More than 2,000 Ron Paul supporters came out to see their candidate speak at a campaign rally held Saturday evening at Union Station in Kansas City, Mo.
“It looks like the revolution has arrived,” Ron Paul said upon seeing the cheering crowd. “It gives me a great sense of confidence that we are winning the battle.”
In his 36 minute speech, the libertarian-minded Republican presidential candidate spoke about defending freedom, balancing the budget and bringing U.S. troops home from foreign wars.
“We have to convert the sentiment of this country, and the sentiment has to concentrate on one issue. That is, the defense of liberty,” Paul said.
Paul also spoke of the need for citizens to assume responsibility for themselves rather than expecting the government to take care of them. The rising cost of the entitlement system has led the United States to be the biggest debtor nation in the history of the world, he said.
Paul pledged to end foreign wars, where more than 9,000 U.S. troops have been killed and another 44,000 have been injured. Repealing the Patriot Act as well as the ‘War on Drugs’ were steps he would take to restore the Fourth Amendment, which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, he said.
Toward the end of the speech, Paul noted the diversity of supporters attracted to his ideas of liberty and limited government, both young and old.
“Remember, freedom is popular,” Paul said as his closing remark.
Youth for Ron Paul, a student organization on campus, volunteered at the event. With a mailing list of over 1,500 students, the group is the largest Ron Paul student group in the country. Approximately 15 members assisted with the event.
Alexandria Freeze, a U. Kansas junior, said she agrees with Ron Paul’s views on a non-interventionist foreign policy. At the event, she helped collect supporters’ information for the campaign with hopes of spreading the word.
“I feel like young people are more open to change and can accept radically different ideas,” Freeze said.
The event was an effort to rally support for the upcoming Kansas and Missouri caucuses, held March 10 and 17, respectively.
Nicolas Wilson, a U. Kansas junior who attended the rally on Saturday, sees Ron Paul’s approach of focusing on delegates at caucuses as beneficial to the campaign in the long run, especially in the case of brokered Republican convention.
“Ron Paul stands up for positions supported by the people, but not mainstream politicians,” Wilson said.