As Republican soul searching continues it behooves the party to examine lessons from what some might see as an unexpected source, Ron Paul. The Washington establishment may be dubious that any answers to challenges the party faces will be found via the 77-year-old, libertarian-leaning, Republican. Yet a party growing greyer and whiter—in a country where the electorate is younger and more diverse—can learn a great deal from the man affectionately known to his supporters as Dr. Paul. In fact, as the "resident member of the establishment" in the Paul world, I have been reminded of a number of valuable lessons from my work on his behalf.
The Ron Paul movement grew from the ground up to over one million activists with a simple value-based message: liberty. The movement organically grew via blogs, websites, social networks, and word of mouth. It built an innovative system of moneybombs to translate activism into substantial financial resources, raising over $100 million in four years. It continues conducting extensive training via groups like Campaign for Liberty and undertakes campaigns based on issues manifesting its values. For example Audit the Fed and Internet Freedom. For the Paul movement values are the message.
Today Republicans appear less focused on promoting values and more on fighting on issues inside the 24 hour news cycle. Yet, the party's base is clamoring for leaders to stand up for adherence to the Constitution, for fiscal responsibility, and against excessive government. Exit polling from 2012 suggests these are not solely values of Tea Party activists, conservatives, or Republicans. In fact, 51 percent of voters in 2012 said government "is doing too much." However President Obama—the candidate of "government doing more"—received a quarter of these voters. To succeed, Republicans must demonstrate its values, like the idea that government is doing too much, are congruent with those of average Americans. As with Ron Paul, the party's messaging must become an application of values.
The second lesson Republicans should take from Ron Paul's movement relates to its vertical nature and organizational structure. The Republican Party is traditionally horizontal. The establishment classes devise the strategy, set the agenda, drive the messaging, and push the tactics. They assume activists will play along. This model is outdated in the age of Internet politics. The Paul movement's political operatives, like those in the Obama campaigns, realize they can't control the grassroots. Thus the goal of Paul efforts is to shape activism towards achievement of strategic goals. Thereby making the grassroots the drivers of the value based messaging and partners in the strategic cause. For the Republican Party to be successful it must become more vertical, empowering activists to be the tip of the spear in convincing others they share Republican values.
