2008 Woodie Awards
The Few, The Committed, The Libertarians
Ron Paul Supporters raise candidate's visibility
Regina Pynn
Issue date: 10/12/07 Section: Campus Life
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As of print time, there will be one year and 23 days until the 2008 presidential election. From the nearly 20 individuals pursuing their party's nomination, only one has gained active supporters on campus: Texas representative Ron Paul. Posters for Paul have appeared all across campus and several student supporters set up a table at September's activity fair. Why has this candidate sparked enthusiasm among some Stevens students and who are the people urging us to "Google Ron Paul?"
The person spearheading this small but visible movement is undoubtedly, Matthew Csengeto. Csengeto is a sophomore who has been an active Paul supporter since stumbling upon him. "One night I happened upon a video of him speaking at Google headquarters. It was an hour long, but I liked his ideas so much that I watched the whole thing and then I found as many videos of him as I could. I immediately wanted to get involved."
Csengeto, like many Paul supporters, speaks of the libertarianism and strict constitutionalist beliefs that have guided the candidate on hot button issues. One New York Times editorial called Paul "The Antiwar, Anti-Abortion, Anti-Drug-Enforcement-Administration, Anti-Medicare Candidate."
Ronen Peled, president of the Stevens Political Awareness Committee (SPAC) gave his thoughts as to why only one candidate has even a small group of supporters on campus. "He has a passion towards his cause and does not waver when the political pressure is on. I think that is what inspires students the most." SPAC does not support any single candidate, but encourages all students to be politically active.
What makes the visible support of Csengeto and others most unusual is the complete lack of support for other candidates. Michael Bocchinfuso, another active Ron Paul supporter, gave his opinion of why Paul has inspired a small group the way no other candidate has.
"Even though Stevens is considered to be one of the least politically active college campuses [by the Princeton Review rankings], it is still a college campus, and they are somewhat notorious for so-called "liberal" ideas. Ron Paul is a classical liberal or a libertarian."
When the primaries leave the nation with only two candidates to focus on, perhaps there will be clear camps of supporters on campus. Csengeto, however, believes that Paul will continue to be the candidate of choice for the campus. "(T)he development of technology and science follows a fairly libertarian mindset… putting restrictions on something in its early stages stifles its development. Ron Paul's libertarian beliefs fall in line with this."
The person spearheading this small but visible movement is undoubtedly, Matthew Csengeto. Csengeto is a sophomore who has been an active Paul supporter since stumbling upon him. "One night I happened upon a video of him speaking at Google headquarters. It was an hour long, but I liked his ideas so much that I watched the whole thing and then I found as many videos of him as I could. I immediately wanted to get involved."
Csengeto, like many Paul supporters, speaks of the libertarianism and strict constitutionalist beliefs that have guided the candidate on hot button issues. One New York Times editorial called Paul "The Antiwar, Anti-Abortion, Anti-Drug-Enforcement-Administration, Anti-Medicare Candidate."
Ronen Peled, president of the Stevens Political Awareness Committee (SPAC) gave his thoughts as to why only one candidate has even a small group of supporters on campus. "He has a passion towards his cause and does not waver when the political pressure is on. I think that is what inspires students the most." SPAC does not support any single candidate, but encourages all students to be politically active.
What makes the visible support of Csengeto and others most unusual is the complete lack of support for other candidates. Michael Bocchinfuso, another active Ron Paul supporter, gave his opinion of why Paul has inspired a small group the way no other candidate has.
"Even though Stevens is considered to be one of the least politically active college campuses [by the Princeton Review rankings], it is still a college campus, and they are somewhat notorious for so-called "liberal" ideas. Ron Paul is a classical liberal or a libertarian."
When the primaries leave the nation with only two candidates to focus on, perhaps there will be clear camps of supporters on campus. Csengeto, however, believes that Paul will continue to be the candidate of choice for the campus. "(T)he development of technology and science follows a fairly libertarian mindset… putting restrictions on something in its early stages stifles its development. Ron Paul's libertarian beliefs fall in line with this."