Open letter to Dr. Ron Paul
Dear Dr. Paul,
The last few days left us confused, disappointed and deeply embarrassed. Writing this letter, which I will also publish on my blog, is painful. But the events of the last few days, and the lack of proper response from you are making it necessary.
For many months now we were following your campaign with hope and enthusiasm. Finally, after many years of increasing dissatisfaction with the political and social direction of the country we felt that the ideals of individual liberty had a chance to spark a movement again. We followed the growing support for your candidacy with joy and excitement and were happy to join the “Ron Paul” revolution. We felt that we were seeing a historical moment and we, as a family, took the time to come to New Hampshire to make our small contribution.
We didn’t think that you had a realistic chance of winning the nomination, nor did many of the devoted people who joined your campaign. Certainly we were not imagining that you’ll be the next President. We realized that this is a step in a long march in fighting the tyranny of the state and restoring our rights - as individual. And yet, and for many reasons, the movement is the “Ron Paul” revolution. For better, and sadly for worse, the face of the revolution is your face.
We didn’t agree with many of the things you advocated. We didn’t share your position about immigration. We didn’t adopt the somewhat fanatic importance you gave for the monetary system or the simplistic rhetoric of non-intervention. We were sad about the fact that in your message of freedom you are effectively excluding women by your opposition for their right to choose. And more fundamentally, we disagreed with the power you are willing to grant for the states instead of leaving those issue ungoverned and un-coerced. Yet, we were convinced that we shared with you the belief in the essence of liberty and that your long service in pursuit of protecting that liberty justified our putting our differences aside. We believed that we had so much fundamental in common that justified our joining your campaign, while maintaining our differences.
In our short time in New Hampshire, just before the Primaries, we were happy to join forces with many other volunteers that came from all over the country. We enjoyed seeing the young Paulites - those enthusiastic young supporters of your campaign that created the movement. We saw an educated, devoted and hopeful group of people who saw in you an example to follow. We saw deeply good people that were willing to push aside the apathy, cynicism and disbelief in our political system. They gather under the flag of liberty, a flag you had the courage to carry. Many saw in you a role model, an example of a true libertarian - which in many way we still believe that you are.
A year ago all of this was not important. We were facing a choice between big-government Neoconservative Republican or big-government Democrat. This isn’t the case today, and not because you are going to win the election. You were able to awaken a movement which has given many people hope. Today we are at a point that, regardless of the results of the election, where this movement can develop - in its many meetup groups, on the campuses and in the many other - less conventional - places it was formed. It can grow and go deeper, it can start to influence the expectations that people have of their elected officials. It can change the shape of the discussion which we have with our government and most importantly with each other.
No wonder that on our way back home from New Hampshire, when we found about the New Republic article exposing the ugly affair - known now as the Ron Paul Newsletters, we were shocked and embarrassed. Is this the movement we joined, we wondered, is this the man we choose to lead it? The doubts cast by your campaign and supporters regarding the purity of the motives behind the New Republic’s publication of the these newsletters are irrelevant since the existence of these newsletters is a fact. In addition the fact that you didn’t write any of these newsletter, and we strongly believe that you didn’t, is irrelevant as well.
These messages appeared in a publication owned by you, sometimes under the pretense that you were the author, and helped fund your re-election to congress. Therefore, it isn’t enough that you are not the writer. Further, your reluctance to expose those who wrote these newsletters casts a shadow of suspicion on the campaign and the entire movement formed around it. Questions about the ideology and agenda of people with whom you are associated and who are loud advocates of your candidacy are risking the entire effort of thousands of supporters who trusted you. The results of your continued association with the people who authored the articles in those newsletters and their connection to your campaign risk more than your political future.
We rallied around the banner you raised because we are certain of the rightness of the cause of liberty, but also because we believed that you are a real statesman who would do justice to that cause. Maybe the political advice you got is to try to hush this story, maybe the tactical advice was to try to dismiss the story as old and unimportant news. This isn’t good enough for us, your supporters. We don’t expect you to win the elections, and therefore we aren’t looking for the correct political move. We are demanding that you be a statesman, or fade in shame for the damage you have caused.
We - your supporters, not the media - deserve a real explanation for how you let these shameful newsletters carry your name. How did you allow yourself to benefit from the money that this expression of hate and racism generated? And we want to be sure that those that are responsible for these newsletters aren’t part of the “Ron Paul” revolution. It should be a clear explanation, not political spin, and a total disassociation from those responsible. We, as a movement and as individuals, deserve better than to be associated with those who are full of hate, conspiracy theories and bigotry.
This is a defining moment for the “Ron Paul” revolution and it rests on your shoulders.
Yours truly
Rogel Sokolin-Maimon
Tags: GOP Primaries, Libertarianism, Operation Live Free or Die, Ron Paul, Ron Paul Newsletters, Ron Paul RevulotionRelated posts
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that should clear it up
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That reason? Writers can be stupid, and even politicians aren't all-seeing all-knowing individuals. I imagine if I was in congress I would probably be busy doing stuff for the government rather than micromanaging a newsletter.
You know what's shameful? Waiting for over 10 years to get upset with a guy over a newsletter that he FUNDED (did not write, FUNDED) and then writing an open letter pretending to be a supporter while downplaying everything that Dr. Paul is trying to do.
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One's position on race is a matter of personal belief, and it spans the spectrum from those at one extreme who deny the very existence of race (race truthers), to those moderates who believe in a multiculturalist elimination of racial diversity through miscegenation (velvet genocide), to those other moderates, the race nationalists (white pride, black Nation of Islam pride, Chicano pride, etc.) who advocate for identity preservation by the avoidance of racial mixing (separatists), all the way to those at the other extreme who believe that one race should rule over other races (supremacists.) Ron Paul realizes that it is not the place of a President (or a presidential aspirant) to use his position to come out, as a representative of the government, in a non-neutral way either for or against any individual or group at any point along this or any other belief system spectrum, unless they exhibit violence against other individuals or groups thereby disrespecting their rights.
Rogel advocates that Ron Paul should ignore the Constitution and start yet another war in addition to the wars on drugs, on terror, on poverty, on illiteracy, etc., namely a war on racism.
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I am not going to chastise you for your disappointment. All I can say is what if Ron Paul really doesn't know who wrote this? What if his explanation that the newsletter was shifting parties at the time is absolutely true?
What if Ron Paul was set up? Both the GOP and the Dems had been trying for years to unseat Ron Paul. To the extent that the GOP recruited democrats to run against him and funded them. To the extent that they even shifted districts to force him to appeal to entirely different people (yet he was still re-elected.) And Ron Paul expressed Presidential ambitions around the time this ONE newsletter was printed.
What if Ron Paul was set up? Did you watch his explanation on CNN? Ron Paul sounded excited, agitated, and cornered. All he has is his character to back up what he says is true.
If you were attracted to his campaign because of his honesty, why would you be willing to distrust him so easily? Nobody said this was going to be easy. Just look at what the media has been doing to him in an attempt to force him out. For months. If you were a supporter, Rogel, there is simply no way you couldn't have noticed this.
Ron Paul has been fighting the establishment for decades. The GOP hated Reagan at a time that Ron Paul supported him.
If somehow someone did this to you, what would you do? You would just tell the truth, right? Well, what if no one believed you?
Look at the new spin on the smear that Ron Paul "admitted" it before. Listen to his responses. When he was confronted before, he didn't spew more racism. He didn't even DEFEND the statements. He talked about positive things instead. In fact, he doesn't even say "yes, I wrote that." What else could he do? What proof did he have that wouldn't just sound crazy?
He accepted responsbility and told you that he honestly doesn't know who wrote these. I think if you open your mind back up you will see these appeared in ONE newsletter. Never before and never after.
If you truly did volunteer in NH, you know doubt met the man. I have. And I could see absolutely nothing that would make me believe he would lie to me.
Well, I'm sorry to say, but it boils down to whether you believe him or not. He HAS explained it to you. If it is not 'acceptable' then that just means you think he is lying. And if that's the case, well, you were looking at Ron Paul for all the wrong reasons.
God bless
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One final point. I read the one article (yes, only one article was clearly racist and inflammatory) and it read like a caricture. Like the author didn't even believed what he was writing but instead was using stereotyping.
It's not just wishful thinking for me to believe this was a set up. I was just as disappointed and critical of Ron Paul's response. After the emotions settled, I looked at it more carefully, listened to his response on CNN again, and thought about what I would do in the same cirmunstance. I would simply tell the truth and hope that people believe me. What else could I do? Have you never had someone steal your identity in a forum and use you name to post crap because they didn't like you? Well, imagine a HUGE political machine doing it.
In our volunteer groups, we run into people joining us with ill intentions all the time. Huckabee supporters, Romney supporters, etc... They come in. They come to a couple of rallies. We find them on other blogs leaking information and causing trouble in our own groups. It's just political reality that people are this evil.
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I have no doubt that Ron Paul is not a racist. But he have to make clear that the people that wrote these newsletters (and I read them as well, it is more than one) has nothing to do with the campaign. The newsletters was Ron Paul "Private Property" - he owned it and benefited from it - and therefore he is responsible to what was written in these newsletters. The fact is that Ron Paul admitted that he has moral responsibility but he didn't do the necessary step to disassociate himself from those who wrote the actual newsletters.
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How can he make it anymore clear?
Again it comes down to whether or not you believe him. He has met all of your demands already. He has answered your questions. If you simply keep changing the bar, then well, I will have to agree with the others that you are simply trying to cause mischief. James and his crew are doing this all over the internet. Every time Ron Paul responds, they just move the goal posts to keep the story alive.
Are you sincere in your intentions, Rogel?
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Nevermind... it is clear you are lying, unless you somehow read something no one else on the internet following this has read. It was ONE newsletter, and an implication by Jamie that he *found* 20 years of this stuff with ZERO proof of THAT claim (and he keeps changing the time frame each time he tells the story.) There WERE writings that were not racist in anyway, but were instead non-PC. No more incendiary than stuff Bill Cosby has said.
Why am I wasting my time on you? You just flat out lied in your response to me. Your intentions are clear. See you later, go support someone else that will keep the race wars going and people enslaved.
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http://reason.com/blog/show/124339.html
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The rest of the dates are articles where the same 1992 newsletter was brought up over and over again and Ron Paul's reponses to it at the time.
And I did say there were other snippets taken from OTHER newsletters, but those are hardly racist. Look, I am done with you. It is clear you are simply a trouble maker. You are speaking in talking points we are hearing from the same people spreading this smear.
You are lying and that's the first sign that you have a clear motive. I gave you a pass on not just dropping your support quietly like anyone else would do, but instead you just wanted to continue the smear.
You know what, Rogel. It isn't going to turn off Ron Paul supporters simply because they believe him. He answered the questions. At this point the only attack you have left is that you don't believe him.
And you have no credibility to call him a liar when you start being dishonest.
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This is a blog by a former employee. I don't expect it to change minds, but it does offer a different perspective on the matter in some regards. The more information we have the better off we all are.
Best Regards,
J
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Seriously why try to engage this person? He isn't interested in learning anything new. No matter what you say, he is simply sticking to his talking points. No matter what you do to prove him wrong, he just repeats the question as if it isn't answered.
Go ahead, click on the link he provided me to *prove* that this was more than one newsletter. See for yourself that this person is a liar and move on with your lives.
Are you deranged, Rogel? It's a rhetorical question.
Don't bother answering. I am not going to come back.
Good luck with your smear campaign
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all I wanted to add was:
Surely you are joking Mr. Rogel. You entered a political campaign, and now you are surprised to find that it involves politics?
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What alternative do you want for 2008? Your continuing to flog this dead horse reminds me of something Huckabee said to Ron Paul in one of the early debates. While trying to justify not leaving Iraq without "victory" even though we may have started the war for the wrong reasons, he said something to the effect that he would rather go down fighting than lose his honor by retreating. You seem to be content to have the "revolution" fail because Ron Paul might not pass one litmus test that you find so important.
I can understand, since you're Jewish, why you would be highly sensitive about race issues. But I also find it somewhat disingenuous (and bear with me here because I'm just one of your stupid goyim :) that you can be so condemnatory towards a White Nationalist like myself, who yearns to have a secure homeland for MY own race, when YOUR own race has been able to achieve such a goal for itself in the racially exclusive nation of Israel. Is it because this privilege of being able to live amongst one's own kind is reserved exclusively for God's chosen?
It has been observed that a Ron Paul rally is the one place you can see skinheads working alongside blacks for a common purpose (after the campaign is over, there will be plenty of time for us to get back to the serious business of hating each other :) Paul is the ultimate Uniter, because he holds forth the promise of a country where people of every conceivable kind of belief will enjoy the freedom of thought (to hold those beliefs), the freedom of speech (to publicly advocate those beliefs), and the freedom of association (to congregate with like-minded folks, in a segregated kind of a way :)
Paul would usher in an new era of harmony that comes with true diversity, by eliminating the resentments and hatreds that inevitably arise when different factions must, at a federal level, contend with each other in an all or nothing struggle to get a single agenda imposed (hopefully one's own) on the entire nation (e.g. segregation vs. integration). Instead of this ugly picture, a Paul Administration would allow for a variegated, multi-"colored", state by state smörgåsbord of preferences to develop that offers each individual the opportunity to find a congenial place were he can best realize his right to the pursuit of happiness.