Spoke at the Cato Institute of washington. This includes remarks by one paul sun, senator rand paul. Its an hour and 10 minutes. Good afternoon. Welcome to the Cato Institute. Im david boaz of the institute of her trying Something Different you are doing an event after work hours. Well see how that works out, but hopefully its good for people who have jobs and cant come to the events we do usually at noon. Required to have a very interesting discussion of ron pauls revolution. About 30 years ago there was a book published about the early years of the Libertarian Movement called it usually begins a timer and unless we found a cato, that most of our interns and students who came to her seminaries had first read the fountainhead. Not all of him, but more than anything else. I think you can say over the past six years, it usually begins with ron paul. As we get more people hitting their first taste of libertarian ideas and maybe then they move on to read ayn rand and cato policy studies, whatever. But a lot of people being brought to the concept of liberty and limited government by his campaign and to me it is clear that he got more attention and more success and boats in this cycle, 2011, 12 in 2007 into destiny. I had a lot of reporters ask me, why is that . To me, the clear answer isnt because he he did anything different. He hasnt changed his views, even much of the way he presents them. What did change a think as a Public Policy environment in which she was talking. Back in 2007, ron paul warned that an cheap money from the Federal Reserve was not sustainable, that the economy was booming and nobody wanted to listen. After the financial crisis, when he came back around 2011 to campaign again, they were listening. In 2007, 80, he talked about some money and 90 i knew the pretenses of this problem the Federal Reserve . Havent they been maintaining the great moderation . Attorney but then, everyone is going to listen to criticisms of the board. He talked about overspending, how the Republican Party has got more than any republican in history. By 2011, perhaps because he was a democratic president , republicans were about ready to hear that in a 2007, ron paul talked about the most military intervention and at that time, republicans were determined to stand in lockstep, say the surge is working and refused to any criticism. The 2011, republicans are getting tired of endless wars. All of that changed th that chan all of that changed the context in which the second Ron Paul Campaign took place in cost him to get more attention and voters than before. Many of you know theres headlines today saying ron paul and his campaign or ron paul suspends campaign. Its clear to me if you read beyond the headlines that the campaign is not over. What he said it is not going to run Expensive Television ads and the lingering primaries that nobodys paying much attention to. To continue doing the kind names hes been doing, talking about issues, giving speeches to College Students and his volunteers working hard and caucuses and the other places that delegates are selected. So thats an interesting story still going on. How many delegates can ron paul get . But that doesnt really matter to us today because this book is not about ron pauls campaign. This book is about ron pauls revolution, which is a broader topic. Brian doherty is becoming a historian of the Libertarian Movement. Hes written books on the burning man festival and on the Supreme Court battle over the Second Amendment, both of whom have some libertarian content. Kumar particularly wrote the book radicals for capitalism, a freewheeling history of the modern american Libertarian Movement which i declared it the Encyclopedia Britannica blog is going to be the standard history of the Libertarian Movement for a long time. Its a massive work that will be the standard source for people studying this movement. Ryan dougherty is Senior Editor of reason. Hes been there for market a decade. Hes a fellow at the competitive enterprise institute, but most importantly, started his career as an intern at the Cato Institute. In fact, we had five interns that semester and one was trying in one was fine kaplan has here in the front row. Brian doherty returned is the editor of regulation magazine before moving onto other editorial projects. Hes been covering ron paul since 1999, which is in essence i floodwalls research boat. So please look on the author of ron pauls revolution, brian doherty. [applause] thank you all very much. The mac is projected well. Im going to talk for a think 20 minutes up front and then there will be some questions later. Im going to start with what i think was a very interesting frame from a history with the topic of my book. Unfortunately, the endpoint extended beyond the book itself, so its not reflected in the book and as of this when is the first time i met ron paul into the state the last time. Both of them were events that large state universities. The first is that the university of florida when i was a College Student in january 1988. He ran for president than with the libertarian party. I was a member of the university of florida libertarian and we had engaged a speaking engagement for ron paul at our campus of nature around 100 people which was an amazing success. 10 times as many people that i come to any event. But they were all there to examine a curiosity. It was an even 100 libertarians. These thirdparty president ial candidate. Our greatest triumph was getting a 16 word article in the newspaper the next day and afterwards we took dr. Paul to an ihop. We thought it was the height of radical scruffy political act was from. A few weeks ago, the last time so far was also at ucla in los angeles, where i now live. 7000 people showed up to see ron paul running for president again with one of the major parties. They were not curiosity seekers. They were not there to learn. They knew they had to say right and left. Daily were booing. The word ben bernanke, they were doing. Afterward, rather than retreating to an ihop, i was watching groups gather to talk about their congressional runs for the l. A. County Gop Central Committee were so well attended event at the College Campus about to throw for what they were going to write every day. The ark of the story from the first appearance to this latest one was truly dreamlike and a really weird way if youve been watching this story as long as i have. It made me think a little bit about the best way to frame how ron paul did this. One of the things you hear that about his rocksolid consistency, which is very true, but i realize in a certain extent the ron paul phenomenon works as well as it does because the four different almost paradoxical divisions that ron paul bridges, not to get all english major re. I will talk about for them quickly tonight. When ac is a phenomenon of rio and impressive realworld political success, yet one his greatest achievements are to a large extent irrelevant to that political success. Especially in the wake of the socalled drop out or pull, its worthwhile reminding people of some objective measures of that political success, especially from 2008 to 2012. Of course success as a congressman, a guy believing things than his other colleagues believed, which leads to the dismissive comment here about his congressional career. How many bills has he passed . If you believe in the congress, the 2012 youre understandably not going to go out of bills passed. It doesnt mean youre not a great congressman. As a president and the 2008 run to the 2012 run, he managed to pretty much double his total and managed more than double his percentage of the gop primary vote from 4 to 10 and in the end the figure will be even higher with the other candidates have and even though he might not be running in texas or california, expects his people will come vote for him in great numbers anyway. He raised 35 million last time around and bystander clinical terms, didnt do anything with it. You think you might have burned out he stands. He did not bring out his fans. They get that much and more this time, which is interesting, but compared its giving us even more interesting. He gathered nearly twice as much as combined. Paltry 36 million so far this go around. Santorum around 14 million. This guy has a base was willing to give them that is something very important in politics, something the gop is having real. Theyre able and willing to do the nittygritty politics. They are able and willing to run for central committee. They are able and willing to achieve positions of total power is that the river, but High Authority from alaska to iowa. Theyre able to in delegations in caucus states like ron paul said he would and everyone else that he wouldnt. They can do that reach of politics says. This is a story of realworld political success and the analogy of the gop powers should keep in mind about the goldwater kids in 1860, similar youthbased movement that gathered around and heroic, strongly antigovernment figure who had written a bestselling book and managed to surprise the establishment of the time with what they could achieve in the future. The more recent analogy is a religious right. The libertarian wing of paul represents that was outmanned and a majority way. Theyre going to be overdosing their weight in the gop beyond their apparent numbers. Its true importance is not about that political success. His son about the gaming and gop precincts and the like. It was a continuation of the Libertarian Movement about which ron paul rose. He was educated to become the political thinker by the works of the rakes of hayek and they always embraced leonard read of the foundation about what change was about, on educating one mind at a time. Ron paul has used politics is the tool for that libertarian goal and if you asked me 10 years ago, i wouldve said maybe with the best tool because he was merely describes your outlier in congress, but hes proven me 100 wrong using the tool of major party politics. Hes been one of the greatest educators for libertarianism of our time as david said. Its not just about politics. The other sort of gap that ron paul bridges is key to his appeal is the apocalyptic ron paul who was at the same time to very hopeful ron paul. Ron paul is one of the other politicians around who is willing to say, america is not necessarily the greatest khmer riches come of this wonderful nation in the world that can only do rate overseas and if theres anything wrong, for the other guy. In Foreign Policy terms, behavior overseas is actually in some ways a criminal empire and we might want to consider we are burning enemies overseas buyer behavior. Hes willing to say that constant series in decades of alien, naturally dollars deficit spending is impoverishing us. Its not something we can continue. We cant just behave as we have behaved. Hes going to point out we are facing serious, Serious Problems with our debt and fiscal crises that are not going to go away by saying, as mitt romney recently said, we cant have a trillion dollar spending cut it when youre like ron paul once. By that which ranked the economy. We cant keep thinking that way and pretending its okay that armed government agents will not have our doors of the raw milk or medical marijuana. Hes a true prophet in that sense, willing to decry what america has become. That doesnt usually work well in politics and i think it does scare people about ron paul. At the same time, when i asked him, how do you succeed with this message that seems so full of doom and gloom . He pointed out, the young people i talked to see the hope in it because im not just saying everything is doomed and we dont know what to do about it. We do know what to do. We know we can try to return our government to its constitution limits. We actually can spend less than we are spending. We can bring the troops home. We sent them over, we bring them back. He paints an intellectually vote and we had of the apocalypse, which allows him to win hopeful enthusiasm, even as he rightfully paints a very dark picture of where overreaching government has led us. Together interesting bridge that ron paul devices hes a Major Political figure who is at the same time greater than write more progressive than progressive. He actually says will still be increasing our debt for decades. We could actually achieve a balanced budget and we dont have to raise taxes to do it. Hes the guy saying we talk about big government. We tack about government interfering in a vise grip but stop interfering in people who want to smoke the marijuana. We can do this. We can have a government that is a government that conservatives say they want and when confronted with ron paul seems a little bit afraid of it. It was cleared to me that ron paul out to have been the Tea Party Candidate by acclamation in the 2012 race and that it didnt turn out that way is not so much a fault of ron paul as a failure of will to be as conservative as they say they are. Clearly the most conservatives consistently conservative candidate out there. At the same time hes in many ways a more progressive than president obama who is unfortunately the favorite politician of the progressive left, such as it is. I mean, your president obama who has expanded the president s powers to unilaterally imprison beyond even george bush is a time. Ron paul is a guy who gave 7000 College Students to boo a mere mention of the bill signed by president obama. Your president too, who has started new unauthorized wars with the drug program and presided over continuing gigantic Defense Budget bigger than any in World History and Ron Paul Campaign some the other hand for peace and withdraw the u. S. Military from the world. Youve got obama who wants to expand every aspect of the war on drugs, including state legal medical marijuana. Ron paul thinks government attempts to arrest people for actions that harm them at themselves are inherently less legitimate. The Obama Administration has set records in deportations. Ron paul is saying to a Republican Debate the border walls are essentially unamerican. On this wide range of issue in protecting people from concentration of power, more progressive were merely any other National Political figure. I dont want to glide over that one point that makes progressives is that they love Income Redistribution and in fact, ron paul is sort of a living sort of rebuke than in a sense that it sort of proves they only care about Income Redistribution and they dont actually care about peace, Civil Liberties and saving people from oppressive concentrations of power. The fault lies in progressives, not ron paul. The fork divide that ron paul bridges that i think contributes to success as he is both incredibly intellectual politician with an incredibly emotional hold on his audience that they discovered us and that hundreds researching this book. He is as they heard various people say the only politician of herm jose i hear it and went out and read a bunch of books. Ron paul, not only does the right books commended them have bibliographies that point you in the direction of where his ideas came from. He will leave you to chalmers johnson. Hes actually a genuine, intellectual leader in modern america, even though i dont than he is himself a great intellectual, but hes a great student of great thinkers and has been a diligent and passion transmitter of their ideas across the generations. At the same time for being as intellectual as he is ending his demeanor as he presents his ideas, hes not a podium thumper. The guy is not selling emotion, though there is a great emotional context to what he says about the richness of the liberty. Its especially interesting to note in more recent talks. He is extempore same. It might be of use to your talk. Its more obvious if you hear them talk a lot. He does not note. He has ideas about Liberty Peddie wings its way through and more recently has been talking in a sophisticated way of about the sheer richness of a human life lived according to his own desires and choices. Theres something philosophically important mind about what specific thing you may choose to do tonight, but by the fact you are allowed to choose your identity and how you move through the world and i see this movie and his audience on a very sophisticated level and by being so thoughtful and bookish in this way, hes managed to imbue these tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands now fans of the emotional attachment that is a little bit to him, though i do want to stress it is to him because he is the embodiment time in public life, of the ideas that have moved him. Ron paul is not a leader in the sense that he could tell his troops what to do. Ron paul is only a leader committees introduce people to a set of ideas that they have grown to hold two. If ron paul told his people to reject his ideas, theyre going to reject ron paul. They are not going to reject those ideas. That emotion is going to carry this movement long beyond the 2012 election cycle, long beyond whether he is dropped out or withdrawn or whatever we want to say about his most recent actions. They are going to continue to work within politics. Theyre going to continue to work with the media, both distributed and not distributed. It is a point worth noting that the single most heard answer when i asked rob told people the question, how did you get into all of this was a Youtube Video and they wouldnt necessarily remember what it ways, at that point it seemed 200 made 100. It is that distribu