The following is what I wish Rep. Ron Paul would say, in what is surely soon to come, his concession speech as he withdraws from the race for the Presidential nomination of the Republican party:
“My fellow Americans, each of us, myself included, is here because of a lie. The most immediate of these is the lie that the war our government is currently waging in Iraq is one which is necessary and vital to our national security. I have sought the nomination of my party for the office of President of the United States because this lie is both outrageous in its sheer falsehood, and one which has helped contribute to the continuing decline of both the Republican party and the conservative movement in America.
Despite the fact that now the overwhelming majority of Americans have come to agree with us that the war in Iraq is an illegal and abysmal failure, the powers that be of the party and the media have strived to silence and belittle this view, along with my campaign for the nomination. They do so in a large part to perpetuate the many lies they have given to justify their failed and failing policy in the Middle East, but also because they have a bigger lie to protect.
Our nation’s so-called leaders have long been struck with a terrible affliction. While composing paeans to our democracy, they adore the power they wield and fear the people, who might take it away from them. They seek to concentrate more and more power at the federal level of government, giving the smallest number of your representatives the greatest power over your lives. Under the leadership of our own party, they have decided that granting near-absolute power over us in the federal government is not enough, but that even greater power over each and every American should be granted to an unaccountable “Unitary Executive” They seek to grant that executive power to imprison Americans without trial, spy on them without warrants, and torture them to compel them to give evidence against themselves. They seek to wrest the power to declare war away from the Congress, and to put it in the hands of a single person, who you elect in a process allowed only once every four years.
There is no depth to which they will not descend in this quest. They go so far as to claim that these powers, which King George the Third could never have dreamed having at his disposal, are in the Constitution of the United States.
Implicit in all of these actions are two messages, which cannot be denied. The first is that you, the American people, cannot be trusted. Our nation, which supposedly is governed by we the people, is simply too important, they claim, for you to be allowed to be made aware of its administration. From the secrecy with which they attempt to conceal their multi-million dollar earmarks to that which they use for even the legal arguments supposedly justifying their spying on you, they show their distrust and contempt of the American citizen. The current leader for the nomination of our Republican party is a man who has not only stated but had written into a law bearing his name that you cannot even be trusted to not be swayed by political speech.
As sure as these people are that you are fools and traitors, they are sure that you will believe that they are trustworthy and benevolent in all things. At every turn, they suggest that you need not worry, that you can allow them to run your lives by fiat, and that they would never deceive you or harm you. Even when their lies are laid bare, when their lies about the war and terrorism, about the economy and their own spending are right there for everyone to see, they continue to insist that you simply take them at their word.
What they did not count on was the American people they despise. We remember the legacy of our founders, who questioned a ruler who declared that the people were fools. We remember that they taught us to question our government, and that we had the right to decide its actions for ourselves. And what they forgot what that they left us a blueprint for how to create such a society: the Constitution of the United States of America.
They will hope that this quest for the nomination of the Republican party was not merely a battle, but the entirety of the war over the nature of our country. They are wrong. While this fight is over, the true battle is only beginning. We know that we are a good nation of reputable citizens, and that they are the brigands and liars. And we will not surrender this nation to the likes of them.
We will do this by trusting our fellow citizens and refusing to accept the empty promises of known miscreants and liars. We will do this by reclaiming the legacy our forebears left to us: our Constitution.
I cannot thank all of you, who have supported my campaign in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, nearly enough for all that you have done. What I can do is promise you that this is not the end of our journey, but merely the end of its beginning.
This nation belongs to us: the American people. Our message has been stated loud and clear: we are coming to take it back!”
