"Why are you here?"

[William Tell]

When you don't participate in the political process, you end up being ruled by your inferiors.

Plato said something to that effect, I believe.

Economically liberal people are OK with that.

 

[Zippyjuan]

Because everybody has to be someplace.

No matter where you go- there you are.
-Buckaroo Bonzai.

 

[dannno]

A genuine anti-establishment candidate will never be elected- the establishment wouldn't allow it.

They will fight tooth and nail to make sure it doesn't happen, but you have to realize the establishment is ultimately made up of people - some of them have been brainwashed to fight for the establishment unknowingly, many don't even know or understand the alternative. There is no way for the establishment to have absolute control over everything. They can program the voting machines, the people can demand accountability. They can cheat, we can catch them. The problem is that only a very small percentage of the population knows the extend of their workings and how it all ties together with the banking, political and economic systems.

 

[JK/SEA]

ok, so why are YOU here?...seems only fair you spill your guts on this question.

well?

 

[Suzanimal]

Anyway- my point is, the reason people seek out forums are for...a) mental stimulation b) entertainment/amusement. c) activism/"education"/"serious" debate.

All of the above.

Don't tell me what to do man!!!

Filthy anarchist.

 

[acptulsa]

Economically liberal people are OK with that.

And I, for one, am OK with them being OK with that.

 

[willwash]

A genuine anti-establishment candidate will never be elected- the establishment wouldn't allow it. Also, I'm leftist on a lot of economic issues. I'm full of contradictions.

Ron Paul was anti-establishment and he was elected against the will of the establishment...11 times! Rand Paul is anti-establishment and he was nominated over Trey Greyson and elected against their will. On the left-wing side, Dennis Kucinich is anti-establishment and, although he was gerrymandered out of existence (just like Gunny, another fine example) he was elected multiple times. Dennis Miller came within inches of shoving out that establishment c**t Murkowski in Alaska. 2010 saw a large number of anti-establishment candidates either win or come very close to winning elected office. These are just the most noteworthy examples.

And not that I support him, but to prove the point that "the establishment" is not unbeatable: the ultimate anti-establishment success story is David Duke, who won election to the LA House despite a multimillion dollar nation--nay, *world*wide establishment effort against him, and later he very nearly won both a US Senate seat and governorship of Louisiana before they succeeded in fully marginalizing him.

 

[invisible]

question for you...

did you do anything for Ron Paul's two attempts at the Presidency?...delegate?...donate?..anything?

This question needs to be asked a lot more often of certain members. I asked it once in another thread, and this is perhaps another good place to ask again. Back in 2007-8, for the most part, everyone was here because we wanted to DO something to get Ron Paul elected. This was (is) an excellent place to exchange ideas, information, and work together in various ways to accomplish that goal. For the most part, everyone here during that time had that in common. This changed in 2009-10.

To answer one of the OP's questions, I lurked here for an entire year before finally joining. I'm not a big fan of signing up for things online. I always felt that I didn't have anything to say here, that someone else hadn't already said. After a year, I finally had something to say that no one else had spoken about, and have been a member here ever since.

In 2009-10, RPF had an influx of new members due to Rand running for the Senate. Things changed a bit here, perhaps one way to put it would be the addition of more mainstream type Republicans who weren't hardcore libertarians like most of the original 2007-8 membership. But even still, many of the new members during this time period could demonstrate action for the cause of Liberty, and getting Liberty Candidates elected (Rand, Gunny, Amash, Massie, among others).

Another surge of new members happened in 2011-12, when Ron Paul ran again. The results were similar to what happened in 2009-10. But I feel that this time, fewer of the new members of this period actually demonstrated action for the cause of liberty. And to an even greater extent than in 2009-10, there was an influx of members whose reason for being here appears questionable at best.

How that trend has continued in 2014 is interesting. This time, there was no obvious influx of new members joining in support of a major "new" Liberty Candidate. But yet there did seem to be a noticeable influx of those whose reason for being here is not readily apparent. So yes, JK/SEA's question is one that needs to continue to be asked, repeatedly. This question needs to be asked not only for others whose reason for being here is not necessarily apparent, but for each and every one of us as well. Look in the mirror, and ask it of yourself. We ALL need to make sure that we are actually doing something to advance the cause of Liberty. That said, not everyone will contribute to that cause in the exact same way - that needs to be recognized and respected, everyone has different talents, resources, and comfort zones.

 

[willwash]

To answer one of the OP's questions, I lurked here for an entire year before finally joining.

I've got you beat, I joined several years before I made my first post

 

[pcosmar]

Group D,, definitely.

I'm just here for the womens.

 

[helmuth_hubener]

How many philosophical discussions to see on your Facebook or Twitter feed? .

I have neither of these things, so I have no idea. But it seems to me that philosophical people probably have a lot. Stephan Molyneux's Facebook feed is probably full of philosophy and debate. Fundamentally, both vBulletin and Facebook are online communication tools, they just seem to have a bit of a different format, but Facebook's format in 3 years will probably be very different than today, and Twitter's format is different than Facebook. DailyPaul uses Drupal -- is Drupal social media or a forum?

Just seems like formatting differences to me. I doubt the 71% of online Americans who use Facebook are any more extroverted than any other huge cross-section of the population. I also doubt the broad population of online forum users (30% if surgeons are any indication) is any more introverted than the average.

Past RPF surveys suggest that RPFers specifically are more introverted than average, however.

 

[Crashland]

To put it concisely, I am here to learn, and to cheer on Rand Paul 2016.

 

[PaulConventionWV]

Wow, you sound like a good portion of the people here.

He's not. He believes in the welfare state. Don't ya, pessimist?

 

[PaulConventionWV]

I tend to kinda doubt that Ron would've run if he thought he had even a snowflake in hell chance of really winning. As he said repeatedly, the campaign was really just a platform for getting his message exposed to a national audience.

You must think Ron Paul is a liar, then, because he has said he was running to win. He's said what you said, too, but the two are not mutually exclusive.

 

[William Tell]

He's not. He believes in the welfare state. Don't ya, pessimist?

Yes, he probably does...

 

[pessimist]

I have neither of these things, so I have no idea. But it seems to me that philosophical people probably have a lot. Stephan Molyneux's Facebook feed is probably full of philosophy and debate. Fundamentally, both vBulletin and Facebook are online communication tools, they just seem to have a bit of a different format, but Facebook's format in 3 years will probably be very different than today, and Twitter's format is different than Facebook. DailyPaul uses Drupal -- is Drupal social media or a forum?

Just seems like formatting differences to me. I doubt the 71% of online Americans who use Facebook are any more extroverted than any other huge cross-section of the population. I also doubt the broad population of online forum users (30% if surgeons are any indication) is any more introverted than the average.

Past RPF surveys suggest that RPFers specifically are more introverted than average, however.

I was just assuming that introverts (and intuitives) disproportionately visit forums, while extroverts keep their online socializing restricted to social media. I have no data to back up that assumption.

I also assume the introvert/extrovert division on social media reflects the national average.

 

[pessimist]

He's not. He believes in the welfare state. Don't ya, pessimist?

Yes, I believe in safety nets.

 

[pessimist]

They will fight tooth and nail to make sure it doesn't happen, but you have to realize the establishment is ultimately made up of people - some of them have been brainwashed to fight for the establishment unknowingly, many don't even know or understand the alternative. There is no way for the establishment to have absolute control over everything. They can program the voting machines, the people can demand accountability. They can cheat, we can catch them. The problem is that only a very small percentage of the population knows the extend of their workings and how it all ties together with the banking, political and economic systems.

Whoever can't be bought will be destroyed. It's really that simple.

 

[Crashland]

You must think Ron Paul is a liar, then, because he has said he was running to win. He's said what you said, too, but the two are not mutually exclusive.

I think Ron Paul is a liar, in the sense that he doesn't always tell the truth. Like everyone else. If Ron told people he had a real chance to win then he was either lying or deluded. I think he was lying. He knew exactly what he was doing and there's not really anything wrong with it

 

[pessimist]

I think Ron Paul is a liar, in the sense that he doesn't always tell the truth. Like everyone else. If Ron told people he had a real chance to win then he was either lying or deluded. I think he was lying

I don't think he believed he had a serious shot (he couldn't have); I got the impression that it was all about spreading the message and creating a movement.