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BANGOR — The crowd jammed into the Union Street Church in Bangor, known locally as the Brick Church, quieted when Paul Madore, Maine chairman for Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul’s presidential campaign, stepped up to the podium.
He had just begun to introduce the candidate when the room erupted in applause. People leapt from their seats or craned their necks from the standing-room section that wrapped around the perimeter of the church, struggling to see the candidate as he entered and took the stage, smiling and waving.
A thunderous chant of “Ron Paul” solidified from what began as unfocused, overlapping cheers. No introduction was necessary.
“We have not come here today to win an election,” Madore said before ceding the microphone to Paul. “We have come here to change the course of history.”
Paul’s remarks, which kicked off a two-day tour of Maine, took him to Colby College and then Lewiston on Friday. Saturday, he appeared at the University of Southern Maine’s Gorham campus, Freeport and Alfred.
His Bangor talk ranged from what he views as the fallacy of the entitlement mentality to the overarching need for personal liberty. He celebrated the effect his message has had on energizing young voters and said he was pleased with how his ideas were being received.
He discussed the need for a balanced budget and reduced government spending, claiming that adhering more strictly to the Constitution would have been influential in avoiding financial crisis.
“We got to this point where just printing more money, spending more money, doesn’t seem to be working, and that’s why they’re giving our ideas a lot more attention,” Paul said. “Even with last night’s [debate in Florida], they’ve started to respect what we’re talking about.
“We as a people have allowed our politicians and our courts to just plain ignore the Constitution,” he continued, going so far as saying politicians have acted “outside the rule of law” by establishing regulatory bodies not provided for by the founding fathers, explicitly mentioning the Department of Education.
“It’s the lack of respect for the rule of law that has gotten us into this mess,” Paul said.
Paul addressed the “entitlement” mentality, saying it sounded “pretty good” in theory but claiming it is not a feasible or allowable aim for government to pursue. He added that “socialist, communist nations” have the goal of perfect equality but said governments’ attempts to attain that equality are damaging to society.
“We as individuals are entitled to our life, to our liberty, but we’re not entitled to someone else’s life or liberty,” he said.
“Yes, they’re equal,” he added later, “but they’re equally harmed by what the government has done.”
He transitioned to the need for protecting private property and advocated a reining-in of federal security measures that, in his opinion, are ineffective.
“We should never be tempted to give up liberty to be any safer, because it won’t make us better,” Paul said, specifically mentioning full-body scanners used by the Transportation Security Administration at airports around the country.
Earlier this month, TSA agents at Nashville International Airport blocked Sen. Rand Paul, Ron Paul’s son and a Kentucky Republican, from boarding a flight to Washington after an “anomaly” was detected on a scanner and Rand Paul refused a full-body pat-down. He missed his flight but was able to board a different plane later.
Ron Paul targeted the Patriot Act, arguing for its repeal. He also addressed SOPA, shorthand for the recently controversial Stop Online Piracy Act bill proposed in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill was killed Jan. 20 when Rep. Lamar Smith, the Texas Republican who sponsored it, pulled it from consideration.
“The Internet is the weapon of liberty as far as I’m concerned,” Paul said. “There’s a continuous attack on our liberties.”
Paul promised, if elected, to cut government spending by $1 trillion in his first year as president and to only go to war if a formal declaration of war were issued.
“We will not be going to war at any whim,” he said, adding that President Barack Obama has been “expanding wars” and some legislators in Washington “can’t wait to start a war with the Iranians.”
“I don’t want to be the policeman of the world,” he continued.
Paul wrapped up his remarks by turning to suggestions for balancing the federal budget, stipulating that he would return to the 2006 baseline budget.
“We must cut, and there has to be priorities,” he said. “I don’t see it as sacrifices. … I think the people who will have to sacrifice are the people who are living off the government.
“Those who are willing to take care of themselves, it’s not going to be a sacrifice for you,” he continued.
Due to the length of Paul’s speech, a Q-and-A session was foregone in order to allow time for supporters to have photos taken with the candidate.
Standing in a line that snaked around the emptied chairs, Eric Lichtenberg, president of the College Republicans at the University of Maine and a fourth-year political science student, said Paul’s message was “fantastic.”
“Honestly, I would have come for any of the candidates, but Ron Paul’s my first choice,” he said.
“I like where he stands on the whole liberties issue.”
When asked why he thought Paul’s message attracted so many younger voters, Lichtenberg answered with a laugh. “Young people like freedom,” he said.
At USM, Hastings Formal Lounge was filled to capacity for the speech, with some gathering in an overflow room in Bailey Hall to watch the speech on closed-circuit television.
Many of those in attendance were enthusiastic Paul supporters, like Alexandra Mediate, 20, of South Portland.
Mediate, who studied for two years at the University of Southern Maine, said she plans to vote for Paul during the upcoming Maine Republican caucuses, slated to start Feb. 4 and run through Feb. 11.
“I love Ron Paul, he’s my favorite candidate,” Mediate said. “He gives me faith in politics, a little.”
Dylan LaJoie, a junior political science student at USM, said while he doesn’t always agree with Paul’s beliefs, he respects the candidate for consistency.
“For as long as he’s been running for office now, his opinions have been staying the same, for the most part,” he said.
Back in Bangor, UMaine College Republicans’ Cameron Marcotte, a first-year political science student, and Jake DuBois, a third-year business management student, said young people are hearing Paul’s message because of a sense of urgency.
“The fact of the matter is, nobody likes being intruded on by the government,” Marcotte said.
“I think a lot of people are just frustrated,” DuBois said. “They want a successful future.”
Noah Hurowitz, news editor for The Free Press, USM’s weekly student newspaper, contributed reporting from Gorham. This story was updated on Jan. 30.
Bangor Daily News