I filled out my absentee ballot, and wrote in Ron Paul. Friends have had mixed reactions, and I have had mixed feelings as well, but what has happened has happened.

I began campaigning for Ron Paul in May when I joined the Philly Meetup. On July Fourth, I met someone and we started Ron Paul Radio. The campaign took all of us through ups and downs. When I could not even vote for Ron Paul in the primaries because the computer had me listed as a registered democrat, I felt so enraged. You can search for my article on that here. I did so much, gave so much time and emotion, so it just felt like the right thing to do. I had not read of Ron Paul’s endorsement of Chuck Baldwin, nor had I seen Chuck Baldwin in the third party debate. If I had, he may have very well gotten my vote.

Of course, the fact that Pennsylvania uses fraudulent electronic voting machines sort of makes the whole thing up in the air.

What a day we have had. I set my alarm so that I would wake up and get nice and ready for Ron Paul’s “big announcement” at ten. Two days previously, I did a little remote viewing, and I should have posted the data then, because I got it right on. First, I saw a torn envelope with a letter. This segued into a business card. The card has an American Eagle logo in the upper left hand corner. To the right, it says “Candidate Picks.” Below that, it has a list of third party candidates with various issues and how they vote on them. It also has a color-coded map of the United States, to show which candidates have ballot access in which states.

Ron Paul brought a number of third party candidates together, including Chuck Baldwin, Ralph Nader, and Cynthia McKinney. He stated up front that he does not agree with all their views, but brought them together to unite against the two parties. Right away, everyone noticed Bob Barr’s absence.

I really didn’t consider the announcement that novel, but as one commenter noted, it may not seem big to us, but it will seem big to people outside the movement. Speculation ran for days, and I considered the joyful possibility of voting for Ron Paul again…for about eight microseconds. I knew he wouldn’t unsuspend his campaign, or run for president in some other third party way, because he has said so in the past. I definitely respect Ron Paul though, and tried to see the good in this conference.

I started composing a somewhat bitter blog entry in my head as I made breakfast. I saw that Bob Barr would have his own press conference at noon in the same building, and people already felt put off by that. I didn’t give it another thought, and went shopping instead.

I came back and started reading again. To my shock, I learned that at this conference, Barr invited Ron Paul to become the libertarian party’s vice presidential nomination. It then turned out that Ron Paul actually received the letter yesterday, and already turned it down, which did not surprise me. The anger from the grass roots built. Later, one of Bob Barr’s field directors made some insane comments about how Ron Paul has shifted from the message to the money. Congratulations, Bob Barr, you just ended your campaign! You have become the George Costanza of the freedom movement.

On Seinfeld, I saw the episode where after George’s fiancé accidentally dies, they form a foundation, and ask George to pick a poem, after placing him on the board of directors. One guy clears his throat when he says “before she had her.ahem..accident.” George gets paranoid because he thinks that they think that he murdered Susan. He leaves a clandestine tape recorder in a briefcase, and records some thumping sounds, and someone saying “Dear God!” He goes totally out on a limb, and confronts them at the end. They explain it away, someone just moved a chair and hit the briefcase, “which for some reason contained a running tape recorder.” George leaves in embarrassment. “So, do you think he killed Susan?” one asks. “Oh yes.” “I just assumed so.” “Oh good, so I’m not alone.” In the same way that George’s efforts made him look even worse, Bob Barr and his campaign has done the same thing by their actions towards Ron Paul and his followers. They wanted to get Paul’s supporters, and ended up losing them. I predict
that in about two days, Barr’s poll numbers will drop significantly.. News travels fast in the revolution – after all, we all use computers like a bunch of nerds.