Ann Arbor’s Ron Paul House

Thanks to Amar Trivedi for this article (excuse the title) from the University of Michigan student daily newspaper:

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Ann Arbor’s Ron Paul House: Hanging out with fans of the GOP’s kookiest candidate

You’re probably seen the Ron Paul House. It’s the old building on North Main Street on the way to the highway with a big “Ron Paul Revolution” flag. Aside from flag, the exterior looks more like a house in small-town New England, possibly along a rural highway in independent-minded Vermont.

But stepping into the worn-down building transports you to a scene that almost feels as if you’re back in the radical, politically active 1960s – the sort of scene that’s been long dead in Ann Arbor. Graffiti covers the walls, the room is littered with political posters and pamphlets, Bob Marley is playing and there are two of the most comfortable looking couches you have ever seen.Before this reverie can fully take over, however, you’ll probably notice the new-looking metallic water cooler/refrigerator unit in the middle of the room, or at least the computer station right next to the front door. You’re still in 2007.

When you walk in, you’ll likely be greeted by University alum Adam de Angeli, the technology coordinator for the Ron Paul campaign in the state of Michigan. De Angeli will prove a sort of a bearded guide for your journey through the world of Ron Paul.

De Angeli, who coordinates most efforts to elect Ron Paul in Washtenaw County, is one of the leaseholders for the Ron Paul House, also dubbed “The Shop.” He shares the space with a small music studio and a T-shirt printing shop. The Shop used to be The Planet, a T-shirt shop run by de Angeli, but he converted the space into an unofficial headquarters for Ron Paul supporters in Washtenaw County.

De Angeli said members of the University chapter of Students for Ron Paul and other Ron Paul activists occasionally come to hang out and read Ron Paul-related literature. Last night, Eastern Michigan University sophomore and Ron Paul supporter Adam Spaude rolled up to the hangout on his skateboard to chat with de Angeli.

The converted store’s counter is now covered with campaign literature attempting to appeal to every type of voter. There are leaflets – which de Angeli calls “Slim Jims” – touting Paul’s anti-gun control rhetoric that de Angeli said he was sending to a gun show in Novi this weekend. There are the sheets detailing Paul’s platform of not taxing tips for wait staff at restaurants, which de Angeli said he handed out at Bennigan’s.

There’s even a DVD, titled “A Man for All Seasons,” for which de Angeli designed the sleeve and other artwork.

By the computer – which is available to interested newcomers to read up on Paul – de Angeli keeps a Paul-autographed copy of the annotated U.S. Constitution as well as a bound collection of the Constitution, all amendments and all case law affecting the Constitution. A map of the state identifying the other Paul support groups hangs on the wall next to the book.

De Angeli said he is particularly proud of the outfit’s online content, an especially important medium for Paul, who broke fundraising records for a money raised in a single day through a website called ThisNovember5th.com. De Angeli made his own 13-minute video about the successful fight to allow Ron Paul at the Republican debates in Michigan. He showed off the video last night, occasionally chiming in with a “Wait until you see what happens” or a “This part is great.”

If you’ve exhausted all the online content and read all the campaign fliers, you can move on to the wall of books. With titles like “Hoax” and “Junk Politics,” de Angeli sells books on a range of issues he said Paul supporters might be interested in: foreign policy, tax law, the CIA and a wide array of little-known political literature.

He said he allows people stopping by the hangout to peruse the literature and said that sometimes people just come in and read.

For de Angeli, it’s all part of fighting the Ron Paul fight. He said it’s always a struggle, because Paul isn’t an “establishment” candidate, and candidates like Rudy Giuliani, who he said was Paul supporters’ “arch enemy,” get the premiere coverage at debates and other campaign stops.

But on the news feed on his website, de Angeli expressed his optimism about the unlikely candidate from Texas.

Accompanying a link to a YouTube video, his message reads, “The tide is definitely turning now!”

– David Mekelburg

The Best of Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.