- Some people want their freedom to practice their religious one way, maybe another way. Some might not even want to practice it at all. But freedom, if you understand it, you should all fight for freedom, because you want to exert your freedom the way you want…[People] say, how are you going to compromise and give up some of your beliefs in order to get some things passed? You don’t have to compromise. What you have to do is emphasize the coalitions that people want their freedoms for a different reason and bring them together.
- Ron Paul • In his New Hampshire speech tonight. What’s notable here isn’t that Ron Paul is talking about liberty. What’s notable is that, in his tactical assessment of how to win supporters over to a movement, Paul sounds a whole lot more like a political theorist than a politician. The advice Paul is giving is very pragmatic–if you want to get people to support a cause, you must illustrate to them how they will benefit from the triumph of that cause. Of course, politicians use this technique all the time (the PATRIOT act, etc), but they rarely articulate that that’s what they’re doing. Paul is speaking in much more academic–and honest–terms than politicians normally do (with the possible exception of Newt Gingrich, though, to borrow a joke from Lewis Black, Newt is to academics what KFC is to chicken). If nothing else, it’s refreshing. source