When was the Ron Paul movement the most focused / driven, and how can we get back there?

[Sayzak]

I think these are questions we need to tackle now.

 

[acptulsa]

Driven? Maybe, at least during the election season. Focused? That's not the way I remember it. I think I remember it as a time of all motion, no direction.

We've grown, and we're taking over local parties at a greater rate than we did before. I think our focus has sharpened.

 

[Deborah K]

Our diversity has driven wedges between us; which makes it hard for us to unite and focus. When I helped organize P.A.U.L. Festival, my hope was that our diversity would find unity in the message of freedom. That is still my hope.

 

[torchbearer]

Our diversity has driven wedges between us; which makes it hard for us to unite and focus. When I helped organize P.A.U.L. Festival, my hope was that our diversity would find unity in the message of freedom. That is still my hope.

well, there are some people who wish we'd not show up to their events. and that is kinda the core problem.

 

[cjm]

The drive has changed form but has not necessarily decreased. The national campaign required a lot of coordination (or at least comparing notes) and much of that occurred visibly on the web. Also, primary election dates created a sense of urgency throughout the presidential campaign that doesn't really have a parallel at the state an local levels (one primary, one general). So I'd say the drive is still there, but it is in the context of a long term view instead of short term. We cannot clean out our savings accounts for the mostly liberty guy running for city council, we have to pace ourselves to avoid burn out. But with the increase in numbers, I'd say that where I live, there is more liberty activity now than in 2012. It's just smarter and more sustainable.

 

[Sayzak]

The drive has changed form but has not necessarily decreased. The national campaign required a lot of coordination (or at least comparing notes) and much of that occurred visibly on the web. Also, primary election dates created a sense of urgency throughout the presidential campaign that doesn't really have a parallel at the state an local levels (one primary, one general). So I'd say the drive is still there, but it is in the context of a long term view instead of short term. We cannot clean out our savings accounts for the mostly liberty guy running for city council, we have to pace ourselves to avoid burn out. But with the increase in numbers, I'd say that where I live, there is more liberty activity now than in 2012. It's just smarter and more sustainable.

If that is the case (and I'm not arguing) how do we prevent it from fizzling out? Without Ron Paul motivating us it's easy to lose track of who is on our side and to work together. I want for us to be able to galvanize in a moment's notice, and to be inspired. That part of this movement can't die; we can't afford for it to.

 

[satchelmcqueen]

id say after he won iowa.
second was when we hit the 12 million dollar mark in dec of 07.

 

[cjm]

If that is the case (and I'm not arguing) how do we prevent it from fizzling out? Without Ron Paul motivating us it's easy to lose track of who is on our side and to work together. I want for us to be able to galvanize in a moment's notice, and to be inspired. That part of this movement can't die; we can't afford for it to.

My personal motivation comes from understanding economics and the monetary system under the Federal Reserve. “We can ignore reality, but we cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.” Anyone who understands the real consequences of the dollar collapse should be sufficiently motivated to remain active. And if we cannot avoid that collapse, we can at least protect our right to keep and bear arms so that we don't have to face a collapse unarmed.

As for coming together at a moment's notice, I don't think you'll see anything like the RP presidential campaign grassroots in the near future. We've taken Ron's suggestion to get involved locally and now there are many outlets for activism. Some will rally behind presidential bids in the future while others support campaigns for House/Senate/State/local offices instead.

I recommend getting involved with a local liberty group in your area. There's no substitute for face-to-face interaction. We have some purely social events so that it's not all work and no play. And it helps that we have a good group. Many hands make light work.

 

[pacelli]

I think in 07 the movement was the most driven. In 12 the movement was the most focused. IMHO.

 

[Gumba of Liberty]

Draft the Judge

 

[Tod]

Our diversity has driven wedges between us; which makes it hard for us to unite and focus. When I helped organize P.A.U.L. Festival, my hope was that our diversity would find unity in the message of freedom. That is still my hope.

Are you sure that it is diversity rather than just the loss of a common tangible goal, getting RP elected?

With the passing of the election, our goal has become more abstract and less focused: individual liberty.

With the completion (whether successful or not) of a goal comes a need to regroup and set a new goal. Frequently people who find themselves at the end of a very consuming project experience depression and a bit of wavering in the wind until they get their bearings. In our case, that can happen not only on an individual level, but as a group. We may not regain the visible group momentum without a single common tangible goal, but that doesn't mean that there isn't a sort of group momentum as local political organizations are infiltrated. The lack of visibility can make it harder to feel that progress is being made, and consequently motivation is probably more difficult to maintain.

 

[cjm]

The lack of visibility can make it harder to feel that progress is being made, and consequently motivation is probably more difficult to maintain.

This is true for the vicarious activist. But it is all the more reason for each activist to get personally involved locally so that progress can be witnessed first hand.

 

[Tod]

This is true for the vicarious activist. But it is all the more reason for each activist to get personally involved locally so that progress can be witnessed first hand.

I'm sure a lot of people did far more than I, but I did do some phone banking, donated, organized a sign wave, a county RP 2012 facebook page, wrote and distributed a candidate comparison flyer, and wrote a lot of e-mails, but ultimately I doubt that I influenced even one person in my county to vote for RP. Only 750 in my county voted for him in the primaries. Not one member of the county facebook page came to the sign wave. My motivation definitely did not come from anything locally; it was the ability to see what was being accomplished elsewhere.

 

[Tinnuhana]

Personally, I can divide my motivation into a cycle: during the presidential campaigns, wanting to get the word out and helping others do it. After that, a desire to educate myself more: taking courses on line and reading books, etc. It's like I was lifting weights getting ready for the next competition. Maybe if we look at it that way rather than "regrouping" it will feel more positive.
I appreciate all the insights about focus, etc. And don't confuse brainstorming with "not focusing". As synthesis from all the ideas floating occurs, we or gorups withing the movememnt, will find projects on which to focus.

 

[cjm]

I'm sure a lot of people did far more than I, but I did do some phone banking, donated, organized a sign wave, a county RP 2012 facebook page, wrote and distributed a candidate comparison flyer, and wrote a lot of e-mails, but ultimately I doubt that I influenced even one person in my county to vote for RP. Only 750 in my county voted for him in the primaries. Not one member of the county facebook page came to the sign wave. My motivation definitely did not come from anything locally; it was the ability to see what was being accomplished elsewhere.

Fair enough, but you might have had a bigger impact than you realized. I knocked on a bunch of doors (in addition to other activities) myself, and when I greeted at my polling place on primary election day, I had several people that I met come up and tell me that they changed their minds and voted for RP. Had I not worked the poll that day, I probably would have thought the same as you, that I had no impact. Even those that didn't come around to RP by primary day had some seeds planted within them. They might come around down the line.

But the local impact that I was referring to, was more along the lines of getting party executive board members elected, getting liberty candidates to run for various local offices, and simply growing your local group.

With regard to the sign wave no-shows, I also have several failures along those lines. RP2012 provided many campaigning/organizing lessons. Those failures are why we do some purely social meetups. Developing an esprit de corps is critical. And when it comes time to getting folks to show up for work, there's no substitute for the telephone. Email/Facebook/etc are not nearly as effective as the telephone. It's a drag to make a ton of calls, but that's what we have to do sometimes.

All that being said, I agree that seeing progress being made elsewhere is encouraging, but in a distributed environment of local races, it might be hard to take a Denver city council race as inspiration to work harder in Cleveland. I think folks need to be invested in their local liberty activities to have long term staying power.

 

[DonovanJames]

I still feel amazingly optimistic about the movement. The local party positions are SO QUIET right now and we're snatching them up left and right. It is hard to translate and track that kind of progress to the fast paced, stimulus craving life of the Internet.

 

[Nirvikalpa]

I think in 07 the movement was the most driven. In 12 the movement was the most focused. IMHO.

This.

If he had the clarity in 07 what he did in 12, he could have made waves. Likewise, if the campaign/supporters/grassroots had the passion in 12 they did in 07... he could have also made more waves. That's not to put down any of the grassroots - of course there were people knocking on doors from sun-up to sun-down, but in '07 it was literally all we had. In 07 There were hundreds of threads for free supplies, from brochures and slim-jims to giant homemade wooden signs to put up near highways.

We had people who traveled over 500 miles to attend a march in D.C... We had a rally in MN which brought in supporters from all over the world.

 

[Bastiat's The Law]

I think the most focused was when supporters in Iowa, Maine, Nevada, etc were pushing Ron's candidacy in the immediate, but also looking long-term and where snatching up positions and delegates to the state conventions so we could control the local/state parties. We need more of that.

 

[Deborah K]

Are you sure that it is diversity rather than just the loss of a common tangible goal, getting RP elected?

With the passing of the election, our goal has become more abstract and less focused: individual liberty.

With the completion (whether successful or not) of a goal comes a need to regroup and set a new goal. Frequently people who find themselves at the end of a very consuming project experience depression and a bit of wavering in the wind until they get their bearings. In our case, that can happen not only on an individual level, but as a group. We may not regain the visible group momentum without a single common tangible goal, but that doesn't mean that there isn't a sort of group momentum as local political organizations are infiltrated. The lack of visibility can make it harder to feel that progress is being made, and consequently motivation is probably more difficult to maintain.

If our diversity divides, rather than unites us, it will never be possible to focus our efforts on a common goal, since we'll never agree on what the goal should be. But I'm hopeful. I sincerely believe that we'll all come together, despite our differences, in the near future.