A thought about which direction we should go..

[eOs]

I see our movement headed into a coupled different directions. There's the crowd that wants to stay within the Republican party and try to change it on the inside. And then there's the group that wants to stick with reinforcing ourselves within the 3rd party. Trying to change the republicans from the inside isn't going to work for a couple of reasons:

1)they want to keep their power
2)they want to keep their power
3)they want to keep their power

Anything they do that is in favor of what we the Ron Paulians would like to see is going to be mere pandering. I don't see anything drastically changing within the party unless we take over key power positions within the group. If this is feasible then this road should be taken.

Staying third party is not an option. Third parties at this point are stuck in a time warp. They cannot move forward with the current political realm we live in. I dunno, this is just to get people to start thinking...Take it away...

 

[Shadow of a Doubt]

The most important task right now is educating people. It's too early to predict what's possible politically, but nothing will change so long as this is a nation of sheep.

The same thing goes for the people speculating about our 2012 candidate. That's four years from now, and too much can change in the meantime to get started so soon. Our efforts would be better spent on 2010 congressional races.

 

[Sheepdog11]

I agree with Shadow of a Doubt.

The ONLY way we can change the government is to change the people. Talking with friends, family, etc. Lending off copies of The Revolution: A Manifesto (something me and a friend are doing around campus). We have to change people's minds! And that can only be done personally, because the following won't work:


MEDIA:

Media time won't work, as the corporation media will only use the coverage to try and discredit the ideas presented. Look at what they did to Ron Paul!

Also, most people's problem with Ron Paul I'd assume is that his ideas sound BAD on surface level to people who don't understand the issues.

For example, if you heard someone say they wanted to get rid of the Federal Reserve, and you didn't know what it was, you'd assume this was a stupid, bad idea!

It's much easier to sell the idea of government pouring money into the economy, for example, than selling the notion that people should be left to do it themselves.

This is why the media won't work... they take things at surface level and attack the speaker based on this.


Electing A Liberty Candidate

Electing ONE person into office who has the the campaign for liberty's ideals will not do ANYTHING, and might even be a terrible thing for our movement. Besides having an impossible congress to work with, people in general will not be too keen on giving up the ideas they believe are good.

We're talking about getting rid of, or completely changing a large amount of poor government departments/programs... but these programs all have PEOPLE employed in them. If someone with Ron Paul's ideals IS elected, people WILL lose jobs... and they won't like it.

How does a president deal with the obvious protests? You can get police/military intervention but that only discredits libertarian ideas.

Electing a liberty candidate won't work because the government works in the interest of those in it... as freedomain radio puts it, it would be akin to joining a local Hispanic club and trying to turn it into an anti-Hispanic club.

It's been tried before (Reagan?) and it doesn't work. Setting out to limit government has always turned into government expansion.

Changing the GOP

Same idea as the previously mentioned Hispanic club... basically trying to turn the party's (current) principles in on themselves. I've heard many horror stories of local republican groups being terribly biased against Ron Paul supporters, for example. I just don't see this succeeding without changing the PEOPLE first.


So again... I believe we need to spread the message personally and change the government from the bottom up. Create an exponential effect by instilling the same truths into others and sharing the same fiery passion in them so that they will in turn tell many more, who will tell many more, etc.

We need an efficient way to communicate the truths. And it won't happen by throwing facts around... psychology teaches that the human brain reacts to emotions before it reacts to facts. We have to try a new approach. Make it personal.

 

[eOs]

So again... I believe we need to spread the message personally and change the government from the bottom up. Create an exponential effect by instilling the same truths into others and sharing the same fiery passion in them so that they will in turn tell many more, who will tell many more, etc.

We need an efficient way to communicate the truths. And it won't happen by throwing facts around... psychology teaches that the human brain reacts to emotions before it reacts to facts. We have to try a new approach. Make it personal.

How is this feasible? Right now the prime communication tool throughout the world is the television. The internet is catching on fast, but it isn't there yet because of issues with generations not growing up with it, wealth(viewed as a tool used by the elite), etc. I don't see how this facilitates or rationalizes a bottom up approach. Obama was NOT a bottom up approach, and I can't remember the last time a bottom up approach worked since the American Revolution.

 

[lodge939]

Reagan changed the Republican party. It can be done.

 

[Sheepdog11]

How is this feasible? Right now the prime communication tool throughout the world is the television. The internet is catching on fast, but it isn't there yet because of issues with generations not growing up with it, wealth(viewed as a tool used by the elite), etc. I don't see how this facilitates or rationalizes a bottom up approach. Obama was NOT a bottom up approach, and I can't remember the last time a bottom up approach worked since the American Revolution.

But Obama was already part of the system... we're not.

Either way, I was in an overly-critical mood when I made that post... but I do think we need to change a large amount of people's minds regardless before we try anything else.

 

[Zera]

We may never be able to change the GOP now. The party right now is looking for a way to win again, not change their policies so more people like them again. Simply putting another guy to run again won't do anything, but they think it will. Come the hell on, Palin for president? Do they want an even bigger landslide loss? They simply don't understand that it's only the right wing evangelical base that loves her. The people who they really need to get on their side, independents and conservative democrats, don't because they're not retarded enough.

I'd just give up on changing the GOP at this point. You'd have to dissassociate the party from FOX News, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Sarah Palin, the Bible Belt, etc., which is never going to happen since that's all the party consists of. The real conservatives from back in the day? They're not alive anymore or they're neocons now.

 

[georgiaboy]

The most important task right now is educating people. It's too early to predict what's possible politically, but nothing will change so long as this is a nation of sheep.

The same thing goes for the people speculating about our 2012 candidate. That's four years from now, and too much can change in the meantime to get started so soon. Our efforts would be better spent on 2010 congressional races.

Yes, educating, and at the same time getting involved in the local party.

The everyday conservative voter and GOP party member is lost, and we have the answer - share out those manifestos, bring our solutions to the table everywhere.

 

[lynnf]

show and tell

Yes, educating, and at the same time getting involved in the local party.

The everyday conservative voter and GOP party member is lost, and we have the answer - share out those manifestos, bring our solutions to the table everywhere.

go to meetings of Republican clubs, etc. show them that we aren't two-headed monsters -- we're a lot like them and we are conservative!


lynn

 

[mczerone]

I agree with Shadow of a Doubt.

The ONLY way we can change the government is to change the people. Talking with friends, family, etc. Lending off copies of The Revolution: A Manifesto (something me and a friend are doing around campus). We have to change people's minds!

This is why the media won't work... they take things at surface level and attack the speaker based on this.

We're talking about getting rid of, or completely changing a large amount of poor government departments/programs... but these programs all have PEOPLE employed in them. If someone with Ron Paul's ideals IS elected, people WILL lose jobs... and they won't like it.


So again... I believe we need to spread the message personally and change the government from the bottom up. Create an exponential effect by instilling the same truths into others and sharing the same fiery passion in them so that they will in turn tell many more, who will tell many more, etc.

We need an efficient way to communicate the truths. And it won't happen by throwing facts around... psychology teaches that the human brain reacts to emotions before it reacts to facts. We have to try a new approach. Make it personal.

Great post.

 

[StilesBC]

All efforts should be directed toward the Fed. It is the only issue where people do not already have an entrenched opinion given to them by the public education system or the media.

Focus on the emotional factor as the above poster put it. Tell people how their money is being stolen from them by the Fed. Explain it in a very factual manner. If you don't, they simply won't believe you.

Once we have eliminated the Fed, many of our other issues (wars, taxes, corruption) will go away on their own.