out in bad weather to support the efforts of this gentle, thoughtful man to heal the deep wounds inflicted on the body politic by our 'leaders' over the past 100 years.?We saw a great crowd of absolutely ordinary Americans declaring and affirming a sincere belief that restoring peace, honesty, prosperity,?and liberty in our own country is a worthy and powerful goal.
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And?we?didn't see a clown all day.