Ron Paul on Campus: Reviving A Radical Tradition

The University of Michigan's school paper runs a fun little profile of the campus "Ron Paul House" and its denizens, and how they are reviving an old Ann Arbor tradition of political passion.

A couple of excerpts (scan down to find the story under the headline "Ann Arbor's Ron Paul House: Hanging out with fans of the GOP's kookiest candidate," part of a roundup of small bits of campus news):

….stepping into the worn-down building transports you to a scene that almost feels as if you're back in the radical, politically active 1960s - the sort of scene that's been long dead in Ann Arbor. Graffiti covers the walls, the room is littered with political posters and pamphlets, Bob Marley is playing and there are two of the most comfortable looking couches you have ever seen.

……….

When you walk in, you'll likely be greeted by University alum Adam de Angeli, the technology coordinator for the Ron Paul campaign in the state of Michigan. De Angeli will prove a sort of a bearded guide for your journey through the world of Ron Paul.

…..He shares the space with a small music studio and a T-shirt printing shop. The Shop used to be The Planet, a T-shirt shop run by de Angeli, but he convert the space into an unofficial headquarters for Ron Paul supporters….

De Angeli said members of the University chapter of Students for Ron Paul and other Ron Paul activists occasionally come to hang out and read Ron Paul-related literature. Last night, Eastern Michigan University sophomore and Ron Paul supporter Adam Spaude rolled up to the hangout on his skateboard to chat with de Angeli.

……de Angeli keeps a Paul-autographed copy of the annotated U.S. Constitution as well as a bound collection of the Constitution, all amendments and all case law affecting the Constitution. A map of the state identifying the other Paul support groups hangs on the wall next to the book.

Ann Arbor--whose most famous export is our own fightin' managing editor Jesse Walker--was the site of a huge Ron Paul rally last month.

Comments

[FTP]

I've heard on other forums that Ron Paul has received donations from some rather shady characters. Can anyone enlighten me on this?

[NoStar]

FTP, OK, I'll fess up. I sent the Paul campaign $50 in October and $50 in November.
I have also pledged to donate $100 on the next "money bomb" day. Not many characters shadier than me.

Mark Dec.16, the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, on your calendar and watch Donderooooo and Sean Hannity go apoplectic when the result come in.

[Guy Montag]

Ann Arbor--whose most famous export is our own fightin' managing editor Jesse Walker

Isn't one of those /. guys from there too?

[Ruthless]

I met the Little Woman at a Goldwater rally near the Vanderbilt campus, but I don't recall there being any Goldwater "house."
Is this a phenomenon unique to Ann Arbor?
I recall attending several Goldwater-related meetings, but not at a Goldwater "house."

[Pig Mannix]

Apparently some businessman has taken out a full page ad on Paul's behalf in USA Today. Anyone seen it?

[Andonoguin]

Andrew Jackson won the battle of New Orleans with the help of pirates during the war of 1812. It doesn't get much more shady than that.

Liberty makes for strange bed fellows.
A vote for Ron Paul is a vote George Washington would cast.

http://www.teaparty07.com

[sage]

Pig Mannix,

Not only have I seen it, but I'm going to make a buttload of copies of it and plaster cars in my area prior to the 16th. If I can get one person to donate it'll be worth it.

[aaron]

Ron Paul has received thousands of small donations from all types of folks. A website which had been inexplicably passionately anti-Paul for months discovered that a white supremacist contributed $500 to his campaign. They wrote several pieces on it and it has made it to the echo chamber. So far the campaign has remained silent about this and has not returned the money most likely due to the fact that this is a very dangerous slippery slope to go down. Fringe folks of all types enjoy the freedoms of the Constitution so it makes sense that they would want to contribute to Paul who may not agree with them or even find them, their views, their profession abhorrent. For example the owner of one of Nevada's brothels is a big supporter. If Paul were to start responding to every complaint about every donor it would turn into a big distraction and a logistical nightmare real soon.

This coupled by the fact that we can safely assume that there are a few Nazi's out there giving money to Giuliani and maybe a few pornographers giving money to Hillary etc and so on?but the Paul campaign does not have the resources to comb through this data and make similar demands.

All this said, If the biggest problem a campaign has is a few hundred dollars here and there from a few Americans who are culturally disfavored (or just offensive) then that's a great reason to support the candidate.*

The other campaigns have problems with what their candidates believe or have done versus what their supporters believe or have done.

If you or anyone else for that matter allows this line of attack to get real legs then our debate is no longer about the character of our potential leaders. Rather, it becomes a case of voting for someone because the cools kids are voting that way or not voting for someone because only the nerds or freaks are voting for him. I would hope that we are not so adolescent.

(*Note this is different from accepting money from the daughter of the head of the Red Army's missile division like Hillary's husband)

[Warren]

Holy crap. Ann Arbor is politically to the left of Martha's Vineyard. If I'm not mistaken, the student Libertarian group at UM is only a few years old. I was active in the MI LP and remember a founding member giving a speech at the state convention.

[Nick M.]

2 things:

1) FTP's email address @iloveedward.com.

2) Ann Arbor is a whore

[Brad]

The donations from "Shady Characters" has been way overblown and freakishly highlighted.

No one seems to want to raise the same ruckus for much greater transgressions of the Hillary Or Rudy Campaigns. That to me is interesting.

What a lame time we live in when America's founding documents and spirit to support them are considered Radical.

The Fact That An Honest Man With Integrity Is Considered A Kook, Speaks Volumes About Our Society.

Ron Paul is the only candidate that uses rational and reason to support his positions. He is not afraid to give substantive answers to tough questions.

Save The Republic; Vote Ron Paul !!!

[Rattlesnake Jake]

Hillary has received lots of campaign funds from all kinds of seedy characters, but I don't demand that she sends their money back or contribute it to charity, only the illegal funds.

[Happy Jack]

Ann Arbor--whose most famous export is our own fightin' managing editor Jesse Walker

I've always pictured him as a Ypsi kid.

[MattXIV]

Warren,

Maybe you're thinking about someplace else - I was a College Libertarian at University of Michigan between '99-'03. OTOH, I was often dangerously close to being the College Libertarian, so the group may have collapsed and been refounded after I left.

[Tom Walls]

I like to imagine that the house mentioned in the story is the old Stooges/White Panther Party house, where young Jimmy Osterberg and Ron Asheton took drugs, hung out with loose broads, and came up with some really groovy tunes. I got the address (Hill St.) and walked by there once!

I like the diner known as the Brown Jug.

[DannyK]

GO WOLVERINES!

[gramps]

Every time someone demands that Ron Paul returns money to neo-Nazis, the instant response should be to question why that person wants to put money in the hands of Nazis.

Clearly, someone who thinks that money should be transfered to racists and fascists has some explaining to do.

I think spurious charges of being associated with the Klan are also appropriate depending on circumstances.

If you can get them to rise to the bait and explain why they aren't a Nazi for making these demands, their answer should just about answer any slimy accusations of guilt by association they attempted to apply to Paul.

[Nate the townie]

I live in an Ann Arbor co-op, and let me tell you it is strange to see who is excited by Dr. Paul. One of my housemates is practically a revolutionary marxist and he still thinks Paul is the shit.

[Nate the townie]

of course, thats partly because he needs guns for the revolution.

[Warren]

MattXIV,
This would have been between 02 and 04. Did you ever attend the state LP convention?

[Bingo]

Ashley's Pub in Ann Arbor remains one of my favorite places to grab a beer.

[Concerned American]

I will say that am a staunch Republican and because of my absolute disgust for this president, senate and congress, I voted all Democrat last election. I was like all the other people voting last election. I wanted the troops home and the war to end. Well, neither has happened and we are in worse shape than before. At the preset time our dollar is falling, stock prices are plummeting, gas prices are rising and there is lead in our children's toys (Chinese Toys? Thank you Bill Clinton). The only candidate that has any redeeming qualities is Ron Paul. Wake up America he is the only candidate that is willing to shrink this corrupt and bloated government. Please read. Please educate yourselves. Vote Ron Paul.

Ron Paul Revolution
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/

[Nick]

well good for these ann arbor students but i wouldn't be a good ohioian if i didn't say GO BUCKS!!!

OH-IO!!!!!!

and go ron paul!!!

[Dewb]

How in the world, during a week when Mike Huckabee puts out a Chuck Norris Facts campaign ad, can Ron Paul be considered "the GOP's kookiest candidate"?

[Edward]

The Nazi movement was big and popular in German universities.

[MattXIV]

Warren,

'Twas not I. I'd guess if it was anybody from U of M during that era, it'd be Charles Goodman or Dan Sheill. Goodman may actually have founded the group before I got there, since he was the head I was a Freshman.

[highnumber]

The Nazi movement was big and popular in German universities.

Are you sure about that, Edward? If so, this is big.

[Isaac Bartram]

The Nazi movement was big and popular in German universities.

Hmmmm. OK....but last I checked Ann Arbor is not in Germany. And Ron Paul is not running for office there.

[tarran]

Ron Paul encourages people to pin buttons manufactured by his campaign on their chests.

The Nazis made jews pin yellow stars manufactured by the government on their chests.

Coincidence?

I think not!!!!!

[Mad Max]

The Nazis used to have little piece of flair, that they made the Jews wear.

[Robert]

Lol at people equating American Liberty with Nazism.

What a bunch of loons.

[Edward]

Ron Paul Only Garners 5% in Home State

Houston, TX 11/20/2007 04:32 PM GMT (FINDITT)

Uh-oh.

[x,y]

Maybe you're thinking about someplace else - I was a College Libertarian at University of Michigan between '99-'03. OTOH, I was often dangerously close to being the College Libertarian, so the group may have collapsed and been refounded after I left.

MattXIV,

Assuming your first name is Matt, does your last name begin with an "F"? I think we might have crossed paths those years.

[hke]

Warren: There were a few libertarians hanging around during my time in Ann Arbor (early 1990's) although we were hard to find. The rest of the campus was really, really far left. We did have a lot of fun though.

I remember joining our left wing buddies in the no guns, no cops, no code protest. We held up signs that said "Arm yourselves instead!". I think the organizers wanted to kill us.

[Mad Max]

"I remember joining our left wing buddies in the no guns, no cops, no code protest. We held up signs that said "Arm yourselves instead!". I think the organizers wanted to kill us."

But without guns, what could they do?

[iih]

Vive l'Ann Arbor!

[iih]

Ann Arbor is a whore

Those UIUC (whom I have lived among for a few months), MSU, Ohio, UMN fellas. Full of envy... tsk tsk...

The other funny one is Muck Fichigan.

M Go Blue! Go Ron Paul!

[kcjerith]

What! Muck Fichigan is just a rip off of Muck Fizzou! (at least i think so, or did we rip someone else off?)

GO KU!

[iih]

kcjerith,

It probably is, but is seems popular on the campuses mentioned above.

[SIV]

Bob Marley is playing....

I'd have a little more hope for Dr Paul's chances in MI if the "kids" choice of oldies was the MC5.

[NH_GOP]

Another shady GOPer for RP here! LOL

Get a life...

[dcpotts]

I think it's okay to ask questions about RP's past and his supporters. I agree that the whole Stormfront thing and that old newsletter have been WAY overblown, but can you really blame people for asking questions about a candidate that they are interesting in possibly voting for - ESPECIALLY when until a few months ago, the guy was practically unheard of outside libertarian/Goldwater Republican and goldbug circles, and Texas?

[Paul]

Graffiti covers the walls, the room is littered with political posters and pamphlets, Bob Marley is playing and there are two of the most comfortable looking couches you have ever seen.

Why did the timeclock of political radicalism stop during the sixties? Let me guess, the kids there were in a heated debate over whether Bob Dylan sold out when he went electric.

[David T]

Andonoguin: "A vote for Ron Paul is a vote George Washington would cast."

Huh? When did George Washington, the man who backed Alexander Hamilton's big government (and who, in retirement, approved of the Sedition Act) become a libertarian hero?

[Jesse Walker]

I've always pictured him as a Ypsi kid.

I was a Tarheel kid, actually, but I went to school in Ann Arbor from '88 to '91. The campus libertarian group existed then too, but just barely.

[iih]

Jesse,

It was great to know that my most favorite Reason writer is a fellow Wolverine.

[Michael]

Not to be elitist, but Penn's "Puck Frinceton" rules all college taunts.

[Timon19]

14-3

[Kaganspawn]

Is Ron Paul really as hostile to the UN and like institutions as the ad suggests? The UN is a useful tool for international diplomacy and participating in these kinds of international organizations does not necessarily diminish our sovereignty. It depends what the terms of participation are.

Is Ron Paul really for cracking down on undocumented immigrants? Immigrants legal and otherwise are a vital part of the US economy. See the piece on Giuliani's flip/flop on immigration noting that he had it right in the nineties. If we elect him or Romney now the candidate will be forced to stick to the new position as President just as GHWB had to stick to anti-choice. That's a vote for four years of martial law for undocumented immigrants, the vast majority of whom are peaceful and productive members of our society. It is Paul's version of Tancredoism that draws our own ultranationalists, the kind of people Paul is now being asked to reject.

The newspaper ad is less persuasive because not endorsed by the candidate.

[The Winning 3rd Party Ticket]

Richardson-Paul '08.

[sage]

The UN is a useful tool for international diplomacy...

It's also a great place to sink billions of dollars on two conditions: (1) That absolutely nothing gets done with it, and (2) You never ever want to see it again.

[Happy Jack]

I was a Tarheel kid, actually, but I went to school in Ann Arbor from '88 to '91.

Actually, I was thinking of Eastern Michigan. 🙂

[Guy Montag]

Holy crap. Ann Arbor is politically to the left of Martha's Vineyard.

On my map it is physically to the left also!

[Kaganspawn]

Sage, granted the UN is a massive bloated bureaucracy that could usefully be shrunk a lot. But if the US pulls back internationally as Paul proposes, won't it have to rely more on international institutions like the UN to protect its interests abroad, or will the threat of force be all you need?

No one has argued that the ad misrepresents Paul's position on these issues.