Former congressman and presidential candidate Dr. Ron Paul recently turned 90 years old, and his former congressional chief of staff, Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. took to his own blog to explain the accomplishments of America’s libertarian leader. Rockwell writes:

As the person who reached more people with the message of liberty than anyone in our time, Ron has also taught us how that message can and must be spread. I want to talk about some of these lessons.

First and foremost, Ron is a critic of the warfare state. The subject of war cannot, and should not, be avoided.

Ron is not a pacifist – an ancient charge against those who oppose constant war. He believes in the right to self-defense, but he does not believe in the initiation of violence, whether by private criminals or the state. He is a man of peace and the golden rule, in his private life and his policy.

The war in Iraq, which was still a live issue when Ron first ran for the Republican nomination, had been sold to the public on the basis of lies that were transparent and insulting even by the US government’s standards. The devastation – in terms of deaths, maimings, displacement, and sheer destruction – appalled every decent human being.

Yes, the Department of Education is an outrage, but it is nothing next to the horrifying images of what happened to the men, women, and children of Iraq. If he wasn’t going to denounce such a clear moral evil, Ron thought, what was the point of being in public life at all?

Still, this is the issue strategists would have had him avoid. Just talk about the budget, talk about the greatness of America, talk about whatever everyone else was talking about, and you’ll be fine. And, they neglected to add, forgotten.

But had Ron shied away from this issue, there would have been no Ron Paul Revolution. It was his courageous refusal to back down from certain unspeakable truths about the American role in the world that caused Americans, and especially students, to sit up and take notice.

Read more here from Rockwell.

Read more about Ron Paul on Richardcyoung.com, below:

• FOREIGN POLICY: “Real Power Is Restraint” – Ron Paul
• Ron Paul: Liberty Defined
• MUST WATCH: Glenn Beck Interviews Ron Paul
• Tucker: Ron Paul Predicted Ukraine Turmoil
• Ron Paul: The Revolution a Manifesto
• Ron Paul: End the Fed
• Ron Paul Exposed the Fed and the Neocon Scam
• Does Anyone Still Think Ron Paul Was Wrong?