Ron Paul Freedom March

...or my trip within a trip. The weekend was the first time that my little family was is three different states at the same time. C was in CO for his dad's golf tournament, the kids were in NY with Grammy and I managed to sneak away for the weekend to Washington, DC. The kids and I had actually moved our trip to NY up a few days when I heard that my brother Ethan and his girlfriend, Nicole, were planning on going to the Freedom March. Somehow, I managed to invite myself along and off we went.

We left Friday afternoon. The March and Rally we all day Saturday and we came home on Sunday. For the March, everyone met up on the lawn of the Washington Monument. At 11 am, Constitution Avenue was blocked off for us and we walked down it in a huge group. Everyone reconvened at the Capital Lawn. It was an awesome site to see the crowd of people. We were toward the front of the march and were surprised at the number of people that arrived on the lawn after we did. People just kept coming and coming. We found a nice shady spot off to the side under a tree and spent a great afternoon listening to about a dozen speakers that day.






I know some people have wondered why there was a Ron Paul Freedom march if RP wasn't even running for president. It wasn't about getting RP elected, we know there's not much of a chance of that happening, but rather to help get the word out about ensuring our freedoms, restoring the republic, and fixing this country of ours.

Here's what Chuck Baldwin said about the event:

July 15, 2008

THE RON PAUL FREEDOM MARCH
By Chuck Baldwin

"I was privileged to be invited to speak at Congressman Ron Paul's Freedom March this past Saturday on the Mall in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. In fact, I spoke immediately preceding Dr. Paul and helped introduce the ten-term congressman.

I gauged the crowd to number in excess of five thousand people. All the participants I observed were very respectful, well mannered, and polite. The crowd was about as diverse an audience as I have ever spoken to. They came from all walks of life and from all points across the country. I was able to spend an hour or more mingling with the crowd and was delighted to meet many scores of people who already knew of me. A large number indicated that they were readers of this column.

Participants in the Freedom March all seemed to have this in common: a love and desire for liberty, and a deep respect and admiration for Congressman Ron Paul. I count it an honor to have been asked to speak to such a wonderful group. Dr. Paul said some extremely kind words about me in his remarks, as did the man who introduced me, Ernest Hancock, the great patriot from Phoenix, Arizona.

I was also honored to meet several great Americans whom I have come to love and respect over the years: people such as retired police officer, Jack McLamb. It was also good to share the podium with my good friend, Howard Phillips, who was extremely complimentary of me during his address, as was Officer McLamb.

Marchers had spent six hours in the blazing, 90-degree sun before my turn to speak arrived. And both Congressman Paul and myself had to catch flights out of DC soon after our speeches, so I cut my remarks short so as to give Dr. Paul maximum opportunity to deliver his remarks. Therefore, my speech lasted only about 5 minutes.

Below is a link to my speech at Ron Paul's Freedom March (albeit the opening remarks of the address were inadvertently omitted. Perhaps another video will surface soon. When it does, we will post it to my web site at chuckbaldwinlive.com.

See my speech at the Ron Paul Freedom March in Washington, D.C. by clicking here.

This one thing I surely believe: our liberties and freedoms, yea, the Constitution itself, are hanging by the thinnest of threads. Both major parties have sliced and diced constitutional government to the point that there isn't much left. And the two presumptive candidates for President from the two major parties will only continue to eviscerate what few freedoms and liberties are left.

Both Barack Obama and John McCain will do nothing to secure our borders and ports. Neither will do anything to quench the thirst of our federal government for intrusions abroad and meddling within. Neither will do anything to stop the machinations and lust of the power-elite for globalism and corporatism. They will do nothing to stop the NAFTA superhighway or the burgeoning North American Union. They will do nothing to rid our country of its dependence on foreign oil, and neither will they do anything to stop the infatuation with spending billions and billions of taxpayer dollars on foreign aid.
Elect either John McCain or Barack Obama and it will be business as usual in Washington, D.C.

Those folks who traveled from all over America to participate in Ron Paul's Freedom March last Saturday understand this. They understand that unless we awaken quickly to what the two major parties are doing to our country, we will not have a free country much longer. This is why so many people were willing to travel long distances and march in searing heat. They want their country back. And so do I.

So, I say, God bless Congressman Ron Paul. God bless those Freedom Marchers. And God bless all of those folks throughout America who are working tirelessly to restore our once-great republic. As I said in my speech last Saturday, "Your fight is my fight!""

After the march and the rally, the three of us were hot, hungry and tired. We snuck in to a museum 15 minutes before it closed so we could lean against the cool marble walls. It refreshed us enough to have the energy to go out and find a quick bite to eat and then off to the hotel we went.

The next day we knew we wanted to get out of town sooner than later, but it would have been a shame to be in DC and not see anything more then Constitution Avenue. We took the metro back down to the mall and stood in line for timed tickets to see the Washington Monument. Unfortunately, when we got up to the window, the earliest return time for the tickets was for 2:00pm, past when we needed to be on the road. The woman in line behind us told us that depending on the park ranger at the monument, we may luck out and be allowed to see the monument earlier. Figuring we had nothing to lose, we took our chances and walked up the hill. Sure enough, after hearing our situation, we were directed to the waiting area and soon were riding the elevator to the top!

After the monument, we headed over to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. We saw as much as we could in about and hour-some dinosaur bones, the Hope Diamond, other "natural stuff." Then back on the metro and into the car for the long drive home!