Well most blacks know Lincoln was a republican and I suspect most know that blacks used to be solidly republican before the passage of the civil rights act. (Many might not know about MLK.) The problem with this approach is that if someone took you up on your King / Lincoln point, came here to check out "Ron Paul republicanism", then read all of the threads bashing Lincoln and King....well it might be counter productive.
I think the best approach is to meet people where there is already agreement. Talk about how Ron Paul has been consistently against pre-emptive war even when it was Bush pushing for it. Talk about the need to cut taxes. Have an answer for why we can afford to cut taxes without "throwing the poor out in the street." (Ron Paul stresses ending the empire as a way to save money immediately and then weaning people off of dependency on government). Talk about how the war on drugs is hurting everybody, especially blacks, and that there's got to be better ways to address the problem of illicit drugs. Talk about how the Bush bailouts and deficits were bad and how things are only getting worse now. Stress how you're trying to change the republican party rather than simply wanting to get people to join the republican party. I can't stress this last point enough. We all know Bush drug this country into the ground. Those "late comer tea partiers" who try to make our problems all about Obama hurt the cause of reaching disgruntled Obama supporters. Don't try to do a "the media is distorting her record" defense of Sarah Palin. Save that for when you're talking to Palinbots and you want them to understand the smear campaign against Ron Paul. But when talking to an Obamabot just say "I didn't vote for her or Mcain so why bring them up?" (I know this from experience because while I don't like Palin I realize there are some instances where she's gotten a raw deal. Then there are others were she really has shown lack of intellect. But if you say anything positive about Palin to an Obamabot you'll lose all credibility with them.)
Ok, I've rambled on enough. The short answer is that there are a lot of areas where Ron Paul supporters can find common ground with disgruntled Obama supporters. Find them and use them to your advantage.
Regards,
John M. Drake
I am humbled. Your outreach is kicking my butt! (Not that this is a competition). One thing I've noticed. I consistently see Ron Paul bumper stickers. I hardly ever seen any McCain / Palin stickers. Maybe I'm "tuned" to see the Ron Paul ones, but I recall that after the last democrat to get elected seeing those "Don't blame me I voted for Bush" stickers all over the place. I think that's a good sign. Even people who voted for McCain aren't that enthusiastic about their choice. Fertile ground for new recruits!
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