The Spirit of Freedom and Ron Paul

James Madison said, “a spirit of liberty and patriotism animates all degrees and denominations of men.”

There is definitely something happening in the country where the Spirit of Freedom is spreading and people are waking up. Here is a good video representing this and also some thoughts about freedom and the Ron Paul Revolution.

From Reason.tv/RoughCut:

“Two nights before the New Hampshire primary I walked outside Murphy’s Taproom for some fresh air and bumped into a throng of Ron Paul supporters doing the same thing. The passionate conversation between Drew Rushford, Andrew Wyndham and Nick Ramaglia was so interesting that I taped it and uploaded it here.”

Ron Paul explains the proper meaning of “freedom” in his piece, What Does Freedom Really Mean?

Simply put, freedom is the absence of government coercion. Our Founding Fathers understood this, and created the least coercive government in the history of the world. The Constitution established a very limited, decentralized government to provide national defense and little else. States, not the federal government, were charged with protecting individuals against criminal force and fraud. For the first time, a government was created solely to protect the rights, liberties, and property of its citizens. Any government coercion beyond that necessary to secure those rights was forbidden, both through the Bill of Rights and the doctrine of strictly enumerated powers. This reflected the founders’ belief that democratic government could be as tyrannical as any King.

Few Americans understand that all government action is inherently coercive. If nothing else, government action requires taxes. If taxes were freely paid, they wouldn’t be called taxes, they’d be called donations. If we intend to use the word freedom in an honest way, we should have the simple integrity to give it real meaning: Freedom is living without government coercion. So when a politician talks about freedom for this group or that, ask yourself whether he is advocating more government action or less.

. . . Every politician on earth claims to support freedom. The problem is so few of them understand the simple meaning of the word

Libertarian Salon has posted the Declaration of Independence with a modern twist, inserting some of today’s challenges and grievances:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed

War Among the Rosa seeks to answer the question: Why is there a Ron Paul Revolution?

Perhaps it’s not the message so much as the times. American politics still lingers in the shadow of 9/11 — its wars and security measures — and many Americans have grown weary with the Bush Administration’s bellicosity and over zealous use of executive privilege. In 2006 the Democrats regained control of Congress and the Senate but have been little more than rubber stamps for Bush’s agenda. Democrats have shown no leadership in standing up to President Bush and are all too happy to make a big ruckus but eventually cave and give the president what he wants. The American people are disgusted with Democrats, and rightfully so.

Ron Paul is the only candidate who isn’t giving this Administration one inch of compromise. He wants to overturn all — every last bit — of the post 9/11 Bush agenda. He wants us to pull our troops out of Iraq, to repeal both Patriot Acts and the Military Commissions Act. He wants to end illegal wiretapping, torture, and all other “security” measures not allowed by the Constitution.