Over 1,000 students and community members flooded the UC Ballroom last Tuesday when noted political figure Ron Paul visited Colorado Mesa University.

Paul is a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas’s 14th district and is a former presidential candidate who competed in the Republican primaries. Paul is famous on Capitol Hill for his out-of-the-box libertarian standpoints and his aggressive campaign for liberty.
The event was hosted by CMU’s KMSA and the political coalition Blue-Republican, represented by Tisha Casida. Blue-Republican is an organization that seeks to put “principle before party” and considers liberty, the Constitution and peace to be its primary concerns.

Casida is a former congressional candidate for Colorado District Three and is an active voice for liberty.

“We have to refuse to be motivated by fear,” Casida said.

The term Blue-Republican was coined by Huffington Post correspondent Robin Koerner, who was also in attendance.

“If you love peace, become a Blue-Republican,” Koerner said.

Koerner explained that Blue-Republicans are individuals who don’t want to give up their liberal principles but want to do the right thing in relation to fiscal policy and liberty. Koerner, a former liberal himself, believes that “liberty is the politics of love.”

Paul delivered a speech entitled “Liberty Defined: The Future of Freedom” to CMU students and Grand Junction community members, in which he critiqued the spending and policing habits of the federal government and called for more state control dictated by the individual desires of hard-working Americans.

Paul also answered a few questions composed by members of the audience in which he advocated for a reversal on federal gun control. Paul noted that two-thirds of gun deaths are actually suicides, and he suggested we handle gun violence in the same way we handle drunk drivers.

Paul also tackled the question of NSA surveillance, calling for “defensive weapons to neutralize surveillance.”

While Paul doesn’t necessarily have a blueprint for his proposed technology, he still successfully delivered his message of liberty and the threat of big government.