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Aug. 11, 2025 - Ron Paul Liberty Report
18:13
Reflections On The Ron Paul Barbecue

In a packed room in Lake Jackson last Saturday, more than a thousand people - including Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard - came to wish a happy birthday to Ron Paul. Today we reflect on the event and what it may mean for the future of Liberty.

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Time Text
A Lot of Money Raised 00:14:33
Hello, everybody, and thank you for tuning in to the Ron Paul Liberty Report.
With us today, we have Daniel McAdams, our co-host.
Daniel, good to see you this morning.
Good to see you, Dr. Paul.
Have you recovered from your big party Saturday night?
Yeah, that did turn out pretty big.
Yeah, it was big.
I talk a lot about the truth of when I wanted to speak out about an issue important to me.
That, of course, has been a monetary issue.
And so I would take any invitation I got, you know, and the libertarian movement was started back in the 60s.
And that's when I was getting excited about the issue, although I was practicing medicine.
It was sort of like my hobby because I found it fascinating.
And that was something that was amazing because if they got 10 or 15 people, they were always very serious and very interested.
And I always felt it was worthwhile.
It turned out that in later years, the crowds got a little bit bigger.
And that little party they threw for me the other night, that was a shocker.
There wasn't more than, there was a few more than 15.
It might have been 1,500 for all I know, but it was a big crowd.
And of course, I think they embellish a bit when they want to pay respect to me.
I feel uncomfortable about it.
But I have to admit, you know, it's nicer to hear that than having people blasting you, the kingdom come, because I had to go through that a little bit because a few things over the years, you know, were controversial.
But no, that was a special event.
But I guess one of the highlights of the event, but there were so many good people.
I shouldn't have any highlights because all the speakers and the efforts that you put into it haven't come up.
Just think of what Jeff Frazi did to pull this off.
And he kept it pretty much on schedule.
But the one that was best known that was there was Tulsi.
And when she was on the list, I said, Daniel, she can't come.
She's in the cabin.
She's in the cabinet.
And then early on, I said, oh, there's a Secret Service and they're off on roost and they have guns.
I said, I don't think I'm that important.
He said, Ron, forget about it.
They're not here for you.
They're here because Tulsi's here.
But that turned out to be very fascinating.
She wanted to come and she wanted to spend some time talking philosophy.
And it turned out that when we visited, it was in the green room and my family was there.
And that doesn't mean that just one or two, Carol's health has not been poor, has been poor.
And she was there.
But Tulsi was just great.
And when I indicated, well, we could chase them out and we can have our conversation, grab a chair.
And she insisted participating.
And she's just, it was amazing how you saw that.
She just fit right in.
She wanted to talk and it was really a relaxing place to be.
But we've known each other now for a couple of years.
And it's mainly, she's always impressed me that she's been interested in the issues.
But I think what we saw that night, and I think you sensed it too, is how personable she is.
And of course, how intelligent she is.
Because when she gave her talk, we had just come away from a private conversation.
And she said she wanted to make a comment on what we said.
And it had to do with, I've always been amazed that people don't come up and say, Ron, you really helped me understand the money issue.
They've done that, but a lot of times they'll expand it.
And I was always a little bit nervous about it, didn't know exactly what they were talking about.
But you've really changed my life.
I said, come on, I don't change people's lives.
But then she gave me a philosophic answer to it.
And all I said to her was, you know, that makes sense.
I probably ought to use that argument to understand why people would change if they understand the truth about what's happening with fiat money.
But she told that little story.
It blended into her speech, and it really impressed me, not only the friendliness, but the ability to do what she did.
She more or less had her closing statement that she just had heard 10 minutes earlier.
And so she was really impressive on what she did.
And she was well, you know, very well welcomed.
And there were a lot of other speakers.
But, Daniel, how can we just talk about one person, you know, because there were so many other speakers?
What was your general impression of the whole function?
You know, it was amazing.
I mean, it was the talk of the town in Lake Jackson.
You better believe that.
I mean, there are more than a thousand people.
And some, as you sort of alluded to, many very, very prominent people showed up.
Of course, Tulsi being one of them, being a cabinet secretary, is very important.
And that was, it was exciting because, you know, our friend Gary Haven, our dear friend and supporter, he flew his helicopter in.
You know, he's a swashbuckler and he loves to do that.
He told me a story.
He said, I was almost there and I was getting ready to land my helicopter.
I looked around and there were snipers on all the roofs and they didn't know that I was coming.
So he was pretty worried that he was going to be shot down.
Plus, his helicopter sort of looks like a military helicopter.
So that was kind of a funny moment.
But, you know, for me, I was on stage briefly because I had the unlucky position of being the last speaker before its food was served.
So I kept it very short.
But, you know, Jeff Frazy and YAL, who we cannot praise enough for their ability to put together a very complicated project like a very complicated event like this.
And as you say, it came off smoothly.
I would say without a hitch, I bet for them there are a lot of hitches, but you certainly didn't see any hitches.
And I actually feel a little bit bad because when I went on stage, Jeff Frazee was there with Bobby Gray.
He was a big supporter of the project and of RPI.
And Jeff handed me a big symbolic check because, you know, they had said that the proceeds from the event would go to the Ron Paul Institute, which I thought was awfully kind of them.
And he handed me the check, and I was so blown away that I didn't even properly thank him.
So I feel really bad about that.
So, Jeff Frazey, thank you very much for doing that.
We certainly appreciate it.
But it was a great time.
Everyone, I spent a lot of time just talking to people behind the stage in the VIP section, and there were so many just wonderful people.
And I was just joking.
I heard someone else say it, and it was true, this looks like my Twitter feed.
You know, these are all the people I follow and I like hearing.
And here they are in one room.
And it was pretty amazing.
No, and that was Jeff's motivation.
Jeff's been with me a long time.
He was an intern at the congressional office.
And so he's been, and during the first campaign, is when he had Ron Paul's group for the election.
Yeah, from Ron Paul.
And that was what became his organization that he has now.
And that was a wonderful thing.
But he was well organized, but he really talked a lot about wanting to help us out because I think we have the most fantastic outline and understanding of what Liberty is all about.
But we don't brag about we're the experts on how to raise a lot of money.
We don't have money bombs like a campaign.
It's easier to raise money in campaigns, but this was an effort, and he knows that.
And there are a few things that we'd like to do.
So he says, I think I can help you raise some money.
And I think he did.
So we really appreciate that.
But we really appreciate, and all the people that were there.
And I opened up my talk last Friday night by stating that here was a large crowd.
And I said, you know, I always.
I always lecture myself that I never get to thank all the people like you, the audience, who have done so much.
And they helped me.
And I never get to meet you or thank you or whatever.
And I said, this is a good opportunity to make sure that I thank you all.
And there were.
There were a lot of workers there, but I'm sure there were people coming to learn and find out what's this all about.
So to me, it was an exciting event.
It was really exciting for my family, too, because they were there.
And I was pleased.
My wife's been having some trouble, but she got there.
And the crowd remembered her from all her campaigning that she has done in the district.
And so it was a very enjoyable evening.
And it was very plausible, very positive.
And that, of course, is what I advocate.
But the other thing was, and they listened to me because every once in a while I give advice.
I said, we talk about serious things.
We talk about war and peace and lying and fiat money and all these things.
But you have to, when you get together in a crowd like this, you have to have fun because all our smaller conferences, that's what they do.
They get together and meet new people.
And they prove their point because we had, I don't know if you even know this, Daniel, they had a little trouble after it was all over because they took my advice and they were all gathered together talking to each other and, you know, lighting up new things to do.
And so their efforts to have fun lasted a long time.
I bet.
Well, I think, you know, what Jeff Frazy recognizes is that, you know, we're an educational nonprofit.
And as you point out, the excitement of campaigns, it's easier to raise money because there's a finite end point.
And so people are motivated.
But the Ron Paul Institute is in for the long haul.
It's to educate the next generation.
And I think he recognized that.
That's why we have our Ron Paul Scholars Program where we're educating new groups of young people.
And there's a symbiosis with what they do and what we do, but the education is important.
It's not easy to raise money for educating people because there's not an immediate payoff.
It's a long-term payoff.
And I was happy to see at least two former Ron Paul scholars were there yesterday.
TJ Roberts and Ian were there, or Liam was there and a lot of others.
So I think that was, it was a wonderful thing on his part.
But why don't we, I'm going to admit, I stole some photos off of X to show because we were running late.
But let's look at a couple of photos.
I think that's a lot of fun to see what kinds of things were happening.
Now, here's the first one.
Here is the kind of logo for the event, which I think is pretty neat, pretty neat looking.
But here, the next one, if you go to it, here you are, Dr. Paul, up on the jumbo screen and in real life.
I didn't see one of the audience.
If I had seen one of the audience, it would be extremely impressive because it was a huge room and it was completely full.
We'll go to the next one here.
Here you are again, Dr. Paul, in an expression of happiness.
I think you probably were getting a big round of applause here.
And I go to the next one.
Here are a couple of our good friends who were there.
This is Tulsi giving her speech up on the stage.
That's a classic photo.
There's another one of her, too, which I think is very good.
If you go to the next one, two good photos of her giving her speech, and it was a great speech.
It was, dare I say, Dr. Paul, it looked like a presidential speech, if you ask me.
Go to the next one.
Here you are meeting.
Here you are meeting with Justin Amange.
He's one of many, many people who were there that people definitely know.
Go to the next one if you can.
This is, oh, here's our good friend, Glenn Jacobs, giving you the key to Knoxville County.
If you ever get there, you'll have the key.
He's a great guy.
I talked to him, and I remembered after I saw him that he's a big guy.
My hands are still hurting from shaking his, but no, but I'm just kidding.
He's a terrific guy, Dr. Paul, and he's actually doing a wonderful job down there in Knox County as the mayor.
And I think, do we have another one?
Now, here's an example of the kinds of great people that show up.
I apologize.
I didn't memorize the name, but they posted it on their own X account.
She's wearing the dress that says in the Fed, which I think is pretty neat, actually.
I don't know that you'll find that at the local Target, Dr. Paul, but we should probably put some of those in our merch shop.
But anyway, I think that's the last one we have.
And there are hundreds and hundreds of more, but we were running late and I grabbed a few, and I think I grabbed some of the good ones.
You know, you talked about the importance of the education, and that's one of the businesses that we're in.
And that's one of the reasons why I have a homeschool program, because I strongly believe in it, and I strongly blame the progressive education that this country has been putting up with for more than 100 years.
But I think the contradiction to it is building.
And I think the freedom movement is much bigger than most people realize.
It's discouraging if you watch all the goofy things that are going on and all the violence going on.
But I think there's a lot of shifting.
And I used to use as an example of a shift of attitudes, and that is on COVID.
The people woke up during COVID and got sick and tired of it.
And now nobody wants a booster shot, this go-around.
So it can be done.
And I think that is wonderful because we do have an opportunity.
I've learned a lot about the electronics and the internet and programming.
And when I wonder how many are listening to live programs, well, they're not astounding numbers.
But my staff, including Daniel, he says, yeah, but you don't understand what this is all about because it does spread through the internet.
Reach Out and Touch People 00:03:39
And a lot of people reach our message.
The one thing that I considered a job over the years, especially when I got more involved publicly, and I continue with my education now, even.
But it seemed like at the beginning, it was I had to spend a lot of time erasing the things that I learned in college economic policies or the warm, the excuses for warmongering, that has existed, that it was a noble calling for us.
And it is a noble calling to defend a country if it's under siege.
But it's not so noble if we go five, six, seven thousand miles around the world, you know, providing the weaponry that perpetuates these wars.
So this is why I think that the reach out that we have is a little bit different.
And there's a little bit of crossover because an organization what Jeff has, we talk to, and we even talk to those people in the Congress.
And even when there's somebody in the Senate, we can talk to people.
Or even when they're in the, even when they're Working for the president and has a position there.
So, I think the message is spread.
And most people like my statement that an idea whose time has come, you know, they can't be stopped.
Even they say the statement originally said armies can't even stop a good idea.
And that's what we work on.
So, that's why I work hard to have optimism because if I concentrate on the other, it wears me out.
It's more fun trying to have fun talking about something you truly believe in.
Well, you know, it can kind of be a lonely existence down here.
We do the show together, but then I go to my home office and I work there alone.
So, having so many people, it almost can be overwhelming at times.
And I can't tell you how many really amazing people I spoke to.
I spent a long time talking to some friends from Liberland and great, great people, great project.
We had such a great time, such a meeting of the minds.
You're talking about little areas of freedom.
Well, there's one of them.
So, it was really a delight for me to be able to actually talk to people instead of just talking to myself, which is what I usually do.
But I'm going to close out if you think we're ready.
And I'll just tell people that we're going to have fun again next weekend, two weekends in a row.
I mean, it should be illegal.
But the Ron Paul Institute, we're holding our own DC conference.
This is the last time you'll see me haranguing you to buy tickets because I'm going on the road tomorrow toward DC.
So, go to ronpaulinstitute.org.
And in the blue on the top, you will see a link where you can click and get those tickets.
We got a big boost in ticket sales over the weekend, Dr. Paul, as well, which is nice to hear.
It's tough to go to two things in two weeks, but it's going to be a great event.
So, get those tickets, and we'll see you on Saturday in safe travels to the DC area.
Over to you, Dr. Paul.
And I want to make sure that everybody listening or anybody that's ever worked with me and for the cause, how much I appreciate it.
And I think that I always worry about not expressing that gratitude and not getting around to it.
But I think most people realize how unnecessary it is and how wonderful it is.
And it's the part that you get payment, just having the association with people who are interested in the same subject.
And freedom is a great subject to be concerned with.
So I want to thank all for tuning in today to the Liberty Report.
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