Beginning to enlist Ron Paul people

[Tacitus]

Hi folks,

I want to say up front that I am a Ron Paul supporter, and I continue to support Ron Paul. But sadly, Ron Paul is unlikely to get the Republican nod. I think it is also unlikely that the Republican party will make any real concessions to Ron Paul supporters.

I am telling others that we must vote as a block as much as our conscience allows. Not do do so will enable the Republican establishment to take the libertarians and old right supporters of Paul as a given in future elections. That is the definition of failure.

I hear a lot about us not supporting the Republican party will give the election to Obama. That may be true, but the differences between Obama and the candidates except for Paul are insignificant. They may even be worse.

My other argument is that a Republican win in 2012 would likely result in a renomination of the Republican POTUS. That would mean not 4 years to have a shot again at the Republican nomination, but 8 years. An Obama win would result in another shot in 4 years when we will be a much stronger.

Obviously, voting for the principles of small government, protecting constitutional rights, individual empowerment, true free market capitalism and liberty are the underlying reasons to vote for anyone.

Given all of the above, the logical thing for Ron Paul supporters to do, given the probable outcome of the GOP nomination, is to throw their support to Gary Johnson. It is important to do this en mass and soon enough to force the lamestream media to put Gary in the debates with Obama and whoever his Republican clone is.

Peace and Liberty,

[HardyMacia]

Tacitus,

I like your argument that Obama winning instead of the non-liberty Republican would be the better outcome since we get to try again in 4 years.

I see two ways Paul supporters can make a difference.

1. If Paul supporters want to give Paul more pull at the GOP Convention in hopes of having a strong pro-liberty VP that Paul approves of...then we need to show the GOP that not picking a libertarian VP will hurt them very much in the general election. To do this we need to show very strong support for Gary Johnson on the Libertarian Party ticket. If Johnson is polling above 15% at the GOP Convention that should scare the crap out of them because it means Johnson will be in the D/R debates. To do this Paul supporters must start supporting Johnson financially and in other ways. Don't stop what they are doing for Paul, but if they donate $100 to Paul then donate $10 to Johnson. We need to show that a broad base of Paul's will disappear after the convention. They can donate here: http://www.garyjohnsongrassroots.com/moneyavalanche/

2. Continue what they are doing as Paul supporters until August 30 (end of GOP Convention), then switch all support and Paul's momentum over to Johnson. A $2 million money bomb for Johnson on Labor Day will make the media stand up and take notice of Johnson. With most of Paul's supporters switching to Johnson then pushing Johnson to 15% so he qualifies for the debates will be easy. The next step would be for Johnson to have a good debate and jump from 9% to 15% in the polls (where he is currently at in a three-way D/R/L race) to 30% and then we have a major battle just as Perot had back in 1992.

[Tacitus]

Yep you got it. That's my argument alright. IMO the Republicans will not give the libertarian wing of the GOP anything substantive. An insult. This should piss off the Paul people. Hard only to be dissed by the man. After that, it would be a massive mistake to support the GOP.

And you're right I have no intention of walking away from Paul. I voted for the guy in 1988 and supported his bid in 2008. Money for GJ? I'll do what I can. Tapped out for now. There are some things I can sell.

Now, we need to prepare Gary on the issues that Paul stumbled on. Let's get ready to shove those issues where they belong. The Paul campaign made some fatal errors. Gary should learn from those errors.

Critical to get Gary up to 14% or more in the polls by Sept. Must find a way that the media thinks it will be to their benefit to put Gary in those polls.

You know, it's not impossible for Gary to actually win.

[AgoristDon]

Developing a strong grassroots has been key for Ron Paul, and it will be key for Gary to bring over his supporters ASAP if/when his campaign ends. RPs supporters put him on the map in the first place, and they can do it again for another liberty candidate.

I think it's very important to develop a theme for some sort of "Welcome Ron Paul Supporters" event when the time comes. If you pay any attention to the RP grassroots, they always do outreach when a candidate drops out.

Best idea, IMO... a money bomb waiting in the wings that appeals to the RP supporter's reaction to being shut out by both the establishment and the media could be very effective. They had a "Black This Out!" moneybomb to protest the media, and it drew in some serious cash. In particular, his younger supporters now have an anti-establishment attitude that's been bred and fed by his treatment by the media and the GOP establishment, and that can be used effectively to attract both grassroots support and cash if we have the right theme ready to roll when the time comes.


Oh, and I wrote an open letter to Gary Johnson about his grassroots campaign a week or so ago. Anybody interested can read it here.

http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/201 ... hnson.html

[AgoristDon]

Another point. Paul supporters feel freedom in their gut. All posts moderated? On a forum dedicated to a libertarian candidate? You'll lose supporters in droves. Top-down is not the way to sell liberty.

[HardyMacia]

Only the first post is moderated so that we can prevent the spambots. After your first post is approved there's no additional moderation.

[HardyMacia]

responded to your blog post.

Also I turned off the 1 post requirement so people can start posting right away. There will just be a bit more spam for everyone to ignore until moderators clean it up.

[knothead]

Yea,go read some of my posts on here,freedom of speech is alive and well around here.

[viccrist@hotmail.com]

I agree with Thomas Sowell, who is not susceptible to hyperbole, that if Obama gets in for another four years, our country will not be able to recover.

[HardyMacia]

Obama/Bush what difference does it make. Did you listen to Romney's soundbites from his last night's Florida victory speech? It sounds like he wants to increase the military budget by 400% so we can take over the whole worlds while at the same time he tossed in a "constitution" applause line which landed flat which his audience since they don't care about the constitution - only about beating Obama and taking over the world. The Republican will be much worse than Obama.