Paul supporters protesting at the GOP National Convention |
I remember exactly where I was a year
ago when the ball dropped to ring in 2012.
I was sitting in the common room of the lodge at the YMCA camp in
Bluegrass, Iowa. New Years itself was
more boring than a Ben Stein lecture on hygiene, and I was incredibly pissed that
a few pricks hadn’t invited me to go clubbing with them at the Iowa City
college bars. Even still, I was
surrounded by the company of Matt Pagano, Cory Chenard, and a bunch of other
good people.
We were all working together to usher in
Ron Paul’s victory in the Iowa Republican Caucuses and start the momentum that
would bring him victory after victory and then the Republican Party nomination
for the Presidency. 2012 quickly brought
us a major disappointment as we watched how Fox News was quickly able to hijack
his leading momentum with propaganda.
January 3 was a disappointing night for us. We’d worked incredibly hard and we were
defeated. What a way to start the year
off!
I continued with school, work, and local
activism. In May I happened to meet one
of the most beautiful people I’ll ever know—beautiful on the inside and out—who
was able to change me for the better in just a short amount of time. We dated, we decided we would be exclusive,
and that the long distance wouldn’t deter us.
Perhaps she wasn’t ever serious about it. Perhaps I was too naïve to expect large bumps
in the road. Maybe I even realized
subconsciously that it wouldn’t work, but my desire to live in the idealized “Zach’s
world” made me blindly overlook her faults.
Somewhere along the way our relationship
turned from a mutually loving give-and-take experiment to my mission to rescue
her from hard times. I became her white
knight, and in doing so I focused exclusively on solving her problems while
allowing my own issues to pile up on the back burner. The sons of bitches would eventually jump off
the stove and catch up to me.
We’ve since gone our separate ways and now
there is only a white knight standing alone in a field, sword and shield in
hand but no one to rescue. There are no
townspeople calling for me in the distance.
Frankly, I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do. For the first time in a while I’ve had ample
free time to seriously think back on the last eight months. I can be honest with myself about the
mistakes I made, and even more honest in admitting exactly the ways she did me
wrong. Basically, every free pass I gave
her when she screwed up was like Neville Chamberlain letting Hitler keep
Czechoslovakia. Then I was actually
surprised when I got the blitzkrieg! It’s
a bitch, but hindsight’s always 20/20.
Frankly, there are two things I can
carry with me and walk tall like a man.
First, I honestly tried my absolute best to make it work. Hell, I even tried my best to get Ron Paul
elected, but that didn’t work either. To
top it all off, every single other liberty candidate I worked hard for and
campaigned for individually got their asses handed to them, thanks to
gerrymandering. Damn!
There are just times when you lose and
the outcome is beyond your control. But
damn it, I did my best and I have no regrets!
I worked hard for what I believe in.
Furthermore, I was able to love a human being unconditionally. Every time she said “I love you back” I knew
I was looking into the face of God. I
wouldn’t trade that experience for all the gold in the world.
Some of you reading this may ask, “Why
the hell is he sharing this with everybody?”
The answer is simple. I figure if
I can be completely honest with the world, then I can be completely honest with
myself and not make the same mistakes, neither in political work, the
workplace, nor—especially—in my personal life.
It’s hard to deal with, but all the
while I’ve stayed completely away from the bottle. These are the kinds of disappointments I
would have got wasted over just a few months ago. But booze doesn’t make problems go away; it
only makes you forget for a few hours, and then those problems come back
tenfold in the morning. The hell with
that; I’m not drinking.
So here I am, sitting at a computer in
southern California, with not even a vague idea of what the future holds. I’m staying away from booze, hitting the books
on Austrian economics and libertarian theory, getting back to the Bible, and
going back to church. These aren’t New Year’s
resolutions; they’re already part of my new routine. Better yet, I’ve been going on incredibly long
hikes to feel empowered, and I’ve also been getting more creative with my writing
and also in the kitchen.
It’s incredibly satisfying to feel both
empowered and creative. I would recommend
this in a heartbeat to other people in the liberty movement. Too many of us waste lots of time behind a
computer screen, either toiling away over a lengthy economic treatise that four
people will glance at or endlessly reposting on Facebook some link exposing
Monsanto. Pretty soon my buddy Havoc and
I will do a straight twenty-mile hike beginning at my doorstep and ending in
Mt. Baldy Village. How excited I am!
One thing I can proclaim is “The hell
with 2012 already!” Honestly, I’m over
this year. I learned a lot and grew a
lot. Ron Paul will always be my
President and a young lady from Indiana knows I’ll always love her with all my
heart, but it’s time for everyone to move forward. Dwelling in the past is dangerous; Jay Gatsby
tried it and it got him killed.
There’s a lot of work to be done in
2013. People in the liberty movement
need to learn to walk away from Facebook and do some real activism for real
liberty candidates. We also need to
soften our rhetoric so our ideas can appeal to non-libertarians, especially
neoconservatives and disillusioned Democrats.
2014 and 2016 will soon be upon us.
Most importantly, we all need to look inside ourselves, be honest with
ourselves, and takes steps to improve ourselves as human beings.
I’ll tell you what though, if Rick
Santorum runs for President again, I’m just going to mail giant sad face
posters to everyone who endorses him. Honestly,
were it not for Ani DeGroot’s hard work, I would have lost complete faith in
Iowa simply for the Santorum caucus victory. Double-you tee eff and never again!
2012 may not have been what we wanted it
to be. Just think of it as a rehearsal
for better times. I’d like to extend a
big thank you to all my brothers and sisters in the liberty movement.
Happy New Year.
* * *
Ron Paul supporters photo courtesy of Jayel Aheram, used via CC BY 2.0 license. "Knights" painting by Viktor Vasnetsov is in the public domain. Both images wre obtained from Wikimedia Commons. Rand Paul 2016 artwork courtesy of Iowa News Liter blog with no rights given or implied.
"People in the liberty movement need to learn to walk away from Facebook and do some real activism for real liberty candidates."
ReplyDeleteAmen. Nobody ever got elected through Facebook. Most folks who vote are not on Facebook at all.
"We also need to soften our rhetoric so our ideas can appeal to non-libertarians, especially neoconservatives and disillusioned Democrats. 2014 and 2016 will soon be upon us."
This is the big challenge. Electing a "self-proclaimed conservative" to your City Council, over a statist Democrat, and teaching him the virtue of limited government is as valuable as finding the "perfect" unelectable candidate.
"Most importantly, we all need to look inside ourselves, be honest with ourselves, and takes steps to improve ourselves as human beings."
The rEVOLution starts within each one of us, first. You're clearly off to a great start, Zach. Glad to know you and Happy New Year