What's a Lion of Liberty?
{A few weeks ago, Daily Paul founder Michael Nystrom suggested I share the story of how this website was founded with the members of the Daily Paul. In response, I shared the following story on the Daily Paul. Thanksgiving seems like an appropriate time to share it here, as I am eternally thankfully for this forum that we have to advance the ideas of liberty, and to all those who have helped us build it along the way (like our fantastic web designer, Tommy John!), and most of all, our readers and listeners, without whom this site would have fizzled away long ago - MC}It was a relatively unimpressive dive bar, the type one would expect to find smack in the middle of the Inland Empire. Practically empty and with generic country music radiating from the jukebox, it would provide a fitting atmosphere for meeting up with old friend from our days at Penn State John Odermatt, who had recently relocated out to Southern California.We wasted no time in getting reacquainted in the only way that seemed to make any sense considering the venue - passing drinks and time in equal portions. Before long we found ourselves flagrantly violating the “bar rules of conversation,” as our topic soon turned to politics.We got going on the subject of foreign policy. I was vehemently against the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, however John identified as a Republican and held the fairly common stance that our troops were in these countries in order to keep us safe from evil terrorists that hated our freedom. It was an argument I’d spent many a late night having, and somehow having it with an old friend for the first time seemed to kick my passion up a notch or two.The discussion turned to the election of 2008, still over a year away. With my anti-war stance fairly established, John presumed that I must be a “liberal” and therefore I probably supported one of the early Democrat favorites such as Hillary Clinton or John Edwards. Much to his surprise, I was actually supporting a Republican candidate, “some guy” by the name of Ron Paul.As he grappled with the idea of an anti-war Republican, I explained how Ron Paul was a different kind of politician, didn’t pull punches and told things like it is. I explained the difference between non-interventionism and isolationism. We discussed the concept of blowback and how military interventions overseas were not only foolish, financially crippling, and unnecessary, but they were the root cause of terrorism.Whether it was my arguments that had opened his mind or the double whiskeys, John was seriously evaluating his positions and taking into account what I was saying. He may have held firm in many of his beliefs, but there was no doubt I had him questioning them. While the specifics of the rest of the evening may have been a bit blurry, I do distinctly remember him turning to me at one point and saying, with some mix of bewilderment and stern acknowledgment: “You really don’t like government, do you?”I suppose that was one way to put it.I’d been a fan of Ron Paul and student of libertarian ideas for several years, having first been introduced to them by a college friend who had been a congressional page and had met Dr. Paul several times. He pointed me towards Paul's "Texas Straight Talk" column as well as How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World: A Handbook for Personal Liberty
