Topic: Ron Paul
Dear Ron Paul...Love, US We Trusted You and You Gave Us Hope. Now Trust and Let Us Show You The Way Home.by Anthony Cinelli
(Libertarian)
Sunday, February 10, 2008
We, as Ron Paul Revolutionaries, have been reading lately about trusting your judgement regarding your decision to ultimately not run for President outside of the Republican party and I agree with your line of reasoning. The Republicans will indeed blame you for their inevitable defeat in November with an independent run. It is an ironic situation considering no one recognized your impact on the election, but would ultimately blame you for the outcome. However, after talking with fellow Revolutionaries, taking the current situation/year into consideration, I have come up with the following conclusions regarding a possible "third party" presidential victory:
1. You hint at fears that your political career would be destroyed if you leave the Republican party. This may be true in the Republican realm, but many others have sounded the bell for their dissatisfaction of the current party and also joked about creating a new third party. The Republican party has already left you, left all of us true conservatives, and I've been raised on the notion that you can't give good, give love where it cannot be received.
2. You are nearing your "golden" years and, unfortunately not getting any younger. With all due respect, there isn't too much time left in your political career. Your mentoring and leadership could mean the world to younger politicians who take all of your views and determination to heart, and would be honored, waiting and willing, to step into your shoes when the time comes to continue this Revolution for years to come.
3. It's possible that there just isn't a third party out there that would serve as a proper vehicle for you Ron Paul and our "Revolution", hence your reluctance to consider a third party. I would imagine any existing third party courting your Presidential run and your leadership would have a few hoops for you to jump through, and may possibly conflict with your complete platform. I completely agree with you, in that you should not have to waiver in the least in ANY of your platform positions for a Presidential run, and is the main reason we are all behind you...your unwavering values and beliefs and the conviction to stand behind them 100%
4. There has NEVER been such strength, such activism in ANY campaign for EITHER party. You, Sir, have hit on a nerve, and to delegate now to status quo would be a HUGE mistake. Already, our supporters are running around arguing at each other, confused, without any clear leadership or direction for the movement. We need you more than ever to step up, take full responsibility and credit for what you have started, and let us continue on this journey together.
5. There has NEVER been a greater opportunity for an "third party" presidential election in our history. 33% of Americans now identify themselves as independent voters, not to mention our disenfrancised voters that did not/could not vote in the primary but would vote in a regular election. You could at the very least triple your numbers in a Presidential run. Your primary numbers continue to skyrocket, as this Revolution is really starting to gain momentum. It's true that many of us just now truely got interested in the campaign, only to find that it was a little too late to make a difference in the primaries. But, we are ready now, just give us the next 8 months to show you what we can do together, and the next 8 years as the first 2-term "third-party" president in American history.
6. Regarding finances needed to get you on the ballot in each state...$6M in one day and that was just for a nomination. When you run for President, you will see that record broken, most likely doubled. With so many grassroots campaigns really hitting their stride now, learning valuable mistakes during this primary (more canvassing/calls, less signs), we are ready for a presidential election. It's only half time Dr. Paul , and the crowd is waiting for us to lead them to victory.
7. With such support from BOTH sides of the political spectrum, we could/should start a new party, to end all parties. I suggest calling the new party the "PROSERVATIVE" party, conservatives for the people. PRO Freedom, PRO Life, PRO Sound Currency, PRO Family...PROSERVATIVE. George Washington said the end of this country would be caused by political parties, and he was right. You should not think of this as a third-party run, but rather a true presidential run for the people, a party to end all parties, unified, standing in solidarity. It was Jesus that correctly instructed us to not pour new wine into old wineskins. Ron Paul, you have poured us all new wine, drank with us of our newfound freedom and of this revolution. The Republican party as it is now is an old wineskin, and cannot be repaired in time to save this country. It's time for a new wineskin Dr. Paul.
8. There may never be another opportunity like we have now. The country is headed toward a depression, and the dollar is being debased as we speak. Our jobs are moving overseas, and your current supporters, all of us, may not be able in a few years to give what we can give now. We can't wait for the situation to worsen, change from the inside out. This house of ours, our GOP, is rotted from the inside out, and can not be repaired in time to save this country. Our country is desperate for true leadership, NOW.
There won't be another shot at this, and although this is not exactly how we all saw things unfolding, most people did not expect a candidate like you Dr. Paul to stand up for all of us, give us a voice.
In closing, Dr. Paul, let us take care of you, and don't worry about your "Republican" future. This country needs you more than the Republican party, or any party needs you. Don't let party politics get in the way of seeing the only right way to move forward. With great power comes great responsibility. You may have not asked for all of this, and a little overwhelmed by it all, but God does not give us more than we can handle, and by our side through it all. Have faith in God, in yourself, and in us to see this thing through, sky's the limit, and take this Revolution, always first and foremost based in LOVE, to its ultimate resolution....FREEDOM FOR ALL!
With utmost admiration and love,
--- Anthony Cinelli
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2008 Anthony Cinelli, all rights reserved.
Published: Sunday, February 10, 2008
Last modified: Sunday, February 10, 2008
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When the crimes of some in the present US government who hide behind secrecy and confidentiality are exposed, free Americans will rally around Ron Paul, America's hope.
Posted By: Dale B Pettit
Date: 2008-02-10 07:33:56
This is a personal plea to Dr. Ron Paul. Please consider the arguments outlined in this article, they are sound and reasonable points for continuing a Presidental bid for the White House. When one door closes, options open that are much greater, with greater impact than every before.
My additional argument is that both the Republican and Democratic parties, the system of primary nominations and the purchased Major Media are to restrictive and controlling for a true patriot to participate with their established rules.
A movement has been started, millions of energized voters have appeared and your constitutional cause has become the hope and dream of our future. The events of the last few days and the controlled process has opened a door of magnificant proportions. Unlimited opportunity to revitilize and unite the people of this great nation under the guidance of our founding fathers vision.
Yes, call us together under a new name, invite all the "fringes" (Major media marginlizing us) of this nation to join together our forces for Freedom and Liberty for all.
The surpise will be the financial backing, the overwhelming personal responsibility each supporter will take and everyone will know about the "revolution". Please hear my plea, please let us proceed in your name and unleash your supporters into this nation and world.
I am a Ron Paul supporter and a marketing guy. In my opinion it's better for Ron Paul to go as Republican because:
1. He already positioned himself as Republican as he always say that he's a 10th term R. To say suddenly that he's a Libertarian candidate would sound flip floping.
2. Many people do not vote for Ron Paul not because he's a Republican but because they haven't heard Paul's message. This is the most important issue in this campaign. Everyone of us must canvass and convert people. The ground war must follow up on the internet war. Many evidence of county successes when this strategy is executed.
3. Ron Paul is following the Supporter, and the supporter is decelerating in donation.
4. Ron Paul has to save his congressional seat and to campaign in Texas also. This is smart.
Going independent is dangerous because:
1. You have no specific market to target. No specific people of base to capture. The confusion with Juan McCain being wolf in a sheep dress is advantageous for Ron Paul.
2. Ron Paul will loose his unique selling proposition as the Republican who wants to bring back the party to its true core. This is a major problem. If Ron Paul had not been so obvious in this USP maybe we can build another one. But this USP is great because I think for once a politician is naturally telling the truth. Ron Paul is telling people that he really wants to repair the party because that's his true intention. That's to precious to substitute with an independent party just to win for the sake of winning.
Ron Paul is the only candidate for president. I will be writing his name in on my ballot regardless of nomination. Also, If the good doctor is not president next year, I will be selling everything I have left and moving my family out of the USA. With no plans to return, ever…
Thank you for your heartfelt article. It is so true that Ron Paul has opened the eyes of many! I also agree with you that it is time for a new party. But we would still run into the same problem we have run into thus far......very limited, if any, media coverage. So..........a plan would have to be set up to counter that if we were to move forward. Anyone have any ideas?
1. He has always stressed that he's a Republican, true. However, he has shown willingness to work with third parties in the past, as best demonstrated by his Libertarian run in 1988. He remains a life member of the Libertarian Party in good standing, and while he would definitely be attacked as a flip-flopper for running against the GOP, the truth of the matter is that the GOP itself has flip-flopped by throwing its weight behind a man that epitomizes the phrase "bleeding-heart liberal." Let's not forget, the Republican Party itself has been no friend to Dr. Paul, despite his own devotion to the party of Taft.
2. The message is of course the key point, but as long as we're only seeking Republican primary votes we will only be tapping into a limited voter pool that will be much smaller than that of the general election. There will be many dissatisfied voters in November - Republicans, Democrats, Independents and Third Partisan - who saw their candidate and their issues cast aside as party faithful once again sacrificed good ideas and bold leadership in favor of a misguided notion of pragmatic electability. With a candidate that can speak to them, they will come out in November. Without, they will stay home.
3. If you look at the actual trend, this current plunge in donations has been a direct correlation to the Super Tuesday results, the long and awkward pause between then and Friday, and a new fall after Dr. Paul's latest announcement. Being dealt a defeat, lacking any notion of where we're going next, and then reading from our candidate's own hand that we will continue on a contest he himself acknowledges we will not win has naturally left many supporters with no reason to continue providing funding. I believe that if Ron Paul's last statement had been a herald of a third party run, or even a simple plea to focus on the congressional primary for now and expect more word after, we would be seeing better numbers than we are now.
4. No one wants to see Dr. Paul lose his congressional seat. Also, no one wants to see his presidential campaign end as a fruitless quest for some fraction of delegates that will not hold and balance of power in September. While I agree that now is the time to hold the district, I would like to see him press on in a real, active presidential campaign right up to the general election.
Regarding the dangers:
1. While the massive flaws of John McCain are readily apparent, it doesn't seem that the Republican primary voters are making a massive turn to Dr. Paul to try to stop him. Quite the contrary, after months of never having heard of him, most of the anti-McCain vote is going to the theocratic candidate of the moment. Dr. Paul himself has acknowledged that he will not get to broker the convention - any advantages brought by competing against John McCain are immaterial.
There are target audiences for a third party or independent run by Dr. Paul. He already has a strong base of support within the two largest third parties in the country (the Constitution Party by registration, and the Libertarian Party by dues-paying membership and office-holders). There is also room for support from Republicans that are as of now talking about voting for Hillary or Obama rather than vote for McCain. Should Hillary become the democratic candidate, there will be more than enough anti-war democrats desperate to vote for a candidate that represents their views. Even should Obama take that contest, there are more than a few that read his message as "out of Iraq, into Iran." These are much broader potential bases than the Republican party has to offer.
2. While trying to save the Republican Party is an honorable intention, past experience shows it's much easier said than done. We've seen that primary voters are more interested in who they see on the TV news than in researching the candidates that get ignored by moderators during the debates. We've seen Pat Buchanan's grassroots make it to posts within state and local GOP organizations, only to be outmaneuvered by higher levels of the party have broad power to suppress an upstart movement within its ranks. They will not yield to us because we are right, nor even because we have a mandate to bring on the changes we seek. If we want to see an end to the RINOs and neocons, we must defeat them, not beg for their scraps.
Maybe someone can address the possibilities of a write-in campaign. Is this even allowable in all States? If he forms a new party, doesn't it have to be registered and isn't this a difficult and expensive prospect? Can't he just run as an independent without party affiliation?
Hate the name proservative, though, sounds like preservativo - condom in Spanish ;)
In some states it is not possible to cast a write-in (Oklahoma comes to mind, I don't recall if there are more). In many others, write-ins are simply not counted if they aren't enough of them to win, or sometimes at the whim of the local election authority (I think this happenned in Pennsylvania in 04). There is also the problem that many write-in votes are disregarded due to issues like legibility or extra procedures to follow that all voters might not be aware of (in California, one must fill in a seperate arrow on the ballot, which many people forget to do). And, many people assume that if someone isn't on the ballot, they aren't running. Not every Ron Paul supporter is "plugged in" to the revolution through the internet or official campaign announcements, some probably just picked their candidate and do no more or less than cast their vote.
Running as an independent is a mixed bag. In some states (most notably for us, Texas) it takes more petition signatures to run as an independent than within a third party. Other states are just the opposite, and some are equal.
Creating a new party is definitely an expensive proposition. Which is why I'd prefer another Libertarian, Constitution, or joint run. With the Libertarian Party Dr. Paul would have immediate ballot access in 27 states (as of now, they usually get on all 50+1, or close). With the Constitution Party, he'd have 15 as of now, and probably more by election day. With both, we'd have any states they don't have in common (I think W. Virginia is going to have the CP on the ballot but possibly not the Libertarians). We the grassroots could fill any gaps. This would bypass seeing our write-ins not counted, and the expense of creating a new party or starting an independent run.
Some of my figures on ballot access might be sketchy, but I'm fairly certain. If you want to get a better idea of the requirements to get on the November ballot, check out http://www.ballot-access.org/2008/010108.html#16
American Patriot Party - The The APP, established in 2003, was "founded on the basic principals set forth by our founding fathers, that the federal government should only have the powers set forth in the framework of the Constitution and all other power to be delegated back to the states. Although everyone has thier own opinions on all issues, we believe it is up to the states to decide what should and should not be mandated, banned or regulated." The APP supports a crackdown on illegal immigration, making English fluency a requirement of US citizenship, abolishing the IRS and repealing the federal income tax, imposing steeper taxes and tariffs on imported goods, abolition of the centralized Federal Reserve System, withdrawing the US from the Untied Nations, imposing a foreign policy of non-interventionism, and ending federal involvement in education. No candidates fielded to date, but the APP have formed party chapters in several states -- with the Oregon state party group taking the lead in attempting to organize a national effort. The APP vows that their candidates will be "statesmen, not politicians."
Posted By: Anthony Cinelli
Date: 2008-02-10 15:10:55
Thanks for all the positive comments, feedback everyone. I will be putting up an initial interest group signup on http://www.proservative.us by around 5PM PST today, 2/10.
Feel free to contact me directly regarding this article : anthony at proservative.us . I registered the domain about 3 years ago, and waiting for someone like Ron Paul and all of you to lead the charge. Regarding current third parties, I have nothing but respect for anyone involved in change, our political process. However, this movement is truly unique in American history and trying to "fit" it into an existing third party may cut off its wings, not an exact fit. We need to mold a new party around our Ron Paul Revolution, and not the other way around. Otherwise, it fits the same argument against remaining with the Republican party...New wine into old wineskins. Anyone familiar with this adage understands that it doesn't necessarily mean the new wine "is too good" for the old wineskin. The true meaning is that the old wineskin, when attempting to pour new wine into it, will break. A new "wineskin" is essential to pour new "wine" into, and anything less will burst.
There are too many of us to let this r3VOLution go. We will all continue the fight state by state but we must have a Plan B if the "under-the-radar" delegates to the Convention plan fails. So the question is, if we build it, will he come?
If Dr. Paul does not end up being the last man standing in the race for the Republican nomination, I, and millions of other patriotic (and frightened) Americans, believe he should pursue an Independent (or 3rd party) run for the White House. There is far too much at stake right now to surrender just because the GOP is corrupt to the core and will not allow him to win.
If Dr. Paul is really what he appears to be, and I believe he is, I would hope he would do whatever it takes to save this country. Right now, there is no one else who is able to do so. To those who say this would likely throw the election to the Democrats, I say so what! They are going to win anyway, if Dr. Paul is not on the ballot, and if anyone other than Dr. Paul is our next President, we are doomed. As Dr. Paul has said himself, we may not have another chance. It's now or never. The rEVOLution must succeed, and one way or anther Dr. Paul must be our President.
I think Ron should run with the Constitution Party as opposed to the Libertarian Party. Although he speaks highly of libertarian values and ran with the party in the past, he defends his voting record along a strict constitutionalist line. If a 3rd party is to arise, wouldn't it be better to have one with its core values essentially those bestowed to us by the founding fathers, not fickle and fascile like the attitudes of both the republican and democratic parties since their inceptions. I think Ron could help launch a 3rd party, but make it a party where the values you defend are non-negotiable.
Can anyone tell me why Ron Paul needs to "accept" a party nomination? What if the Constitution Party, the Libertarian Party (including me), and any other pro-Ron Paul parties, each simply nominated Ron Paul for President?
You go to the ballot in November and see Ron Paul three or four times. Is this possible?
Posted By: Matt Kerbouchard
Date: 2008-02-11 21:41:10
Let's organize a PAULAPALOOZA! An event so large that the world will see it and hear it. A july 4th celebration of liberty and freedom that will change America and the world.
There must be some music groups that would love to get on board. We will invite many speakers and Ron Paul could attend and speak as well. Perhaps we could find a way to broadcast it to the world.
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2008 Anthony Cinelli, all rights reserved.