On November 5, 2007, over 4 million dollars was voluntarily donated to the Ron Paul for President campaign. This one-day phenomenon was not organized by campaign headquarters, but was started by one individual supporter. The word spread in a short time through the Internet to the over 1000 Ron Paul meetup groups.
This one-day event on November 5th was known as the money bomb and it was tied to Guy Fawke's Day and also the movie V for Vendetta. On November 5, 1605, Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament (although he failed). This was also the basis of the V for Vendetta movie in which November 5th became a day for revolution.
After this amazing day of fundraising, the media could not help but take notice. It sent shockwaves through the establishment, even if they didn't react that way. There were many news articles and television stories that covered the event and many of them were fair in their reporting. But there were also some that were insinuating Ron Paul supporters as being advocates of violence.
For those that have tried to tie violence to the Ron Paul revolution, they actually have it completely backwards. It is mostly only the Ron Paul supporters that are advocates of peace. It is the supporters of the other candidates who are advocating violence.
In saying that the other candidates and their supporters are advocating violence, many will immediately think of the war issue, particularly the Iraq War. While this is a major issue with great importance, it is not the only issue that involves violence. In fact, all of the issues involve violence as all government is backed by force or the threat of force.
Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich are generally in agreement with Ron Paul's position on the Iraq War in that it is a disaster and that we need to end the U.S. occupation as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Gravel and Kucinich are advocates of violence, but limiting it mostly to Americans.
What would a Kucinich administration do if you did not agree with his socialized health care plan and you refused to participate? What if you didn't agree with the government educating your children or if you just didn't want to pay for the "education" of other people's children? In other words, if you refused to pay your taxes or even part of your taxes, would a Kucinich administration just let it go at that?
The most likely scenario is that a Kucinich administration would fine you and jail you. If you refused, you would see the guns of the government agents coming to your door. This is not peace.
Every candidate wants to grow the government, except for Ron Paul. This translates to the candidates wanting to initiate more violence than is already being done. Ron Paul and his supporters are the only ones that would like to reduce violence.
November 5, 2007 was a day of peace. It was a symbol of people wanting more peace. The Ron Paul rEVOLution has "love" in it because it is a revolution of peace. Any Ron Paul supporter that is advocating violence is only advocating it in response to violence that has already been initiated against them. But even most Ron Paul supporters would not agree with a violent overthrow of the government.
It is hopefully understood by most libertarians that persuading our fellow human beings of the benefits of liberty is the only way to bring about real and lasting change. The government will eventually collapse if a large enough group of people sees the benefits of not having a federal government.
Lew Rockwell once stated that, "the libertarian revolution will come when we least expect it, and it will unfold in a way we cannot fully anticipate." Previous libertarians laid the foundation and perhaps we are in this revolution now and Ron Paul, along with the Internet, has just happened to be the catalyst.
November 13, 2007
