About eight months after President Barack Obama at Ritchie Coliseum, a man who hopes to take his job discussed his own solutions with supporters at the same spot in College Park.

Republican presidential primary candidate and Texas Congressman Ron Paul spoke at a town hall meeting Wednesday night, organized in part by the University of Maryland chapter of Youth for Ron Paul. The candidate, widely known as the libertarian option among the GOP field, touted his plan to cut $1 trillion from the budget in his first year if elected; cut foreign spending; repeal the Patriot Act and abolish the Federal Reserve—what he said facilitates big government and leads to artificially low interest rates.

The crowd often erupted into the chant, "End the Fed." "That will be one of the first things on my agenda," Paul responded.

Paul also devoted much of his speech to foreign policy, an area that neither Obama nor former President George W. Bush handled well, he said. He promised that as president he would bring troops home from Afghanistan, and that he would not take the United States into war without the stamp of approval from Congress.

"You go to war when it's declared. You don't go to war at the whim of a president or an administration," he said.

"A lot more can be achieved in peace than in war," he added.

Paul called for the restoration of liberty, and criticized government for too many mandates, including Obama's healthcare legislation and laws against marijuana use. "I think you ought to have a right to put into your own body whatever you want," he said as the crowd erupted into one of the rowdiest standing ovations of the night.