Ron Paul Draws Crowd of Nearly 6,000

    After a brief introduction, a black SUV pulled up to Warren Mall and the crowd exploded in cheers of “President Paul.” 

    During the speech, Paul stressed the need for the country to return to its Constitutional values. 

    “Our job is great too, it’s a major task to change this country around because we have been drifting from our original intent of our Constitution, and the problems began a long time before you were born and unfortunately, you as a generation are inheriting it,” Paul said. “The burden will fall on you to change things.”

    During his speech, Paul spoke about his libertarian values. Libertarianism is a political stance  that values freedom from governmental power and individual liberties. 

    “Liberty doesn’t come because you are part of a group,” Paul said. “You don’t get liberty from being a hyphenated American. You have liberty because you have a right to your life, you have a right to your liberty and you have the right to keep all the fruits of your labor.”

    According to Goodrich, UCSD Students for Ron Paul solicited over 1,000 signatures on Library Walk this past October to bring Paul to campus. 

    Soon after, the campaign contacted Goodrich about including UCSD on Paul’s California campaign tour. Paul’s campaign also stopped at UCLA, UC Berkeley and several state schools this week. Goodrich said that Friday’s event, excluding the cost of transporting Paul to campus, cost approximately $4,000. According to Goodrich, Paul’s own campaign funds supported the event. 

    Goodrich said that the event was successful.

    “I honestly believe that it was one of the most successful rallies we’ve had,” Goodrich said. “We had 400 new Republican registrations last night, which is many, many more than they typically get at these types of rallies.” 

    A coalition that included students, the Public Education Coalition and members of the public protested Paul’s speech. The students organized through a Facebook event called “Protest Ron Paul Speech at UCSD.” According to Public Education Coalition member Nikolai Smith, about 30 students showed up in protest. 

    “I think it is important to challenge anybody that comes who is trying to advocate the privatization of universities,” Smith said. “Our university has seen its fees go up, as our university is becoming privatized, so we are there to fight back.”

    The coalition handed out pamphlets detailing their disagreements with Paul’s beliefs. 

    The pamphlets  also stated the PEC’s efforts to prevent the University of California from becoming a privatized system. 

    “Just being out there, having many faculty and staff members approach us and thank us for being there, for providing sort of an alternate presence — that was very good,” Smith said.

    Paul currently has 83 delegates. He would need 1,144 delegates to secure the Republican nomination.  

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