The Red and Black

Issue date: 10/5/07 Section: Opinions

J. PATRICK RHAMEY

Early Saturday morning, before tailgaters had begun clogging the streets, I was up driving my wife to the Ramsey student center for the LSAT. As I drove along the Athens loop, I saw a large banner wrapped around a road sign that read "Ron Paul Revolution." Another followed about a half mile later. As I continued toward campus, I saw four more signs all within about five minutes.

Guerilla campaigning has come to Athens.

Later that day as I was watching the Dogs destroy Ole Miss, I saw another Ron Paul banner draped over the bridge adjacent to Sanford Stadium. The banner was visible to most of the fans with big bold letters proclaiming "Ron Paul for President."

The guerilla campaign came at an excellent time for Dr. Paul as his supporters were no doubt attempting to raise awareness at the close of this financial quarter. Supporters also managed to raise $1 million online in individual contributions in less than a week. Willing to spend hours "Painting the Town Ron" and donating their hard earned cash, the Paulites followed through in their commitment to the Texas congressman's messages of ending the Iraq War, the income tax and government infringements on civil liberties.

Knowing Ron Paul supporters, their excitement and willingness to support their candidate by any means available is not surprising. Indeed, Paul supporters are a passionate group.

What is interesting is that no other candidate, Republican or Democrat, seems to have anywhere near the same amount of high-level grassroots commitment.

The idea of seeing a "Mitt Romney Revolution" sign stretched across a highway overpass is good for a laugh. Who really is excited about Mitt Romney being the next president? Hillary Clinton? Rudy Giuliani? Even Facebook darling Barack Obama lacks the level of grassroots fervor of the Ron Paul nation.

I've seen more Stewart/Colbert '08 stickers around Athens than all the candidates except Paul combined.

It seems voters have become content to settle in 2008. I've spoken with anti-war democrats settling for Hillary Clinton, despite her refusal in last week's debate to promise all troops out of Iraq by 2013.

I've spoken with Republicans concerned about homeland security and terrorism settling for Rudy Giuliani, despite his poor decisions surrounding Sept. 11. His insistence upon locating New York's emergency command center in the World Trade Center complex, disregarding the pleadings of his top advisers, led to the unnecessary loss of many firefighters and police officers. As Joe Biden put it, Giuliani is the "most uninformed person on American foreign policy now running for president."

Georgia voters are eligible to vote in either party's primaries.

With such an open field this election season, voters should not be forced to settle on a candidate with whom they only half agree. Vote for the candidate that supports your views, be it Ron Paul, Mitt Romney or even Mike Gravel. If you're going to take the time to vote, at least vote with your conscience.


- J. Patrick Rhamey is a graduate student from Athens studying political science.

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