What a day it has been and this last Sunday before the Florida primary. If I did not already know that this is the path I wanted for my life, this internship has certainly solidified it. All that being said, this day has certainly been the most interesting day and not in a place I expected.
I finally got hooked up with my hometown Ron Paul campaign for Manatee County when I went and voted earlier this week. I got an email shortly there after that they would be hosting a sign waving close to where the Rick Santorum Rally would be in Sarasota. I had some things I had to attend to so I ended up showing up a bit later than expected. By the time I got there most of the Ron Paul people had left. I decided I didn't want to film that and I figured I could gain some perspective by mingling with the Rick Santorum crowd. The Rally ended as I was entering and I got some good footage of Rick Santorum's daughter, a man dressed as Abraham Lincoln and people generally mulling out of the building. I also got some film of people taking pictures with whom I presumed to be Santorum's other, younger daughters.
As I was just about to leave I saw a young guy with a Ron Paul sign talking with some of the Rick Santorum supporters, so naturally I began filming. There was a large debate about Ron Paul's stances on civil liberties and individual rights, and the younger guy desperately tried to inform everyone that Ron Paul believed it was up to the states to decide whether or not they wanted something to be illegal because that is what it says to do in the constitution and that forcing what you think is right on other people is not constitutional or right. He started to get ganged up on, so I put the camera down and began debating. As we were all talking, this younger gentleman in a suit and tie walks up and throws his hat in the debate. He informs us that he works in law enforcement so he has an intimate understanding of the issues we are talking about. We heatedly debated for a a solid hour, but with every passing minute it seemed there was another young man that would step up in a suit and tie and assert the same opinion. I didn't know who they all were, but they all had the same socially conservative opinion that was more well informed than usual (barring the one young man who tried to tell me that the words "one man, one woman" were in the constitution). Suddenly a woman carrying a baby walked up and said the bus was leaving and it was time to go. We exchanged pleasantries and I introduced myself (funny how that works sometimes) and he told me his name was Josh.
As they walked away, I noticed the bus they were referring to was Rick Santorum's bus. I then noticed a considerable crowd had gathered around me. I asked the person nearest me "who was I just talking to?" His response was "have you ever seen that show 19 kids and Counting?" I had just had a heated political debate with the Duggar family, pretty much all of them.
I then continued my talks outside for another hour or so with two gentlemen who were very passionate and earnest about their political beliefs. We talked at length about the constitution and our stances on issues and we all found some common ground. It was a very interesting discussion and I'm hoping to see them following this blog so we can keep in touch.
I will be uploading the raw footage as soon as I get a chance, but I will be out of town for the next few days, something came up in the family and I will be flying home to Massachusetts to attend to it tomorrow morning. I'm sad I won't be here for the primaries, but I will be back soon enough.
Don't forget to follow me on twitter @jvrp2012
Regards
Jaryd Vartanian
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