Texas Rep. Ron Paul may not have taken an aggressive approach to campaigning in South Carolina, but he has still captured a loyal following among college-age voters who are fed up with flip-flop arguments.
Third-year criminal justice student Harley Grant is one such follower. Grant admits to having been “that kid” in his high school government classes, with a political interest sparked from watching “The Colbert Report” and a fascinated conviction to the self-proclaimed constitutionalist’s old-school Jeffersonian fidelity to limited government.
“I just caught on to the political bug and wanted to spread the message,” Grant said.
That’s what just what Grant has been doing since his first venture on behalf of the Ron Paul campaign in 2007, leaving political Slim Jims on the hoods of parked cars.
Nowadays, he’s been spreading the message and garnering support for Paul’s second run for the White House as the president of Youth for Ron Paul at USC, the only campus group to support a single candidate. Since becoming official in November, the organization has garnered more than 340 members on Facebook, many of whom will be voting for the first time in 2012.
The body of Ron Paul’s supporters, like the candidate himself, is hard to place at either end of the political spectrum. Paul’s supporters at USC range from long-time conservatives to former socialists, many of whom say they are exasperated with the easily compromised policies of major-party representatives. Among them is first-year political science student Travis Dillard, who was a self-proclaimed Democrat and President Barack Obama supporter until three weeks ago, when he says he “converted” to Youth for Paul.
“I had a change of heart when I realized that all the candidates were the same,” Dillard said. “From Obama to Romney, there’s really no difference between their policies.”
Dillard is one of the many first-time voters around the nation who have been attracted to the small government principles touted by Paul — among them an anti-war foreign policy, the legalization of marijuana and the repeal of the National Defense Authorization Act.
“Those socially liberal and economically conservative principles draw all types of people, but college students especially are gravitating toward him,” Grant said.
While Grant and other supporters will dutifully demonstrate on Paul’s behalf Saturday, they insist that they are part of a larger movement among the next generation of voters that goes beyond the support of a single candidate and even beyond the 2012 election; following the primary election, the group will continue working to support Paul’s staunch policies under a different name, possibly “students for liberty.”
“It’s a movement for liberty and individual rights, and for a return to the economic principles in the Constitution,” third-year finance student Alex Wright said.