PAUL: I thought a lot about why those of us who believe in liberty as a solution have done so poorly in convincing others of its benefits. If liberty is what we claim it is, the principle that protects all personal, social, and economic decisions necessary for maximum prosperity and the best chance for peace, it should be an easy sell. Yet history has shown that the masses have been quite receptive to the promises of authoritarians which are rarely, if ever, fulfilled.
RUSH: Has he not just nailed it there? He has for me. I know a lot of you think we're listening to kookville here, but, for me, this nails it. We are the party of liberty. We are the essence of liberty and freedom. That's what it's all about. When I made my CPAC speech, the theme was liberty. We want this to be the greatest country ever. We want you to be the best you can be. We want everybody to be the best they can be. We want to get all the obstacles out of people's way. Freedom. Why is that a hard sell? Because it is. Freedom did not win in this election. Freedom did not win. Why is it a hard sell? Why are those of us proclaiming freedom, why are we the ones mocked, laughed at, insulted or impugned? 'Cause that's all we stand for, that's all we want for anybody and ourselves is liberty and freedom.
And yet look at how we're really viewed. We are seen as the deniers of freedom. And why? Well, we don't believe in abortion, and to the left the ultimate freedom is aborting your baby. Gay marriage. We're said to be on the wrong side of gay marriage. To the left, especially to the young today, gay marriage, gay rights is the legalized pot issue of the sixties. It is the thing they care most about. It is the civil rights issue of the sixties. Gay rights and gay marriage, among young college people, age 30, maybe a little order.
We are not looked at as people who believe in freedom. They see us as thwarting their freedom. Figure that. Now, there's a reason why. I know the answer. That is because on our side, along with freedom, there are natural limits to it that we call morality. And that's what the other side doesn't want any part of. You start talking about morality, that's judgmental. That's not freedom. If you start implementing morality, they say you're imposing your moral views on everybody, when all we think we're doing is continuing traditions and institutions which have been shown to maintain the freest, most productive, conducive, peaceful society the world has known.
Morality is a key element. Don't talk to them about that. Morality, it's old-fashioned, it's none of your business. I mean, when Romney goes around and talks about limiting regulations on entrepreneurs, it's the essence of the liberty agenda, it's the essence of an economic free agenda. But culturally, freedom in pop culture means no obstacles on the road to what we call depravity and decadence. They call it enlightenment, emancipation. I'm sorry. To fix this is going to be a cultural undertaking, in addition to or instead of political. Here's the next Ron Paul bite.
PAUL: If authoritarianism leads to poverty and war and less freedom for all individuals and is controlled by rich special interests, the people should be begging for liberty. There certainly was a strong enough sentiment for more freedom at the time of our founding that motivated those who were willing to fight in the revolution against the powerful British government. During my time in Congress, the appetite for liberty has been quite weak, the understanding of it's significance, negligible.
RUSH: That's just how they define it, congressman. What he thinks is liberty and freedom is the absence of totalitarianism, authoritarianism. It's not at all how pop cultural leftists see freedom. They see freedom as no conservatives around. They see freedom as no corporations. They see freedom as you don't have to work, and you can still live. You don't have to have to accept any responsibility or accountability. It will be taken care of. A doctor shouldn't profit from making somebody well. You want to talk about morality, to them that's immoral. Because at the top of all this has been decade after decade after decade of the trashing of capitalism.
What do you think free markets means to the vast majority of people that voted for Obama? You think it means anything? Do you think the phrase "free markets" means anything to them? Greed, exploitation, taking advantage of. Free markets to them is evil corporations outsourcing jobs or paying people the minimum wage. It's the opposite of fair markets. Fair markets, of course, are when authoritarians make rules for everybody that they must follow.
