About the Author

"End the Fed! End the Fed! End the Fed! End the Fed! End the Fed!" I'm shouting this phrase. Those surrounding me are, too. We're three of many gladiators that day, thrown into the lion cages. Out numbered and out shined, we make our voices heard.

The setting is Washington D.C., late January, 2011. Myself, my girlfriend at the time, and our friend are attending the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, and Dr. Ron Paul is about to speak. The room is very large, hundreds in attendance. Though there are many people, some of them hate Congressman Paul and those who endorse him. Some are here to show love and support, and thus, when his name is announced, the chant begins; "End the Fed!"

But how did I get here? I mean jeez, I hate politics, right? Don't I? And here I stand, shouting political slogans for an old white guy in a suit. Great, I'm part of the system now am I? What happened to getting back at The Man? What happened to being a rebel? I guess it's still inside me, just under a different guise.

What people have to understand is that I've gone through many different periods in my life. Different friends, different habits, different likes and dislikes. When I graduated from Chesapeake High School in Pasadena, Maryland all I knew was that I really hated government. I identified myself as an Anarchist- someone who wishes to see an end to government giving rise to a State-less society. This Utopian ideal would have been driven by autonomous collectives (all Monty Python jokes aside). The problem here is simple. There have never, and will never be any successful civilization based in Anarchy. It just won't work. Humans need a code of direction and a law making body so that there may be order. I didn't know this at the time.

I find it funny that the people who pushed me from this rebellious phase into a more realistic political paradigm were mostly political Moderates. While attending Anne Arundel Community College in my first two years or so, I made a few very close friends in my professors. As most of us know, professors of history and politics, or professors in general are supposed to be unbiased, so they weren't pushing me to lean a certain way politically (especially not intentionally). I never brown-nosed them, I just got on their level. I would stay after class and lay it all down on the line. Just let my whole self out there for them to interpret. My good friend Carvel Payne taught me that my outlandish ways and lashing out at society were not the answer. He taught me how to dress to impress and he even taught me that politics is not always the enemy. He would say "it's like a horse race". Well, yeah, but I don't like horse racing either, so I guess that's not the part that helped.

I might not have made the quantum leap just yet, but I kept the idea of straightening out in my head. I had known through a mutual friend a gentleman by the name of Mike Alksnis who too was a freedom fighter. Little did I know he was putting on meetings at our college for this new group, Young Americans For Liberty. I got a phone call telling me to come to his meetings and that it was right up my alley. I agreed and showed up to the meeting.

I seemingly agreed on most issues that were being discussed. Antiwar foreign policy, the Federal Reserve is evil, personal liberties are shrinking etc. But I found out that the organization was centered around Ron Paul. I instantly didn't like the idea. How could we be so sure Paul was who he said he was? Follow a politician? Are you mad? I wasn't a fan of the concept, but I continued to stick out the meetings because the President was my friend and because we would have really good talks about issues.

Eventually I cracked and jumped on YouTube. I searched anything and everything Ron Paul. I'm not going to lie, his "What If" speech was an instant hit with me, and I realized that this guy can't be half bad. Even his ancient voting record was seemingly clean, so I couldn't complain. What I saw was a genuinely honest guy trying to make us free again.

Both Dr.Paul and I agreed that the "old" America had been lost. It was lost somewhat when the Federal Reserve was established. It was lost somewhat when FDR established social programs, and when LBJ did the same thing. It was lost by both Nixon and Reagan and their frivolous War on Drugs. It was lost by the terrorism that occurred because of our nonsense foreign policy. It was lost when George W. Bush signed into law the PATRIOT Act. It continues to be lost today as President Obama draws straws on which of our liberties he wants to take away next. Dr. Paul and I both agree that we need the common man to take the reigns of policy and shape it in a practical way. A way which embodies freedom. True freedom. Not the illusion we are propagandized to believe from the time we're born til the time we die. True patriots question their government. They try to keep their government checked and restricted so that it may not unfurl its wrath. When given the reigns this mighty beast called the State will continue to grow and grow, like a snowball rolling downhill. It is the gluttonous Hydra and as you battle it, it grows more and more heads, symbolizing the hungry mouths of government spending. It wants us bound as slaves so that it may reach into our pockets and own our everything. Such is the way of socialization and such is the fate of America on the track it has been spiraling on since 1913, the year true economic Liberty died. And because I understood this, I understood Ron Paul

It's been about two years since I found Ron Paul. Since then I have been democratically elected to Vice President of the AACC Young Americans for Liberty chapter, later assuming the role of President. I am closely affiliated with Anne Arundel County Campaign For Liberty. I have met Ron Paul and have seen he and his son Rand speak. I have amassed here a little library of Liberty oriented books. I have been registered both a Libertarian and a (traditional) Republican. I voted for Ron Paul in the Maryland Republican Primary. I have donated to Paul's campaign and formally endorsed him for the Presidency. I have attended the International Students For Liberty Conference, the Conservative Political Action Conference, the Ron Paul camp of the Occupy DC movement, and am slated to attend the 2012 YAL Convention in DC. I have met voices of the Liberty movement Adam Kokesh and Jack Hunter. I have seen many key Liberty voices speak. I have met YAL national director Jeff Frazee and have his endorsement if I choose to run for public office. During all this I have converted many people to the Liberty Movement through education and common sense. I have pledged to be a continuous voice for the cause of Liberty and personal freedom. I want to return America back to its roots. Whether that means through education, through running for office, or by yelling it on street corners, I will continue this fight.

I am a Libertarian. I am a student of the Austrian school of economics. I am a Goldwater Conservative. I am a secularist. I am a non-interventionist. I am a Ron Paul Republican. I am a freedom fighter.

Make way for the rEVOLution...