Oh how the mighty have fallen! They've been trying to do a good thing, to help Ron Paul-like candidates for Congress raise money for their campaigns, but their latest money bomb effort has fallen flat.
I'm speaking of Travis Lyman, Rick Williams, and the folks over at Break The Matrix. They've been running a money bomb to support folks who are trying to become the next Ron Paul in Congress. Lyman, you may recall, is the man who created the original money bomb websites that helped Ron Paul raise over $30 million for his campaign, including a $6 million money bomb on December 16, 2007. BTM ran a 4th of July money bomb to support more than 25 candidates for Congress whom BTM claims are Ron Paul-like in their stances on the issues.
Instead of raising millions, the final tally board shows that they raised roughly $17,000 combined for 25 or so candidates. Despite the fact that they have more than 60,000 names and email addresses accumulated during the RP money bombs to which they marketed their fundraising attempt, the response rate this time around was dismal.
Please understand me clearly. I am not making fun of Trevor or Rick for what they've done. While I don't know whether the candidates they selected are really good ones, I'll take their word for it that they are, and I applaud Rick and Trevor for trying to help them. No, I'm discussing why their effort failed so spectactularly and what the implications of that failure are for the freedom movement.
One clear answer is that the Paul campaign has faded from the scene. The excitement it generated has been left in ashes combined with disappointment and disillusionment. While there are still a cadre of supporters who carry on the fight, most of their supporters are getting on with their non-political lives once again.
Another clear answer is that money bombs themselves only work when there is already a high excitement level. They don't create the excitement. The most they can do is raise an already existing excitement level to an even higher level, thereby "spreading the word." But when the excitement level starts out low, it can't be expected to grow much, because the inertia is too great.
It's also likely that BTM have unwittingly undermined their own efforts to a certain extent. Many RP supporters who supported the money bombs have expressed dismay at the way their names and email addresses have been used. Many felt that they were sharing these private bits of personal information with the understanding that they were only to be used in support of Paul's campaign. I know of no disclaimers to this effect that Lyman placed on those websites, but that doesn't really matter. What matters here is the perception of those who participated. Williams and Lyman treated those mailing lists as their personal property and used them as the basis for their BTM venture. While this is legal and is consonant with basic business practices, it left a bad taste in the mouths of many. Politics is not as much of an economic enterprise as some people think it is. Sometimes, it's also about public perception, as BTM is discovering to their dismay.
BTM still has a fair-sized following, but it also appears to be dwindling. They are not alone. Daily Paul, the Nolan Chart, the various Ron Paul forums...all have seen dramatic decreases in visitorship over the past few months. This is a natural outcome of a campaign gone bust.
Now the Libertarians and (to a lesser extent) the Constitutionalists are trying to rally RP supporters to their respective candidates. It's not likely to work there either. The Libertarians have nominated a candidate, Bob Barr who is a former Republican congressman who voted very anti-freedom on a number of significant issues while in Congress. The Barr campaign is trying to change that perception by playing up a positive relationship between Barr and Ron Paul, but so far it's really not working. There is very little excitement level building for the Barr candidacy. Meanwhile, the Constitutionalists nominated a former Moral Majority leader named Chuck Baldwin, calculating that his theological background will be ignored by Ron Paul supporters and that they will be the winners of the Ron Paul sweepstakes. That doesn't appear to be happening either.
Neither parties' scenario is likely to succeed, because you can't win by jumping on a campaign bandwagon that has fallen apart.
The sad fact is that my greatest fear regarding the RP revolution has come true. The revolution has died in the hearts of most of his supporters. I know that there are some (including myself) who will never give up, and some may leave comments under this article reminding me of that fact. That's fine. But let's also take stock of where we stand now. The Paul campaign is pretty much done for now, although some people continue to try to do their best to keep it going. Even Paul himself has dropped out and formed his Campaign For Liberty foundation. It remains to be seen whether he'll succeed in keeping things going. Their goal is to acquire 100,000 supporters on an ongoing basis, but so far their website shows no signs that that goal is anywhere near achievable. I hope they succeed, but I'm not betting the farm on it.
So what does all this imply for the future of liberty? Is the movement dead? Hardly. It was alive and well before the Paul campaign, and it will continue. If anything, the Paul experience will energize those already involved even more than they were energized before. The big, unanswered question revolves around those who found the Paul campaign and liberty for the first time in 2007 and 2008. How will they react going forward? Will they become activists themselves? Will they fade permanently back into the woodwork? I expect the answer is somewhere in the middle.
While I don't know whether these new supporters will continue to be energized in any great number, there is hope that they can be salvaged. If they can, then the liberty movement as a whole will have experienced a net-positive growth as a result of the Paul campaign. If that happens, then the campaign was definitely a victory. Time will tell whether this is what will happen. I, for one, will do all I can to help make it happen, and I hope you will too.
©2008 Walt Thiessen, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.
Published: Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Last modified: Tuesday, July 8, 2008
The views expressed in this article are those of Walt Thiessen only and do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Walt Thiessen is solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
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Reader Comments:
Posted By: John
Date: 2008-07-08 05:53:55
I couldn't agree more. I'm one of those people you mentioned who discovered the RP movement in '07-'08, and frankly, I don't know how, or if I'll keep moving forward with regards to the Liberty movement. Time and events will tell.
With regards to the BTM money bombs, it's my opinion that they stumbled upon something that no one had ever done before, and it worked out better than anyone could have imagined. So naturally they want to milk the idea for all they can. And so you get what you would expect...unless people see results from the money they're giving, they won't keep giving indefinitely. Especially when gas is $4+ a gallon and the economy as a whole is in the crapper and getting worse.
If your only strategy is to keep asking people for money, while at the same time unable to give them any real return on their donation, you're bound to lose.
I'd also add that with all of the various RP/Liberty efforts there's always a lack of coordination and a real sense of professionalism or "legitimacy" (for lack of a better word) behind them. It's always just a random, "this is our idea today" type of thing, with no sense of a larger strategy.
It seems as though nobody's in charge, or that too many are trying to be. And lack of cohesion and focus also makes giving money to a movement difficult as well.
Posted By: Walt Thiessen
Date: 2008-07-08 06:33:57
Thanks for the confirmation, John. I wish I had some magic phrase I could utter that would keep you wanting to be involved, but I can't. All I can ask is that you don't give up. I know that's not much to go on, but it's the best I can give you.
Regardless of the fact that there is no single, cohesive leadership to the liberty movement (and by the way, there never has been....not even during the RP campaign), standing up for liberty continues to be a good idea. It's hard being in the minority. Those of us who have been here for many years know first-hand just how hard that is. But if you can give it time, you'll also find that being in the minority also conveys a certain degree of pride, a sense that we're ahead of the curve. The rest of the nation will eventually catch up, because events will force their hand at some point. We won't know in advance what that point will be, and the point will be different for every person.
What it really comes down to is threshhold of pain. As the level of pain caused by government interference in individual rights continues to rise, more and more people will reach their threshhold limits. Your limit, and mine, are relatively lower than that for other people, but we can be sure that we will all, eventually, reach our limits. Once a clear majority of us reach that limit, there will be a clamoring for change. Hopefully, that will happen before our liberties completely disappear.
Keep the faith.
Posted By: Don
Date: 2008-07-08 06:36:34
I was enthusiastic when I heard about groups around the country organizing to get "Ron Paul" like candidates in public office.
However, I found that after reading about these "Ron Paul" like candidates, that I didn't feel they were promoting Ron Paul values and ideaology really at all. From what I read on these candidates websites, they seemed like the same ole, same ole trying to pass themselves off as Ron Paul apostles but I wasn't buying it.
I also hope that there aren't those out there who will try to ride the wave of Ron Paul enthusiasm and profit from it by trying to pass themselves off as Ron Paul libertarians and gain Ron Paul supporters.
When I hear Ron Paul talk, it is clear what he stands for. No middle ground or wishy-washy words. I've yet to feel that way about any other candidate.
Posted By: lono1
Date: 2008-07-08 06:53:07
WHAT A JOKE. having no choice is not a choice
Posted By: Emily
Date: 2008-07-08 07:08:01
I agree, in general. In particular, BTM's use of my private info for a large-scale email assault having nothing to do with the Paul campaign is irritating.But I believe the biggest factor in the failure of the recent money bomb is something you touch on only in passing. The fact that someone has arbitrarily picked 25 candidates and called them "Paul-like" is completely meaningless.
We have no solid evidence that these candidates support freedom as Paul does. We have no evidence that -- more importantly -- they'd have the guts to stand up, forego the sleazy deal-making of politics, and say "NO!" as Dr. Paul has for all these years. (Or rather, say "yes" only to what is constitutional.)
I don't believe the Paul revolution is dead. I just believe the revolutionaries are a wholesomely cranky lot of skeptical individuals who aren't going to be led and who are going to believe their own eyes rather than anybody's hype, however well-intentioned.
Posted By: Sandra
Date: 2008-07-08 07:19:03
I think getting them elected in a collective "slate" undermines democracy. nIndiviually or nothing. Who decided these were like minded candidates anyway?
Posted By: rokdevil
Date: 2008-07-08 08:13:54
While I applaud the concept of the FreedomSlate I just don't want to give money to someone I don't know. These people have no history (as far as I'm concerned), which makes it hard to assume that they will do the "right thing" if they get elected.
Posted By: Princeliberty
Date: 2008-07-08 10:22:29
I agree with almost everything in this article. The biggest problem is Paul ran on good ideas but his campaign was terrible run and wasted the money and hard work of his supporters.
Paul did not take his own campaign seriously enough. He failed not only to win but to even make a decent showing.
If he had made a good run of it, his supports would not be demoralized.
But what his actual performance was pathetic. And its Ron Paul's fault. He let his people down with
that joke of a campaign.
Barr is not worthy of support. And Baldwin does not know how to and is not running a campaign.
Posted By: Elias
Date: 2008-07-08 10:46:28
I think a lot of what is also being missed here is the Lewrockwell.com factor. Ron Paul got a huge boost because Lew Rockwell endorsed him. I don't know how many thousands of people read that website everyday, but I'm one of them. I hadn't really paid much attention to Ron Paul before that, but I became interested in him.
The other people haven't really gotten mentioned. They certainly don't post articles on Lew Rockwell to let us know how freedom minded they are.
And, like you said, a lot of us donated a lot of money to Ron Paul's campaign only to find out that it wasn't working. I think Ron Paul's book will do a much better job of sowing the seeds of change than additional money bombs for people I've never heard of before.
Posted By: SW
Date: 2008-07-08 11:18:56
I do not give up so speak for yourself, true RP supporters.know It was never about Paul to begin with. It is about the rule of law and preserving our constitution and our liberty.
Get it!
Got It!
Good!
VIVA the Revolution for LIBERTY!
The tree of liberty will be refreshed!
Posted By: USAF Vet Dan
Date: 2008-07-08 14:09:14
Wile I do agree with all of your observations, Walt, I'd like to add another reason this money bomb failed. It lacked a major component of the two previous successful bombs. The bang in those bombs was fueled by our collective effort to counter the MSM gag on RP and the R3VOLution. We all wanted to demonstrate that the RP phenomenon was real and that we weren't just a small handful of loud spammers making a ruckus on the Internet.
As to the readers' comments relating to "we don't know them so we can't trust them" and "they're all just Ron Paul wannabes"... I certainly agree with the caveat emptor philosophy. But some of us FreedomSlate candidates have proven our fidelity to the cause for liberty - and proof of that fidelity is just a Google search away. Using my name as an example, you find I've been fighting this battle for about 20 years. I fought hard to try to stop the passage of NAFTA and GATT, authored and promoted the 10th Amendment / State Sovereignty Resolution & Act, ran for Congress in 1996 against pro-NAFTA Phil Crane, etc., etc.
True, some of the FS08 candidates are rather new to the movement and therefore don't have much of a track record, but Lyman did do a pretty comprehensive screening of the candidates. The bottom line is that it is foolish to dismiss them all just because they don't have a 20 year congressional voting track record on which to judge them. There is only one Ron Paul. Without giving some of us a chance, there will nobody else on the Hill to help him. One Constitutionist in Congress is not enough to save our Constitutional Republic.
While my campaign would have certainly benefited from a successful money bomb, we intend to press on and do the best we can with what we have to work with. Giving up just isn't an option... especially in light of the very positive reaction we've thus far received from John Q. Public. For example, we were in an Independence Day parade in Elgin, Illinois. I was pleasantly shocked at the huge level of support we received there. A great number of times I saw people stand up, call out my name, and applaud... and not one "cat call". Their "thumbs up" and stated "thanks for what you're doing" gave us all the motivation to look beyond the failed money bomb. No, we won't give up - we'll never give up because freedom and liberty are worth any and all sacrifices we may have to make. I feel we owe that to the thousands before us who have given their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to obtain and maintain liberty and freedom. And I owe it to my children... especially my children.
Like you, I wish I had some magic words to motivate those who, for whatever reasons, have slumped back into apathetic slumber. In lieu of such words, I hope my actions motivate others to keep fighting.
Dan Druck
Druck for Congress - Illinois 14th CD
Posted By: Scott Harmon
Date: 2008-07-08 21:21:48
Okay, we're a little too philosophical here. Let's look at this a little more practically. People, myself included, aren't interested in sending money off to representative candidates in far-away places, hardly knowing these candidates except for some clunky web-site postings, as is often the case. We're barely able to get our arms around the presidential candidates' positions. Congressional representatives must earn support locally, and get their donations that way--if they can't sway people in their own areas, then what the Hell good is it to shotgun money everywhere, hoping that we'll hit the right target. I was getting calls at home from a local candidate--turned out to be a complete "poser" who was using Paul's platform to reel in money and votes.
I voted for Paul, and would vote for him again. But Paul has a record and a philosophy that match. Unfortunately, the Paul campaign was a little unrealistic. Paul should have been the guy doing the thinking, and someone else should have been doing the acting. Good Lord, this is America--do you think a majority of Americans can process what Paul talks about? I don't even think most white-collar workers, media professionals, and politicians have the intellectual grit to understand his arguments, whether or not they want to.
Paul and his ideas will live on, I believe, because they are in alignment with the prevailing technological trends (decentralized information, lack of centralized control, etc.) and the youth who are energized to accept this philosophy, especially given the intellectual basis that Paul provides to the youth to understand that it is really unnatural to have a government running roughshod over anything that moves. The Gargoyles have been outed; it's only a matter of time before they fade into irrelevance, die out, or otherwise remove themselves from their perches.
What I mean is, information-bombs are more powerful than money-bombs.
Posted By: Michael McDonnough
Date: 2008-07-08 23:43:56
Walt,
I agree with your conclusions. One of the reaons I wrote my last articles was that I see pretty much the same thing happening that you do. I still think that an Alliance of Liberty Factions is the way to go to coordinate our resources to efforts.
Posted By: Janet
Date: 2008-07-09 01:45:40
What many people failed to realize was that the money bombs only worked because untold numbers of people spent day in and day out promoting the concept to Ron Paul supporters. All Trevor did was to create a website and he got all the credit for the concept. In fact, Trevor actually did the least amount of work for the money bombs, I know because I was one of the ones who spent every waking moment trying to raise money for Ron Paul.
After the first money bomb, Trevor took the email list and refused to give it back to all the supporters. At the time, we all worked together and it was a one for all and all for one mentality. Sadly, Trevor decided he could then run the movement himself. He derailed the second money bomb that raised a mere 6 million plus when it looked at the time like we could raise 20 million. Trevor tried to stop everyone from giving money on the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party and to give money two weeks earlier. His emails to all supporters confused everyone and his new date only raised a few hundred thousand while all those who were promoting the BTP date, stopped working and stopped the promoting Money Bomb.
Everyone missed the point. The money bombs made money because the U.S. is filled with disenfranchised people who were excited for the first time in decades about Ron Paul. Thousands upon thousands helped make those money bombs work. Untold numbers of man hours were spent by all his supporters sending emails to nearly 80 thousand MySpace friends of Ron Paul, and other websites that had registered Ron Paul supporters. That is why they worked: because they had so many people doing the work to make them work - not because some guy built a website.
Indeed, at the time, several people offered to build that same website (it was not that complicated), Trevor just got to it first.
The Ron Paul money bombs will probably not be duplicated by anyone. The other candidates tried and failed miserably. The concept itself does not do it, you have to have the right man who is running for office concept and the millions who recognized his genius. Plus, you have to have a whole army of people who are willing to work for free by advertising the money bomb to people who are ALREADY SUPPORTERS by sending emails, writing articles, getting websites like LewRockwell.com to discuss the date, and doing other creative things to help Ron Paul.
Ron Paul brought people together and his whole campaign was supported by thousands of people who worked 90 hour weeks supporting him. In other words, it was the people stupid.
Posted By: Janet
Date: 2008-07-09 02:01:13
P.S. I was also one of the people on the Trevor mailing list and deeply resent him using my email address to spam me with his other projects. I tried numerous times to get him to stop emailing me.
Further, as a Libertarian, I was thrilled to support Ron Paul. I will again get involved if I find any other candidates who are worth supporting. No one tells me who is a "Ron Paul" candidate. There is no such thing. Most of the people that are on that list are wannabes who don't know the first thing about Austrian economics, or the principles behind liberty. I don't give money blindly. I do research. I think that the brightest people in this country supported Ron Paul. It takes a lot of work and education to understand his entire platform. Most were not bright enough to understand him, just look at how the media mangled his arguments.
Many of us are still out here, we are just hanging back, spreading the word of liberty as best we can and waiting for the next Harry Browne or Ron Paul to surface.
Posted By: Paul
Date: 2008-07-09 02:19:44
What Janet said.
At this point, I feel like some people just assume that we are "donation ATM machines". Send out some emails, yell "money bomb" or put up a "pitch in" thing, and sit back and watch the millions flow. I don't think so.
We donated to Ron Paul because we were impassioned, not because some guy threw up a website and yelled "money bomb".
Lyman hopped on board a train that was already rolling at full steam. He didn't lay the track, or build the train. He just put on the conductor's hat and tooted the whistle.
Posted By: Jean-Christophe Roux
Date: 2008-07-09 06:21:13
Some may feel that Ron Paul betrayed the cause of freedom by dropping out of the presidential race. They may have wished for Ron Paul to collect endorsements from third parties and run on his ideas of freedom despite a loss in the Republican primaries. Instead, it is as if he had bowed to the Republican Party powers and starts a fight somewhere else where he does not bother anyone.
Some may also feel that only a presidential race is worth donations.
If Ron Paul finds his way to get back into the presidential race, money may start flowing again.
Posted By: J. M.
Date: 2008-07-09 06:32:15
Damn, you wrote many things that I have known for several months but have been trying to avoid admitting.
It was hard enough for people to take the time to actually learn about who Ron Paul really is and support him without a constant stream from media subliminally telling us to, but to expect that to happen for these much lesser known candidates that are not as principled as Paul was only a dream.
Ron Paul is the man, it really is up to him whether the revolution will continue growing or he will let the movement die off. I'm sure he is exhausted, so I won't blame him either way.
Ron Paul's book is the blessing out of all of this, if nothing else is remembered past 2008.
Posted By: Jake
Date: 2008-07-09 07:45:08
I disagree... that the movement is over and unlikely to gain much more money. On the Campaign for Liberty website they have about 70,000 members. You said they are no where close to achieving 100,000? What do you consider to be close? Don't forget he has basically two more months of achieving the goal of 100,000.
Posted By: Walt Thiessen
Date: 2008-07-09 15:48:24
Jake: First, I didn't say that the movement was dead. To the contrary, I said it was alive and well from both before the RP campaign and after it moving forward. I think what you're referring to is where I said, "The revolution has died in the hearts of most of his supporters." That's true. Most RP supporters have disappeared back into the woodwork. It does NOT mean, however, that all of his supporters have given up or that the revolution has died in the hearts of that dedicated minority.
Regarding the Campaign For Liberty....I didn't say they were nowhere close to 100,000. I said their website gave no indication that they could achieve that goal. I hadn't heard anything about 70,000. What's the source of your number?
Posted By: Joshua Wise
Date: 2008-07-09 17:54:45
Janet's comments ended this discussion.
Posted By: Mark Modugno
Date: 2008-07-10 09:38:29
Walt,
The actual "number" is 68,455 of this posting. This "number" is on the front page of the website. There really is no way of knowing that this is the actual number but I don't have a reason to believe it to be wrong since there is no way to verify the number is accurate. And since it is Ron Paul's site I put faith, based on my knowledge of him over the past year, that it is correct.
Posted By: spinnikerca
Date: 2008-07-10 11:57:29
I put a little money into the money bomb once I heard of it when I came back from vacation (I read about it here, in fact.) However, a) it wasn't pumped with the same youtube type enthusiasm and most importantly b) it wasn't for Ron Paul, who is extraordinary, and generates extraordinary enthusiasm. I have looked at some of the candidates, and in terms of 'better than the others', that seems to be a given. However, they vary in different points and you need to research whether those are important points to you. Beyond that, there are MANY 'money bombs' and chip ins going on, and there is no single 'money bomb' that is THE 'money bomb' as there was, before.
If Ron Paul were running third party, there would be a very different level of excitement and involvement. With people paying for tickets and hotels in DC for the July 12 March, and for chip ins for delegates and advertising once he turned the campaign over to us, and for tickets and hotels to Minneapolis, and for a zillion 'Ron Paul supporters send your money here!' type efforts, it is pretty inevitable the result would be less for each one.
Posted By: Samuel Adams
Date: 2008-07-11 09:04:55
At this point, even a money bomb for Ron Paul will be a dud, even if he announced his intention to take the nomination in a convention fight. The sad fact that many will not want to accept is that Dr. Paul looks like he never had any solid intention of winning the nomination. It is looking more and more like the plan all along was to get people excited and build an activist and donor base. I'm not saying Ron tried to pull one over on us, just that his heart was never in this fight like ours was/is. Dr. Paul long ago bought into the notion that he "can't win" and so he didn't do what it takes to win - what I call a self-fulfilling delusion.
Additionally, without Dr. Paul himself standing behind these candidates and campaiging for them, I doubt they will get much money from this group. That, and it's not like this demographic has many deep pockets. Most of the people I know personally involved here locally came no where near the legal limits donating to Paul's campaign, but they are maxed out. They were willing to sacrifice for Liberty, but they saw even their hero not spend the money wisely. That'll really take the wind out of any sail.
Posted By: stefan
Date: 2008-07-11 14:26:10
Hopefully the revolutionmarch will inspire to new enthusiasm. It is natural that after Super Tuesday some level of enthusiasm died down, but this can be relived. One should consider Paul fared all the better in the later primaries and this is encouraging. Some of the RP candidates are really good, but many of them in strong Democratic districts. However a few could succeed with an upset!? Other politicians also need to be brought in, and therefore it is good that ex-gov. Gary Johnson will also be in St. Paul.
Perhaps one should organise someone witht he Campaign for Liberty to organize the next moneybomb for candidates. I t would be good if many of them could be at the march and present themselves. A few of them in NV and WA are running against incumbents in a month or so, if if they win, it would be great news.
Some in the Paul campaign used the wrong formulation in February. One need to revitalize the revolution and take it to a new high. Many people probably took some rest. Dailypaul still quite active. I think Dr. Paul was not so enthusiastic to run in the beginning, but with the first moneybomb and spontaneous support he was aiming at the presidency. He just want to be realistic and not leave expectations that may not be met. The ignorance by the media also plays some role to ignore one.
Posted By: Commander
Date: 2008-07-11 21:21:44
Tough questions for our future. I think many are burned out from the Ron Paul campaign failures, they were not ready for prime time. We sorely need another Ron Paul, but there is no one even close on the horizon. Movements need leaders, that is our problem.
The way forward is to stay engaged in the republican party to take back conservatism. Each one of us need to continue to educate and promote the message of freedom, liberty and a return to a constitutionally restrained federal government. We need to support the freedom slate 08, unfortunately for all the problems, this is the best option at the moment. Until we can coalse around the next Dr. Paul we need to keep working. Did anyone really think we were going to get Dr. Paul elected and change the country in one election cycle? Americans are deeply brain washed to beleve exactly the opposite of what we are promoting!
I for one will always carry the Revolution banner, through discussing these topics with friends and family. Its all I can do for my country.
Posted By: Gigione
Date: 2008-07-12 06:23:49
I may not have the money to send all the time because of the current economy. Instead I am investing my time, which is money to me, to educate people to the Liberty(Ron Paul) message. The movement is not dead, we are just in a different phase. America is ripe to hear the message and people ask me how they can vote for Ron Paul, or candidates like him etc. I thank Ron Paul for opening my eyes and inspiring me to get involved. No sitting on the sidelines for me...The Revolution Continues!!!
Posted By: USMC Vet Ryan
Date: 2008-07-12 09:46:04
It's too bad that this was just a smear tactic against BTM - your lack of tact is sad.
Posted By: Craig in wisconsin
Date: 2008-07-12 09:58:02
I've been sending lyman mail to the junk folder for months and months. I gave my email to show support for paul. NOT to be spammed to death. I recently gathered signatures to get a "freedom" candidate on the ballot in my district. To say we are no longer activists is just silly, you just no longer hear of our activism because we are spread out and not focused on one campaign. I"ll be in minnesota. we'll see then if Ron Paul supporters have crawled into the woodwork. Have faith that those who have learned cannot unlearn what they now know, and they will act on what they know when the time is right. I will ride toward the sound of gunfire..
Posted By: Stefan
Date: 2008-07-12 11:44:14
Dr. Rand Paul has also met with some of the candidates and endorsed them, like Amit Singh, who almost won his primary after a smear campaign. One can understand that Dr. Paul may not endorse a third party candidate running against a GOP incumbent, though he may very much agree and root for the third party or Indy or LP or CP candidate.
I think the campaign for liberty should organize a money bomb for the Ron Paul Republicans that Dr. Paul endorsed. A structurally independent PAC or organisation from the CFL but 100% alligned should organize a professional moneybomb for all the other candidates.
Posted By: Stefan
Date: 2008-07-12 11:46:45
A good idea for especially the very young and new candidates would be to get endorsements from local people and perhaps important reliable people, with a picture perhaps. I think people want to know the person is reputable. With Dr. Paul they can see his consistent voting record.
Posted By: paul
Date: 2008-07-13 21:48:08
Like the Ron Paul speech, I am still hoping he will give in and become the VP on the LP ticket. They have a sight commited to seeing this happen. Its http://www.BarrPaul08.com
Go sign the petition!
Go Ron Paul REVOLUTION...!!!You might be able to sign the Petitioin at http://www.VeepPeek.com as well
Posted By: Jake
Date: 2008-07-15 13:23:03
Walt on the site http://www.campaignforliberty.com/ it currently says there is 69,844 members. I did not mean to accuse you of calling the movement dead. You did say "...It remains to be seen whether he\'ll succeed in keeping things going. Their goal is to acquire 100,000 supporters on an ongoing basis, but so far their website shows no signs that that goal is anywhere near achievable. I hope they succeed, but I\'m not betting the farm on it."
My point is that what is most important is to look at ways to restart the bandwagon movement. It seems like many times in the article you say the movement still has some diehards (like yourself) but that you are very unsure they will be able to turn it around. I don\'t want you to think that I am saying look at it foolishly or blindly, but instead believe that it can be revived and write mainly about the good opportunities rather that the unlikeliness of success in the future
Posted By: Ken
Date: 2008-07-17 11:05:06
Jake, I agree with your comments. I think it says something that CampaignForLiberty.com has - as I write this - 70,408 members "signed up" according to the front page.
We should keep in mind that the 70,408 we're talking about here are NOT the leftovers of some previous collection of mailing lists - these are people who have signed up *since* the inception of the web site. Remember,CampaignForLiberty.com was introduced by Dr. Paul at the same time that he put his campaign on hold.
Can we really argue that many in the Ron Paul/Liberty movement were disillusioned with the outcome of Dr. Paul's run for office? At least 70,408 of us were NOT so disillusioned - we signed up for Dr. Paul's new site even after he suspended his campaign.
I think it says something telling about BreakTheMatrix.com that there are fewer than 9,000 people signed up there, even though that site has been up and running - and being marketed hard - for a longer time than CampaignForLiberty.com.
Please don't get me wrong - I am signed up at BTM and I support, in large measure, their goals and what they're trying to accomplish. I'm simply pointing out that there's a big difference between having a BTM effort fall short, and claiming that the Liberty Movement as a whole is running out of steam.
The Ron Paul Revolution dead? Far from it. It's just going to take a while to find some new rallying points.