Ron Paul Visits Fargo, North Dakota, on Eve of Super Tuesday

Presidential candidate and Texas congressmen Ron Paul visited Fargo today on a whirlwind tour the day before Super Tuesday caucuses and primaries. The congressman was scheduled for a 1 p.m. rally at NDSU's grand ballroom in the student union, but he was slightly delayed by the weather. Instead of shortening his speech, Dr. Paul elected instead to forgo the usual meet and greet afterwards to remain on schedule for his next destination to Bismarck at 3 p.m. and then onto Minneapolis from there.

The somewhat small room in which the event was held was barely able to accommodate all of Dr. Paul's supporters, with standing room only remaining by 12:30. A large majority of the crowd was college students, but there were many parents who brought their children and others from the older generation to make their presence known at the rally. Much has been made about Dr. Paul's appeal to the younger generation, and this rally only further demonstrated that. Both states of North Dakota and Minnesota had their own state and campus Republican Party officials on hand to give the introductions and prepare those present for the caucuses to take place tomorrow at the Ramada Plaza Suites in Fargo for North Dakota residents and at Horizon Middle School in Moorhead for Minnesota residents.

At last, Dr. Paul arrived on stage to raucous applause and obligatory sign waving. Rep. Paul proceeded to deliver his message with the backdrop of "Hope for America" and with the themes of liberty and freedom protected by the Constitution. The emphasis on protecting individual rights from government interference has formed the cornerstone of his campaign. Congressmen Paul stated his position on the Iraq war and all undeclared wars, calling for a return to a strict interpretation of the Constitution and taking a non-interventionist approach to foreign policy.

He advocated for the dismantling of our 700 military bases in over 130 countries overseas, including in Korea, Japan, and Europe. He then proposed a sound monetary policy to bring inflation under control by abolishing the Federal Reserve to stop their propensity of printing money out of thin air to fund undeclared wars and which only enrich wealthy private bankers, and getting rid of IRS, in effect ending collection of the federal income tax.

Dr. Paul continued on to speak about keeping taxes extremely low as the Constitution originally intended and limiting the role of the federal government to national defense, fair trade, and maintaining our infrastructure. He criticized our current leadership for its willingness to continue an indefinite presence and commitment of resources in Iraq and elsewhere, yet at the same time propose shutting down some of our bases here at home in order to save money. The challenging message conveyed by Dr. Paul was to ask oneself why we should trust those who say we need to stay in Iraq for up to 100 years and maintain an open-ended war on terrorism with our future stability at home when our infrastructure is crumbling and costs of living are skyrocketing due to high inflationary prices of energy, medicines, and housing.

He spoke of corporations and CEOs and how their massive accumulation of wealth stands in stark contrast to the middle class where the standard of living for the average worker has fallen because wages have not kept up with those rising inflationary costs. However, he was careful to make the distinction between individuals like Bill Gates who have become extremely wealthy due to his success in making a product consumers will buy willingly and those who make their money through government contracts, such as Halliburton. The military-industrial complex and now the pharmaceutical-industrial complex, as Dr. Paul terms it, have become threatening forces to a sound currency, individual liberty, and personal freedoms in this country in his eyes.

Arguably, the largest applause were heard when Dr. Paul proposed bringing all our troops home, lowering or eliminating taxes on wages and tips, and removing restrictions for individual gun ownership. North Dakota is widely known for its recreational hunting tradition, for having a large sector of working class jobs that rely on tips to provide a descent wage, and for having a high percentage of military families, so the crowd's response were not surprising, even with a large contingent of Minnesota residents also present.

Dr. Paul also pointed out he had managed to raise more money than any other Republican candidate prior to the start of the 2008 primary/caucus season, largely coming from small donors on the Internet. This wide grassroots appeal has kept the campaign going, but by his own admission, he has been unable to keep up with the other candidates because of the special interests who fund them. Dr. Paul began the 2008 campaign as one of 11 Republican candidates for President, and now there are only four, a noteworthy feat in of itself for the representative from Texas, no matter what the final outcome.