Ron Paul: 'Help!' - RPI might have to close.

[Lucille]

http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2014/november/20/ron-paul-help/

Dear Friends:

Looking at the entrance to the little, spartan headquarters of my Institute for Peace and Prosperity here in Clute, Texas, I wonder how long it will be here. Not long, I am afraid, without your help.

I marvel at how much has been achieved with so little over the past year and a half. My tiny Ron Paul Institute has become an antiwar powerhouse, publishing thousands of cutting-edge articles challenging the politicians, the warmongering neocons, and the mainstream media. Our small staff, led by my long-time Congressional foreign policy advisor Daniel McAdams, has been featured in hundreds of television and radio interviews all over the world. That is bang for the buck!

When last summer it looked like the neocons would get away with bombing Syria, my Institute went into high gear. One by one we refuted the lies served up by the neocons and the mainstream media. Had US bombs fallen on the Syrian government last summer, the black flag of al-Qaeda or ISIS would now be flying in Damascus. And Syria’s Christian community, dating back to the time of Christ, would be obliterated.

We've done a lot, but we have so much more to do. That is why it would break my heart if I should have to shut down the Ron Paul Institute. We don’t constantly bombard our friends and supporters for money. But the truth is, the wolf is at the door. I am very worried and I need your help.

If we cannot get some help from our friends and followers, I will be forced to place a Closed sign on our little building, and to shut down the intellectual powerhouse it contains. Won't you consider a tax-deductible contribution?

Closing my Institute for Peace and Prosperity would have all the neocons toasting each other in champagne. It would break my heart, not just because it would silence the most effective center for the ideas we share, but because of what it would mean for the whole country – and even the world.
[...]
I need your help. If you value what I have done over the past forty years, please consider lending a hand in the most important battle of my life. The Ron Paul Institute is our future, and I want to make sure it continues to grow and prosper as the legacy of my lifetime dedication to peace, prosperity, international dialogue, and civil liberties. Indeed, I want to make sure it survives, and right now, it may not.

Won’t you please make your most generous, tax-deductible donation to my Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity? Your help is urgently needed. Our bank account is almost empty.

 

[Warlord]

sad to say peace doesn't pay does it? the neocons have all their established media and MIC financing what do we have? I am so greatful to Ron Paul.

 

[invisible]

Maybe this would be better use of the money going to jesse benton's legal defense.

 

[thoughtomator]

Ron's a multimillionaire - he can run it off his own money the rest of his life if he wants to. If the doors close it will be his own decision.

 

[Warlord]

Ron's a multimillionaire - he can run it off his own money the rest of his life if he wants to. If the doors close it will be his own decision.

That's complacent nonesense.

 

[thoughtomator]

That's complacent nonesense.

Maybe I just seen one too many Ron Paul fundraising letters in my time. After the amount that went to Jesse Benton, and ending the campaign with a million unspent, I'm 100% done for good sending any money his way.

 

[mit26chell]

This type of stuff makes me so mad. Does he not have over $1 million left from the 2012 campaign? Also, if he really believed in it he will fund it himself... He's worth millions. It should not cost much money to run a small think tank. Overhead should be very low.

 

[devil21]

This type of stuff makes me so mad. Does he not have over $1 million left from the 2012 campaign? Also, if he really believed in it he will fund it himself... He's worth millions. It should not cost much money to run a small think tank. Overhead should be very low.

Not even close to a million anymore. That's what the posts above about Benton are about. The 2012 campaign surplus has mostly gone to lawyers. Blech!

My simple question is who is soliciting and processing the donations? If it's Saber then no thanks. So much money has been stolen by them in various forms already. Seems to me that whatever remaining money is left over from RP2012 should go to supporting RPI and associated orgs, not paying for legal defenses for corrupt campaign workers.

 

[NoOneButPaul]

After the Benton debacle I'm done donating. I've got posts as far back as 2012 when I first joined here expressing my displeasure with Benton and what an obvious little shit he was from the start. Sorry Ron, I love you like a family member but I gave enough already (especially to the last money bomb that went nowhere) and I have come to the point where I do not believe in your judgment as it relates to putting the proper people in charge of the institutions you want us to donate to. Call Peter Thiel or Alex Jones if you're that desperate...

 

[Matt Collins]

This type of stuff makes me so mad. Does he not have over $1 million left from the 2012 campaign? Also, if he really believed in it he will fund it himself... He's worth millions. It should not cost much money to run a small think tank. Overhead should be very low.

Ron was self-employed, and he didn't take Congressional pension... so the only income he gets is from his investments....


In case you don't understand how wealth works, people who are wealthy only spend the interest on their investments (unless they are going to make another investment).


Since Ron has likely less than $10 million (according to Open Secrets) anything he takes out of his investments will significantly impact his retirement income. So his time is better spent using his name brand to fundraise for the Institute, than donating to it himself. He can get RPI a lot more money that way.

 

[Carlybee]

Ron was self-employed, and he didn't take Congressional pension... so the only income he gets is from his investments....


In case you don't understand how wealth works, people who are wealthy only spend the interest on their investments (unless they are going to make another investment).


Since Ron has likely less than $10 million (according to Open Secrets) anything he takes out of his investments will significantly impact his retirement income. So his time is better spent using his name brand to fundraise for the Institute, than donating to it himself. He can get RPI a lot more money that way.

And some of us will never have ten million or even a good retirement account. Love RP but my days of donating will be very selective. Perhaps those who are a bit more affluent will help.

 

[NewRightLibertarian]

Ron's a multimillionaire - he can run it off his own money the rest of his life if he wants to. If the doors close it will be his own decision.

It's just the usual C4L funding tactic. I will throw a few bucks their way though because I really appreciate the work of the Institute. Got regular donations going to Antiwar.com though, an organization that I trust more than RPI.

 

[PRB]

It's just the usual C4L funding tactic. I will throw a few bucks their way though because I really appreciate the work of the Institute. Got regular donations going to Antiwar.com though, an organization that I trust more than RPI.

If for no other reason than, they've been around longer.

How about RPI just say how much they need and why, then MAYBE some people will know

1. How far it is to save it
2. Where the money goes or whether their expenses are even justified

We're all about asking the government to be transparent, luckily it's 501c3, so it's easy to look up AFTER the fact (not necessarily before).

 

[PRB]

Ron was self-employed, and he didn't take Congressional pension... so the only income he gets is from his investments....

Which should be making millions because Schiff and Wead are his advisors, right?

In case you don't understand how wealth works, people who are wealthy only spend the interest on their investments (unless they are going to make another investment).

What's wealth if you don't spend it? Spending frugally is a good trait no less.

Since Ron has likely less than $10 million (according to Open Secrets) anything he takes out of his investments will significantly impact his retirement income. So his time is better spent using his name brand to fundraise for the Institute, than donating to it himself. He can get RPI a lot more money that way.

Yeah, which is another way of saying his time is better spent raising money for somebody else, since he has enough.

 

[PRB]

And some of us will never have ten million or even a good retirement account. Love RP but my days of donating will be very selective. Perhaps those who are a bit more affluent will help.

If we're talking about living and retiring, a man at 80 years old with anything more than a million has nothing to complain (not to mention if he's healthy, has no debt, and has children who are all well to do).

 

[PRB]

After the Benton debacle I'm done donating. I've got posts as far back as 2012 when I first joined here expressing my displeasure with Benton and what an obvious little shit he was from the start. Sorry Ron, I love you like a family member but I gave enough already (especially to the last money bomb that went nowhere) and I have come to the point where I do not believe in your judgment as it relates to putting the proper people in charge of the institutions you want us to donate to. Call Peter Thiel or Alex Jones if you're that desperate...

LOL. Knowing how Peter Thiel and Alex Jones spend their money, you can know how much people with money care about the liberty movement. Sadly this is becoming typical if not the norm, the liberty movement is like any other struggling movement, rich people calling poor people to donate and/or saying "I'll match" rather than jumping in first.

 

[PRB]

Ron's a multimillionaire - he can run it off his own money the rest of his life if he wants to. If the doors close it will be his own decision.

Yep.

He had just as much support, fans, and reach before the institute, there's no reason he "needs" it. it's a platform for his voice, but there's more than enough places that'll happily pay to have him speak. I don't blame him for trying everything he can to use his name to get money, but I think people know from as early as 2008 how he and his associates spend it (or not spend it).

 

[thoughtomator]

Ron was self-employed, and he didn't take Congressional pension... so the only income he gets is from his investments....

In case you don't understand how wealth works, people who are wealthy only spend the interest on their investments (unless they are going to make another investment).

Since Ron has likely less than $10 million (according to Open Secrets) anything he takes out of his investments will significantly impact his retirement income. So his time is better spent using his name brand to fundraise for the Institute, than donating to it himself. He can get RPI a lot more money that way.

That statement is breathtaking arrogant and out of touch. Less than $10 million, eh? Is that the entitlement minimum for important people? Certainly it's not an expected level of assets for a regular Joe.

I guess Ron must think that a bit more comfort in his retirement is more important than the institute, if the retirement income is more important than the institute. This implies the institute is of minor importance indeed. And if that's the case, who cares if it folds?

I love Ron, but there's something unseemly about people with significant wealth asking regular Joes for their money for his project. The fundraising connected to RP activities seems wildly out of place in the movement that RP inspired.

 

[PRB]

That statement is breathtaking arrogant and out of touch. Less than $10 million, eh? Is that the entitlement minimum for important people?

LOL, no, nobody said that. He simply meant to say Ron isn't a billionaire and has limited amounts he can and is willing to throw at his institute. And why should he use any of his money if doesn't have to?

Certainly it's not an expected level of assets for a regular Joe.

Correct, it isn't. What IS though? $1M? I mean, after all, you've worked 30+ years as a doctor and Congressman.

I guess Ron must think that a bit more comfort in his retirement is more important than the institute, if the retirement income is more important than the institute.

Of course it is, or else he'd have said "Donate your retirement to invest in our future, I did, you should too". Clearly he knows nobody's retirement should come after his institute.

This implies the institute is of minor importance indeed. And if that's the case, who cares if it folds?

People who like to point to a website whenever people ask them questions about "How Ron Paul is doing".

I love Ron, but there's something unseemly about people with significant wealth asking regular Joes for their money for his project. The fundraising connected to RP activities seems wildly out of place in the movement that RP inspired.

Don't get too mad, this is just how Americans do it. This just means RP movement is typically American, and no different. If anything, we should be glad we're becoming mainstream and not thinking we have magical ways of doing things differently. Rich people asking poor people to donate, not disclosing overhead, that's the American way.

 

[green73]

It's amazing how cynical people are of the one man who's done more for liberty than anyone in living memory.