Walking into the Waldo library to purge my study time of all distractions, I saw a large chalk sign etched on the sidewalk. It said:
“Doug Wead, Ron Paul’s senior campaign advisor @ Fetzer Center 7-9 pm FREE!”
It was 6:35 and I was on the other end of the campus. Upon making my decision to abandon my AP Biology studying, I was lead by the campus streetlights and a small map I had attained from inside the library. I arrived at the meeting place fifteen minutes before the talk started and found a seat among the suburban moms, suits, and old men with wispy white hair. A woman with a large Benton Harbor sign naively waved the it high as she could whenever the conversational Doug Wead looked her direction, assuming that the rep wanted to know were everyone in the audience was from. As if by some miracle he knew all the cities in Michigan. There was also an assortment of college students, who, for a far right event, looked rough around the edges.
What propelled me here was curiosity. I am neither democrat nor Republican. I came here because I would like to know his policies; what he is all about. I’m a first time voter and I vow to know as much as possible, and if possible, to attain this knowledge first hand, not by word of mouth. In a time where most of my peers are jumping on the Obama bandwagon to cast their first presidential vote, I will be one of the sticks in the mud that has to learn the platform of all the candidates for herself.
The room grows loud by 7:10, the crowd bantering about the policy and persuasion they came to hear. Some are bashing on Newt’s hedonistic policy, others on the irrationality of Obama, and still others are raving about the genius and subtle energy of Ron Paul.
Wead demystified classifications of Ron Paul’s supporters; “I wouldn’t call them libertarians; it’s more complicated than that, I’d call them constitutionalists,” Wead said.
He presents himself as a smartly dressed and grotesquely humble grandpa, always smiling and genuinely glad that we all came.
Over and over again Wead said, “You probably know more about this than me” with a laugh. I am skeptical, seeing as Wead was the special advisor to President Bush, as well as the biographer for George Bush Sr. as well as Ronald Regan. The man has done his research, to say the least, and now he is the head Advisor to another Presidential Candidate. His humble candidness draws the audience in but reminds me that even the most genuine sounding speaker is still a politician.
One of the things Doug Wead was most serious about was the loss of the traditional American dream. Wead spoke extensively on government corruption and the National Treasury, citing the fact that last year, more money was printed than the total value of our national debt, a shocking reminder that much more goes into the formation of our economy than just politics. He sites the loaning of this same “new” money to banks, which caused the American dollar to decline, as the main reason for this proposed loss, as well as the reason many Latinos, Hispanics, and young voters support Ron Paul.
“It’s about the American dream. Hispanics come to this country; immigrants come to this country because of the American dream. And that’s why they come; they don’t want to get here and find out it’s too late. And the reason these young people are so involved …Is because the American dream is slipping away…It’s touching America’s young people because now they know the system is stacked against them,” said Wead.
As he was saying this, Wead had his arms stretched out on both sides as if to say, what more can we give than the American dream.
Wead also cited high taxes on the poor and the outsourcing of jobs as reasons for our monetary decline.
He was very passionate about this issue; when he spoke he his arms were held up to the horizon and with his voice cracking more than once, said, “They’re smart, they know more about this than I do.” Speaking of the poor, Wead continued, “Think for just a minute how the poor are effected by this. They’re being hurt by this; they don’t know they’re hurt by this.”
This little speed bump statement caught me off guard. I’m classified in the lowest income bracket, but I’m also educated. Still, for the most part he is right. The extremely poor often have no time to research the depreciation of the dollar, to calculate the rise in cost of living and tabulate the two because they are working, supporting a family, or uninterested. But for the most part, even educated middle class people don’t know about where the government loans out their freshly minted money and how that affects the dollar. In fact, the political system is so convoluted and ever-changing that any well-educated and well-monied person would have to spend a considerable amount of time and effort to stay on top of all new developments.
Wead and Ron Paul know a lot about the economy and genuinely care about the poor. Their extreme stance on keeping America’s wealth in America would most likely change how America works on a fundamental level if Ron Paul were elected. But what I got from the talk with Doug Wead was a true caring and passion for America’s people and a raw, tunnel-vision approach to making Americans successful above all else. As Ron Paul’s campaign slogan goes, “Let’s rebuild America”.
