Recently by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.: Greenbackers Smear Ron Paul

The political and media establishments, who treat a genuine dissident like a man from Mars, are lecturing Iowans that if they choose the wrong person — e.g., someone those establishments haven't approved for them — they will "discredit" the Iowa caucuses. (These are the same people who pretend to want to "spread democracy" around the world, remember.)

But what would truly discredit the caucuses is a victory for any other candidate. For months and months Ron Paul has been ignored in favor of empty suits who expect to solve the coming fiscal crisis with a few talking points from 1983. The message wasn't too subtle: we'll tell you which candidates you may consider, citizen.

It is not the job of Iowans, or anyone else, to rubber-stamp the choices the establishment has told them are acceptable and safe. It is their job to make up their own minds — and if that means telling the establishment to take a flying leap, then so be it.

A Ron Paul victory would prove that Iowans are done with letting the New York Times or Rush Limbaugh do their thinking for them. It would prove that they understand what may be the most important point in all of American politics:

Whenever someone comes along with a wrecking ball he intends to set loose on a political establishment that richly deserves it, the entire spectrum of so-called mainstream opinion — from the New York Times and Meet the Press to Sean Hannity and Mark Levin — goes into Destroy mode. Nothing makes these alleged opponents kiss and make up faster than someone who refuses to play the game.

A Ron Paul victory would mean that more Americans than we could have imagined even five years ago are prepared to tell the establishment to stick it. The more you smear, the more viciously you attack, the more obvious your venom for one particular man, the more we will rally to him. Since this is the only man who truly terrifies the crooks, the flip-floppers, the thought controllers, and the whole range of so-called respectable opinion, he is obviously the one to support.

What a message that would be.

No CNN reporter will be visibly deflated if Mitt Romney wins in Iowa. Or any of the others, for that matter. That's your tip-off.

The other theme these days is that Ron Paul is "dangerous." They've got that right — he's dangerous to them. He threatens the whole bipartisan establishment, which has given us the same fiasco of a foreign policy, the same monetary policy, the same bankruptcy. To borrow a phrase from Bill Buckley, the propagandists fear Ron Paul for the same reason the baloney fears the slicer.

Calling Ron Paul "out of the mainstream" is a double-edged sword, because it also means he can't possibly be responsible for the condition of the country today. That responsibility rests on the shoulders of the thought controllers on both left and right who solemnly warn us to choose a hand-picked candidate of the establishment instead of the dastardly Ron Paul, who dares think his own thoughts.

Now if you happen to be speaking for Ron Paul at the caucuses tonight, I've recorded a sample two-minute "Case for Ron Paul" you might find useful. You may get even three minutes or more for your speech, but here's the bare-bones case as effectively and efficiently as I could make it.

These caucus speeches can make a real difference. There are still plenty of undecideds even going into caucus night, and in 2008 caucus meetings that had persuasive speeches for Dr. Paul made a noticeable difference in the results.

Here is my list of don'ts. (My video above is in effect my list of do's.)

Don't try to explain "blowback" in foreign policy

Don't bring up the drug war

Don't waste precious time on platitudes that might be uttered by any of the other candidates; they're all going to pay lip service to budget cuts and constitutional government, and it's your job to differentiate Ron Paul from the others

I suggest these not because I'm a sellout, but because in a two-to-four minute speech you cannot expect to make radical changes in people's minds. That's a longer-term project, and it's why I write my books, maintain my blog, and make my videos. But on caucus night all we need is for people to vote the right way. Get them 100 percent on board later.

Now of course I want people to vote for Ron Paul for all the good reasons I give in the video. But I'd be nearly as happy if people also voted for him as a way of telling the media establishment that they prefer not to be lectured, talked down to, and intimidated into supporting the establishment's hand-picked candidates.

If Ron Paul wins Iowa, CNN will put on a brave face. But don't believe it. They will be deeply alarmed to realize that a large and growing segment of the population — many of them young people, who will be around a long time — has unplugged from them. Despite the worst smears that can be hurled at a political figure, not to mention a massive effort by cable news, some left-progressives, and plenty of fake-conservative talk radio hosts to misrepresent and demonize Ron Paul, he won anyway.

I'd say that kind of cold water in the face is just what CNN and its clones could use.

What say you, Iowa?

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