Daniel Harmon

Congrats to BJ Lawson for defeating his mudslinging primary opponent, Augustus Cho! The final tally? A landslide: 71 percent to 29 percent.

And while I’m basking in the splendor of this victory, I’d like to mention a creative (and brilliant) marketing move that Lawson employed during his primary contest. He and his supporters gave away 10,000 copies of the U.S. Constitution. Think about that for a moment. Rather than his supporters just spitting out the obligatory “vote for Lawson” and offering some tired, seen-it-a-thousand-times-before flyer, imagine them asking you, “would you like a free copy of the Constitution?” What a fresh, emotionally-gripping proposition! No matter what party you belong to, such a unique gesture would at least make you think twice before giving your normal, preprogrammed rejection—unless you’re a red-blooded communist, of course.

Another benefit: He’s creating a great brand for himself. Now, when people hear Lawson, they think Constitution. Not a bad association.

And on top of that, this focuses his efforts on educating the people, not pandering to the beauty-contest politics that we’re all so used to. I’m guessing that out of the 10,000 people who accepted a copy, at least 90% of them had never read our nation’s founding document front to back in their lives. And even if they still haven’t, I think it’s campaign money well spent.

So as the Republican Party’s nominee, Lawson is now poised to take on Rep. David Price—the stale, spend-o-matic, 22-years-in-office-too-many embodiment of federal government gone wrong.

For the general election in November, he’s shooting to give out 100,000 Constitutions! It’s time that we the people learn exactly what it is that comes after…“We the people…”

Here’s a nice video his supporters put together for him.

My techie friend, Duane and I have started a grassroots fundraising campaign for BJ Lawson’s North Carolina congressional race: BucksForBJ.blogspot.com. If you’re a Ron Paul fan, or if you want our government to return to Constitutional principles, please check out BJ Lawson’s website. I blogged about him here, too. If you like what you see, go to BucksForBJ.blogspot.com and pledge. We’re asking for small donations and for you to spread the word to some buddies. We call it a Money Ball—not to be confused with a money bomb.

I wasn’t always like this. Previously, I was about as politically active as a fence post. I never donated a dime to any politician (I thought they were already doing a good enough job of taking away my money). And I certainly never dreamed of campaigning for anybody.

But then along came Ron Paul. After my brother introduced him to me, I wanted to learn everything I could about him—and more importantly, the principles he stands for. As my closest friends and family can attest, I turned into a walking, interactive, encyclopedic, Ron Paul billboard.

I even donated to him. We didn’t have any extra money at the time, so I asked my wife to give my Christmas money to Ron Paul’s campaign fund. Ever since then, I’ve made a personal commitment to get more involved in the fight for freedom.

By the way, I’d love your ideas for improving BucksForBJ.blogspot.com. So leave a comment here if you have any thoughts. Thanks.

Thanks to the Ron Paul’s presidential campaign, I’ve taken a keen interest in the preservation of our freedoms. I believe that the key to establishing the limited government that closely resembles our founding is to establish representatives that are committed to upholding the ideals of the Founders.

That said, I’m increasingly interested in learning about anyone that’s willing to stand up to the status quo and fight for a foreign policy of peaceful friendship, a monetary policy backed by a gold standard and a stance of unrelenting protection of our civil liberties.

On Lew Rockwell’s blog, I found one: his name is BJ Lawson. Haven’t heard of him? He’s running for congress in North Carolina’s 4th District. And he’s the spitting image of Ron Paul…minus about 40 years, the receding white hair, the Texas drawl and about $35 million in raised campaign funds.

OK. So they obviously have their physical and financial differences. But when it comes to political ideology, they’re almost identical twins. In fact, on his site, BJ says, “I was drawn back to politics by Ron Paul’s tireless and principled work to restore a Constitutional federal government.” It looks like he’s even adopted a fund-raising strategy from Ron Paul’s play book: posting his numbers in real-time on his homepage. Nice move.

I don’t know everything about him. But from what I’ve read on his site, he seems sharp, passionate, personable, logical and principled. I can’t cast a ballot for him, but (hopefully) I can cast a few supporters his direction with this blog—and maybe even some donors to boot.

It’s encouraging to see the fruits of Ron Paul’s labors already starting to take root. I’ve often wondered who would emerge as the key figures to lead the fight for freedom when Ron Paul is no longer in the picture (he’s 72 after all). Whether or not he wins his 4th District race, BJ Lawson may very well surface as an influential national figure in the cause of liberty. Regardless, he’s a patriot; and to that I tip my hat and raise my voice of encouragement.