As Super Tuesday—arguably the most important date in the Republican primary season—draws nearer, candidate hopeful Ron Paul made a whistlestop in Oklahoma on Saturday, drawing approximately 1,700 people to a rally on the South Plaza of the State Capitol building in Oklahoma City.
“I’m sure glad the revolution has arrived in Oklahoma,” Paul said. “Because it is spreading, it’s an intellectual revolution, and it’s not going to be stopped. An idea whose time has come cannot be stopped by armies or any government.”
Paul was backed up by an array of speakers, including State Senator Ralph Shortey and State Representative Mike Christian, who endorsed him.
“If we don’t elect Dr. Paul, the freedoms we lose today will never return,” Christian said. “In this election, you will get to decide if your children will be a free people. That is your inescapable burden.”
State Representative Charles Key read a statement from former gubernatorial candidate Randy Brogdon, who said, “A Paul presidency will be the only presidency that holds the Fed accountable.” Key himself told the crowd, “When you show up in force like this, they feel the heat and see the light.”
“We’re supposed to be your public servants, not your masters,” he said.
Paul told his supporters that the campaign was doing well in terms of accumulating delegates. “Sometimes they get confuse in the voting and counting the votes, but so far, right now, they’re admitting that we are in second place with delegate counts,” he said.
Not doing as well, according to Paul, is the state the country is in.
“I’ve been talking about our problems for a good while; as a matter of fact, when I first got involved in politics in the 1970s, I was trying to head off some of those problems,” he said. “But, lo and behold, the government continued to grow.”
Most of the problem, according to Paul, stems from sending too many people to Washington, D.C. who “either didn’t read or didn’t understand or take their oath of office seriously like they should.”
“In Washington, they’re still sound asleep,” he said.
A diverse range of fans of the candidate came out from all over the state to see him speak on Saturday.
Edmond Memorial high School senior and Paul supporter Grayson English said, “I think all of the candidates talk about liberty, and I think that it’s fair to have a distrust of politicians generally, but (Paul) is the only one who is actually talking about ending the Federal Reserve, which I consider important because inflationary monetary policy aids us in warfare, devalues the dollar and hurts poor people.”
Ardmore resident Joshua McGowan, who was there in part to see how the event was organized, called Paul’s campaign “grassroots” and said, “(Paul) says the exact same things when he ran for president under the Libertarian Party that he’s saying right now.”
Terra Dodson, of Sulphur, said that she supported Paul because of his views on the war and contraception.
“He wants to end the war and bring all the troops home,” she said. “And he doesn’t want to just completely get rid of contraception. He thinks it’s not a federal problem, and it shouldn’t be.”
Supporters thought Paul has a good chance to win the candidacy, but acknowledge he still has much in the way of obstacles to overcome—like winning a caucus.
“I think—I’ve heard at least—that he has the second-most delegates, because people stay behind after caucuses and all that,” English said. “But, uh, I think eventually he’s going to have to win something just to stay in the headlines.”
Paul’s message to the crowd was mostly positive, but he did take the time to attack American exceptionalism and corporate-government collusion. “If corporations are wealthy thanks to the government, that is not fair,” he said.
“I believe we can win this argument, and we can win it soon.”