Cathcon's Political Journey, 2012 - Complete

[CathKhan]

...will sadly probably not come to fruition. I recently signed up to volunteer with the campaign and have had the benefit of receiving emails from Adam de Angeli, the guy heading the Paul campaign in Michigan (or at least in my area). However, the events are either far away or not at a good time for me. The most geographically convenient one is at Michigan State University, but it's on a Monday night, not only a school night but the night that I have band practice which goes from 4:00 to 6:45. Such are the woes of a Paul supporter who had hoped for better. However, the good news is I'll be going to a meeting of local Paul people at a place right by my school on Saturday at 3:00. The call said to bring my own sign and my laptop, neither of which I have, but I do have an ipod and I'm hoping I can get a sign there and just do whatever needs to be done on some hypothetical wi-fi.

[King]

Well, you can always attend his funeral.

[Dr. Cynic]

Well, you can always attend his funeral.

He is closer to 80 than 70 after all.

[Χahar]

This makes Ron Paul sound like some cool band.

[oakvale]

That's a shame, Paul was going to be dropping some vintage tunes and I heard his old friend Q-Tip was going to make an appearance.

[ilikeverin]

Ron Paul will be less than five minutes from where I live.

I am not pleased about the fact that Paul is invading my home to peddle his nonsense

[oakvale]

Someone needs to remix Ron Paul's weird giggle into a hit tune immediately, BTW.

[The Mikado]

He was going to be performing "Gold Standard of my Heart" and "Sorry Hamid (I'm pulling out)!"  Those are his most famous hits!  I've always doubted some of his 90s stuff, though.  "Fleet of Foot" is such a Lew Rockwell ripoff.

[Vote UKIP!]

So sorry, bro.

[Inks.LWC Supports Chuck Hagel]

Not happy with Adam at the moment.  My CR group first sent out an invitation to the campaign back in January, and Adam told me Paul was all booked through the primary.  When it came time to schedule an event at CMU, Adam went to another group on Campus (a reincarnation of a group that used to be associated with Young Americans for Freedom), and didn't even ask our group if we were interested in co-sponsoring it.  That resulted in a very angry e-mail from me to Adam, and the campaign is now trying to fix the problem, claiming they didn't know the difference between the two groups.  So, I'm kinda pissed at the Paul campaign in Michigan--definitely not faulting Paul, but still pissed.

[CathKhan]

Not happy with Adam at the moment.  My CR group first sent out an invitation to the campaign back in January, and Adam told me Paul was all booked through the primary.  When it came time to schedule an event at CMU, Adam went to another group on Campus (a reincarnation of a group that used to be associated with Young Americans for Freedom), and didn't even ask our group if we were interested in co-sponsoring it.  That resulted in a very angry e-mail from me to Adam, and the campaign is now trying to fix the problem, claiming they didn't know the difference between the two groups.  So, I'm kinda pissed at the Paul campaign in Michigan--definitely not faulting Paul, but still pissed.

That doesn't sound too good. So you're at CMU?

[Inks.LWC Supports Chuck Hagel]

Not happy with Adam at the moment.  My CR group first sent out an invitation to the campaign back in January, and Adam told me Paul was all booked through the primary.  When it came time to schedule an event at CMU, Adam went to another group on Campus (a reincarnation of a group that used to be associated with Young Americans for Freedom), and didn't even ask our group if we were interested in co-sponsoring it.  That resulted in a very angry e-mail from me to Adam, and the campaign is now trying to fix the problem, claiming they didn't know the difference between the two groups.  So, I'm kinda pissed at the Paul campaign in Michigan--definitely not faulting Paul, but still pissed.

That doesn't sound too good. So you're at CMU?

Yup.  I graduate in May.

[ChairmanSanchez]

...will sadly probably not come to fruition. I recently signed up to volunteer with the campaign and have had the benefit of receiving emails from Adam de Angeli, the guy heading the Paul campaign in Michigan (or at least in my area). However, the events are either far away or not at a good time for me. The most geographically convenient one is at Michigan State University, but it's on a Monday night, not only a school night but the night that I have band practice which goes from 4:00 to 6:45. Such are the woes of a Paul supporter who had hoped for better. However, the good news is I'll be going to a meeting of local Paul people at a place right by my school on Saturday at 3:00. The call said to bring my own sign and my laptop, neither of which I have, but I do have an ipod and I'm hoping I can get a sign there and just do whatever needs to be done on some hypothetical wi-fi.

That sucks. But would skipping Band practice just once hurt? Or is it mandated that you attend? Oh well, at least Paul is campaigning within 14 hours of you I did not see anybody this time around, though Johnson, Newt, Huntsman, and Romney have all been near me in the past few years.

Well, you can always attend his funeral.

Honestly, if it happens in 10-15 years, and I have the time (and more importantly, a car and some cash), I have thought about making the drive to Texas.

[CathKhan]

Interesting turn of events. It turns out that the Ron Paul event was today at 2:00 and that the website had it scheduled wrong. With the Dad of the guy who was gonna drive us at work and my own Mom preparing for my brother's birthday party, and with another potential driver stuck at his aunt's house for the day and with the bad weather, I 'aint going.

However, out of this comes something better. Turns out I can get a ride from the same guy who was gonna get me a ride to the Ron Paul event, only it's to the Ron Paul speaking appearance at MSU on Monday. As well, it turns out two of my other friends are going as well, so this is gonna be great and I'm able to skip practice for this. Maybe I'll turn this into an update-like thread of my exploits as a young Republican campaigner. (Btw, I plan on abandoning ship when need be to jump on the ship of the eventual nominee which will hopefully be Romney)

[MilesC56]

He came to LSU back in October and I saw him speak. I think his Youth for Paul headquarters in Baton Rouge. He does have a quite a few hardcore fans here at LSU.

[Simfan34]

Bummer. I once heard Huntsman speak. Actually shook his hand.

[CathKhan]

Going tomorrow! There'll be an update on how the speech was, how much fun all the Paultards & I had, etc.

[CathKhan]

Well I'm back. Had a great time. Full story & hopefully pictures to come.

[CathKhan]

So Monday was the big day. My phone (which didn't have a camera) was lost and I had yet to replace it. So, given I'm going on a trip, I'm given my brother's phone which happened to have a camera which I realized I could use for my benefit. Thus, I was able to snap some nice historical shots for y'all.

Earlier that day, we were tasked in A&P to take apart a cow's eye. Not sure what exactly we learned, but it was fun to go ham on the eye and try to scrape all the excess tissue off with the crude instruments we were given. At one point, the instructions were to cut open the eye, and so I did, squirting eye juice (the vitrious humour?) from said eye. Opening up the two halves, what you see below plopped out. While nowhere near relevant to the story, I did get some pictures of that so I might as well include it.

Following seventh hour and the end of school, I immediately rushed to the closest bathroom and promptly changed into jeans, my Ron Paul t-shirt, and a baja. Rushing outside, I was surprised that I was the first one to get to the car we were going in as I had taken the time to change. Nevertheless, we were soon on the road, blah blah blah, two of us four played punch bug with yellow cars (of which there were about three).

We arrived at the MSU auditorium shortly after four o'clock and rushed inside. On the way in, we had the privilege of hearing a guy with a sign call for the end of marijuana prohibition. Some random passerby walked up to the guy, getting close to him, "Hey man, could ya-, could ya let me borrow some weed?" "I- I wouldn't really be the guy to ask about that." and so we proceeded in, passing the paintings pictured below.

Walking in, several of the seats were already taken. The five of us (the dude's Dad included) were forced to split up. Another guy and me (who was also named Christopher) were able to nab two seats on the main floor in row M and N respectively (of course, this isn't accounting for the press section, which was in front of the rest of us). The Dad ended up with a bad seat in the balcony while the two other classmates got better seats on the balcony. First came Adam de Angeli who was "glad to get an applause for being the guy who introduces the guy who introduces Ron Paul". He gave a short speech concerning the nation's youth, etc. which was especially significant due to the fact we were on a college campus and the majority were students at MSU.  Then came the high pitched youth leader whose name escapes me, but others seem to remember him as "Ethan". "Back in 2007, while going through youtube videos, I discovered this hero. He talked about ending the wars, bringing a common sense, balanced budget to the United States, and restoring our civil liberties. Like many youth I didn't have any interest in politics or current events until I heard this man." and gave the usual praise fest hinting on (or fully into) creepiness. Then came the man, the legend himself, Lord Doctor Congressman Ronald E. Paul of Lake Jackson, Texas, Lord and Savior, Defender of our Liberties, and Champion of the Constitution. Oh, he also had Carol and one of his grand-daughters with him.

I crept up to the back of the press area for this one

My phone was of course crap, but hey, I like historical documentation so I snapped a couple pictures. For all you know these could be the two I snapped of Adam de Angeli back in the beginning, but they aren't. Anyway, he touched on the usual aspects of his philosophy. He touched on the War on Drugs, the federal government assassinating American citizens, one of which was in his teens and killed at a barbecue, how the Federal Reserve was created in 1913, how the image of a Republic had been trampled on, how his main priority in cutting the deficit was to end the wars (and you know the college kids loved this), and on how the depression of the early 20's quickly disappeared and was forgotten while the government didn't intervene and how the Great Depression on the other hand lasted thirteen years and had the government intervening almost every second of it.

Right in the middle of his speech, however, on a subject completely unrelated, a woman in the front row of the balcony (and don't be offended by this description, any of you), who had a muffin top, a shirt that ended a couple inches short of where it should have, and was (here it comes) African-American, held up like a pillow case or some sorta bed sheet that said "Don't Legislate My Vagina" on it, yelling about how Ron Paul should support abortion rights. Suddenly--and I don't think it had anything to do with what her political stances were--the crowd surged up and started yelling "Sit down!" "Shut up!" and the inimitable "BOOOOO!!!". And eventually she did. The crowd then, through some sort of miracle, transformed the negative jeers into one of the recurring "President Paul!" chants. Sadly I was too late to think about snapping a photo before she faded from the limelight.

A lot of what he said made sense, despite myself not identifying as a Libertarian. However, there were somethings, especially on foreign policy, that I didn't agree with. I can buy stuff like Paleo-Conservatism and whatnot, but at one point he brought up trade with China and said "Look, we're imperfect, they're imperfect, but hey! We're trading with them!" That specifically I had a problem with due to his comparing our imperfections with China's. However, over all, I had quite a lot of fun and was surprised to see it end.

The Lord Doctor graciously leaves stage

While walking in a guy had been selling t-shirts on the front steps and I was hoping to hit him on the way out and get my second shirt, but he sadly wasn't there anymore. Andyway, we walked right and head towards where the car had been parked. A few of Paul's more liberal supporters had began chanting "Stand up for choice" to which (and the forum won't approve, of course) "Screw Choice!" and a few seconds later the more politically correct "Stand up for Life!" As we were walking, we passed the side of the building where there was a large white suburban and people were waiting around it. We all assumed it was Paul's car but he wasn't out yet so we proceeded on. While in the car and heading toward the cafeteria where we were going to eat, what car was two ahead of us but the white suburban?!

In front of the one in front of us

We were lucky enough to have that useless car in front of us kindly get out of the way and end up right behind his van where we were able to even make out the outline of Carol Paul's old lady hair.

I was tempted to jump out of the car at at least one red light and run up to his. We were even hoping he might head over to the cafeteria for a bite to eat. But alas, at a road that forked, our car went with the turn while his proceeded on. Good day, fellow patriot.

We went on to the cafeteria where we all got different foods, blah blah blah. After that we went back to the school where two guys got rides home (one drove himself) and we were able to tell a couple classmates leaving the girls' basketball game (which was doing pretty bad if I remember correctly) about the "Don't Legislate My Vagina" lady. I then got back into the car and was driven home before the last guy and his dad went home to their neighborhood which was plastered with Santorum signs. The End.

[Paul Kemp]

Ron Paul Live! Coming Soon to an Amphitheater Near You!

[ilikeverin]

It's weird hearing about/seeing MSU from an outsider's perspective.  I recognize some of the people in your post.

[CathKhan]

It's weird hearing about/seeing MSU from an outsider's perspective.  I recognize some of the people in your post.

Huh. Who specifically?

[Vasall des Midas]

Yeah, I took like watching people live. It's a fascinating activity, living.

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

Yeah, I took like watching people live. It's a fascinating activity, living.

Yeah, but Ron Paul's been living for 76 years. Who wants to see that?

[ilikeverin]

It's weird hearing about/seeing MSU from an outsider's perspective.  I recognize some of the people in your post.

Huh. Who specifically?

The guy on the right in the fifth picture, and, more importantly, the protester.