Ron Paul in the Ghetto

Mr. Perfidy

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Feb 28, 2012
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In my area, there are groups and individuals who do great work trying to spread the gospel of liberty. They give their time and attention and walk miles and speak in front of groups of strangers, compile data and do research. One such research requested of the leg-workers was to draw a map for canvassing that essentially totally avoided any doorsteps that might be "ghetto." I heard all kinds of regrettable justifications for this, among them a great many subtly racist masturbatory remarks that I did not expect in the Liberty movement.

So I got to thinking about why one might draw a map around the ghetto when one really should be drawing maps TO the ghetto, as housing projects, rental-assistance communities, and general urban concentrations of citizens are easily canvassed, high-population density areas presently FILLED WITH PEOPLE who generally DO NOT VOTE! Instead, these well-meaning activists in my area fight tooth and nail over converting a small percent of the general population, from mainstream republican to libertarian/paulian republican. Such small numbers, with the same tired images and demographics. It does nothing to stir the great masses in the direction of liberty; it creates no new electorate, despite the fact that non-voters presently outnumber voters significantly.

And so I propose a means by which the campaign for liberty delivers its message to the ghetto.

haha sadly most start with, "those people..."

...don't want to be free.
...are too reliant on government
...are not educated
...hate republicans / believe in Obama

Fortune favors us in that none of that is true except in the misconceptions of privileged people, largely white and totally terrified of the ghetto. The same people who say, "black" in a whispered tone while checking over their shoulder. I argue that nothing great or significant or historic can emerge from such a timid people. I argue also that nothing positive for america or mankind can result from insulated layers of class cliques consolidating to defend their caste privileges (as the present liberty movement too often appears).

So Ima rip that list down point by point for yous.

"Those people don't want to be free."
It is funny to me that the same people who make this claim typically file permits to install a pool in their yard. When we are talking about the population of the ghetto (I count myself among this population), we are talking about a sub-culture of people raised from the earliest stages of their education to evade law enforcement and trade beyond the protection of regulations and agencies. When we have a problem with a kid in my neighborhood, nobody involves the authorities, because DYFS might smell weed and take your kids, or the officers on the scene might pop you for an outstanding warrant, or any other number of scenarios where the police are understood to be an enemy of your ability to peaceably interact among your people. The state as an enemy of your will is INTERNALIZED more effectively and from earlier ages in the ghetto. And we adapt our language and behavior to carry on with our will without regard to the opinions of the minions of corporate interests and the villains in charge. So we can laugh off claims that we "do not want to be free."

"Those people are too reliant on government."
So living in the ghetto entails a handout of some type. When the other choices are literal starvation or death from preventable diseases, I do not see anything immoral about this; we are not talking about a population of self-sufficient industrialists here with pools of liquid cash and capital goods to start businesses. We are talking about people descended from slaves and serfs from all corners of the earth who started the game with nothing; no networks and legacies or inheritance or investments. Why do people who are born into good school districts (government funded and apportioned, of course), with rapid-response zero-tolerance police patrols (largely dedicated to keeping people from the ghetto out of the neighborhood) believe that they can sit in judgment of people whose choice is public largesse or starvation? Do the free-market, anti-welfare people who decry food stamps and unemployment compete to ride a bus to walk a mile to work for minumum wage? Do they imagine that this pays rent and doctors and costs of living? Do you think that people who receive government assistance are just bursting with happiness to do so, and are perfectly comfortable being an imperial serf for the entirety of their life?

"Those people are not educated."
If we define education as a process of training in the american super-tribe's officially licensed jargon and collective illusion, yes, often enough, the ghetto has almost no education. Education, however, divorced from its newspeak connotation of state mandates, is a property of mankind. It is present in all people at all times in all settings. Perhaps kids have low test scores, or do not speak the queens english properly (the queen aint never been in camden- fuck the monarchy) but this does not mean that they are incapable of using their senses to gather data, or of applying this data to the heat of reason. I would like to see some mainstream Ron Paul mortgage-holding republican folk try and make a name for themselves in the contraband market; sell weed for 3 days, and then try and tell me that the people who naturally extend these networks and make the consumer black market possible are stupid. Talk to a kid in the street about the CIA's role in drug-trafficking, or the role of the Drug War in justifying the institutional incarceration marginalization of black men; they understand these things better at a younger age than the suburban kids with their high-speed internet connections. Our surrounding in the ghettoes are the consequence of government/corporate power games, and we are confronted daily with the evidence of this. It is hard for people in the ghetto NOT to understand, they just do not yet have the language in common with the R3volution to articulate it.

"Those people hate republicans / love Obama."
They do hate them some republicans, this is probably true, but that is because the community republicans DRAW MAPS AROUND THEM, leaving only media republicans to make an impression upon them. If their idea of Republican was "that dude who gave us all those DVDs about fluoride and the creation of AIDS," totally different associations.


So, we should be going into the ghettoes. Locate, penetrate, and replicate in centers of human networks. You see a group standing around in the lot, engage them. They will have 2 or 3 philosophers and talkers and then a group of followers, the same dynamic as our own movement and all human groupings. Talk to them, and you will find that they are quite educated regarding the abuses of the State. And their follower posse will go along with whatever seems to move their leaders in the group, just as in all human groupings. We are fortunate in that in the ghetto, these groups are visible, approachable, and geographically concentrated. I can spend one day on foot and talk to maybe 15-20 such groups, all of whom represent an additional number of individuals who go with the flow, as in any human grouping. Dozens and dozens and dozens of votes in every apartment village, all new votes to counter the entrenched suburban mainstream GOP dipshits.

I will follow with some tactical suggestions and points, but for now, fill yourselves with the theory, as my wife just returned from work, and I must log off.
 
I agree whole heartedly.... I use to live in the ghetto.... now i live in the semi ghetto.

Im white.... attended college. I live there cause I can afford to..... i moved "up" when i could afford that too.

The only reason for the "drawing the line" is..... to be honest... it can be dangerous. I sold books door to door.... and even though in "my ghetto" i was fine and safe... but when i went into one i didnt live in? i really did feel like i was taking my life in my hands.

It's our fault we are not welcome.... but the truth is alot of the time we are still not welcome... i hope and pray that does not always remain the same
 
I know more ghetto Ron Paul supporters than rich white dude supporters. I see Ron Paul signs in the ghetto too. Course Obama is still big there too.
 
Agreed. I teach in inner city schools. If you frame the debate without labels, people of different ethnic backgrounds are open to the message.
 
it will not let me post until I have 3 because it is prohibiting "links or images" (My post features neither so wtf) anyway, here is my 3rd post.
 
Man, 4 pages in right away? Weakness.

So I meant to discuss the political atmosphere in the ghetto, and to define and clarify some terms; when I say ghetto, I mean the public housing and/or private complexes paid for with public money by rental assistance and similar programs, where people who receive all kinds of benefits and handouts are concentrated (I suspect in NJ they move this around to manipulate property values). When typical GOP types say "ghetto" though, they often mean ANY apartment complexes and concentrations of young / unmarried people or really anyone without a mortgage and a moustache. I would make a distinction and say that these places are indeed Proletarian (in the Orwell, 1984 sense of the word), but are not the ghetto.

But for the sake of our mission, I am calling all proletarian housing "the ghetto." So comeon people- how do we turn the proles into a political weapon? There are so many of them, and typically, they are not politically developed. Every other doorstep will have a story about how the state has failed them, abused them, some kind of grievance. It is universal.

So I am talking now with some people in my area about how to go around my neighborhood and gather support- pull people into the orbit of the R3volution. There are some legal implications to the details, as many neighborhoods now that the weather warms will be spotted with the smoke signals of would-be revolutionaries, but we will stick to the lawful methods and strategies. (I would bet though that my wife vs whoever from the corner in a blunt rolling contest would be quite a pleasant spectacle)

to reiterate our own strategy of our own meetup group for you: Locate, penetrate, and replicate in centers of human networks.


- depending on the demographic pursued, the targets will always be different; I am talking to another RP guy who lives next to a 55+ community, and we are now trying to identify their GOP club leadership that we might approach them to invite us to host a presentation in their meeting room. In the case of winning over the Proles though, we are probably not going to find a previously organized politically motivated clique. Not with a name and charter and shit anyway- proletarian smokers though will note that every circle has their politically minded alex jones grown type of stoners, and they are my targets. Find people in your movement who already know these individuals, and go into the villages with them, to meet these people and set up shop. In villages without established personal connections, it is still not hard to locate these kinds of circles; I do not think that I have ever smoked a cigarette on the sidewalk near a dot shop without running into a whiff of them. Buy a bag of tobacco and a lil thumb roller and be generous with your handouts and there is never a shortage of an audience.

To successfully campaign there, we must impress upon the village populations that we are for real; you can't send people who will invite negative psychological reflexes. I am talking image here, and presence. Focus on compatibility and relatability. I know all about eviction notices and being robbed and unfair victimization at the hands of the police, and so I myself am leading this effort in my area. We need similar individuals in all districts. That is to say, identify and exclude the closet-racist little neo-con people. That should be an easy selection process, since they tend to hate on the very idea of going into the villages and exclude themselves. Good. Fuck 'em- after the 2012 election, they will be brushed aside and left out of the greater r3volution.

Actions/Programs:

Here we (myself and the individuals on this project) have only some vague brain-storming and suggestions, as it is a new idea that we are only now developing. But, we have already talked about the role of media- we have to be armed with all kinds of goodies for everyone, so that people can go from our talks on the sidewalk to their living rooms and get reinforcement in the form of DVDs or audio CDs. To this end, we need good movies. Entertaining, informative, simple, and brief. Tailor the messages to the audience, find messengers to whom the villages will relate (The Obama Deception, for example, features KRS-1 at the very beginning, which was smart). So we need a list today, and links, to videos that fit the bill, to be burned and distributed.

I intend to address the haters / gain legitimacy with some rap. Ima spit for the Dr! If anyone else is aware of this approach being tried elsewhere, please feed the community links so we can draw on that. Once we are up and running, my own group will have videos to contribute so we can demonstrate what I mean.

what we need

Leaflets & Videos focusing on issues that resonate in the ghetto and among the proles. That is to say, nothing whatsoever having to do with the national debt, with property taxes and market intrusions. Maybe something like, "How the Government Messes With:" and then whatever- education, medicine, the family, business. Obviously focus on THE WAR ON DRUGS. We will find a lot of allies when we make it clear that only ONE candidate is trying to make pot legal. ONE candidate opposes laws that are only on the books so that black guys can be reliably pulled over and arrested. These messages resonate if we frame the discussion around them. Locally, our family courts are a joke, and I want to explore this more, because all of my friends with kids hate the way that is handled. Your own districts must have their own issues that are generally regarded as irksome and illogical and abusive.

voter registration forms If you are in a state not yet past its deadline, register as many as possible- in NJ, unaffiliated voters can declare themselves Republicans on primary day and vote, so, I am avoiding the always momentum-killing, "Register republican," which does tend to turn off proletarians. Once a base is built up we can make that more clear to won-over supporters, who will carry that message for us.

civic-minded volunteers: That is, the guys or gals in your group who know the ins and outs of polling places, district lines, deadlines, etc. We have a whole wing in our movement that fits this bill, and I view our prole outreach largely as a way of extending their audience and influence into communities that are unschooled in these finer details.
 
It might be good to call the different churches to see i they can allow you to hold a meet up it might be safer than going door to door or, you could set up in a store or other business parking lot. People in the Ghettos hang on to what little privacy they can and strangers just walking up around their homes could alarm them. Bus stops might be a good place to stop and talk with people too if you see a good crowd waiting for the bus.

You can get voter registration cards too and help people register to vote.
 
WP- good point, but I should emphasise that I am not talking about a buncha narc lookin homeowners going and doing this. I am just going to go around to the same groups that I smoke with that know my face or know me already, and then trade in the future on that name through those networks.
 
But the churches are a good idea- excellently aligned with the mission of working within existing networks and already-organized groups.
 
EXACTLY!

The R3volution needs to lead the way in eradicating the stigma of the ghetto, since most of the villages and environments I am talking about are increasingly filled with the children of the former middle-class/mortgage holders anyway.
 
The only reason for the "drawing the line" is..... to be honest... it can be dangerous. I sold books door to door.... and even though in "my ghetto" i was fine and safe... but when i went into one i didnt live in? i really did feel like i was taking my life in my hands.

It's our fault we are not welcome.... but the truth is alot of the time we are still not welcome... i hope and pray that does not always remain the same
This. I've lived near the ghetto too, and met plenty from there, but sorry, I don't feel safe going around knocking doors, when there still does exist an understandable disdain for "the man", even if that hatred might be misplaced on messengers like us at times... People from the ghetto can be naturally distrusting and even antagonistic to someone besides their own going around their neighborhoods, for really whatever reason.

So I find it highly offensive that the OP is trying to paint this out as issue of racism with the "those people" remarks. We're individualists, not collectivists here, but we do recognize that there are areas where you as the messenger are embarking into dangerous territory. That doesn't mean to stop getting disadvantaged people to listen, but similar to a rich gated community with a "no soliciting" sign, you have to be realistic that your message might not be taken so kindly in some of these areas either.
 
I was under the impression that this forum was a ready source of publishing materials and videos; someone please provide me and our efforts with clever little printouts about Ron Paul's Drug War policy / indictment of the racist nature of drug prosecutions. Ditto for morsels regarding education and the imperial wars.
 
This. I've lived near the ghetto too, and met plenty from there, but sorry, I don't feel safe going around knocking doors, when there still does exist an understandable disdain for "the man", even if that hatred might be misplaced on messengers like us at times... People from the ghetto can be naturally distrusting and even antagonistic to someone besides their own going around their neighborhoods, for really whatever reason.

truth- I live in the ghetto though, and this essentially aligns my social networks. Perhaps I was not clear- I am not asking the straights to pack a lunch and head into the projects. I am saying that existing ron paul people already in such networks need to craft a solid policy aimed at including and recruiting their neighbors.

So I find it highly offensive that the OP is trying to paint this out as issue of racism with the "those people" remarks. We're individualists, not collectivists here,

I put them in quotes because I have heard ron paul / libertarian people say all of those things. They represent the common objections to bringing activism into the lower economic strata. And a lot of them just ARE RACISTS. That is one of the problems.

but we do recognize that there are areas where you as the messenger are embarking into dangerous territory. That doesn't mean to stop getting disadvantaged people to listen, but similar to a rich gated community with a "no soliciting" sign, you have to be realistic that your message might not be taken so kindly in some of these areas either.

I agree, and advocate this policy for people who are hanging out smokin blunts in parking lots with other unemployed assistance recipients anyway
 
If you're trying to get votes, you have to go where the voters are... that typicaly means the suburbs.
 
Buy a bag of tobacco and a lil thumb roller and be generous with your handouts and there is never a shortage of an audience.

Any thread suggesting this sort of clever campaigning this way deserves some recognition. :) Our message has universal appeal and we shouldn't sell it short, or assume it doesn't fly in some neighborhoods.

In defense of the "closet-racist little neo-con people", it takes a special kind of talent to go into a totally foreign neighborhood and spread a political message. For some people a neighborhood of banker and defense contractor welfare cases would be just as intimidating to politic in as any "ghetto".

We should encourage each other to work out of our comfort zones from time to time and see if we're missing potential supporters. Hope you can make that happen in NJ Mr. Perfidy.
 
Mr. Perfidy there are plenty of Youtube videos of Ron Paul on the drug wars, but I don't know how effective they'd be for CD distribution:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3EADdr-5AY

Ron has some official campaign material issue cards, but I don't see any related to the drug war.

On homeschooling:
http://www.ronpaul2012.com/store/sl...up-for-homeschooling-issue-cards-pack-of-100/

Here's a decent supporter-made handout that compares Obama and Paul. You may be better off going this route and making something yourself, since you know your audience best.

http://i.imgur.com/DYBVw.jpg
 
I'm poor. I live in I guess what would be considered a lower-middle class neighborhood. I myself fall onto the borderline of "working class" and "lower-middle class", depending on the class model you use. Not quite the "ghetto" I guess, but getting closer all the time with this economy. The few people I know that support Ron Paul are about the same class as me.
 
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