I posted this info in the Kentucky forum but am resposting here because I think this observations should be considered universally....
In summary, the Fayette County convention was a fiasco. It was literally Ron Paul supporters vs absolute zombies of the Republican party. If we would have had 10-20 more RP supporters, we would have dominated the convention. But no, we were just short of the majority. This led to many, many "altercations" on votes, resolutions, nominations, etc. 120 attended.
Lessons learned:
1. We should not have announced our support for Ron Paul. We gained nothing by this. The intent was good, but the strategy failed. The old line Republicans got pissed off and actually ended up voting against us rather than against or for the idea. One example of this is a resolution that we tried to pass stressing limited government. It was actually voted down! That's right people, a Republican convention voted DOWN a resolution stressing limited government. They did this because the whole ordeal became an us against them mentality.
2. We came across as whiners. We objected way too freaking much. Some of those objections were absolutely justified, however we pressed too much. Instead of accepting the failure of a vote and immediately calling for another resolution or vote, we objected. This pissed everybody off and hurt our cause. How do I know this? I had a couple of non-Ron Paul supporters at the Convention who were very sympathetic to us and the movement (in the begining). By the time it was over, they detested the Ron Paul movement.
3. The establishment are idiots. I mean this in the most sincere way possible. I almost threw up listening to the resolutions/business that were being presented. A nation of sheep would sum up the entire ordeal. There were periods when I thought I was in a psychology experiment where they had infiltrated the convention with robots. To reiterate, the sheep voted DOWN a resolution for limited government. They then voted to END the presentation of resolutions because they were so pissed about the Ron Paul supporters presenting them.
4. We know who NOT to vote for. There were candidates there begging for our vote. Mostly for representatives and council members. This was very much like attending your middle school class elections. No wait, my middle school class elections contained more substance. Thank you to the candidate running based on Mccain's POW experience. I have no idea how Mccain's experience apples to you, but you were the most entertaining candidate of the whole bunch. I will make sure your opponent has my vote.
5. This goes back to #1 above. We should NOT have represented Ron Paul overtly. We should have represented the core Republican values. I think we would have had our resolutions passed if this had not turned into a Ron Paul vs the establishment debate. This is a lesson learned and MUST be applied for the District/State conventions. If we had the majority, this would not be a problem. We did not have the majority however, so we must remember to NOT do this in future conventions.
In summary, a lot of people supported our ideas in the beginning. They supported them because they are the core Republican values. The failure came when we represented a candidate overtly that has not won the primaries and has not garnered positive attention by the media. The old school Republicans rejected this an
In summary, the Fayette County convention was a fiasco. It was literally Ron Paul supporters vs absolute zombies of the Republican party. If we would have had 10-20 more RP supporters, we would have dominated the convention. But no, we were just short of the majority. This led to many, many "altercations" on votes, resolutions, nominations, etc. 120 attended.
Lessons learned:
1. We should not have announced our support for Ron Paul. We gained nothing by this. The intent was good, but the strategy failed. The old line Republicans got pissed off and actually ended up voting against us rather than against or for the idea. One example of this is a resolution that we tried to pass stressing limited government. It was actually voted down! That's right people, a Republican convention voted DOWN a resolution stressing limited government. They did this because the whole ordeal became an us against them mentality.
2. We came across as whiners. We objected way too freaking much. Some of those objections were absolutely justified, however we pressed too much. Instead of accepting the failure of a vote and immediately calling for another resolution or vote, we objected. This pissed everybody off and hurt our cause. How do I know this? I had a couple of non-Ron Paul supporters at the Convention who were very sympathetic to us and the movement (in the begining). By the time it was over, they detested the Ron Paul movement.
3. The establishment are idiots. I mean this in the most sincere way possible. I almost threw up listening to the resolutions/business that were being presented. A nation of sheep would sum up the entire ordeal. There were periods when I thought I was in a psychology experiment where they had infiltrated the convention with robots. To reiterate, the sheep voted DOWN a resolution for limited government. They then voted to END the presentation of resolutions because they were so pissed about the Ron Paul supporters presenting them.
4. We know who NOT to vote for. There were candidates there begging for our vote. Mostly for representatives and council members. This was very much like attending your middle school class elections. No wait, my middle school class elections contained more substance. Thank you to the candidate running based on Mccain's POW experience. I have no idea how Mccain's experience apples to you, but you were the most entertaining candidate of the whole bunch. I will make sure your opponent has my vote.
5. This goes back to #1 above. We should NOT have represented Ron Paul overtly. We should have represented the core Republican values. I think we would have had our resolutions passed if this had not turned into a Ron Paul vs the establishment debate. This is a lesson learned and MUST be applied for the District/State conventions. If we had the majority, this would not be a problem. We did not have the majority however, so we must remember to NOT do this in future conventions.
In summary, a lot of people supported our ideas in the beginning. They supported them because they are the core Republican values. The failure came when we represented a candidate overtly that has not won the primaries and has not garnered positive attention by the media. The old school Republicans rejected this an
