The Libertarian Romantic Thriller

Ron Paul's message makes it onto the big screen.

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REPUBLICAN CENTRAL, DC-Every Republican presidential nominee is speaking in CPAC's main ballroom today except Rep. Ron Paul. He sent his son, Sen. Rand Paul, in his stead last night and the libertarian's message is being spread-if not always explicitly-down in the CPAC dungeon of booths.

Set in 2019 during the aftermath of an economic collapse, the animated film "Silver Circle" is a "fun thriller romance," according to producer/director Pasha Roberts. I walked up to this booth expecting the typical Paul friendly organization arguing against fiat money, but was instead treated to behind the scenes clips of actors on a green screen stage edited with shots of the completed footage, fully animated in a manner evoking the rotoscoped effect of "Waking Life" but far more halting and amateurish in appearance. "Silver Circle" follows the soon-to-be true story of anti-government currency rebels fighting against investigators from the Federal Reserve.

"We promote it in three areas," Roberts said. "We see it as something that could get very broad. It's not a chest thumping, speechy movie, but there is a core to it. We certainly promote inside conservative/libertarian kinds of worlds where people have feelings about the Federal Reserve. We promote a lot in the precious metals world, where people just like silver and most of those people understand how the monetary system does or doesn't work. And then we promote actually in the comic book conferences, and those are really a whole other world. People are wearing costumes." When I wondered what it was like to go from a crowd of wannabe super heroes to the sea of young CPAC conservatives decked out in suits, Roberts. "There are different costumes here."

While Silver Change might recall a certain surfing super hero, the name is derived from it's anti-Fed message. "It's called Silver Circle because rebels make their own money out of silver and bronze, which at that point is considered quite illegal," Roberts said. Hmm, that sounds oddly similar to the rhetoric from one of the four remaining presidential candidates. Could those Paul fans, perhaps, be their target audience at this year's CPAC? "Yeah, all those guys-which are conveniently in movie going age-should be into it."

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