It was 2007, and some guy rented out homes in New Hampshire. He told all the Ron Paul activists from all over the place to just show up and help on the campaign and that he would give them all places to stay.
His idea seemed wise to me: more momentum for a censored campaign in a key state.
I packed up my bags and left my comfy existence. I was an American writer living in Europe in those days. I went to the far reaches of New Hampshire in a suit that I trudged through the snow in that entire primary season.
It was not for money. It was not for fame. It was for love of my country, and the ideals of freedom that the people of that country so often represented around the world.
Americans are not perfect. The American government tends to be awful, both at home and abroad. But America gets a lot right.
Sixteen winters ago, I trudged through the snows of New Hampshire for weeks, because I knew how important it was that America be focussed on things that were good. And I knew she had entirely lost focus from top to bottom. I didn’t know how some poorly known congressman from Texas, very poorly regarded by the political class, would make a dent in that, but I found great joy in the fact that someone was saying such a thing.
He was speaking what I knew to be true. Every day of my life was immersed in post-communist society, writing about what happens to a culture that descends into communism. What happens is very ugly.
I could not have known 16 years later, that the relatively unknown congressman would drive me to run for congress, he would become the impetus of a movement called “the Tea Party,” that would influence aspects of American politics to this day, that a celebrity president with a heart for America and Americans would take many of his America first views and successfully upend the Bush Dynasty and Clinton Dynasty in 2016.
I could not have known that all in 2007. No, in 2007 and 2008, that looked very very different.
That prospect looked almost hopeless.
All I knew was that I was in New Hampshire, sleeping on an inflatable mattress, putting on my suit and tie before sunrise each morning, to drag myself through that snow, coming home to whatever someone in the overcrowded house had cooked that night, and doing it over and again. I just needed to ask myself one question then, and one question now:
"What can I be doing this day that impacts the world immediately around me to the greatest degree possible and in the best ways possible?"
I don’t need to try to change the whole world.
I can just try to influence the world immediately around me, to change the world as I know it.
I didn’t know 16 years ago that the no-name Congressman would be known by everyone who cares about freedom, that his views would be spoken by half a dozen US Senators regularly, that a US President would be repeating those views, and that the US President would be threatened with the most awful illegal treatment for daring to return to Oval Office with those America first views. I didn’t know that in 2007.
On February 22, I get to see one of those US Senators that I have been with many times and in many situations. We are not friends, but we are acquaintances.
His name is Rand Paul.
He may look like a regular stuffed suit to you, but I know in minute detail, how disgusting it is to the establishment that Rand Paul is able to hold a seat in the US Senate, and how effective his views and actions are.
He’s one guy. He can’t change the whole world. But he has phenomenal impact on the world around him.
Some people might say things that amount to,"Well he's not perfect."
Yeah, I get that.
Some people (not many), might even have some good examples of that lack of perfection. Usually, people can't give examples.
The truth is perfection is not the alternative. Having a lock-step establishment crony in that seat is the alternative.
The myth of human perfection is a great way to make sure that really good people say one day "It's just not worth it, and go do something more profitable than to fight for freedom."
The myth of human perfection is a great burden we put upon ourselves and others, and it causes so much damage.
The last four years have been no joke.
The worst dreams of the 2007 version of me have come true. Things I knew were possible but that I hoped would never come to pass became reality.
That was what happened in 2020.
And in the midst of that, I saw the heart of America come to life.
I saw regular people and extraordinary people turn their attention toward this topic I’d been obsessed with for years, namely — “What is going wrong and how do we change it?” 2020 was not only a vile year to watch the destruction of America, but it was one of the most special years to watch Americans rise from the ashes and begin to rebuild something new.
And I get to do something very special the night of February 22.
I get to stand with a freedom fighting US Senator on one side of me and an amazing grassroots warrior on the other side of me, in downtown San Francisco of all places, and I get to introduce them to each other.
Then do you know what I get to do?
I get to repeat that dozens of times over the course of the night.
I don’t know where that moment will lead 16 years from now, but I know as long as I keep focussed on how to do the best in the moment I am in and among the people I am around, that it will lead good places. I don’t know what the future holds. I know what this moment holds. And I seek to do my best in this moment.
Obsession with the future brings distraction from the present. Right now is what I can change. So right now I seek to change.
It’s a few hundreds of dollars a ticket fundraiser. It’s a meal that you could probably get for $50 somewhere better. It’s probably even a pain to get to. I don’t care about that. It’s an important night in many ways.
It’s a victory party.
It’s a celebration that they didn’t kill us. It’s a celebration that they didn’t even succeed, for the core of what America is, is stronger in 2024 than it was in 2019. They utterly backfired in what they were trying, at least that is the case for the daily life I see, for men and women are rising up in ways that had never dreaming, building better alternatives in ways they had never dreamed.
Pioneers once settled the land.
A new class of pioneers is rebuilding America.
Is that easy? No.
Should we have 24-7 victory parties? No.
I get to introduce one freedom fighter to another that night.
Maybe you will be one of them.
Or maybe you will just be there watching and as a co-celebrant.
I don’t spend too much time at victory parties. And most people around me probably don’t realize this is a victory party. But this is a victory party. And I’d like to invite you to come join me.
-Allan Stevo
People will travel from all over that night of February 22 to be there. If you are on my personal email list at realstevo.com, you know the details already of what that looks like. If you are not already on that list and you wish to join me that night, just send an email to allan@realstevo.com and tell me a little bit about yourself. My team and I will take it from there, but do that soon. The VIP spots are almost all gone and the event will be sold out before long.
Many thanks for your quixotic efforts, Allan - all the ripples help to bring progress!