Today I received an email from my local RP Meetup, touting the propose Martin Luther King "money bomb" on January 21. Then I received an email from teaparty.07.com pushing the same thing.
No thanks.
First, the "money bomb" idea is in danger of deflation due to overuse. Once was good, twice worked, but I think three times is about the most it's good for before becoming old hat. And it only works if there's enough time between them to build up a head of steam. One month is not enough. Maybe, if it's used once more, as has been suggested, July 4th might be good.
Two, it's time to take a break and see what has come of the last six months' effort, money bombs and all. Today, and the next week, may change the entire landscape considerably -- may inspire, or force, Ron Paul supporters (including the many new people drawn to our ranks?) to come up with entirely
new methods and approaches.
As an old fogey, actually I find myself somewhat dismayed at how fast things seem to change. For instance, I thought the Ron Paul Rally was a great idea (and the mosaics produced from it), but that whole effort seemed to die on the vine right after the first Straw Polls. Well, so be it. So far the RP grassroots has shown no lack of ability to come up with new ideas. That seems to be what really keeps this thing going.
Actually, I thought this idea had died a well-deserved natural death. RIP and all, but it was a poor idea to begin with, for reasons well-explored on this thread:
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=60368
Well, okay, if you want a money bomb, I propose an alternative: How about a money bomb for the birthday of Robert E. Lee? After all, it's January 19th,
earlier than MLK day.
For the record: For over 300 years, my ancestors have lived in northern (non-slave) states and colonies, and fought for Lincoln in the 1860s. I grew up in liberal California, educated in the public schools, etc., and until recently believed the whole official story of that time (e.g. that the Civil War was fought to end slavery -- in fact, I even used to believe it was a "civil war"), but in recent years have learned to know much different.
And one of the things I've learned is that Robert E. Lee was truly one of the great men of American history, by his intelligence, military genius, integrity and loyalty to principle deserving of a place alongside the Founders themselves. In fact, he was the greatest leader of the last serious effort to preserve the letter and spirit of the original Constitution (check out the Confederate version: a near-copy of the original, except that the Bill of Rights is included
within it, rather than appended as an afterthought).
I'm not kidding; see:
http://snipurl.com/robteleeatlrc
So why not a money bomb for this great man?
What, you say he's a divisive figure, would lose RP as much support as he would gain?
Well, that's
equally true of Martin Luther King. MLK certainly did, or at least stood for, some good things, but he was hardly the unblemished saint portrayed in the official story. And a lot of people know this, especially people in the core Republican constituency that RP needs to attract and keep if he's going to win the
Republican primaries.
Apparently, the official hagiography is all that the organizers of this "money bomb" -- one a recent immigrant, the other a 37-year-old who by his own admission has never voted (thus probably has never learned much about history, much less the
real history) -- know about MLK. That's not their fault, and I have nothing against these guys, who've done great work for the campaign and deserve much kudos therefor, but here I'm afraid they've strayed unknowingly into dangerous waters.
If you want to associate Ron Paul with Martin Luther King, I suggest waiting until he has the Republican nomination -- especially if he's up against Obama. Now
that could be interesting.
For now, let's give "money bombs" a rest. If you want to push for more money for February 5, find some other gimmick, and make it ongoing, maybe a rising crescendo of some kind. But wait until after New Hampshire, at least. Take a well-deserved break.
"It has been evident for years that the country was doomed to run the full length of democracy." - Robert E. Lee (1861)
