For two days it felt like heaven was a place on earth: I was at the Ron Paul Institute (RPI) for Peace and Prosperity Conference. More than 300 liberty-loving individuals from all over America and beyond – for example, London – ranging in age from senior citizens to a crying baby – gathered at the event. The conference was held 20+ miles from where the Pentagon plots its wars and the rest of the federal government violates the Constitution and Bill of Rights. In this presidential election year, during this time of uncertainty when many wonder who will win, what election fraud will be committed, whether the election will be held, or if the election even matters, the conference theme was appropriately the Liberty Platform. Attendees wanted to be in the presence of the greatest living American, Dr. Paul, hear speeches from subject matter experts on liberty-related topics, and meet and talk with each other.
It was absolutely inspiring to see so many fans, most of them born decades after the 89 years young Dr. Paul, approach their hero to say hello, shake his hand, pose for photos, and sign their books and programs. Several speakers described the libertarian legend as “peaceful as a dove,” an optimist and a happy warrior. Dr. Paul still has a lot of energy and does his Liberty Report five days a week, writes articles, conducts public speaking engagements, and fulfills family responsibilities (he is still married to his childhood sweetheart Carol, has five children and 19 grandchildren).
Daniel McAdams, RPI’s intense executive director and conference organizer, kicked off the stellar list of speakers with his passionate “Peace Through Strength?” speech. “We’ll meet here as long as can,” he promised, addressing what he announced was the largest ever Ron Paul conference audience. A show of hands revealed many were participating in the annual event for the first time. McAdams decried US foreign policy as a display of “weakness through war.” He condemned the FBI raid of Scott Ritter and the confiscation of his papers proving the weapons of mass destruction justification of the war in Iraq was false. McAdams denounced the censorship on YouTube: the disappearance of George Galloway’s interviews with Ritter; the suppression of Max Blumenthal’s Grayzone channel; and the strike against Judge Andrew Napolitano’s Judging Freedom channel. “The regime is good at killing people,” McAdams said: Many nations are turning to BRICS because of the US sanctions on them; Israel has dropped six times more American-made bombs on Gaza as Hiroshima; over 700,000 people have been killed in the war in Ukraine resulting in the tragedy of “Women who will never find a husband.” The silver lining is that the global empire is failing and freedom and human action cannot be stopped.
Judge Napolitano spoke on “Taking Rights Seriously.” His channel has more viewers than he had when he was on Fox, yet none of his former colleagues who still work at that network are allowed on his program. Citing his latest book “Freedom’s Anchor: An Introduction to Natural Law Jurisprudence in American Constitutional History,” he asked the audience if the state repealed freedom of speech, would we still have free speech? The answer is yes, because our rights are natural rights that come from God. What we live under now is the tyranny of positivism, he explained, and we are told we have whatever rights the state decides to give us. The last president who believed in natural rights, he said, was Thomas Jefferson who didn’t even appeal to the Magna Carta.
Osteopathic physician and alternative medicine advocate Dr. Joseph Mercola, the picture of fitness in his athletic shirt and shorts, talked about “The Liberation of Health Care Freedom.” He told attendees, “I am proud to be in a room with such courageous people.” Not surprisingly, Mercola is extremely disciplined about his exercise and what he eats and drinks and said he had brought five pounds of watermelon with him for breakfast. He warned that despite claims to the contrary, there are absolutely no benefits to drinking alcohol. He asked a man he met in the hotel who had endured five bypasses if he ingested vegetable or seed oils, advising him he is not addressing his health issue unless he cuts them out of his diet. Other points Mercola made: The Rockefeller medical establishment never addresses the foundational cause of disease; people get sick and die too young because they are not making enough energy; plastic dangerously activates estrogen receptors that can destroy an individual’s mitochondria; pathogenic disease is when good bacteria die and are replaced by bad bacteria, and in these instances low carbs will help many; Google has been declared a monopoly, will face an avalanche of lawsuits, and will be gone; and the industrialized agriculture system must be destroyed. Mercola is developing a whole system clinic that will inexpensively treat patients. “I know we will win but we must be diligent,” he said. His latest book “Your Guide to Cellular Healing” comes out in October.
The most famous farmer in the world, Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms, spoke about “The Uber-ization of Food.” Salatin, also an author and lecturer, emphasized how individuals need to take responsibility over the food they eat: Americans do not have the freedom to choose the food they want to eat because the government’s position is that it owns us. The industrialization of the food industry removed the butcher, baker and candlestick maker from the village. Regulatory tyranny is easy for big conglomerates to overcome but is enslavement for small food producers. He cited Uber and Airbnb as examples of enterprises that can be successful when the free market is allowed to operate. Salatin and Homesteaders of America’s John Moody conduct Rogue Food conferences around the country that teach circumvention rather than compliance. Starting or joining private food or church groups, selling courses, and using the pet food strategy are a few ways to achieve food freedom. The PRIME Act provides a legislative solution. An extremely hopeful sign is the tsunami-like growth of homesteading in recent years. “Turn your frustration into creative activity” Salatin suggested, by creating, growing and fixing things.
Constitutional attorney and self-professed First Amendment absolutist Jonathan Turley spoke on “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in the Age of Rage.” Summarizing: People have a strange relationship with rage. They won’t admit they like it but it gives them license to do what they normally wouldn’t do. The founders thought free speech was a natural right and James Madison in his Report of 1800 expressed concern that freedom of speech was under attack. Critics today argue the absolutist definition of free speech is too aggressively individualistic and that free speech must be balanced with equity. The Sistine Ceiling’s Touch of God painting, the subject of many PhDs, reveals a background shape resembling a human brain, symbolizing that God gave man a brain to be a creator. As a professor, Turley’s fascination with his students’ doodling led to his understanding that creating is hard-wired in human DNA. If free speech is viewed from a functionalist view, which puts limits on free speech, then it allows you to label information you don’t like as disinformation. “Unreasonable people expect the world to conform to them,” Turley said. “We can’t be fully human without free speech. If you believe free speech can’t be stopped, it won’t be.”
Political scientist, scholar and author John Mearsheimer explained “The Limits of Military Power in International Anarchy”: The most powerful ideology is nationalism and the highest social group is the nation and nations desire their own states, he explained. The Israelis have been unable to win against Palestinian nationalism. The US is liberal but nationalism is frowned upon by the ruling foreign policy establishment. From 1965-1975 the thinking was that the US was fighting communism in Vietnam, he said, but it was really fighting nationalism. Since 1989 the unipolar US foreign policy establishment has “gone off the rails,” he said, thinking after it defeated fascism and communism it could then attempt to use its military power to remake the world by spreading liberal democracy around the globe. Additionally: Both political parties are tweedle dum and tweedle dee on foreign policy. The Bush doctrine mistakenly postulated if Saddam in Iraq was toppled, Syria and Iran would follow. Color revolutions purportedly replacing governments with supposedly democratic ones were in reality military exercises in social engineering. The fundamental problem is that war is an extension of politics. “We are now in a permanent state of emergency,” Mearsheimer said.
Entrepreneur and philanthropist Gary Heavin, a pilot who flew Dr. Paul to the conference, entitled his speech “Cower or Conquer.” Heavin admitted he used to be a Christian Zionist until he was made aware of the Israeli genocide of 200,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Lancet Medical Journal. He also used the term Judeo-Christian until he read the Talmud. He cited the importance of the Biblical principles of honesty, integrity, the power of unity, and service to others. “We have a lot of wealthy people in this country and they are nowhere to be found,” Heavin said, encouraging people to donate to the Ron Paul Institute.
Monetary Metals general counsel Jeff Deist discussed the war on words on “The Linguistic Battlefield.” A few key points: Language can evolve on its own in a laisse faire manner but our would be controllers insist on imposing language upon us. Culture precedes politics. Deist cited the Modern Language Association, which like any institution is subject to capture, the ADL and the LGBTQ+ movement as the linguistic vandals of our time. PC evolved into woke, a totalizing world view permeating every sphere of public activity. The next threat is alleged “speech crimes” which are happening in Canada and the UK with protestors going to jail for waving flags, and the J6 protestors, imprisoned for exercising their free speech. The “useless, feckless GOP” has failed to protect free speech, he said, a point drawing enthusiastic applause from the audience.
Chris Rossini, who co-hosts the Liberty Report with Dr. Paul on Fridays, said “There should be no central control for the truth. This side (Republicans) is weird, we (Democrats) bring joy. That is the level of discourse we are presented with.” He recited the familiar story of a baby born 2,000 years ago among animals in a lowly place, yet he said perhaps lowly (or humble) places are where we should seek the truth, as that baby changed everything (as did Dr. Paul one might add). In the end “Truth in an empire of lies melts like the wicked witch,” Rossini assured us.
And finally, the man of the hour – indeed our lifetime – Dr. Paul, took the stage and the audience responded with a standing ovation and thunderous applause. His intelligence, vitality and good humor permeated his speech. Dr. Paul said one of his lifelong goals was to take the “complex and difficult works of Austrian economics intellectuals who wrote fancy books and make them palatable to as many people I could find.” His genius is that he has indeed done that. Dr. Paul talked about his medical practice, the involvement of his family in the medical field, and how he would like medicine to be delivered as the free market would deliver it. Uncle Sam told him he was its “favorite nephew” and when he was drafted he made the best of it, becoming a pilot and medic, but this was during the Cuban crisis and he was told he couldn’t leave. Vietnam was so utterly tragic, he recalled, it was impossible not to weep for the men who died and the men who lost their limbs. When he decided to run for Congress to promote the idea of liberty, his wife Carol told him she knew he would win because “You will be telling the truth and people will believe you.” Governments kill, steal and lie, he said. “Do you think they will end the income tax? Do you think they won’t touch crypto? Disband the empire. We need to end the Fed. This whole thing is coming down” he predicted, but the inevitable disintegration of institutions provides a good opportunity to pursue our values of liberty and individual freedom. As for the endless wars, he repeated what he advised at one of the Republican Party debates: “We just marched in and we can just march out.” He wryly addressed of the current VP: “Kamala must be a sharpie, she got couped in ,and they are such fanatics about ‘democracy.’” In his lifetime he has observed that the lies of the state have become more sophisticated, but the solution is to understand economics and know that liberty comes to us in a natural way and is an idea whose time has come that cannot be overthrown by armies. His latest book “The Greatest Surreptitious Coup: Who Stole Western Civilization?” is about how the assassinations of JFK, RFK Jr. and MLK constituted a coup of the US government over the Constitution.
The day before the conference, the Ron Paul Student Scholars Seminar convened featuring another assemblage of acclaimed educators. Sixteen students – the most ever – listened to lectures on liberty from and questioned some of the finest minds in America including Judge Napolitano who provided an illuminating introduction to the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.
Kentucky State Senator T.J. Roberts, whose campaign was endorsed by Dr. Paul, talked about “Putting Philosophy to Work: How Gen Z Can Live the Ron Paul Revolution.” He good naturedly told the students he sued governments for a living. He campaigned for Rep. Thomas Massie to help elect him to his House seat and realized then that liberty loving people must get involved in local political activity to make a difference. “Courage is contagious,” Roberts said. “Generation Z and the Millennials will save the republic.” He encouraged the students to take action: raise a family, start a business, run for local and state office, become a doctor or a lawyer. One student, a journalist, said she was fearful because she was getting death threats. Roberts responded he too received death and bomb threats and while these threats are typically hollow attempts by cowards intended to intimidate, it is prudent to be vigilant as it does take courage to speak the truth. “It’s better to be politically feared than loved,” he said.
Dave DeCamp, news editor of the uncompromisingly non-interventionist site Antiwar.com, told the students how “Sifting Through War Propaganda” is what he does for a living. He cited “Reclaiming the American Right” published in 2008 by Antiwar.com co-founder Justin Raimondo as the first history of the neocons who now control the Democratic and Republican parties, indeed the entire US foreign policy establishment. DeCamp discussed Obama’s drone strike that killed a US citizen and the silence of the legacy media on war (for instance MSNBC ignoring ongoing wars while reporting ad nauseum on Stormy Daniels). “Half of the world is under US sanctions,” DeCamp said, and sanctions are a prelude to war. The Houthis are the governing force in Yemen, he informed the students, not rebels as US war propaganda claims as a justification to launch war against them in January. This attempt to enforce an economic blockade is the biggest naval battle since WWII, he said.
Retired Navy CDR John Sharpe revealed how his career suffered when he co-edited the two volume book “Neo-CONNED!: Just War Principles-A Condemnation of War in Iraq” featuring essays by writers on the right and the left. “We were not defending ourselves,” he said of that war. Sharpe’s superiors figured if they didn’t squash him, others would follow. Sharpe was investigated and separated from the Navy. He was reinstated with backpay but spent his last 10 years in the Navy is a less responsible role. Sharpe explained how Navy bureaucrats rubber stamped orders forcing servicemen to get injected with the Covid shots. He said NATO should be dismantled and Europe should arm itself. “We don’t follow Article 2 of the UN Charter as well as the Constitution and Bill of Rights,” he said of the US. “A lot of people have been murdered by this machine. There are scriptural quotes that law is sacred. Use the law.”
Philip Giraldi, who has a wonderful writing style, explained how he got fired by the CIA. He expressed his suspicion in his workplace that the narrative that Bin Laden was the mastermind behind 9-11 was based on fake intelligence and he opposed starting a war with Iraq. His superiors asked him for the names of colleagues who agreed with him. He was given a polygraph which he failed, and his security clearance was taken from him. From then on, he became suspicious of all war promoters. “What is happening now is so horrific,” he told the students, “you have to do what is right.”
The brilliant, somewhat pessimistic yet good humored former diplomat Jim Jatras, participating in the “Navigating the Swamp” panel, held up a copy of his recently published 697-page book: “I Tried to Warn You: The Collected Works of James George Jatras.” Free speech is under attack and censorship is a reality, he warned, and “a crackdown is coming.” He cited the targeting of Elon Musk, owner of X (formerly Twitter), now the most popular social media cite for sharing geopolitical information and news. Jatras predicted the US will go through grim times similar to what the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia experienced, but in the end something good will come out of it.
Jacob Hornberger, founder of the Future of Freedom Foundation, asked if we have “A Constitutional Republic or a National Security State?” The writer and lecturer expounded upon the creation of and rule by the US national security state. He discussed the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, the failure to conduct trials for prisoners, how federal judges uphold torture, the legacy press won’t challenge it, and the Supreme Court won’t get involved. Hornberger assured the students that nonetheless ideas have power, particularly the idea of liberty, which leads to movements and conferences and increasing awareness.
Jeff Deist’s lecture “Guard Your Words” focused on the significance of being aware of how you use words in speech and writing. “Everything we know and learn is through language,” he said. “Language is under duress” but “if you are good at language, it will benefit your life.”
Reprinted with permission from LewRockwell.com.
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