Is the Ron Paul Revolution Dead?

A technologically important corollary of the Third Law of Motion is that a force can be measured by measuring the opposite force which balances the action of the first force. A practical application of that corollary is that most of our modern meters, indicators, or censors actually directly measure not action, but reaction. For example, all scales measure counterweights instead of weights; think of the old pharmacist scales where the weight is measured by how much counterweight needs to be put on the scales to balance the measured weight. Pressure meters measure the force a spring has to exert on a valve to counter the force of pressure on the valve. And so on. We are seldom able to measure direct action in physics. But an artificially created measurable balancing counter force can give us an idea of what the true magnitude of the main force is.

Same applies to a great extent to other areas of life too. In military strategy, the intensity of the enemy’s reaction to our action tells us if we have hit a nerve on the battlefield. In counseling, as pastors and professional counselors know, an intense reaction to specific question reveals the importance of the answer to the person who needs counseling.

It’s true in politics too. The reaction of the enemy can tell us if our political efforts have been effective.

The reaction of the Republican establishment to the Ron Paul Revolution gave us a lot of information as to the effectiveness of the grass roots efforts of the liberty lovers in the Republican Party. And the conclusion is that the Ron Paul Revolution has been effective. In fact, very effective. More than that, it gave us the information that the Ron Paul revolution was successful in changing the paradigm within the conservative movement from socialist neo-conservatism to libertarianism. That, if all things were equal, Ron Paul would have won the nomination because we had the numbers. And that those who do not see the major paradigm shift and are still wondering if Ron Paul was successful in starting a revolution, are either blind or corrupt.

The reaction to Ron Paul was very intense, unlike what it was four years ago. In 2008, the GOP establishment didn’t have to go to extremes to ensure the victory of its darling, McCain. It judged the chances of Ron Paul and the liberty movement too meager to be worth the effort. They were right then.

This time the same establishment judged the liberty movement too dangerous to be left alone, and it therefore couldn’t leave the primaries to the will of the grass roots activists.

Media lies. Voter fraud in every state. Intimidation, threats, physical and psychological abuse against Ron Paul delegates. Blatant violations of rules. Use of raw power to deny lawfully elected delegates their seats at the national convention. At the convention itself, disregard for all the rules. Illegal action to stop undesired delegates from attending. And a last-minute change of the rules to turn the party into a Communist organization run from above, and all grass roots effort crushed.

Gary DeMar claims that Saul Alinsky is alive and well at the Democrat National Convention. DeMar is half-blind. Saul Alinsky was alive and well at the Republican National Convention too. In fact, the RNC saw a much more faithful application of Alinsky’s principles than the Democrat convention. There is more Communism in the Republican Party these days than there is in the Democrat Party.

But that also gave us, the liberty lovers in this country, the necessary information about the real strength of our movement. We have grown strong. Strong enough to win the nomination for Ron Paul, if the primaries were honest and fair. Strong enough for the GOP establishment to not be able to win the nomination for Romney without engaging in all kinds of immoral and illegal practices. If we weren’t strong, the GOP wouldn’t bother risk exposing themselves as the frauds they are. We can judge the action by the reaction. The reaction was strong and desperate. Which means that the action was strong and victorious.

So we know that we have the numbers. The liberty movement is stronger than the neocon socialists who have managed to take over the GOP.

But we lost this particular battle. Ron Paul didn’t get the nomination he deserved, despite the superior strength of his message and the superior numbers of his movement. The reason was our relative inexperience with organizational work, and our lack of preparedness as to how far the establishment would be willing to go in opposing our grass roots effort. We did expect some shenanigans. Hardly anyone expected the depravity demonstrated by the Romney camp.

This shouldn’t be surprising, and it certainly shouldn’t be disheartening. Such is the start of all revolutions against evil empires in history. First, an idea whose time is come, spreads among many people. Then, the people revolt against their oppressors. Then, the empire strikes back.

The first years of Christianity saw a growth unparalleled by any other ideology or religion in history. And yet, within 40 years, the Roman Empire, helped by the Jewish community and the heresies, were closing on the besieged church, making it appear as if the little sect of Christians would be destroyed, never to appear again.

The Reformation, after the initial enthusiasm, saw the violent reaction of the Imperial government and of the Roman Church. A decade after Luther nailed the 95 These on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg the Reformation seemed to have broken into many little pieces, vulnerable to the recovering might of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Great Revolt in the Low Countries which started in August 1566 with widespread iconoclasm and disobedience to the Hapsburg government, was soon overwhelmed by the arrival of 10,000 of the best troops in Europe – the Spanish infantry – led by the most uncompromising Roman Catholic general the world has ever seen, the Duke of Alba. Within two years, Alba had taken most of the rebels’ cities in the south, and had cut deep into the territory of the northern provinces. The Dutch rebellion was dead for all practical purposes, according to opinions by contemporary observers.

The English Puritans in the 1640s had to endure through several legal defeats, and then several military defeats before their revolution could be considered successful.

And, as we all know from our own history, the first two years of the American War for Independence were not a spectacular display of military victories. In 1778, most observers, domestic and foreign, were still of the opinion that the rebellion would be crushed by the superior British forces.

The counter-strike of the Empire against the Revolution should be expected. After all, empires always have better experience at mustering human, economic, and organizational resources. Rebels have to learn to organize very quickly; and therefore tactical defeats should be expected in the early stages of every revolution. But those defeats have a teaching function. And meanwhile, the empire’s reaction must give the rebels a feedback concerning their true strength, and therefore encourage them to continue the fight.

The Republican establishment is a very weak arm of a gradually weakening socialist empire. It didn’t have too many resources to muster. And it will have even less in the future. What happened at the RNC was a desperate gamble. It won because Ron Paul’s supporters were unprepared and a bit too polite. But the establishment won’t be able to pull the same trick again without risking a civil war within the party.

And it will find itself in an even greater problem. The 2008 elections demonstrated that the Party can’t rely on the votes of the conservatives if the right candidate is not nominated. If Romney loses – against the most unpopular incumbent America has ever had – the GOP establishment will prove its political incompetence in the eyes even of its blindest followers. On the other hand, if the impossible happens and Romney becomes President, the coming default of almost all Federal agencies – inevitable, given that Romney’s policies of spending are no different than Obama’s – will happen when there is a Republican President and a Republican majority in the House. Either way, the GOP establishment is heading to disaster, and there is no future for it. Either way, the desperate effort to preserve their power over the party in the last several months is futile; the establishment lacks the resources to continue fighting.

The liberty movement is not dead. We only suffered a defeat. The empire struck back, and we were unprepared for the force of its reaction. But the force of that reaction told us how strong we really are. Stronger than we realized. We just need to learn to organize and fight.

The history of Christianity has been a series of victories disguised as defeats. This last week was such a victory. The socialist leadership of the Republican Party played its last card. They have no more cards to play, and they have no numbers to rely on. From here on, it’s our job to de-legitimize them by refusing to support their candidate, Romney, who is nothing else but another socialist with an (R) behind his name. And build organizational experience.

The Revolution continues.