Beyond 2008

[nakor667]

Options down the road

I agree, retaking the Republican Party back from the neocons should be our top priority, and frankly the only way for the Republicans to regain any political clout aside from another attack.

If we can't kick them out, the next option would be to split the conservative base off and form our Revolutionary Party, ideally absorbing the libertarians and constitutionalists along the way. This could take awhile though.

More short term would be the Free State Project: http://www.freestateproject.org/
Large numbers of die hard followers move to an area, become a political majority, and lead by example.

Even further down the road, if we want to bypass Washington DC entirely, we can begin preparations for a new Consitutional Convention...



(amazed by the enthusiasm of RP supporters. Religions have been started on less than this)

 

[mport1]

The LP already has a party in place. Why try to replace it with a new party? As long as we all jump on board, we can change the LP for the better.

 

[mtmedlin]

The LP already has a party in place. Why try to replace it with a new party? As long as we all jump on board, we can change the LP for the better.

Momentum without taint. Libertarians are tainted with the image of the "wasted vote" because they consistently nominate the "Best Libertarian" instead of the most electable libertarian. I loved Harry Browne but I knew that he wasn't going to win. I think that there is a large segment of people who are politically in the center and Ron Paul has the capability to unite several small groups (Libertarians, Constitution Party etc.) and bring in the disenfranchised Dems. and Reps.
I have also thought about forming just a PAC (The Constitutionalist PAC) that endorses candidates of any party that agree and have shown support for a set of pre-determined values. That way if there was a Dem. who was more like Ron Paul then he could say "Iam a Constitutionalist Democrat". Then have them vote together on issues forming a coalition of "Constitutionalists" Once there were enough of them elected into the House or Senate. They could form a new party together in a large combined news conference.

I know its grandiose but I think overall it would be easier to use the two party system against itself to attain power.

 

[ZackM]

Republican Liberty Caucus

I think this might be the best bet ... they seem to have some organization in nearly every state.

http://www.rlc.org

I'm strongly considering joining this group. This is the GOP organization that Ron Paul has served as national chair, and will probably give him an official endorsement. It seems to be THE libertarian wing of the Republican party. If all the meetup groups joined and became active in their local RLC chapter, it would go a long way to getting more liberty minded individuals in office.

If 10's of thousands of "new" republicans register this year to vote for Ron Paul, it seems logical to me that they should stay registered and fight from within. The LP hasn't been able to do much from outside the two party system. I say give it a shot from within.

If die-hard grass roots efforts can get RLC republicans nominated in congressional races (which is a heckuva lot easier than gettin ga presidential nomination) there's a real chance to win elections.

 

[winston_blade]

Third parties are a waste of time and money. They don't have a shot. Instead, run as a Republican or Democrat. That is the only way anyone has a chance of being elected. If Ross Perot can't do it on his own, no one can.

 

[mdh]

Third parties are a waste of time and money. They don't have a shot. Instead, run as a Republican or Democrat. That is the only way anyone has a chance of being elected. If Ross Perot can't do it on his own, no one can.

Did you learn this from government schools?

Seriously, defeatism never won anything.

 

[Richie]

I think this might be the best bet ... they seem to have some organization in nearly every state.

http://www.rlc.org

I'm strongly considering joining this group. This is the GOP organization that Ron Paul has served as national chair, and will probably give him an official endorsement. It seems to be THE libertarian wing of the Republican party. If all the meetup groups joined and became active in their local RLC chapter, it would go a long way to getting more liberty minded individuals in office.

If 10's of thousands of "new" republicans register this year to vote for Ron Paul, it seems logical to me that they should stay registered and fight from within. The LP hasn't been able to do much from outside the two party system. I say give it a shot from within.

If die-hard grass roots efforts can get RLC republicans nominated in congressional races (which is a heckuva lot easier than gettin ga presidential nomination) there's a real chance to win elections.

I've given the RLC a lot of thought as well. They definitely have the right idea. But look at their endorsements for 2006. It's literally EVERY Republican.

 

[1000-points-of-fright]

If RP joined the Constitution Party I would have a hard time supporting him. Those people walk too close to the theocratic edge for my tastes.

But getting back to the subject.. beyond 2008. Say he wins. Awesome. But how much of his vision can he actually implement? What happens in 2012 if he chooses not to run for a second term? He will be 73 when he takes office. What's to stop the old guard from thwarting him at every turn and returning to power in 2012 or 2016?

These are the questions we need to be preparing for in addition to just getting him elected. Just because he becomes president doesn't mean we'll be living in a constitutional paradise. We need to encourage more local and state candidates to back up a President Paul to ensure that the government keeps going in the right direction and make it more difficult for the current status quo to return.

 

[nullvalu]

If RP joined the Constitution Party I would have a hard time supporting him. Those people walk too close to the theocratic edge for my tastes.

Agreed, I was really interested in them, but a bit turned off after reading their stance on issues.. Not that I disagree with them, but just that every paragraph all but quotes a verse from the Bible.

 

[ZackM]

I've given the RLC a lot of thought as well. They definitely have the right idea. But look at their endorsements for 2006. It's literally EVERY Republican.

I thought that at first, but look a little closer. In 2006 they endorsed a grand total of "nearly 100" republicans at all levels of government. That's not very many.

In the US House for example, I counted a total of 33 endorsements (out of 435 seats), and that included some folks who lost in the primary.

On the senate side, they had 12 endorsements, including primaries.

For an actual GOP organization to endorse congressional candidates in less than 10% of all races is pretty remarkable.

http://www.republicanliberty.org/candid/

 

[NCGOPer_for_Paul]

If every person involved in Ron Paul's campaign would just register as a Republican and get involved in Republican politics, the party would change in less than a year.

It's all a numbers game. There aren't THAT many people who are really involved in politics. A block of 50-75 people at a county convention could influence who gets elected to leadership positions. A block of 500-750 at a state convention could topple current leadership.

Everyone in a meet-up group should pledge to join the local Republican party. If the 100 or so involved in a city's meetup joined the county's Young Republican organization, for example, #1 the YR group would welcome the membership, #2, in a YR group, Ron Paul's ideas would be received better, and #3, by numbers, you'd get that YR group as a Ron Paul group. YRs become ORGANIZATION REPUBLICANS.

Become a precinct chair, or a precinct captain. I'm the "de-facto" chair for Precinct 65 in Mecklenburg County, NC, because we don't have an official one. Ask, and you'll receive. It's not going to be all that difficult to take the party over at the grass roots. Use the energy that's already been used to spread Dr. Paul's message. Heck, it would actually be easier.

 

[Syren123]

LOL! Looks like even the RLC can get flim-flammed by a charlatan posing as a liberty republican. Take for example, Jeff Flake of AZ, the illegal alien amnesty loving liberal traitor and co-author of the wholesale government giveaway that was the Flake-Gutierrez bill. Either he really was at one time a liberty repub conservative and was abducted by aliens, or he drank some lobbyist kool-aid and went to the dark side. Either way, he should be BANNED from any further rlc endorsement and voted out on his ass in 2008.

 

[freelance]

I suggest that we centralize in some kind of DailyKos-type site (they seem to illustrate it best) and shoot for a yearly conference the way they do. What I like about their site is that members of Congress post occasionally.

 

[TeeJay]

Join the Republican Liberty Caucus

I favor joining the Republican Liberty Caucus en masse.

http://www.rlc.org/

Its a great name and good organization to promote liberty and constitutionalist minded candidates.

I believe Ron Paul was a past chairman. It seems to be a good fit with the Ron Paul REVOLUTION. Resistance by the outnumbered Neo-cons would be futile.