WaPo: Will Rand Paul Inherit the Energy From his Father's Campaigns? (cites RPFs)

[Jamesiv1]

Oh man, that's harsh.

lol

 

[Crashland]

Not even close.

Yeah, throwing a snowball at Sean Hannity, really changed policy and reduced the size and scope of government. yup

Hey, don't knock the snowball, we just needed more ammo dammit!

You need to acquire power in order to be able to destroy power. Or, something like that.

 

[Jamesiv1]

these helped cure my apathy

Just a few of my favs snagged here in RonPaulForums.

Thanks to all you guys - these helped cure my apathy!

******************************************

School Time

"We're gonna take New Hampshire!!"

Funny

Scary

AWESOME!!

Poignant

You think he'll let anybody diss his Dad? I think not.

And finally....... put on your

GAME FACE!!!!!!!!

 

[devil21]

Not even close.



Yeah, throwing a snowball at Sean Hannity, really changed policy and reduced the size and scope of government. yup

It was a monumental moment that let the establishment know that we are for real. Downplaying how young people EXPOSED the shenanigans at that NH debate betrays the foundations of this movement. There are consequences for shilling for authoritarianism. Your comment downplays those young people that put up signs behind the "debate" that DID NOT INCLUDE RON PAUL even when he polled higher than candidates that were included. You, as another long-time supporter, should remember what the snowball incident was about. If you have forgotten that then you have forgotten why you have a may 2007 join date.

Go to a sign waving and chant "end the fed". You'll be as usefull as tits on a bull. Why bother with the bullshit? Why refuse to recognize the reality you live in?

The Fed is about to end. Some people apparently don't realize their own power when committed to a purpose. Brushfires in minds and all that.

 

[JohnGalt23g]

Well, we'll how how the "pros" do this time.

We scored a second place.

Maybe they'll win.

There's an old saying in sports, which is just as true in politics;

Amateurs do it until they get it right. Pros do it until they can't get it wrong.

Let the professionals do what they have to do, and let the rEVOLution do what the campaign needs us to do. We do that, and Rand Paul will be the 45th President of the United States...

 

[LawnWake]

He will inherit parts of it, not all of it. But that's fine. It's been shown that this energy isn't overly helpful when it comes to winning the GOP nomination.

 

[SilentBull]

I can see you don't understand libertarianism.
The "problem" with so many libertarians is not that we don't want it to go mainstream. It's that we realize that "going mainstream" necessarily entails giving up on some core principles for what eventually amounts to nothing more than a promise to get other principles attended to.

What none of you Republicans seem to get is that the Ron Paul campaigns weren't following those rules... and they came dangerously close to getting somewhere. Close to making actual changes. The Revolution wasn't about working the system - it was about defiance to the system. It was a group of people who thumbed their collective noses at the system and at the same time worked that system to try to coopt it.

Nobody seriously thought the end goal of Ron's movement was to get into positions of power and hold on to them. The entire point was to do something totally different - starting with supporting the oldest presidential candidate in history who stuttered and couldn't find a good tailor to save his life.

Ron's strategy from the beginning was to inspire people to destroy power.
Rand's strategy from the beginning has been to acquire power.
Will some people be as enthusiastic about that? No doubt. But they will not be the same people.

And as has already been pointed out, and never rebutted, those people are not only not inspired, they're being asked not to show up at all.
Everyone seems perfectly comfortable with that, except for those original enthusiasts, and as stated, they don't count. So the answer to the question is no, no there will not be the same enthusiasm.

I can see you don't understand how bringing about change in a society of millions of people works, and you don't understand how people work either. Ron Paul's tactic was only ever going to attract a small minority. The majority was never going to be attracted to his message. Those people need to be eased into libertarianism. You are never going to turn the majority into libertarians. You need to frame your message differently because not everyone cares about the same things we care about.

How do you think democrats have been successful? By gradually easing people into their socialism. But your strategy is to either bring about complete change, or make no progress at all. You will never advance liberty that way. You will always be stuck with the very small minority that isn't enough to win elections.

 

[SilentBull]

And to the people that whine about "not being wanted" by the campaign...Here's how I see it. You want to help the campaign in the way YOU WANT, not in the way THEY NEED. That seems really selfish to me. Basically, it's not about advancing liberty, right? It's about making you feel wanted.

I'm not in this for me. I care about the end goal.

 

[dude58677]

Just a few of my favs snagged here in RonPaulForums.

Thanks to all you guys - these helped cure my apathy!

******************************************

School Time

"We're gonna take New Hampshire!!"

Funny

Scary

AWESOME!!

Poignant

You think he'll let anybody diss his Dad? I think not.

And finally....... put on your

GAME FACE!!!!!!!!

Game face?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqKTKUvbVsA

 

[jbauer]

I hope Rand can hold on to the pony vote. That's the main thing.

And the dental lobby. Big big money there.

 

[GunnyFreedom]

And the dental lobby. Big big money there.

Hey, the only lobbyist money I ever got was a $500 check from the Dentists.

 

[jbauer]

You need fervor to go door to door in sub zero weather.... Just saying.

Well that or someone who promises to pay all your bills.

 

[LibertyEagle]

It was a monumental moment that let the establishment know that we are for real. Downplaying how young people EXPOSED the shenanigans at that NH debate betrays the foundations of this movement. There are consequences for shilling for authoritarianism. Your comment downplays those young people that put up signs behind the "debate" that DID NOT INCLUDE RON PAUL even when he polled higher than candidates that were included. You, as another long-time supporter, should remember what the snowball incident was about. If you have forgotten that then you have forgotten why you have a may 2007 join date.

I haven't forgotten. It was childish and stupid. It did nothing to encourage others toward Ron Paul's ideas. If anything, it drove them further away. But hey, who cares, right? A few so-called supporters got a momentary thrill.

 

[cajuncocoa]

And to the people that whine about "not being wanted" by the campaign...Here's how I see it. You want to help the campaign in the way YOU WANT, not in the way THEY NEED. That seems really selfish to me. Basically, it's not about advancing liberty, right? It's about making you feel wanted.

I'm not in this for me. I care about the end goal.

So do I. I just think the "end game" has been modified from what it was back in 2008/2012. That's the end game I still care about.

 

[acptulsa]

Arguably without the rash of sign wavers and the blimp, the blackout would never have been broken, Comedy Central would never have done their bit looking into who He Who Must Not Be Named was while the MSM were boldly announcing the first, third and fourth place finishers in various primaries, and Ron Paul would have retired relatively unknown.

Did it drive more people away or make more people ask, who is this guy and why Must He Not Be Named? No one will ever know. And continuing to argue over the demographic statistics that could not be collected and will never be tabulated is nothing but a distraction. It is done. We are in a new phase now. The rush of sign wavings cannot happen again because they might misrepresent the snot out of Rand Paul, but they simply cannot ignore him. No one has any motivation to do it, and just like they say about the free market, the thing is self-regulating.

I say the official and wildcat grassroots efforts have formed a decent pincers movement, and we've gained miraculous amounts of ground just in getting the Federal Reserve discussed in an adult manner. Now the grassroots have other tasks, like trying to balance the myriad supported fountains of misinformation all over the net, and Rand Paul is playing a far more nuanced game, with immediate goals and things on the back burner that get compromised on for now.

This is going to get mighty interesting. Instead of bitching about ancient history, we need to get to our county conventions and volunteer at our voting precincts, to ensure we catch and expose any shenannigans.

 

[JohnGalt1225]

I don't think that that Rand's campaign will have the fervent support and energy that his father's did but I don't think that matters. There was no energy in the McCain or Romney campaigns, I mean zero, and they still won. I think Rand will inspire more loyalty and energy than an average politician but I do not think we will see anything close to the Ron Paul Revolution circa 2008-2012 perhaps again in our lifetimes.

 

[JohnGalt1225]

I can see you don't understand how bringing about change in a society of millions of people works, and you don't understand how people work either. Ron Paul's tactic was only ever going to attract a small minority. The majority was never going to be attracted to his message. Those people need to be eased into libertarianism. You are never going to turn the majority into libertarians. You need to frame your message differently because not everyone cares about the same things we care about.

How do you think democrats have been successful? By gradually easing people into their socialism. But your strategy is to either bring about complete change, or make no progress at all. You will never advance liberty that way. You will always be stuck with the very small minority that isn't enough to win elections.

Ron Paul laid the foundation for Rand to have a real opportunity to win this cycle. Ron's education based campaigns opened millions of minds up, including yours truly, to the message of liberty and limited government. Without 2008 and 2012, Rand's campaign could not be possible.

 

[ctiger2]

And nonsense. I'm sure Rand is plenty glad to have passionate Alex Jones type supporters fueling his campaign. He doesn't have to endorse back.

Rand would need to appear on Infowars to get those supporters, like Ron did. Assuming he's already got their support is presumptuous.

 

[GunnyFreedom]

I haven't forgotten. It was childish and stupid. It did nothing to encourage others toward Ron Paul's ideas. If anything, it drove them further away. But hey, who cares, right? A few so-called supporters got a momentary thrill.

Maybe that wasn't the way, but if there is one thing I've learned in the last decade, it's that "being nice" in politics gets you exactly nowhere. Whether they threw snowballs or begged autographs would have made no difference in the end. They simply weren't going to let Ron Paul have a hot mic. At least this way people had heard of the name.

We live in a very evil world, full of very evil people. When something good arises, they can not, must not allow it to prosper. They will not relent because we ask nicely. They will not relent if we have 90% of the country on our side. They will only relent when it causes them harm not to.

Maybe that wasn't the right time for snowballs. I remember thinking it was bad timing, not that the act was bad but bad timing. It won't be too many years until the hands that threw the snowballs will be throwing molotov cocktails and pipe bombs, and shooting rifles. I mean, better snowballs than bombs, right?

At any given time, we are only really a few hours away from mass madness. Politics is called bloodless war. There are evil people in the highest places trying to make freedom go extinct. Be thankful that American politics is still mostly bloodless. I know I am. We won't always have that luxury.

If we care about being humane, it is better that they start soft and work their way up. That way the tyrants will have plenty of warning to change their behavior or leave. Later, when we are fighting for our very lives and watching our friends lives pour out into the streets, we will long for the days of snowballs, and realize that like the rattlesnake, we gave them plenty of warning.

 

[SilentBull]

And to the people that whine about "not being wanted" by the campaign...Here's how I see it. You want to help the campaign in the way YOU WANT, not in the way THEY NEED. That seems really selfish to me. Basically, it's not about advancing liberty, right? It's about making you feel wanted.

I'm not in this for me. I care about the end goal.

To expand on this, why not learn from Ron Paul himself? Do you think he's sitting there pissed off that he's not a bigger part of Rand's campaign? After 30 years of trying to change things, I'm sure he'll do whatever will actually help, and if that means doing nothing, I'm sure he's happy to step aside. Because he cares about changing things more than being involved.