The Congress Blog

Can You Speak This
January 31, 2008When Glenn Beck interviewed Congressman Ron Paul a few weeks ago, he said that he had received death threats from people purporting to be Ron Paul supporters. I have heard other journalists make similar accusations against Congressman Paul’s supporters. Of course, I have no way of knowing whether any of this is true or not. And neither does anyone else.

My own experience has been that Congressman Paul’s supporters have always demonstrated grace, patience, and courtesy. I have met and worked alongside Ron Paul supporters in at least four states, and I have never personally witnessed any of the anger and bitterness of which they are accused.

Not that Ron Paul’s supporters do not have reason to be angry. They most certainly do. In fact, all of us should be angry.

Ron Paul’s supporters have been subjected to the most overt and outlandish brand of humiliation and censorship ever seen in modern politics. The cable news Republican Presidential debates have been jokes. For every one question (and usually a stupid, irrelevant question at that) asked of Dr. Paul, the other participants will get three or four. Maybe more. Even though Ron Paul has received more money, more votes, and more delegates than Rudy Giuliani, the press continues to ignore Mr. Paul while showering Giuliani with coverage.

In addition, Ron Paul’s own party continues to treat him and his supporters as second-class citizens - or perhaps even as aliens from a different planet. They are subjected to insults of every type. Not to mention enduring every conceivable method to censure or remove Dr. Paul from the political process. He has been denied access to platforms, excluded from debates, removed from GOP Presidential lists, etc., ad infinitum, ad nauseam.

I say again: if anyone has a right to be angry, it is Ron Paul supporters. But perhaps the greater question is, Why are not all of us angry? No, I do not mean in a cruel or unkind way, but where is our outrage for what the ruling elite are doing to our country?

We should all be angry at the way politicians lie to us, deceive us, and manipulate us. We should all be angry at the way both major parties have completely ignored and trampled constitutional government.

Are we so gullible that we can’t see when a politician says one thing to one group and a totally opposite thing to another? Are we so naïve that we cannot tell when a politician changes his beliefs simply in order to garner votes?

Come on folks, let’s get real: do you really expect John McCain to abandon his efforts to grant amnesty to illegal aliens? Do you really expect Mitt Romney to be a champion for the unborn? Do you really expect Mike Huckabee to suddenly be the champion for limited government spending? Do you really expect Rudy Giuliani to keep his pants zipped?

Have the American people become so numbed to truth and reality that we cannot distinguish the genuine from the phony - even when it stands right in front of us? Perhaps so. However, if the American people had any of the character and resolve of our forebears, we would be steaming mad about what our political and business leaders have done to our country.

Yes, we should be angry at the way our government has repeatedly lied to us about the economy, about sending our jobs and manufacturing industries overseas, about Iraq, and about everything! Yes, dear friends, they lie to us about everything. It has gotten to the point that, frankly, I believe nothing the government tells us. They have proven themselves to be totally disingenuous and downright duplicitous. And, frankly, I’m angry about it.