The 2024 Ron Paul Peace and Prosperity Conference: The Liberty Platform Revealed
For two days it felt like heaven was a place on earth: I was at the Ron Paul Institute (RPI) for Peace and Prosperity Conference. More than 300 liberty-loving individuals from all over America and beyond – for example, London – ranging in age from senior citizens to a crying baby – gathered at the event. The conference was held 20+ miles from where the Pentagon plots its wars and the rest of the federal government violates the Constitution and Bill of Rights. In this presidential election year, during this time of uncertainty when many wonder who will win, what election fraud will be committed, whether the election will be held, or if the election even matters, the conference theme was appropriately the Liberty Platform. Attendees wanted to be in the presence of the greatest living American, Dr. Paul, hear speeches from subject matter experts on liberty-related topics, and meet and talk with each other.
It was absolutely inspiring to see so many fans, most of them born decades after the 89 years young Dr. Paul, approach their hero to say hello, shake his hand, pose for photos, and sign their books and programs. Several speakers described the libertarian legend as “peaceful as a dove,” an optimist and a happy warrior. Dr. Paul still has a lot of energy and does his Liberty Report five days a week, writes articles, conducts public speaking engagements, and fulfills family responsibilities (he is still married to his childhood sweetheart Carol, has five children and 19 grandchildren).
Daniel McAdams, RPI’s intense executive director and conference organizer, kicked off the stellar list of speakers with his passionate “Peace Through Strength?” speech. “We’ll meet here as long as can,” he promised, addressing what he announced was the largest ever Ron Paul conference audience. A show of hands revealed many were participating in the annual event for the first time. McAdams decried US foreign policy as a display of “weakness through war.” He condemned the FBI raid of Scott Ritter and the confiscation of his papers proving the weapons of mass destruction justification of the war in Iraq was false. McAdams denounced the censorship on YouTube: the disappearance of George Galloway’s interviews with Ritter; the suppression of Max Blumenthal’s Grayzone channel; and the strike against Judge Andrew Napolitano’s Judging Freedom channel. “The regime is good at killing people,” McAdams said: Many nations are turning to BRICS because of the US sanctions on them; Israel has dropped six times more American-made bombs on Gaza as Hiroshima; over 700,000 people have been killed in the war in Ukraine resulting in the tragedy of “Women who will never find a husband.” The silver lining is that the global empire is failing and freedom and human action cannot be stopped.
Judge Napolitano spoke on “Taking Rights Seriously.” His channel has more viewers than he had when he was on Fox, yet none of his former colleagues who still work at that network are allowed on his program. Citing his latest book “Freedom’s Anchor: An Introduction to Natural Law Jurisprudence in American Constitutional History,” he asked the audience if the state repealed freedom of speech, would we still have free speech? The answer is yes, because our rights are natural rights that come from God. What we live under now is the tyranny of positivism, he explained, and we are told we have whatever rights the state decides to give us. The last president who believed in natural rights, he said, was Thomas Jefferson who didn’t even appeal to the Magna Carta.
Osteopathic physician and alternative medicine advocate Dr. Joseph Mercola, the picture of fitness in his athletic shirt and shorts, talked about “The Liberation of Health Care Freedom.” He told attendees, “I am proud to be in a room with such courageous people.” Not surprisingly, Mercola is extremely disciplined about his exercise and what he eats and drinks and said he had brought five pounds of watermelon with him for breakfast. He warned that despite claims to the contrary, there are absolutely no benefits to drinking alcohol. He asked a man he met in the hotel who had endured five bypasses if he ingested vegetable or seed oils, advising him he is not addressing his health issue unless he cuts them out of his diet. Other points Mercola made: The Rockefeller medical establishment never addresses the foundational cause of disease; people get sick and die too young because they are not making enough energy; plastic dangerously activates estrogen receptors that can destroy an individual’s mitochondria; pathogenic disease is when good bacteria die and are replaced by bad bacteria, and in these instances low carbs will help many; Google has been declared a monopoly, will face an avalanche of lawsuits, and will be gone; and the industrialized agriculture system must be destroyed. Mercola is developing a whole system clinic that will inexpensively treat patient
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