ST. PAUL, Minnesota - September 4,
2008 - Call it the real Republican convention.
At least that is how U.S. congressman Ron Paul (Tex.) and his supporters billed their campaign's Tuesday night "rally for the republic", in which they called on the party to "return to its roots".
From the looks of it, Paul, who suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination in June, could almost be accepting the party's presidential nomination himself.
Almost 15,000 people came from all over the country to hear him speak.
Paul, who spoke at the gathering on Tuesday night, was joined by an ensemble of right-leaning politicians, thinkers, artists and media personalities, from U.S. television host Tucker Carlson to Jesse Ventura, the former Minnesota governor.
Ventura, a former pro wrestler, put the reason for the gathering quite simply, "Both parties are destroying our country."
Lew Rockwell, a one-time staff member for Paul, was even more blunt. "If the only alternative to the socialism of the Democrats is the fascism of the Republicans, then we are in serious trouble," he said.
Congressman Paul and company believe
the only way to save the party and the country is by promoting freedom at all
costs. They want the United States to stay out of people's lives at home and
stay out of overseas military entanglements, such as in Iraq.
Paul, 72, a 10-term Republican congressman, was the last of John McCain's
Republican opponents to drop out of the race, outlasting better known
candidates such as Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney.
Paul created headlines last year
when his supporters raised more than $10m during two separate 24-hour periods,
mainly via the Internet.
During the presidential campaign
Paul was often excluded from forums and debates and even mocked by fellow
Republican candidates. According to Paul, this disrespectful treatment
continues.
"If you don't bow and pay homage to the nominee, then you're not a
Republican," he said.
Paul said he was barred from
much of the Republican National Convention.
"I can come to the floor but I
have to use a special door, I can't bring my staff, I must be chaperoned by an
RNC staffer at all times and I am required to leave my credentials with the
RNC," he said.
While the RNC denied that Paul has been singled out for special treatment,
Jesse Benton, a Campaign for Liberty spokesman, confirmed that Paul's floor
privileges were limited.
"The RNC spokesman must not be
speaking with the RNC operatives, because this is going on. So there is a
miscommunication on their end," he said.
Paul's speech was the event of the
day and he did not disappoint the throngs who came just to hear him.
He ran through a litany of offenses
and problems plaguing American society and its government.
When Paul explained to the cheering
crowd "the fruits of your labor belong to you and not to the
government", he might as well have been reading from John Locke's Second
Treatise on Government, but his supporters were whipped into a frenzy by the
end of the sentence and Paul was forced to pause.
Paul reserved much of his
harshest criticism for George Bush on homeland security.
"Naming a bill the USA PATRIOT
Act and then voting for it doesn't make you a patriot," he said.
"There is never any reason to
give up one ounce of freedom for the sake of security."
And while John McCain has voiced
support for an attack on Iran, Paul argues that Americans need to seriously
consider the morality of pre-emptive war as U.S. policy.
"Iran spends one per cent as much money on their
defense as the United States does and we're supposed to be intimidated and
scared of them? They don't even refine their own gasoline!"