Grassroots Supporter- John Paul Lewis
June 17th, 2008 by Shana KluckOnline networking has become a key component in modern-day politics, and the medium encouraging more young people than ever to become involved in the political process. One of Congressman Barr’s younger supporters, John Paul Lewis, took the initiative to help promote his favorite Presidential candidate by creating a Facebook page, giving other Bob Barr supporters a rallying place at this popular social networking site.
John Paul shared with us a little about his life and why he decided to involve himself in the Bob Barr campaign-
John Paul Lewis, 18, currently resides in North Dallas. In addition to politics and policy, John Paul is a big history buff, especially Revolutionary history. He is currently intensely studying the Constitutional Convention of 1787. While at Lewisville High School, he was very involved in the theatre program, where in 2004 he was the Texas state champion in “duet musical” competition. John Paul also qualified four years in a row for the International Thespian Competition.
His personal Web-site where you can find his rants and random thoughts is, www.johnpaullewis.com and he is currently creating “Libertas Flamma” a weekly online journal that will focus on issues that are important to all freedom loving individuals.
When did you first learn about Congressman Barr?
I first learned of Congressman Barr on Fox News in early May when the Congressman announced his bid for the Libertarian nomination.Why did you decide to support him?
Congressman Barr fits my personal ideology quite well because he seems to be a more moderate libertarian, as am I. Sen. Gravel, and many of the other Libertarian candidates seemed a bit to extreme for me. Cong. Barr fit perfect for my beliefs.How long have you been interested in politics?
My first major interest in politics came at the age of 10 during the 2000 presidential election. I stayed up all night watching the returns and trying, as a 10 year old, to make sense of the chaos that 2000 offered.What led you to the Libertarian Party?
The Libertarian Party seems to be a party for thinkers. The debate and discussion is not based on sound bites, or rhetoric that is appealing to emotion. Rather the LP offers sound, philosophical debate over the issues.Have you been involved with any previous political activities?
I interned for Congressman Michael C. Burgess (TX-26) last summer. I facilitated the Veterans Commendation Project. My political activity is limited at this time.What issues are the most important to you?
Our abandonment of the Constitution. The notion that politicians can pick and choose when the Constitution should be followed and when it shouldn’t is very worrisome.How do you promote Congressman Barr and his message of liberty?
I currently run the Bob Barr for President Facebook Page, as well I have created a line of “Google: Bob Barr” shirts, bumper stickers, etc. at Cafepress.com, and am working on a “YouTube: Bob Barr” line as well.Do you see a future for yourself in politics? If so, in what capacity?
Yes. I want to work in any way to continue promoting the message that Dr. Paul, Congressman Barr and the LP are pushing. However I am able to do this is the manner in which I see my political future.
June 18th, 2008 at 7:22 am
Thank you for sharing this with us. Hopefully this creative energy will catch on with many others, not only for the Barr presidential run, but for the future of liberty.
June 18th, 2008 at 8:59 am
Money Bomb on July 2. Donate to liberty and spread the word!!!
http://www.barrbomb.com
June 18th, 2008 at 9:34 am
While online support is the way of the present and future, I think that the Barr campaign has a lot of work to do to garner support for the November election in order to maximize the vote. If one visits the new Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty website one can read the blog responses that clearly demonstate that Barr will need to dovetail with RP on many issues in order to get RP supporters’ votes. RP voters in the CFL blogs are tending toward support for the Constitution Party’s Chuck Baldwin. I have never heard of Baldwin, and I do not believe that even if RP endorsed Baldwin I would stomach voting for a right-wing zealot who seems to court 9/11-conspiracy whackos. Instead, as an LP member for 25 years who has loved RP’s latest effort and even donated to him, I find that a vote for Barr makes the most sense! But how do we communicate that message to others in the CFL? All Barr aand LP supporters should make the case to the CFL on that website, and we should articulate clearly that a vote for LIBERTY POLITICS in 2008 must include a vote for the LP and for Barr, that a vote for anyone else is a step in the wrong direction. I have signed up as a supporter of the CFL, and I think all LP supporters should do likewise, but we must make clear that the LP is the foremost champion of LIBERTY POLITICS and that it has been so for 35 years. If LIBERTY POLITICS is to become a new force in the American scene coming from a wide range of messengers, then BARR is the messenger that BEST can make the case.
June 18th, 2008 at 9:53 am
I will not donate to anyone who signed the so-called “Patriot Act.” Signing it then saying, “Oops” doesn’t cut it for me, Bob. Next time stand up and be a man!
June 18th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Great comments Sally. No idea how to get RP supporters on our side tho.
June 18th, 2008 at 11:23 am
James, while it is unfortunate that Barr supported the Patriot Act, he did get the sunset clauses in it so the act didn’t become permanent. At least Barr is willing to own up to this mistake. I just wish other congressmen would follow in his footsteps.
June 18th, 2008 at 11:39 am
“I will not donate to anyone who signed the so-called “Patriot Act.” Signing it then saying, “Oops” doesn’t cut it for me, Bob. Next time stand up and be a man!”
Obviously you are an idiot and have no idea what you are talking about. Yes Barr could of voted no, would of made no difference and would of passed overwhelmingly regardless of how Barr voted. Instead he agreed to vote yes in exchange for a sunset clause.
Voters like you are not the kind of people that have any idea of how government works and you really should spend your time bitching and complaining in a dorm room lounge with the other political neophytes.
June 18th, 2008 at 11:48 am
james, if not for bob barr than whom would u like to vote for? obama or maccain?
June 18th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Andrew. Sunset clause or not, he still messed up. He will have to do something BIG to atone for this “mistake” before he gets even a nickel from me. I have donated to every LP presidential candidate beginning with Ed Clark. This time I will donate to the ballot access fund, but not to Bob Barr’s campaign.
June 18th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
I wouldn’t hold voting for the Patriot Act so much against Barr. As Andrew said, he fought for the sunset clauses, and since has for the most part repudiated the Act. I seem to remember reading that Barr credits the LP with opening his eyes to new perspectives during his last congressional defeat. I think we need to admire him for embracing new and more enlightened positions. After all, look at who the majority of Americans have voted for in recent years. This country will need a lot of people to change their minds…perhaps Barr will be a good example for them to follow!
June 18th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
We need to get organized!
We have a forum, so lets use it
and communicate with each other.
http://BobBarrForums.com
June 18th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
YO-ELEVEN
All Bob Barr has to do to become president is carry the following states,
CA. TX. NY. FL. IL. PA. OH. MI. NJ. NC. GA.
If you live in one one these states you can help change the world toward world peace. Vote for world peace, vote Barr/Root 2008.
If all the libertarians moved to one of the above states to vote, then we can win. LOL Of course this is not practicable.
Every libertarian should make every effort to contact the residents of the above states to convince them to vote for Barr/Root. We only need one out of three democrats and one out of three republicans form all eleven states to secure a win. It can be done. Lets make this the peoples top secret and call it yo-eleven for liberty.
June 18th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
I agree with Andrew; James, Bob Barr has stated on national television, on the Glenn Beck show to be exact, that he regrets signing the bill now, but at the time this act wasn’t supposed to last this long. Our current president, who has decided to become a government of one, felt the need to alter and prolong the act by ignoring the sunset clauses. A lot of people felt that for him to insert the sunset clause was a truly noble idea but he cannot stop the President from acting on his own. Also, Bob Barr has taken a good long look from his former stance on very big issues and has openly admitted that he See’s a completely different side to many of the issues he supported (or didn’t support) in the past. As a proud members of the Libertarian Party, we have to understand that this is our best chance to change the face of this government and cure the apathy of millions of citizens who may be too scared to move towards a “real” change. To wrap up, each one of us has to do that little part of talking to people and getting the ideas out there and let the message spread across the states. This will make the Barr / Root campaign’s job a little bit easier and they will have a better chance of making a bigger impact with out having to worry about weather or not they are going to make their financial goals. People who believe in this will vote for this, the one’s who don’t just don’t get it yet. Work together and we can get this done!
June 18th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
I am still suspicious. No matter what he says. The LP was instrumental in removing Barr from his House seat because of his stance on the drug war. If he wanted to embarrass the party that targeted him, wouldn’t pretending to be a libertarian then, if elected, making another 180 degree turn back to neoconism be a good way to do it?
June 18th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
The best way that I can think of to drive RP supporters to Barr is to post comments on the blogs at http://www.campaignforliberty.com . Posts should talk about Barr’s stance on the issues the RP and the CFL care about, and should include a link back to this website. They obviously have a lot of people over there that are libertarian minded, and I’m sure most all of them know of Bob Barr, but every link and every mention is another chance to drive some of them this way. I have posted several things over there, and have just now thought of adding Barr into my future posts to try and swing some support to him. I suggest others follow my lead on this. Also, there are a whole host of RP chat rooms and forums on which a similar tactic can be taken. Again, these RP supporters are smart (which is why they support RP), so they are all aware of Barr, but reminding them to pay attention and support him is always a good idea.
June 19th, 2008 at 10:55 am
“I am still suspicious. No matter what he says. The LP was instrumental in removing Barr from his House seat because of his stance on the drug war. If he wanted to embarrass the party that targeted him, wouldn’t pretending to be a libertarian then, if elected, making another 180 degree turn back to neoconism be a good way to do it?”
Perhaps, but when you look at the fact that since leaving congress he has done work for various organizations that affirm his current stance. If he was just trying to trick people, do you think he would actually take the time to work on issues he didn’t believe in? There are plenty of ways he could have strengthened an appearance of Libertarianism without taking steps such as working for the Marijuana Policy Project that completely contradict his previous views.
If he was just trying to trick us, he would have focused his time solely on the issues that he supported and only pay lip service to the ones he opposed.
His actions since leaving office speak to what someone would do if their eyes were opened, not if they were trying to pull some scam.
The shift in opinions may seem odd, and 8 years ago I would have been skeptical too. But my own opinions have changed over the course of the last 8 years in much the same way that Bob Barr’s have.
June 19th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
As an almost lifelong libertarian, I can’t see why it would take a reasonable person half a lifetime to see the light. Maybe someone can explain that to me. Libertarianism seems like the only logical choice.
June 19th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
As one who took ten years, from my first argument about Libertarianism on the University of Michigan ‘Diag’, in Ann Arbor to realize that I had lost, it does take time.
Frequently there are factual problems: For example, the arguments of Socialists or Welfare Statists can be plausible if you do not understand that there is an underlying ’spontanious order’ to the marketplace which makes the bogeymen they support impossible without government cooporation in creating them.
In some cases there are ‘package deal’ issues. For example, I frequently assumed that because the Republicans were wrongly trying to impose their religion on me that they were wrong about everything — including economics. In actuallity, some of the Republican rhetoric was pretty close to the truth. Of course, their unwillingness to actually implement any of the ideas for which they argued when they had the chance makes me wonder if THEY belived those ideas … but the point is that I made the opposite mistake of shooting the messenger for bringing bad news. I shot the idea, for having been brought by a bad messenger.
I could probably write a lengthy treatment of logical fallicies, and still not hit on all the reasons that people don’t come up with the right answer all the time, so for now, I’ll just focus on the ones I made myself.
June 19th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
We’re starting slowly on that. We’ve organized the Free State Project (http://freestateproject.org/) to move 20,000 Libertarian activists into New Hampshire — which is already the freeist state in the nation — to help the residents to keep and extend their freedom. Perhaps, once we have a Libertarian majority in the New Hampshire Legislature, combined with a Libertarian government, we can start thinking about establishing “Free State Colonies” in other states.
I just got back from NH, and I can tell you, just the lack of a seatbelt or a motorcycle law is a relief. And being able to openly wander through Wal-Mart with my .357 Revolver openly worn on my hip was amazing. Needless to say, their just ain’t much crime in New Hampshire.
June 19th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
That should read “motorcycle helmet law”.
They also lack a sales tax.
Good god, in some of the northern towns, there aren’t even any building codes! Nobody to tell you that you must be able to afford a particular quality of house in order to avoid homelessness!
June 19th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
“Although he has worked for
the Barr grassroots campaign, and gotten involved with the
Libertarian Party, John Paul is a proud member of the
Republican Party, and believes the best way to change the face
of American politics, is to reform the Republican party. ”
http://www.johnpaullewis.com/about.html
June 20th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Let’s talk politics.
Who should donate to? Bob Barr. He’s the candidate our party chose.
That’s what a political party is, its a group of like minded people, who debate before the convention, but then coalesce around the winner.
We unify, in order to be stronger and make a greater appeal.
If you don’t want to donate to Bob Barr, hold your tongue. Period. You insult your fellow Libertarians. We selected Bob Barr, by our votes and our participation in the process.
Hold your tongue, we should only see unity now.
And yes, donate, donate, donate, the money game is important in politics. Republicans are going to donate to their candidate. Democrats, in record numbers to theirs.
Pull out the walletbook and donate, if you don’t donate, you aren’t part of the process, quite frankly. If you don’t have a lot of money, donate $10.
The moment someone tells me they didn’t donate, quite frankly that person, is just noise, at that point.
June 20th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
@James R
LP chose Bob Barr. The decision is over. I’m a realist, I don’t believe he will win. I hope he wins, he’s a better choice than McCain or Obama, but he won’t win, most likely.
That’s not the point, the point is building a foundation, you are a lifelong libertarian, so am I…the point here is to grow.
To grow we need your continued support. Bob Barr is working every day, talking the language of libertarianism, and not only that, as our presidential candidate, he is talking to more people, reaching more people, than any other libertarian on the scene at thhis moment.
I’m sorry, but if you haven’t donated to his campaign, then I think you are at the very least, not part of the solution this time around, and at worst, an ex-libertarian.
I hope you can agree, that Bob Barr is the LP’s choice. That he is promoting libertarian valules in every speach and television appearance, and that, your money would only go to furthering this cause of education and party building. I see nothing contradictory to that.
June 21st, 2008 at 4:31 pm
ideas are the mortar of any undertaking,be it building a home,an invention or the foundation of a nation. what work,set forth,exsists without idea at the helm.and what idea can come into being without hope.and hopes can only be born of faith by a people who yearn for liberty for themselves and their countrymen,no matter what their estate, or their kinship.we as stewarts of such great faith should be emboldened to look into the affairs of our nation,and our neighbor.we meet no stranger in our trek,for liberty moves us all in kindred spirit,and that ever forward.let our words always edify one another to the uplifting of liberty amongst all.speak no ill of one another as division weakens,rather dwell on that which is common to us all.liberty.