Lately I’ve been having trouble sleeping. I sit here in my living room in Karnei Shomron, Israel, on the 8th night of Chanukah, wondering what other miracles lay in store on January 3rd and in the months ahead. The name Ron Paul is constantly at my fingertips. I’ve typed it in so many times the past month it’s insane. I’m experiencing an excitement I’ve rarely ever felt, and I don’t even live in America anymore. During the last Republican debate I woke myself up at 3am Israel time to watch an 8pm EST live stream on YouTube, with no fatigue whatsoever. I’m on overdrive, and I can’t calm myself.
I’ve only recently figured out what this excitement actually is.
I first got interested in the whole freedom movement when I heard that Ron Paul wanted to end all foreign aid, including to my country, Israel. This seemed like a spectacular idea to me. I hate the idea of taking American tax payer money I don’t need. The only reason we take it, by the way, is not because we need it. It’s that we don’t want to feel alone, and Jews always feel a deep existential isolation and loneliness. “As I see them from the mountain tops, gaze on them from the heights, this is a people that dwells alone, not counted among the Nations,” says Balaam of the People of Israel in Numbers 23:9. We still feel that loneliness. So we take the money. It’s shameful, it’s theft, it’s destructive, it’s morally wrong, and it makes people hate us for tying them into a conflict they have no business trying to solve. I wanted it to end and didn’t trust any Israeli leader to give it up on his own, so I looked up more about Ron Paul.
What I found was fascinating. On the forums, I learned of people who, back in ’08, literally gave their lives short of death to this man. Some poured money into his campaign they could not afford to give, and some even lost their marriages because of their single-minded insane dedication. This shocked me. I couldn’t yet understand it, but after a few days of listening to him, it began to click.
What is it about Ron Paul that inspires such extremes? Such maddening support on the one hand, and such fear and loathing on the other? I can give the answer in one word: Soul.
The essential soul of a human being is by definition free. The idea that men are free as determined by God is a concept that is foreign to most men. This is because most men want to control others, to take away their freedom. This is usually referred to as the drive for power. The drive for power is antithetical to freedom because power means the ability to control others. There is only one legitimate thing that power can and should be used for, whether it be military, legislative, or executive power. That is, to legalize freedom.
Ron Paul doesn’t want to be President to “give” me freedom. He doesn’t own my freedom and he didn’t give it to me. The only reason Ron Paul wants to be President is to stop punishing people for using their freedom that is rightfully theirs. He wants no power. This is clear to anyone who listens to him speak.
There are two kinds of human beings. Those who want power, and those who want freedom. You can tell which one’s which very easily. Those who want freedom are straight-edged. They are consistent, principled, and you can feel their human soul when they speak to you. There’s a continuum out there of human souls somewhere in spiritual cyberspace, and when you come into contact with one of these souls, you know immediately, because souls are by definition free. You sense sincerity, realness, consistency, a free human being. If you’re a man who seeks freedom and you come into contact with a real human soul, you become instantly addicted and you swallow up anything you can get your hands on. You want to unite immediately, no matter what you disagree on. There are people in the freedom movement that don’t exactly like Israel, especially me being a “settler” and I don’t care. If they want freedom, I sense it and my human drive for individualism suddenly turns into an intense desire to unite into a collective – but a collective of free individuals. It’s a beautiful dialectic, and it doesn’t matter what we agree or disagree on, as long as we agree on freedom.
You get hooked on Ron Paul and you desperately seek more and more, any video you can find from the past, any speeches you missed, anything he said that you haven’t heard yet, even though you’ve heard it a thousand times already in different words. You can’t help yourself. The voracious hunger to be able to use your God-given freedom takes you over entirely. It’s like you suddenly realize you’re human and the Divine Image with which God created you comes alive and catches fire.
But something else happens to you. Once you get hooked on Ron Paul, you can no longer bear to listen to a man who wants power, and you become instantly disgusted when they start saying words. Before, they were just boring. Now they’re revolting. Listening to Romney or Gingrich or Bush or Obama makes you sick and you don’t know how Ron Paul gets through those debates without getting nauseous. You see a political veneer in these politicians that’s so transparent it’s like a ghost flapping its ethereal tongue at you. You can’t bear it.
What’s so maddening about hearing Romney or Gingrich talk is that there’s someone standing there saying things, but there’s no soul in it. These are not free men. These are power men. Not that Romney or Gingrich don’t have souls. They do. They are men just like you and I. But they have practically forfeited their souls to try and attain power, to control others with spin and talking points and contradictory statements like “I want to cut the budget and expand the military!” and they’ll say it with a polished tone and a straight face, just like a soulless recording. Their humanity is so buried under the mountain of lies they have told themselves, that neither they themselves nor you can even sense their souls in the human continuum. The scene of a human body speaking but no soul communicating can drive a free man mad.
The reason that Ron Paul never goes down in the polls is that he’s not “convincing” people in the everyday sense that he’s right on whatever issue. He’s activating human souls, lighting spiritual fires one by one speaking about freedom. Once a soul gets activated, and the man realizes that he IS free no matter what people do to him or tell him, there is no turning back. The other candidates are trying to turn heads with snappy one-liners that sound cool. Slaves follow these one-liners like mobs, and follow each other from candidate to candidate. Slowly but surely, Ron Paul activates a few of the individual souls in the mob as they bob from snappy comeback to snappy comeback and he goes up in the polls.
Yet, we cannot expect every man woman and child to understand or get excited about the message of liberty. In fact, most just can’t handle it. Being truly free is as terrifying as it is electrifying. The Bible tells us this very clearly in the story of the Exodus from Egypt. When Moses finally accepts the role of deliverer from God, he was assigned to say the following to my great-grandparents the Israelites:
“Therefore say to the Israelites: I am God. I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with amazing signs. And I will take you to be My people and I will be your God, and you will know that I am the Lord who freed you from the labors of the Egyptians.” (Ex. 6:6-7)
And what was my grandparents’ response?
“And Moses told this to the people, but they didn’t listen due to lack of spirit and cruel bondage.” (6:9)
Not everyone can handle the message of freedom. It’s too frightening for some people, and some are just too enslaved. Those are the people that despise Ron Paul, the same types who rebelled against Moses in the desert and attempted to go back to Egypt. Freedom is too much for them and they can’t handle the Divine gift. They want and need someone to control them. Their souls have been too battered by slavery, taxation, and wars.
But nonetheless, God forced my stiff-necked great grandparents to leave Egypt, and as a result I’m here today, preaching freedom once again, fighting not only for America’s freedom, but for my own from America’s influence in my own region.
Vote Ron Paul and let my people go once again! Stop meddling here and stop trying to buy influence by giving me money. Stop trying to be the all powerful Peace Maker and let us work out the problems here on our own! If we think Iran is a threat, we can handle it and we’ll take the consequences. It’s not America’s problem and you can’t afford another war.
Now I understand why people will give everything to this man. Whenever he’s asked the question, “Would you legalize heroin?” Ron Paul answers, “I want to legalize freedom!” Little do these people understand that freedom is a thousand times more addictive than heroin.
American Jews! Wake up! Set your brothers in Israel free! We were the first nation ever to be set free by God, and we brought the concept of liberty to the world when we left Egypt over 3000 years ago. It’s about time we set the example we were chosen to set.
The writer, Rafi Farber, is a member of Jews for Ron Paul and manages the website World of Judaica. Email him at settlersofsamaria@gmail.com
As an Israeli and an American I have to say that you are completely wrong.
Ron Paul’s type of isolationism will only make things worse for Israel and the United States. The US has the role, right or wrong, of super power and Ron Paul would like to throw it away.
This would mean that there becomes a power vacuum for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez, Vladimir Putin, Hu Jintao, Al-Qaeda, or others that hate democracy, the USA, and Israel to fill in the void.
The immediate result would be that the US gets attacked hard, with Israel getting it as hard. Europe would be next – and probably from within.
Then you have your choice of what each of these “freedom loving” leaders would turn these countries into.
All to save the price of helping Israel purchase products that create American jobs and living up to the obligations that the US under took as part of the Israel/Egypt peace treaty.
Ron Paul is wrong for Israel.
Ron Paul is wrong for the United States.
Ron Paul is wrong for the whole world.
God bless your soul Duncan. A rose is a rose is a rose.
beutifully written, a moving feeling and it is so true…. I love your piece of work
Nice post. I was wondering what your thoughts would be on why most of the hit pieces on Ron Paul that have surfaced lately have been written by Jews?
I’ve read articles by James Kirchick, Jonah Goldberg, Ed Kotch, Michael Savage and others that really slander Dr Paul. What are they afraid of?
They are afraid of being alone. And Ron Paul wants to leave the Jews alone. They are afraid of being Jews and only having God to rely on, afraid of being independent, of being self reliant.
I’m curious about Ron Paul’s newsletters? What are your thoughts on those? I when I first heard about RP back in the 90s I searched for more info on him and those were the 1st documents to come up. No one was complaining about them or disavowing them then.
Does Israel need American money? Sure, why not. But you have to put the aid in context. Israel and Egypt both receive money from the US -it’s part of the peace agreement. Prior to that agreement Egypt received weapons from the USSR. So now the money is reinvested in the US defence industry; not Russia’s.
As an aside, I recall Israel was running out of munitions during the 06 war with Hezbollah and America helped replenish those stocks. Clearly we don’t have the capacity.
Of course we can open a debate as to why the world needs to continue an arms race – and America’s overt involvement in that – but we are dealing with human nature… Obama wanted to reduce the US’ stockpile of nukes and North Korea and Iran stepped up to the nuclear arms “plate”.
Limiting America’s involvement with the world will just embolden the enemies of western civilization. Is that a good thing? I’m afraid RP ‘may’ prove to be good for the USA (and she needs to get strong again, and bz H’S she will), but not good for the world.
As for H’S, well I have only this to say: we have the choice to follow His ways, but if we do not, He will see to it that the world progresses the way He wants it to enable his prophecies.
- Y (in Tzfat)
Newsletters: Ron Paul was a bad publisher. His policies and his own words speak volumes more than what some racists said who worked for him.
As for the rest of my responses, see the previous post.
“Bad publisher”? I’m not sure what you mean. He’s Captn of his ship, right?
Yrachmiel –
He was supposed to be Captn. But he was a full time OBGYN at the time. It’s his fault those newsletters got out, yes. But he is no racist. He made a mistake. He was negligent. He did not write them, other people were writing in his name. He shouldn’t have been so negligent, but listen to what HE says. Not what other people say about him.
Watch this please:
http://youtu.be/8Rv0Z5SNrF4
I applaud you!!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for one of the most inspiring and true pieces of writing I have found in ages.
Every word is truth.
You “get it” and get it good my friend. That is for sure
EVERYBODY SPREAD THIS POST FAR AND WIDE
Rafi – thank you in so many ways. I’ve shared this with most everyone I can online. This is what the world, and specifically us in the USA, needs to hear. It’s only going to get worse until someone like Paul who believes in liberty gets elected.
Though we may disagree on the path to eternal freedom – we recognize that it does indeed come from our Creator God. The only thing I’ve seen in the political field which is close to the freedom I’ve received from God is the message of liberty that Ron Paul is promoting. I thank you for sharing this energizing message of liberty and relish in our common ground of Isaiah the prophet:
Isaiah 61:1
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
This is my Facebook post from earlier today before I read this article. This article confirms my earlier post, so here it is:
I cry (literally weep) every time I watch this man. It’s like a person who has been held in a re-education camp (the media) for the past 20 years and told nothing but lies until they start to believe them yet deep inside they know that something is very very wrong. Then along comes a man who tells them the truth and exposes all of the lies and makes them realize that they never were crazy but had simply been convinced to believe a lie. It is such a relief that you cannot help but weep and feel a deep love for the man who cared enough to tell you the truth even though it means that many times he has had to stand alone. That is how I feel about Ron Paul.
Jesus Christ!!! And I’m not a religious man! That was beautifully written and it reflects the same emotions and feelings that I’ve been trying to verbalize! You have hit the nail on the head! Bravo!
Uh, maybe “Moses!!!” or “Judah Macabee!!!” Methinks you exclaimed the wrong name for this particular blog ;^)
Rafi-
Exceptional.
I pray to God that the hearts and minds of the men women and children of Israel awaken as you have, because soon after you will know peace with the children of Ishmael.
Absolutely stunning! You have so eloquently described the very emotions that I have been feeling lately. I care not what political party a person belongs to or what race they may be or any other divisive faction that we can think of to seperate us as people, I only care about whether a person understands true freedom is of imperitive importance. I have spent most all of my spare time trying to share this message and Dr. Ron Paul with others. We have spent far too long looking for reasons to divide ourselves up into groups. Freedom is the ultimate uniter. God Bless you for your honest and comforting words. I will be sharing this with others.
Excellent post, Rafi.
I have an idea. What do you think of a paid polling from those in your country either about their ideas on America letting your country alone to do what it needs to do for it’s own good and the good of it’s people? If you’ll have a professional polling done or you can get someone to do that maybe we can get it heard here in America.
most people here think that if america stops giving aid, they won’t have food to eat in the morning. You don’t want to see the results of that poll.
Wonderful piece! Thank you!
Quality. Sir, that is the only word I have to describe your post.
Sometimes I wonder if I’ve gone crazy, but it does me wonders to see I’m not alone.
Thank you.
That was one of the most amazing pieces I have ever seen. I think you need to contact the Ron Paul campaign and go to work for them, you would be an amazing asset to the r3VOLution!!!! The corrupt media only uses his foreign policy against him, you may be the key to ending that. You need to contact them, here is the phone number…
Headquarters Phone (Toll-Free):
1-855-886-9779
Headquarters Phone (Local):
1-703-563-6620
Store Phone (Local):
1-979-297-5414
Headquarters Fax:
1-703-563-7330
Keep up the great work!!!!
You write beautifully, Rafi, thank you for sharing your passion.
It’s on the the Daily Paul. Which is how I found it. I’ll twittering now.
Thank you.
I loved this whole story. I am touched down to my soul, and am so glad there are just as many people who thirst for truth and freedom. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them. We need not be afraid. Fight the good fight.
Cynthia –
Thank you for your heartfelt comment. It means a lot to me, really it does.
I just got chills from reading this. WOW! You are exactly right. Ron Paul is igniting souls and my heart burns with the heat of that fire. Great job! I’m reposting this on Facebook.
This is a beautiful post, I could feel your words. As an atheist no less too
Atheists have souls too
Thank you for this wonderful letter. We are pretty fond of Dr. Paul here in America. I am a Christian, and I have never been inspired to be a better person by anyone, other than Jesus Christ. Of course, Christ holds the highest place in my heart. His was the message of liberty. True liberty that can be found in the seeking, drawing ever near and finding Almighty God from whom we have been lost. He was a man who inspired the best in people and earned their trust and loyalty. Ron Paul is similar, but not the same, but it is this similarity that comes through in his message. Just read Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” and compare the attributes of Ron Paul to those mentioned in the Beatitudes. Go ahead, I dare you. lol
Anyway, we are having a “Prayer Bomb” for Ron Paul and for liberty on January 1st. Search, “Ron Paul Prayer Bomb” on Facebook and pledge your prayers on that day. May God bless you and keep you all.
Thanks Simon. I have my own bible, so I’ll skip the sermon on the mount. It’s taken from my Bible anyway. I’m in on the Ron Paul prayer bomb, though I am making it clear to everyone that I only pray to God, not to any man, ever.
Rafi,
You are a beautiful human being…this blog has lit a fire in my soul I haven’t felt for a long time. Real freedom is indescribable. It motivates, inspires, and ignites a passion in us that nothing else can. I will be sharing this my friend with everyone I can. Godspeed to you in all your endeavors.
Thank you Lori. God bless you and let liberty reach all corners of the earth. VOLUNTARILY of course.
Christian Reconstructiot (a type of very conservative Calvinism) Joel McDurmon has given you major coverage: “Jews for Ron Paul” to US voters: “Let my people go!”
Another Ron Paul supporter shared this with me today. This is excellent and I’m sharing it around as well. It especially hits home when I see people defending freedom as coming from and belonging to God rather than a man or group of men who control a nation. I especially like to see opinions from the people affected by our foreign policy instead of the usual political pundits, so thanks for that as well.
Please tweet, reddit, everything you can to get it more readers. We need to wake up this planet to freedom.
how come you do not write “G-d” I never heard of a Jew who writes “God”
are you a plant?
THAT’S your comment??
Are you SERIOUS?
A moving message about liberty and human freedom and souls and THAT’S what you write?
WOW!
haha, so you are a plant, I would like to see some Proof that you are a Settler Jew living in Israel
probably some Ron Paul fan living somewhere in the states
as said, Jews always leave out the O when writing God, especially religious Jews
Well K…you got me! I must be lying about everything because I spell God with an O.
According to hilchos Shabbos, one of the 39 avos melachos (39 kinds of work you can’t do on Shabbat) is ktivah, or writing. Writing is defined as using symbols that convey ideas or sounds.
Applying the halachic principle of ktivah to spelling the word God, there is no difference, according to Rav Moshe Feinstein, between spelling God with a – as in G-d, or spelling God with an O, since both the – and the O would signify the same sound.
That, and the shem meforash, the tetragrammaton (look it up) is the only name of God one is not allowed to write outside the context of kedusha. “God” comes from the indo european word “Good” and is written loazi (foreign language other than hebrew) so it has absolutely nothing to do with the prohibition of writing the tetragrammaton.
I can’t believe I’m wasting my time on this nonsense. Why did I even publish your inane comments?
Freedom also includes the opportunity to act like a fool..
K, lived out his dream on your blog.
Shalom
Skip Cook
Little Rock, USA
Some wonderful Rose Wilder Lane-style rhetoric here. Awesome.
One recurring theme in Lane’s book The Discovery of Freedom is that men are all free, whether they know it or not, in that all men have free will, whether they know it or not. Men err, she says, in falsely believing that Authority controls them. For example, she says, the Egyptian people asked Joseph to enslave them during the famine, because they could not conceive of anyone controlling them other than Authority. People petition the government to save them because they falsely believe that only Authority can control them. But no, she says, all men have free will, and as soon as they realize that the government has power only because they obey it, and that no law is effective unless it is voluntarily obeyed, they realize the sham of Authority, and realize that all men are free.
And you’ll like this passage from Lane’s book: Abraham “had taught his increasing family that men are free.” (p. 73) “Abraham said that none of these gods exist. He said that God is the One Creator-and-Judge. God is The Right, he said; Rightness creates the universe and judge’s men acts. (As water judge’s a swimmer’s rightness in swimming, God judges rightness in living.) But God does not control any man, Abraham said; a man controls himself, he is free to do good or evil in the sight of God.” (p. 74) “When you think of the pagan world as it was in the historical time when only the Israelites held this truth, you see their preserving it as the great achievement of all history.” (p. 75) “They were a very small group, surrounded by powerful pagan empires; Egypt in the south, Armenia, Persia, Chaldea, Babylonia, Assyria, in the north and east, and in the west, Rome. The most promising young Israelites were always falling in love with pagan girls. The pagan achievements awed them all. When you see the incredible walls of Baalbek or Tadmor, in ruins as they are now, and even with the memory of New York’s towers behind your eyelids, you are struck dumb. The simple Israelites who saw these gigantic cities in their magnificence, dwarfing their thronging populations, must have been stunned. They would have melted humbly into those pagan multitudes, if their strong men had not stood in the way and driven them back with threats, telling them that they were like no other people, that they were set apart, chosen to know the truth and hold to it. They wanted to be ‘like all the other nations.’ But to be like any other people, they must forget that men are free. That is the truth they held. Therefore, of course, they were anarchists. They lived and prospered for centuries, with no government whatsoever.” (pp. 77f.)
This is by far, one of the best blog posts I have read concerning Ron Paul. It’s fair and very insightful.
For the love of God, Duncan, SPREAD IT AROUND!