Ron Paul Visits Businesses in Portsmouth   ...2 of 3 >
June 10, 2011--After his stop at Popovers on the Square, Rep. Ron Paul headed to Maine-ly New Hampshire, a New England themed gift store run by Ken Smith and Deborah Bouchard-Smith.  He took questions from reporters (the reporter in the photo below is from WSCA 106.1 FM Portsmouth Community Radio).
Rep. Paul heads to his next stop as state director Jared Chicoine leads the way and Time magazine's Joe Klein and others follow. 

Asked where he would cut, other than the military, Paul responded:

"...I'd never want to cut defense.  There's a big difference between cutting defense and defending this country and cutting militarism.  So where would we cut?  ...start with the Department of Education.  I don't think the federal government should be taking care of education.  I'd start with the Department of Energy.  We don't need the Department of Energy.  They mess up the production of energy.  I'd start with the Department of Agriculture.  We don't need to subsidize big corporate farms.  We don't need a Department of Commerce.  There's so many places.  I think the biggest department now is the Department of Homeland Security.  I mean why did we exist for 200 years without a Department of Homeland Security?  Now it's the biggest department ever and all they do is undermine our liberties and prod us and poke us and take X-rays at airports.  They've never caught anybody in all these years.  Why don't we defund the Patriot Act—all they do is undermine our liberties and they're about to search us and go into our homes and our records without a search warrant."

And in response to another question he stated:

"Some people say well why don't you make your message more mainstream?  Well my message is becoming more mainstream because there was one time when if you talked about the Federal Reserve that wasn't mainstream.  If you talked about bringing troops home, but not fighting these senseless undeclared wars, that was not mainstream.  If you talked about a balanced budget, that was not mainstream.  Today the American people are demanding it.  They're sick and tired of it and they're frightened about it.  They want somebody to take a strong stand and say, yes, it's mainstream to start talking about sound money and it certainly ought to be mainstream to be a stickler for the Constitution.  I mean we got into this mess by not obeying the Constitution...  Government should be local; it should be our cities and state governments, it shouldn't be all the mandates and central economic planning in Washington, DC.   So the mainstream is now the message of limited government, so I think I'm in the right place at the right time for that message."
Maine-ly New Hampshire is a popular stop for politicians (and pseudo-politicians—Donald Trump visited during his April trip).  Co-proprietor Ken Smith (at right in the framed photo and in the top photo above) stated, "We open up the store to all candidates, Republicans and Democrats."  Smith also serves on the Portsmouth City Council.  As a small business owner he is concerned with regulations that make it difficult for him to hire and as a local official he is concerned about mandates; in particular he cited a stormwater separation project.
Among those on hand was Dan Lakeman, a retired minister from Windham, ME (outside of Portland).  He is the Maine state leader of SignBomb4RonPaul2012, which is working to put on a display of Ron Paul signs all around the country on Oct. 10, 2011 from 4:30-6:30 p.m..
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