An Open Letter to Students
Alexander S. Peak

                                                                                                    14 December 2007


Students across America are excited about politics.

Wait a minute, politics?  <i>Politics!?</i>  Where did the youth apathy suddenly go?

A sense of optimism floats today across our nation’s college campuses.  Dr. Ron Paul, a 10-term Congressman from 
Texas, is running for President.  And, unlike most candidates, he’s responding to the concerns of young Americans.

SOCIAL SECURITY

We, the members of Generation Y, have a variety of concerns.  It is in my experience, for example, that we tend to be 
a very skeptical bunch when it comes to Social Security.  Many of us see ourselves paying into a broken system with 
no expectation of ever seeing a dime in return.

Paul sees the need for reform, and is offering something to young Americans that no other leading candidates offer: 
the opportunity to opt-out, once and for good, from Social Security!  If Paul succeeds, we will finally be set free 
to control our own retirements, rather than relying on a broken system.


Moreover, his proposal presents no threat to the elderly.  Paul advocates eliminating excessive government spending; 
money saved from Paul’s significant spending reduction will go toward keeping the government’s promise to our 
seniors.

Best of all, Paul has no kooky neoconservative plan to socialize the stock market.

CIVIL LIBERTIES

Civil liberties have become a grave concern for many young people in our post-9/11 world.  Laws such as the so-called 
USA PATRIOT Act and the REAL ID Act have been foisted upon us over the last few years, while neither Congress nor the 
president have any apparent sympathy for <i>Habeas Corpus</i>.  In short, Big Government getting bigger, and bigger, 
and bigger—and with no guarantee of safety.

Are we just frogs doomed to someday live under a police state as the heat under the frying pan of society slowly 
rises?

It’s not hard to recognize that the problem is with centralized government power, or that Dr. Paul is the only 
leading candidate committed to smaller, less intrusive government.

IRAQ WAR

Finally, American students are, by and large, fed up with the continuation of the Iraq war.  Unlike leading 
Democrats, Paul actually opposes the war in Iraq, and in fact voted against it from the beginning.  Conversely, 
Clinton, Obama, and Edwards won’t even commit to having all our troops out by 2013.

Paul acknowledges what no other candidate has the guts to: that our current foreign policy inspires anti-Americanism, 
and is a <i>liability</i> to all Americans.  He would return America’s foreign policy to the standard set by 
libertarians and old-school conservatives: free trade with all, entangling alliances with none.

In summation, a Ron Paul presidency would help to end failed government schemes, protect our rights from the prying 
fingers of bureaucrats and busy-body politicians, and keep America safe from war.  All things considered, I’m really 
not surprised there is so much enthusiasm surrounding Dr. Paul’s campaign among students after all.


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