Congressman Ron Paul of Texas, a "champion of the Constitution," is seeking to become the president of the United States of America.

Paul is running on a "Hope for America" campaign as he promises to restore the Constitution as the law of the land, taking back our country and our liberties from the federal government, which has expanded way beyond its Constitutional limitations.

Paul's ideals of adhering to the Constitution don't sit well with big business, which has very lucrative partnerships with the federal government — war and social programs offer big profits for corporations and more control over the population by government. Our mainstream media is, in most cases, ignoring, mitigating or misrepresenting Paul's message of freedom, as restoring the Constitution runs contrary to the government-business partnership. Still, Paul's message is spreading like wildfire by way of the Internet, which has spawned 1,475 Ron Paul meet-up groups in many of the cities and towns throughout the United States (and around the world). Their intent is to get Paul's message of freedom to those Americans that have been kept in the dark by the media. These meet-up groups are a true American grassroots movement. They receive no support or financing from the official Ron Paul campaign. They donate their time and spend their own money on brochures, signs, etc. There is one such group in Napa with over 40 members.

Paul raised over $19M in the last quarter, more than any other Republican presidential hopeful. In raising this money, Paul's grassroots supporters coordinated two one-day fundraising drives, setting one-day records, where Paul received $4.2M on Nov. 5, and over $6M on Dec. 17 (the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party). The majority of these contributions came from thousands of Americans giving $50-100. Did the mainstream media tell you?

Ron Paul takes his oath to the Constitution seriously, as he has a 100 percent record in favor of the Constitution, (contrast that with our representative, Mike Thompson, at around 30 percent) and he informs his constituents what the federal government is actually doing. Most representatives are ignoring their constituents, while representing their lobbyists and corporate sponsors in Washington, D.C. Concerned Americans are expected to get their limited amount of information via the memos government sends by way of the mainstream media — which means most Americans, including those listening to mainstream conservative radio, have no idea what is happening in this country or around the world. I learned more about what was happening in America and in the Middle East by reading one hour's worth of Ron Paul's Freedom Reports than I did listening to Rush for 15 years.

In the Constitution, Congress declares war, but because of the UN Charter, the executive branch has taken American soldiers into UN police actions without a declaration of war by Congress. This has happened from the Korean War to the Vietnam War to our present Iraq War. Trade, which was to be controlled by Congress per the Constitution, has been transferred to the executive branch by way of international trade agreements, which allows Congress to look the other way and claim ignorance on Agenda 21, NAFTA, CAFTA, GATT, WTO, SPP, UN, etc., as our presidents work with internationalists and big business to undermine our sovereignty for their own self-serving agenda. As America's manufacturing base is becoming nonexistent, millions of Americans' jobs are being outsourced to foreign nations and wars are being fought under false pretenses, Ron Paul wants to end these agreements and treaties, restore congressional powers taken over by the executive branch and adopt policies that benefit Americans.

The states, counties, communities, schools, health institutions and even churches, are taking federal subsidies like never before, where many well-intentioned individuals and organizations have become unknowing partners with the federal government, usurping our liberties, regulating Americans in every aspect of life, from what we eat to how we're supposed to think.

As American liberties are being treaded on like no other time in American history, many are looking for leadership that actually supports American values. Americans want someone that supports individual liberty and responsibility over the ignorance, irresponsibility and government dependence that socialism requires, which government seems to have adopted. Americans want someone to tell the federal government to get out of our lives, tell the so-called right and so-called left to stop spending our money and creating laws for their own self-righteous "common good" agendas. Ron Paul's "Don't tread on me" philosophy of limited government is what our founding fathers envisioned for Americans from the beginning.

Judge Andrew P. Napolitano, who wrote the books, "The Constitution in Exile," "Constitutional Chaos," and the recently released book, "A Nation of Sheep," says that Ron Paul is "the Thomas Jefferson of our time."

(Eggers lives in Napa.)