Robert,
Man, the hostility just keeps coming doesn't it? I just finished your $940,000 Question article and felt compelled to write you these words of encouragement rather than contribute a comment to what is amounting to yet another ‘Attack of the Rontrons’. Rather than add on to the comments on your diary page, I am heeding the advice from Mark Sashine's diary earlier this week and posting this as a straight letter on my diary page to you instead of engaging those who are increasingly getting on everyone's collective nerves around here. It’s obvious that if you dare to be inquisitive and try to find the answer to some of those troubling questions -you become an enemy of the 'movement'...
Not only is it healthy and responsible to investigate (as opposed to the blind loyalty demonstrated by a great portion of Paul's supporters on this site) it can keep a person from regretting some things further down the line or looking like a f*cking idiot.
As I'm sure you noted, Joel Hirschhorn raised the same question here about the money trail -and met, as we all routinely are used to when it comes to any critique or questioning of the oft heralded ‘messiah-like’ Ron Paul, the same kind of warm acceptance the White House and the GOP gave to anyone questioning their policies, crimes, and well-documented lies. Perhaps we shouldn't really expect anything different... we are talking about a candidate running under the same party's banner that our current so-called 'leader' has become a truly apt posterboy for! I certain that many of the rEVOLution are former champions of Georgie boy that engaged in the same scorn toward all of us who KNEW what kind of disaster was coming when he and the rest of his retinue first took office and began to thumb their noses at the entire world and proceed to destroy it. Now, rather than sink with the ship they steered out of the harbor -they are desperately seeking to save themselves and re-employing their same worn out, bush league tactics in an attempt to shake their well-deserved and hard-earned disapproval and further insecurity. Some people just want to feel like they're a part of something. The Ron Paul community, with all its cultish qualities, is providing that for a vast majority of the easily satiated follower type personalities (as I mentioned, a lot of them are former Bushies) who know that to speak out or question their newfound common trend would be to risk absolute ostracism and to find themselves faceless once more in a sea of solemn, unappreciated individuality –which, ironically, is nobler than the contentment found in the ranks of the un-examining, cowed Rontrons…
By attempting a reevaluation of your endorsement of Ron Paul as your choice of Presidential candidate (based on controversial racist remarks contained in newsletters he once held the editorial reins of and that still bore his name during the time in question), you committed a blasphemy in the community of his followers -the implications and nuances of which called into question whether or not Paul’s opposition to the Civil Rights Act, his vote against Voters’ Rights Renewal, stance on Civil Unions, statements about the Civil War, unparalleled push for States’ Rights, enthusiasm towards dismantling social programs, and other positions effecting blacks and minorities (in particular) were products of an underlying racially intolerant motivation. Of course these questions were largely dismissed by his camp and a flat out denial was issued in regards to the authorship of the offending articles - even though in several published news accounts and interviews with him from the 90’s (while Dr. Paul was campaigning as a congressional candidate from Texas), he admitted writing the offending articles… Adding to this unflattering contradiction, prominently avowed racists/white supremacists Don Black, Bill White, and David Duke made their endorsements known throughout their own circles and the media –which may be of little significance to some supporters, but nonetheless doesn’t help Dr. Paul’s effort to let some of the more troubling aspects of his claims of innocence fizzle away. His acceptance and refusal to return a $500 donation from former Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, the aforementioned Don Black, also fuels allegations of his sympathy for the cause of White Supremacy and claims that he regularly met with various leaders of that movement. Yet, your credibility has been tarnished by your effort to find answers to the valid concerns you have given the information that has come to light. I needn’t repeat the age old adage about ‘friends like these…’
To wind this up, Robert, I’d just like to say you have my sympathies for your effort. I’d never knowingly give my support to anyone with racist motivations, affiliations, or sympathies. I would not betray my own sense of morals nor the philosophies that I hold in respect by doing anything to enable their power or further their cause. I try to exercise my convictions through the actions of my day and will stand alone in that regard if necessary. It is in that spirit that I applaud your character to the point that you are willing to withstand the attacks, ridicule, and general nastiness directed at you for questioning what is, perhaps, the segmented underbelly of your candidate and whether or not he indeed has earned or otherwise merited your continued support, favor, and final endorsement. And in the end, if you find that he still does have your vote, you will be able to cast it knowing full well that you have searched the facts, your own morals, and (hopefully) your inquisitive and fiercely individualistic mind to come up with your decision. That’s all I have to say about it.
Sincerely,
Bid
