In 2008, Moses Caballero was a 21-year-old activist in New York City who couldn’t wait to cast his first presidential vote for Barack Obama. He canvassed around Harlem, he proselytized to his friends, he attended rallies and meetings downtown. Coming from a family of hardcore Puerto Rican and Brazilian-American Democrats that voted for Charlie Rangel every election cycle, he “really couldn’t give a fuck about a Republican.” He was happy that Obama planned to get our troops out of Iraq. He liked the sound of making government more transparent.
“I really loved the idea of finally becoming part of the political process,” he says. “Like it mattered what I thought about government issues.” The fact that Obama was biracial topped it off. For his Harlem neighbors and family members, having a president of color “was monumental,” Moses says. “It felt important for us to back him. I thought he would support us.”
Fast-forward to 2012. The best way Caballero can describe the way he feels is “heartbroken.” Betrayed and lied to. “I haven’t felt this pain about any other politician,” he says. He began to lose his faith in Obama when the president waffled on the wars, after he reaffirmed the PATRIOT Act, and especially when he signed the National Defense Authorization Act back in December. “He conformed to what the puppets on Capitol Hill wanted him to be,” Caballero says, with disgust. “He didn’t care about his constituents.”
Then one day a friend suggested he look into Ron Paul. Caballero watched hours of Paul videos on YouTube. He learned as much about Paul as he could, and agreed with almost everything he read and heard. He didn’t tell any of his Democrat friends, partly because he didn’t fully understand what was happening.
“It was kind of like a culture shock, to hear all that stuff about the Constitution,” Caballero explains. “He seemed like the only candidate that was being absolutely and utterly honest. It was almost like I was falling in love.”
Ronverts: Breaking Up with Obama, Rebounding with Ron Paul [continued]
