Category Archives: Ron Paul

Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently ordered the Justice Department to increase the use of civil asset forfeiture, thus once again endorsing an unconstitutional, authoritarian, and increasingly unpopular policy.

Civil asset forfeiture, which should be called civil asset theft, is the practice of seizing property believed to be involved in a crime. The government keeps the property even if it never convicts, or even charges, the owner of the property.

Police can even use civil asset theft to steal from people whose property was used in criminal activity without the owners knowledge. Some have even lost their homes because a renter or houseguest was dealing drugs on the premises behind the owners backs.

Civil asset theft is a multi-billion dollar a year moneymaker for all levels of government. Police and prosecutors receive more than their "fair share of the loot. According to a 2016 study by the Institute for Justice, 43 states allow police and prosecutors to keep at least half of the loot they got from civil asset theft.

Obviously, this gives police an incentive to aggressively use civil asset theft, even against those who are not even tangentially involved in a crime. For example, police in Tenaha, Texas literally engaged in highway robbery seizing cash and other items from innocent motorists while police in Detroit once seized every car in an art institutes parking lot. The official justification for that seizure was that the cars belonged to attendees at an event for which the institute had failed to get a liquor license.

The Tenaha police are not the only ones targeting those carrying large sums of cash. Anyone traveling with "too much" cash runs the risk of having it stolen by a police officer, since carrying large amounts of cash is treated as evidence of involvement in criminal activity.

Civil asset theft also provides an easy way for the IRS to squeeze more money from the American taxpayer. As the growing federal debt increases the pressure to increase tax collections without raising tax rates, the IRS will likely ramp up its use of civil asset forfeiture.

Growing opposition to the legalized theft called civil asset forfeiture has led 24 states to pass laws limiting its use. Sadly, but not surprisingly, Attorney General Jeff Sessions is out of step with this growing consensus. After all, Sessions is a cheerleader for the drug war, and civil asset theft came into common usage as a tool in the drug war.

President Trump could do the American people a favor by naming a new attorney general who opposes police state policies like the drug war and police state tactics like civil asset theft.

Ron Paul is a physician, author, and former Republican congressman. Paul also is a two-time Republican presidential candidate, and the presidential nominee of the Libertarian Party in the 1988 U.S. presidential election. His latest book is Swords into Plowshares." For more of Ron Paul's reports, Go Here Now.

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Sessions Authorizes Civil Asset Forfeiture - Newsmax

McClatchy Washington Bureau

Ted Cruz's Democratic challenger tries to steal his tea party support McClatchy Washington Bureau Ted Cruz's Democratic challenger is working overtime to drive a wedge between the senator and his base on one of his central issues criminal justice reform. Over the past six months, Rep. Beto O'Rourke has reached out to members of the conservative ... and more »

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Ted Cruz's Democratic challenger tries to steal his tea party support - McClatchy Washington Bureau

Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently ordered the Justice Department to increase the use of civil asset forfeiture, thus once again endorsing an unconstitutional, authoritarian, and increasingly unpopular policy.

Civil asset forfeiture, which should be called civil asset theft, is the practice of seizing property believed to be involved in a crime. The government keeps the property even if it never convicts, or even charges, the owner of the property.

Police can even use civil asset theft to steal from people whose property was used in criminal activity without the owners knowledge. Some have even lost their homes because a renter or houseguest was dealing drugs on the premises behind the owners backs.

Civil asset theft is a multi-billion dollar a year moneymaker for all levels of government. Police and prosecutors receive more than their "fair share of the loot. According to a 2016 study by the Institute for Justice, 43 states allow police and prosecutors to keep at least half of the loot they got from civil asset theft.

Obviously, this gives police an incentive to aggressively use civil asset theft, even against those who are not even tangentially involved in a crime. For example, police in Tenaha, Texas literally engaged in highway robbery seizing cash and other items from innocent motorists while police in Detroit once seized every car in an art institutes parking lot. The official justification for that seizure was that the cars belonged to attendees at an event for which the institute had failed to get a liquor license.

The Tenaha police are not the only ones targeting those carrying large sums of cash. Anyone traveling with "too much" cash runs the risk of having it stolen by a police officer, since carrying large amounts of cash is treated as evidence of involvement in criminal activity.

Civil asset theft also provides an easy way for the IRS to squeeze more money from the American taxpayer. As the growing federal debt increases the pressure to increase tax collections without raising tax rates, the IRS will likely ramp up its use of civil asset forfeiture.

Growing opposition to the legalized theft called civil asset forfeiture has led 24 states to pass laws limiting its use. Sadly, but not surprisingly, Attorney General Jeff Sessions is out of step with this growing consensus. After all, Sessions is a cheerleader for the drug war, and civil asset theft came into common usage as a tool in the drug war.

President Trump could do the American people a favor by naming a new attorney general who opposes police state policies like the drug war and police state tactics like civil asset theft.

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The Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity : Jeff ...

Four former members of the Seafair Pirates say they have left the group due to what they described as a growing emphasis on drinking alcohol and targeting women. Five organizations have suspended the pirates or disassociated from them because of problematic behavior.

The Seafair Pirates, Seattles beloved rogues, have sometimes acted the part too well.

A fixture on the summer parade circuit since their inception in 1949, the Pirates have spent the past seven decades alternately entertaining and frustrating the masses. The Pirates of old came under fire throughout the 1960s and 70s for piratical behavior shackling a woman to a hotel bed, faux kidnappings and general alcohol-induced misbehavior that led to a four-year ban from Seafair events and a rebranding effort.

In later years, they continued to update their methods to keep pace with Seattles evolving standards of decency. They focused less on women and more on entertaining children, and spent less time drinking and more time at charity events.

But there are signs the organization has slid back toward its rowdier roots in recent years. Four former pirates among them two former captains said they have left the group due to what they described as a growing emphasis on drinking alcohol and targeting women. Five organizations have suspended the pirates or disassociated with them because of problematic behavior. In April, one of the pirates was cited for fourth-degree assault after forcibly kissing a woman at an event in Puyallup.

Weve seen the Pirate organization evolve, or devolve, and it hasnt been a great mix for our family audience, said Tim Kuniholm, the director of public affairs at the Seattle Aquarium, one of the locations that is no longer inviting the Pirates to events. In the last few years, theres been more open drinking in public and interactions with our volunteers and folks here that are inappropriate.

Current Pirates President Daniel Sullivan said the group hasnt had any complaints for a long time and that The Seattle Times was not the first to attempt to besmirch the groups name.

We are an outstanding group of men who do great work in our community, we have tremendous support and after almost 70 years, theres a lot of credibility there, he wrote in an email to The Times.

At gatherings and parades, the pirates have long entertained children from a ship adorned with nautical flags stretching from bow to stern. Each flags colorful stripes and shapes represent a letter of the alphabet, which can be decoded into a message.

At many events, including the parade in Puyallup earlier this April, the message was directed at the women in the crowd: Show us your tits.

One of five groups in the Seafair family, the Pirates are composed of several dozen volunteers, clad in swashbuckling vests and equipped with swords, whose aim is to support Seafair and promote goodwill by participating in parades and charity events throughout the year.

Becoming a Seafair Pirate is a lengthy process that requires a prospective member to obtain a sponsor who is a current pirate. Only after 12 months of training can a candidate ride Moby Duck the groups mobile ship as a full-fledged Seafair Pirate.

One of the typical events on the pirate calendar is the Marysville Strawberry Festival.

The pirates had attended the event for years. But in 2013, the parades organizing body warned them that the continuance of a trend of unsafe and inappropriate behavior would result in a suspension, according to Marysville Police Department spokesman Mark Thomas.

The following year, the Pirates were again found in violation of festival rules and received a three-year ban from the Marysville parade and festival.

Behavior included accusing a festival-board member of lying to cover up an issue in the Pirates parade application, consuming alcohol during the parade and an unpleasant interaction with local law enforcement, according to a letter from the Maryfest Executive Board informing the Seafair Pirates of their suspension.

It would seem as though the Pirates have lost their way and believe the Festival is about them and not that of a guest, the Maryfest Executive Board wrote in the letter. The Parade and festival community is a small one and the numbers of comments made about the Pirates the last couple of years are not flattering. I would hope that your leadership takes this to heart.

At the Seattle Aquarium, the Pirates historically had an open invitation to participate in events at the Aquarium during Seafair and around Halloween, Kuniholm said. But after what he described as inappropriate interactions with volunteers and visitors, plus growing concern for animal safety due to the Pirates refusal to tone down the noise of their cannon, that invitation was rescinded around 2013.

And in Issaquah, three years of public complaints about the Pirates behavior during the parade culminated in a verbal confrontation between the Issaquah police chief and a Pirate.

The police chief called me in and said thats not appropriate behavior for our event and they cant be back, said Robin Kelley, who served as the festival director for Issaquah Salmon Days festival until 2016. And when our police chief says they cant come back, its pretty definitive.

Emails exchanged between Kelley and the Issaquah police chief at the time indicate that the final straw occurred in 2009, though the Pirates told Kelley they couldnt attend the following year anyway, citing not enough available members.

Pirates president Sullivan, who has been involved with the group for five years, initially said the only complaint the group received in recent years was at the Ballard 17th of May parade. When a reporter described other organizations that complained about the Pirates, he called the allegations old news.

An administrator for the Ballard parade, Laura Hanson, confirmed the Pirates have not been in the 17th of May parade since 2014. Sullivan said the fractured relationship with Ballard stemmed from a communication error involving the parade route.

Vicki Hoyt, the chief of the Seafair Parade Marshals, said she wasnt aware of any issues or complaints about the Pirates other than in Ballard, but added that those complaints likely would have gone straight to the Pirates.

The four former Pirates described a culture in which poor behavior was the norm and pirates frequently showed up to parades inebriated or made lewd remarks to female paradegoers.

The drunkenness and not showing up to things we were supposed to show up to got us into a lot of trouble, said Ron Paul, who joined the Pirates in 1998 and served as the groups captain in 2005.

Paul described instances of Pirates falling down drunk during parades and members skipping charity events or showing up hungover. He said he left the group in 2015 after growing increasingly concerned by what he perceived as a shift away from entertainment and toward womanizing and drinking.

Sullivan insisted the group is serious about moving away from that reputation.

The flags on their ship, for example, that had flown for at least 17 years were immediately changed in recent months when we took a closer look and realized the message, Sullivan said. The flags now spell out Seafair Pirates.

But, last week at the Greenwood Seafair Parade, while handing out pins that said Ive been had by the Seattle Seafair Pirates, one pirate wore a vest with a similar tone: Got breastmilk?

In the Cayman Islands, which used to coordinate subsidized travel to the island nation for its annual Pirates Week Festival each fall, the Seafair Pirates sent delegations as early as 1984 and as recently as 2013, according to former Pirates Week Festival committee member Colin Wilson and current executive director Melanie McField.

However, in 2013, the groups six-man delegation did not show up to several scheduled appearances and were hungover at others, Wilson said. Though the government has not disinvited the group, it has not offered sponsored airfare and hotels since, and the pirates have not gone.

Mark Jensen, a former Pirate who left the group in 2012 after serving as special assistant to the captain for more than a decade, estimated that he received approximately two complaints each year accusing pirates of sexual harassment.

One woman, Lesley Harrison, recalled a 2009 incident when the Pirates visited her workplace. She said a pirate stuck a sticker on her lower chest, then grabbed and hugged her.

I felt really kind of violated, she said of the interaction, which she reported to the police.

The following year, while attending the Greenwood Seafair Parade, Bonnie Johnson who suffers from PTSD and has autism said she was cornered by a Pirate, who began yelling at her for not smiling.

I assume everyone just thought it was part of his pirate act, but I think he used that position to his advantage to excuse what he did, she wrote in an email to The Times. I still couldnt speak and eventually he backed off and went to leave. I was relieved until he leaned back in and shoved his fake doubloons (gold coins) down the front of my dress. It was humiliating.

And this year, on April 8, a woman stopped by Sparks Firehouse Deli in Puyallup to grab a Coke with a co-worker. When a Seafair pirate offered a button in exchange for a kiss, the woman and her friend agreed. But, the woman told the Puyallup Police, when she went in to kiss the pirate on the cheek, he turned his head and forced his tongue into her mouth, splitting her lip in the process.

The woman later pressed charges, and the Pirate Stephen Cox, 55, of Redmond was cited for fourth-degree assault, a gross misdemeanor offense.

Sullivan, the president of the Pirates, declined to comment about the incident, and Cox did not return phone calls from The Times requesting comment.

Like any organization, we are constantly self reviewing and evaluating our processes, Sullivan said.

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Seafair Pirates, accused of targeting women and showing up drunk, no longer welcome at some festivals - The Seattle Times

MEDIA >> For the first time, there will be a third-party challenge for countywide offices this fall.

The Delaware County Libertarian Committee has filed a slate of candidates Delaware County Council, Sheriff, Register of Willis and Controller.

Dale Kerns Jr., vice chairman of the county Libertarian Party, said nearly 2,100 signatures were submitted to the Delaware County Election Bureau.

Our candidates are committed to small government, lowering taxes and protecting individual freedom, said Kerns, himself a declared Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate in 2018. With this countywide slate, the Delaware County Libertarian Committee and our endorsed candidates will give a voice to all who have felt politically homeless in Delaware County. It is our goal to promote liberty, transparency and getting government out of the way of progress.

The Libertarian council candidates are Thomas Carey of Havertown and Edward Clifford of Marple. They will face Republicans John Perfetti and incumbent Dave White and Democrats Brian Zidek and Kevin Madden.

Carey is a recent Ursinus College graduate who is planning to be a ninth-grade math teacher. He has been involved in the Young Americans for Liberty chapter since his freshman year and rose to YAL Pennsylvania Stat Chair, where he was the state coordinator for students for Ron Pauls campaign and also was a student organizer for Gary Johnson.

I believe I can bring some transparency to the county council, Carey said, adding that hed move to have meetings at night and streamed live so more people could be engaged rather than during the day.

Im just a regular person. Im not looking to be a politician, he said. Im just trying to bring some transparency to ... keep the government from overreaching into our personal lives. Clifford is a Marple resident who is an accountant and served as the Libertarian nominee for U.S. Senate last year and garnered 230,000 votes.

For Register of Wills, Stacey Wallace, a Haverford High School alum, will face Democrat Mary Walk and Republican incumbent Jennifer Holsten Maddaloni. Wallace has worked for Fox News, Headline News and CNN and now is an assistant preschool director.

She lives with her husband, Matthew Wallace, also a Haverford High School alum, in Drexel Hill. Matthew Wallace is running for the Sheriff position against GOP incumbent Mary McFall Hopper and Democrat Jerry Sanders.

Treasurer of the county Libertarians, hes owner/operator of a gas station/auto repair business in Bryn Mawr and was a leader of the Fight for Zero movement, which is opposed to minimum-wage laws.

He said he is running for office to give voters another option, other than this duopoly of Democrats and Republicans.

A Ron Paul Libertarian, Wallace said as sheriff he would keep the peace and protect the citizens, protect their rights and not take them away.

Libertarian Controller candidate Joseph Olive of Upper Chichester will face Democrat Joanne Phillips and Republican Robert Kane.

County Republican Party Chairman Andrew Reilly said the Libertarians are unqualified for county offices.

For instance, the Libertarians Sheriff candidate on his Facebook page states that he would not enforce orders of the courts, not participate in the war on drugs and not follow a court order to seize a drug dealers money, Reilly said. Selective enforcement of the law by public officials is dangerous. In the middle of our heroin and opioid crisis he is not going to transport a drug dealer to court to stand trial for polluting our communities with drugs, or follow a court order to seize that drug dealers money?

Matthew Wallace outlined his position.

I dont believe in the war on drugs and I dont believe that people who use drugs are criminals, he said. If they do something else, they should be arrested. (But,) the use of drugs, we dont believe thats a crime.

Reilly continued, These Libertarian candidates are treating this campaign as if it was election for freshman class president rather than a serious public office which has consequences to actual people.

Wallaces response was, Thats their opinion. Theyre entitled to their opinion.

David Landau, chairman of the Delaware County Democratic Party, said Libertarians have run previously with no significant impact on election results.

He compared the Libertarians to the sitting Republicans in control of county offices.

They dont do anything theres no health department but they hand out contracts to all their buddies, Landau said. To me, its what a Libertarian government would look like. Theyre all part of that spectrum the far right.

Kerns said his candidates want to give an alternative to voters.

I think there are a lot of things to think about here, he said. Over the years, there are a lot of Republicans that come from the Ron Paul movement. There are Democrats that have come over that are not happy with the Democrat Party.

He said his party is gaining momentum from the populist movement swelled by President Donald Trump where people are not being heard by the two parties.

Were the new young party Libertarians, Kern said. The Libertarian Party is the one that fights for everyone every day. No one can run your life better than you. The two major parties, they consistently try to impose their will on everyone.

And, for him, thats why a full slate has entered the county race.

The message to Independents out there, third parties, Republicans, Democrats, is we need more competition in politics, Kerns said. People arent happy with the two old parties. Were not here to force them to do anything. Were here to give them another option.

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For first time, Libertarians to run for countywide offices - Delco News Network

Libertarian icon Ron Paul has accused Donald Trump of betraying his promises to the American electorate by seeking a new conflict with either Iran or North Korea, warning the US president that any such war will put an end to his term.

President Trump seems to be impatiently racing toward at least one disastrous war. Maybe two. The big question is who will be first? North Korea or Iran? wrote the 81-year-old former congressman in his weekly column published on the site of his Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

With continuing pressure from both Democrats and Republicans over the unproven Russiagate allegations, it increasingly looks like he will seek relief by starting a nice little war. If he does so, however, his presidency will likely be over and he may end up blundering into a much bigger war in the process, states Paul, who contested the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2012.

The new White House administration has attempted to exert unprecedented pressure on Pyongyang amid a series of missiles test carried out on the orders of Kim Jong-un over the past year.

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Paul believes that Trump is looking to play a proactive role in any standoff with the Kim regime, saying, that displays, such as the recent US B-1 bomber flight over the Korean peninsula, sends a clear message that he is ready to attack.

Paul further criticizes the scaling up of US naval forces in the Persian Gulf in recent months, which led to clashes between Iranian and American vessels.

Imagine if the US Navy had encountered Iranian warships in the Gulf of Mexico firing machine guns at them when they approached the Iranians, writes Paul, who has consistently advocated a policy of non-interventionism.

He also notes that Iran is complying with the terms of the Obama-era nuclear agreement, apparently to Trump's dismay.

And although Paul did not endorse any of the 2016 candidates, his son Rand Paul, who ran for the nomination, did, with Trump emerging as the most popular major-party politician among libertarian voters, with many of his policies superficially echoing Pauls own stance.

Although Trumps bombastic rhetoric on Iran and North Korea has been pretty consistent, the American people voted Trump because he was seen as the less likely of the two candidates to get the US into a major war, writes Paul.

A recent study by Boston University and the University of Minnesota concluded that Trump won the most votes in parts of the country with the highest military casualties These are the Americans living in the swing states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan that surprised the pundits by voting for Trump over Hillary.

With the US establishment distracted, Paul advocates for his supporters to make their voices heard and drag attention back to the international arena, to stop Trump blustering us into one or two wars that will make Iraq and Afghanistan look like cakewalks by comparison.

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Ron Paul: Trump 'racing towards disastrous war' with Iran or N.Korea - RT

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Ron Paul: North Korea? Iran? Where will Trump find his first disastrous war? - Tulsa World

Posted on July 25, 2017July 24, 2017Author Ron Paul This weeks expected House vote to add more sanctions on Russia, Iran, and North Korea is a prime example of how little thought goes into US foreign policy. Sanctions have become kind of an automatic action the US government takes when it simply doesnt know what else to do. No matter what the problem, no Continue reading Trump Should Veto Congress Foolish New Sanctions Bill Posted on July 18, 2017July 17, 2017Author Ron Paul On Friday the House overwhelmingly approved a massive increase in military spending, passing a $696 billion National Defense Authorization bill for 2018. President Trumps request already included a huge fifty or so billion dollar spending increase, but the Republican-led House found even that to be far too small. They added another $30 billion to the Continue reading Big Military Spending Boost Threatens Our Economy and Security Posted on July 04, 2017July 3, 2017Author Ron Paul As Independence Day comes around again we should spend a few moments between barbecue and fireworks to think about the meaning of independence. The colonists who rebelled against the British Crown were, among other things, unhappy about taxation. Yet, as economist Gary North points out, the total burden of British imperial taxation was about one-to-two Continue reading We Must Declare Independence Posted on June 20, 2017June 19, 2017Author Ron Paul Nostalgia seems to be very popular in Washington. While the neocons and Democratic Party hard-liners have succeeded in bringing back the Cold War with Russia, it looks like President Trump is determined to take us back to a replay of the Bay of Pigs! In Miami on Friday, the president announced that he was slamming Continue reading Trump Turns Back the Clock With Cold War Cuba U-Turn Posted on June 13, 2017June 12, 2017Author Ron Paul Just when you thought our Syria policy could not get any worse, last week it did. The US military twice attacked Syrian government forces from a military base it illegally occupies inside Syria. According to the Pentagon, the attacks on Syrian government-backed forces were defensive because the Syrian fighters were approaching a US self-declared de-confliction Continue reading Why Are We Attacking the Syrians Who Are Fighting ISIS? Posted on May 29, 2017May 28, 2017Author Ron Paul When we think about terrorism we most often think about the horrors of a Manchester-like attack, where a radicalized suicide bomber went into a concert hall and killed dozens of innocent civilians. It was an inexcusable act of savagery and it certainly did terrorize the population. What is less considered are attacks that leave far Continue reading Are We Fighting Terrorism, Or Creating More Terrorism? Posted on May 15, 2017May 14, 2017Author Ron Paul By the end of this month, Defense Secretary James Mattis and National Security Advisor HR McMaster will deliver to President Trump their plans for military escalations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. President Trump would be wise to rip the plans up and send his national security team back to the drawing board or replace Continue reading President Trump: Toss Your Generals War Escalation Plans in the Trash Posted on May 09, 2017May 8, 2017Author Ron Paul President Trump is about to embark on his first foreign trip, where he will stop in Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the Vatican, before attending a NATO meeting in Brussels and the G-7 summit in Sicily. The media and pundits have loudly wondered why hasnt he gone on a foreign trip sooner. I wonder why go Continue reading President Trump: Cancel Your Saudi Trip, Play More Golf Posted on April 25, 2017April 24, 2017Author Ron Paul I love WikiLeaks, candidate Donald Trump said on October 10th on the campaign trail. He praised the organization for reporting on the darker side of the Hillary Clinton campaign. It was information likely leaked by a whistleblower from within the Clinton campaign to WikiLeaks. Back then he praised WikiLeaks for promoting transparency, but candidate Trump Continue reading Candidate Trump: I Love WikiLeaks. President Trump: Arrest Assange! Posted on April 11, 2017April 10, 2017Author Ron Paul Thursdays US missile attack on Syria must represent the quickest foreign policy U-turn in history. Less than a week after the White House gave Assad permission to stay on as president of his own country, President Trump decided that the US had to attack Syria and demand Assads ouster after a chemical attack earlier in Continue reading After Trumps Syria Attack, What Comes Next? Posts navigation

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Ron Paul, Author at Antiwar.com Original

By Andrew Marc Di Giovanna

In June, 31-year-old Shea Dobson unseated Democrat Connie Moran from her position as mayor of Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Though Moran was a three-term incumbent facing an opponent with no previous experience holding political office, Dobson won a decisive, double-digit victory, garnering 55 percent of votes to Morans 45 percent.

Dobsons story begins in 2008. While visiting his father in Tennessee, Dobson watched a presidential debate featuring former Congressman Ron Paul (R-Tex.), who immediately caught his attention. Feeling inspired, Dobson started closely following Congressman Paul and set out on a roadtrip to participate in the Revolution March on July 12 of that year. That was really when I [realized] its not just a couple friendly people, theres really something here, Mayor Dobson commented.

RELATED:Glenn Jacobs, WWE star Kane, officially announces his bid for mayor

Then, in 2012, Dobson began canvassing and knocking on doors for Congressman Pauls second presidential campaign. With the help of his fellow liberty-leaning conservatives, their team took over our entire county republican party and sent a 100 percent pro-Ron Paul slate of delegates to the state convention, Dobson boasted.

That was only the beginning of Dobsons involvement in the liberty movement. In 2013, he founded a Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) chapter at the University of Southern Mississippi and was quickly promoted to Mississippi State Chair with the organization. After graduating, he moved on to work for the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR), Concerned American Voters, Students for Liberty (SFL) and Americans for Prosperity (AFP), in addition to canvassing for Senator Rand Pauls 2016 presidential campaign and later volunteering for Gary Johnsons independent run. Dobsons extensive involvement in grassroots activism and various leadership roles provided him with the experience and vision necessary to take on his next big move a bid for the mayoral seat in Ocean Springs.

Throughout the mayoral race, Moran repeatedly criticized Dobson for his youth and inexperience, which he fiercely combated. Ive been on the ground working with people, Dobson said. Thomas Jefferson signed the Declaration of Independence when he was 32. Dont tell me that young men cant do great things.

Instead, Dobson used his youth to reach the voters of Ocean Springs. Having previously been a passive observer in the political scene, Dobson is familiar with the attitudes many voters have about discussing politics. You [have to] talk to people about their average, everyday lives, Dobson explained. Taking a more grassroots approach, Dobsons volunteers were composed of local residents and friends of his. By having more of a politically secular base, Dobson was able to keep his message intact and reach constituents in ways his opponent could not.

#OneCoast

A post shared by Shea Dobson (@sheadobson) on Jun 21, 2017 at 3:47pm PDT

RELATED:Rand Paul explains why the free market would provide Americans with the best health care

After taking office on June 30th, 2017, Mayor Dobson is off to a solid start but there are certainly challenges, such as excessive city-level regulations, that he intends to address. He is confident in the character and good-heartedness of Ocean Springs residents to work together in addressing the needs of their community. His election represents the spirit of the American people who are simply fed up with establishment, salesman type politicians, willing instead to elect a man with passion and principle. Dobson intends to Get people working towards a common cause for the betterment of his community.

When asked what advice he has for liberty activists seeking to run for office, Dobson said, Theres no perfect time to take on a project. Dont be afraid of how big the mountain is to climb. Surround yourself with good people [who ]are [willing] to work hard and do everything they can to help you out. Keep your head down when it comes to a lot of the political chatter. Work hard, and tell the truth.Dobson will be at the YAL National Convention in Reston, VA this week to speak with and guide 400 liberty youth activists.

Andrew Di Giovanna serves as California State Chair with Young Americans for Liberty, where he empowers activists at the local level. Andrew currently studies Biology at Citrus College with an aim to practice orthodontics.

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This 31-year-old Ron Paul Republican is now the mayor of Ocean Springs, Mississippi - Rare.us

While the Ron Paul revolution may appear to have waned in recent years, its legacy remains apparent in todays Trump-dominated Republican Party. A recent example from Clark County, Nevada shows that the Paul revolution still has some life in it, as a full-throated Ron Paul supporter was just elected their GOP chairman.

Carl Bunce, a long-time libertarian activist, narrowly defeated his establishment opponent, Eddie Facey, by a four-vote margin last week. Despite a long history as a rabble-rouser from his start as a fierce Ron Paul supporting partisan, Bunce was able to smooth over rifts in the party. Current state party chairman Michael McDonald held a major fundraiser along with other prominent Nevada Republicans including National Committeewoman Diana Orrock, State Senator Scott Hammond, and Councilwoman Michele Fiore in support of Bunces candidacy.

I know how to rebuild the party because I helped destroy it, the new Clark County GOP chair said to fellow party members.

Bunce served as the head of the entire Ron Paul campaign in Nevada in 2008 and 2012. Last year, he served as Nevadas Senior Advisor to Rand Pauls presidential campaign during his ill-fated Presidential run. His victory shows how the Paul ideas are still being mainstreamed, and are no longer looked at as anathema in the age of Trump.

Of course, keeping his power will be no small task for Bunce. Ron Paul-inspired insurgencies have had success gaining power at different levels of the GOP, but hanging onto it is a totally different story. The establishment always strikes back, and they are just a few votes away from turning the tide yet again in Clark County.

Bunce will need to remain vigilant once in power to keep a unified bloc of voters behind him. It will not be easy. Nevertheless, he will not be afraid to use his power to hold elected officials accountable, and hopes that the public will respond to his brand of decisive, take-no-prisoners leadership.

Elected officials go off the range because they dont fear the Republican Party in Clark County, or any other county, he said. What they need to begin to do is fear us.

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Ron Paul Supporter Elected On Promise To Rebuild The GOP He Helped Destroy - The Liberty Conservative