Sign waving? Usefull or waste of time?

[Deborah K]

The R3VOLution signs were put up ALL OVER D.C. by Ernest Hancock and his crew for the RevMarch. Hundreds of them.

 

[TruckinMike]

The R3VOLution signs were put up ALL OVER D.C. by Ernest Hancock and his crew for the RevMarch. Hundreds of them.

Yes, they were great! Imagine if every city had an Ernest Hancock.

We may see that in 2012 -- I Can't wait!

TMike

 

[libertybrewcity]

Effectiveness Scale
(1 being the best, 10 being the worst)

1. going door to door
2..
...3...4 Phone banking...
5.Direct Mail..
6...7...8...9...10...11...12...13...14...15 sign waving

Have you ever been persuaded to vote for someone by a sign? Think about it in terms of your own experiences and people you know. Epic fail except maybe when there is nothing else to do on election day...but there is always something else to do.

 

[Eric21ND]

I think people have to put the sign waving into perspective. We were dealing with a media blackout, we had to do something to get Ron's name out there. So name recognition was a major reason for sign waving. The other reason was that when the media did mention Ron they said he had little to no support, or his supporters were just a few guys living in their mom's basement. We wanted to show our real numbers, both to the general public and ourselves for morale purposes.

 

[AZ Libertarian]

Bottom Line

I think that there are certainly more productive things to be done with said time, but there are a lot of people who simply won't do anything except waving signs, so there's no reason not to do it. It's certainly better than doing nothing.(emphasis mine - Ed)

To put Political Activism in perspective, let's liken it to a game of Poker.

Standing ANYWHERE with a sign in one's hands, or attaching it to a fence IS THE ANTE.

Going door-to-door, talking with people (who are usually inquiring because they saw the sign), or phone banking IS THE BET.

When supporters of the opposing Candidate do the same, they SEE YOUR BET, and when they contribute to that Campaign, that is THE RAISE.

Voting on Election Day is THE CALL.
________________________________________________________________

In both games (Politics and Poker) the ONLY factor determining how long a Player (Voter) stays in the game is his confidence in the validity of his cards (Candidate)! MANY times (more than I can count) I've put in my ante, gotten my cards, and folded without putting anything else into THE POT. Why? Because of THEIR LOW FACE VALUE. Many voters see the same thing in their Candidate, and do not have the capital they need to make THE BET! So they FOLD before going any further. Does this have VALUE? Damn right it does. Without all the ANTES, there is no base POT to begin with! Without all the Sign-Wavers showing the Public that people Like Ron Paul has POPULAR SUPPORT, there would BE NO R3VOLUTION.


Sign-waving is a GATEWAY DRUG - the rush of someone smiling and honking and waving at you emphatically because they really like your sign is addictive!!!

Before you know it, you'll be in your Senator's office asking heatedly why he or she doesn't honor their Oath of Office... LOL.

 

[JeremyDahl]

If it is worth something, It is worth working hard for.

They do not sign wave in Victoria, TX to keep Ron elected.

 

[Roxi]

Sign waving is never a waste of time. Most sheeplike voters need to know that there's buzz around a candidate before they'll give him or her their vote. Sign waves, overpass banners, etc. help rev up that feeling of excitement that keeps people already in the movement inspired and brings new people in. It is indispensable activism.

this

 

[CasualApathy]

Just the number of media mentions alone (despite the general blackout) with regards to the overwhelming amount of Ron Paul signs during the 08 election should be enough to merit the effort.

 

[VT_Bircher]

I personally find sign waving to be one of the most rewarding elements of campaigning. The Tea Party group I'm a member of in Vermont used sign waving all cycle and the biggest benefits I found from it were not only increasing name ID for our pro-liberty candidates, but for increasing group morale and membership recruitment. A lot of our strong Constitutionally principled members joined our group after randomly passing by a sign wave. It's also great for introducing people to the principles of liberty.

 

[Peace&Freedom]

There's political activity that may feel personally rewarding to the participant, but may be highly ineffective at getting your candidate votes or buzz. Before thousands of man-hours of effort go down the drain again, it has to be said now that the blimps, sign-waving, cable debate parties and the like did not win Paul a single primary, OR to create buzz sufficient to counter the media blackout. One was more likely to reach the right people via push polling to targeted GOP voter lists than waving signs in front of career nonvoters or hardcore Democrats.

I saw this misdirected effort happened a lot in NYC in 2007, as the major meet-up group organized one sign-waving and other 'outreach' event after another, almost always in mid-Manhattan where the population was overwhelmingly Democratic---IAW, this was no way to reach Republican primary voters, to convince them to vote for Paul in the GOP primary. If you really want to personally do time and labor-intensive activity that is more effective, go door-to-door in Republican neighborhoods. For even more efficiency, pool local cash resources to raise the money to pay for targeted flyer distribution and billboards in those GOP areas.

 

[libertarian4321]

There are more productive things one could be doing with their time instead: going door to door in their precinct.

Sure, there may be more productive things someone can do.

However, some people are just not going to go door to door. Some people are introverted and not willing to bang on a stranger's door and make a sales pitch. Others don't like it when people show up at their door to solicit, and are therefore unwilling to inflict the solicitation on someone else (you can count me in the latter group).

For those who aren't willing to bang on people's doors, and who don't have a ton of money to donate, sign waving and/or making/posting signs around town does help.

While I was on board with Ron Paul from day one, I didn't start to think he had any sort of real chance until I started noticing "Ron Paul for President" signs all over the country and seeing people doing sign waves/marches for Ron Paul. I'm sure for some people those signs are the first indication that the guy is even running. There is a HUGE percentage of the population that doesn't watch news talk TV or listen to talk radio.

Even simple stuff like bumper stickers work. On more than one occasion, I had co-workers see my Ron Paul bumper stickers and ask "Who is Ron Paul?" A couple of them became supporters after I told them.

 

[libertarian4321]

There's political activity that may feel personally rewarding to the participant, but may be highly ineffective at getting your candidate votes or buzz. Before thousands of man-hours of effort go down the drain again, it has to be said now that the blimps, sign-waving, cable debate parties and the like did not win Paul a single primary, OR to create buzz sufficient to counter the media blackout. One was more likely to reach the right people via push polling to targeted GOP voter lists than waving signs in front of career nonvoters or hardcore Democrats.

I saw this misdirected effort happened a lot in NYC in 2007, as the major meet-up group organized one sign-waving and other 'outreach' event after another, almost always in mid-Manhattan where the population was overwhelmingly Democratic---IAW, this was no way to reach Republican primary voters, to convince them to vote for Paul in the GOP primary. If you really want to personally do time and labor-intensive activity that is more effective, go door-to-door in Republican neighborhoods. For even more efficiency, pool local cash resources to raise the money to pay for targeted flyer distribution and billboards in those GOP areas.

Your point would be valid only if you assume that RP must get all his votes from old line Republicans, and has no use for bringing in new people to the GOP.

You are aware that a lot of Ron Paul's support came from people who normally do NOT vote in the Republican primary, aren't you?

Many of the hard core Ron Paul supporters I met were NOT old line GOP voters. They were independents, Libertarians, and even a fair number of DEMOCRATS. They didn't get on the RP bandwagon because of "GOP push polls."

Another thing, my observation was that RP's support trended very young. I was in my mid-40's and I felt downright ancient at most RP events. These folks are not the people you will reach by targeting your campaign to old line Republicans.

Ron Paul isn't going to win if you target only the old guard Republican white hairs- you need to reach new people- and this is one cheap and easy way to do it.

 

[libertarian4321]

If it is worth something, It is worth working hard for.

They do not sign wave in Victoria, TX to keep Ron elected.

I was at a Ron Paul sign wave in Victoria, TX!

 

[TheHumblePhysicist]

It is only cost effective in front of a television camera.

Therefore it should only be done at media events, or in mass numbers which will draw local media. You could even do a mass rally in every single major city in a state, on consecutive days, essentially buying yourself free media in every single city in the state before the election.

 

[libertarian4321]

Effectiveness Scale
Epic fail except maybe when there is nothing else to do on election day...but there is always something else to do.

You completely miss the point of sign waving.

It is NOT to lock up votes for Ron Paul.

The purpose is to get the candidate's name out. I guarantee that when we were doing most of the sign waving (summer and fall of 2007) the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF VOTERS DID NOT KNOW RON PAUL EXISTED (or thought he was a tall drag queen who used to have a show on MTV).

Remember, folks, most voters are NOT political wonks. They do not listen to talk radio. They don't watch Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, etc. The don't read newspapers. The probably pay little or no attention to junk political mailers (Hell, I am a political junkie, and I toss those things in the recycling bin as soon as I get them). They probably couldn't tell you who the current VP of the United States is, let alone pick out an obscure Presidential candidate.

You need to reach these people, and sign waving is a cheap and easy way to do it.

So yeah, it has value, especially when you have an unknown and underfunded candidate like Ron Paul.

 

[libertarian4321]

It is only cost effective in front of a television camera.

Given that the cost of sign waving is essentially nil, I'd argue that it's ALWAYS cost effective.

 

[TheHumblePhysicist]

Given that the cost of sign waving is essentially nil, I'd argue that it's ALWAYS cost effective.

C'mon Mr. Libertarian. Haven't you heard of an opportunity cost? Instead of waving signs, they could be knocking on doors, or placing calls, or making fliers.

 

[Peace&Freedom]

Your point would be valid only if you assume that RP must get all his votes from old line Republicans, and has no use for bringing in new people to the GOP.

You are aware that a lot of Ron Paul's support came from people who normally do NOT vote in the Republican primary, aren't you?

Many of the hard core Ron Paul supporters I met were NOT old line GOP voters. They were independents, Libertarians, and even a fair number of DEMOCRATS. They didn't get on the RP bandwagon because of "GOP push polls."

Another thing, my observation was that RP's support trended very young. I was in my mid-40's and I felt downright ancient at most RP events. These folks are not the people you will reach by targeting your campaign to old line Republicans.

Ron Paul isn't going to win if you target only the old guard Republican white hairs- you need to reach new people- and this is one cheap and easy way to do it.

And are you aware most of the young Paul supporters did not vote? Their 'support' did not materialize at the ballot box, consistent with the voting patterns of younger adults in general. Most of the 2007 Paul grassroots activity was misspent reaching unlikely-voters or Democratic populations, instead of the likely voter populations actually eligible to vote in the GOP primary (to enable him to win nomination).

If the energies were spent next time on older independents who ARE likely voters, both to persuade them to vote for Paul, or if Democrats, to even switch party registration in time to vote for him in the primaries, that would make more sense. But "the cheap and easy way" was not, and is not the more intelligent or effective way to go about actually getting Paul nominated and elected.

 

[ronpaulhawaii]

If sign-waving and rallies are a waste of time, why has the establishment been doing them for years?

 

[AZ Libertarian]

Too Easy

If sign-waving and rallies are a waste of time, why has the establishment been doing them for years?

C'mon, Mike! That answer has too much simplicity and common sense for the troglodytes arguing the fundamental top-down supervision to shut up do what you are told, they know better...