Republican presidential hopeful Dr. Ron Paul addressed a crowd of more than 3,000 people at CenturyLink Arena on February 18. The event, which was organized on less than two days’ notice, comes in anticipation of the March 6 Idaho Republican Presidential Caucuses — part of the nation-wide “Super Tuesday” collection of primaries and caucuses that will play a pivotal role in deciding the nomination.

One measure of Idaho’s significance in that event is found in the fact that the three serious GOP contenders — Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Dr. Paul — all visited Idaho, giving the state’s Republican-dominated electorate an an unprecedented level of attention. Of similar significance is the fact that Dr. Paul, who was the last to schedule appearances in the state, drew by far the largest and most enthusiastic crowds.

William N. Grigg, managing editor of Republic magazine, was invited to introduce Dr. Paul at the February 18 event in Boise. Following are his remarks as written for delivery.

The country we love is under the rule of an elected dictator who recognizes no limits on his power to regiment our lives, plunder our wealth, and imprison or even kill anyone of his choosing.

Three Republican candidates seek to replace him not because they object to this tyrannical accumulation of power, but because they covet it for themselves. Only one Republican contender seeks the office because he is committed to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. In a few minutes we will be privileged to hear from him.

A familiar classic rock tune informs us that “Everybody wants to rule the world.” The people who wrote that song obviously weren’t acquainted with Dr. Ron Paul. Uniquely among contemporary political figures, Dr. Paul has no desire to rule anybody – but rather to restore the rule of law that is indispensable to the protection of individual liberty.

For every other candidate seeking the presidency, all human progress begins with a bureaucrat and the armed enforcer who implements that bureaucrat’s decrees. Ron Paul understands that all progress begins with the free individual, who is the owner of his life and deserves to keep everything he has earned through his industry and creativity.

Dr. Paul likewise understands that while the right of armed self-defense is indispensable, no government ever improved a person’s life by pointing guns at him. For decades he has courageously opposed the untethered madness of drug prohibition and every other front of the government’s ever-escalating war against the Bill of Rights. He does this not because drug addiction is harmless, but because there is no deadlier narcotic than power – and government has no authority to regulate what people freely choose to consume.

The same government that conjures new powers out of the air colludes with a quasi-private criminal syndicate called the Federal Reserve to debase the currency in order to fund its grandiose designs.

For decades, Dr. Paul has worked to expose the crimes of that officially licensed counterfeiting ring, and its role in making debt slaves out of us and our children. And he has waged an unremitting campaign to end the reign of terror conducted by the world’s most notorious three-letter secret police agency – the IRS.

Alone among Republican contenders, Dr. Paul seeks to restore a foreign policy compatible with that of Washington, Jefferson, and John Quincy Adams.  He alone is committed to the actual defense of our country, rather than perpetual military entanglements in the affairs of other nations that do nothing to protect our freedom and a great deal to cultivate the animosities from which future acts of terrorism will eventually spring.

Were the Framers of the Constitution to interview the current crop of presidential hopefuls, it would immediately become clear that Dr. Paul is the only one with whom they could have an intelligent conversation. That is because the language of liberty is his native tongue – not some unfamiliar dialect from which he borrows an occasional phrase for use during election campaigns.

The most important qualification for the presidency is an understanding of the Constitution, and the character to preserve, protect, and defend it. Dr. Paul’s rivals for the nomination recognize those qualities in him, which is why, during debates, they habitually defer to his insights whenever constitutional questions are addressed. And this is why Dr. Paul is the only candidate who, if elected, could take the oath of office without committing an act of public perjury.

We who are blessed to live in Idaho have been given a rare opportunity to cast a consequential vote on behalf of peace, prosperity, and individual liberty in next month’s caucuses. Don’t let that opportunity be wasted.

As Shakespeare once wrote:

“There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads to fortune…. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.”

Dr. Paul helped summon a wave of peaceful, principled rebellion against a government that has long since slipped the chains of the Constitution. Regardless of what happens at the ballot box this November, that wave will continue to grow. But it can carry this uniquely qualified and decent man to the Oval Office.

My fellow Idahoans, I give you the man who — if God is unusually generous, and the American people are wiser than we’ve recently been — will be the next President of the United States of America: Dr. Ron Paul.