Topic: Ron Paul
An Open Letter to Ron Paul Supporters The Ron Paul movement lives on, according to the mainstream media’s begrudging coverage in the wake of the Republican delegate infighting and Dr. Paul’s new book “Revolution: A Manifesto.”by jposty
(libertarian)
Monday, May 5, 2008
The Ron Paul movement lives on, according to the mainstream media's begrudging coverage in the wake of the Republican delegate infighting and Dr. Paul's new book "Revolution: A Manifesto."
But does it?
In the sense there is still a large coalition of the willing - in both time and money - the answer is a resounding yes. But will this superficial support transcend the immediate and manifest into a sustaining revolution. Maybe not.
Not at least in its current form. The term 'cult of personality' is used ad noseum especially in this election cycle, usually in reference to Obama. Yet, the same syndrome can be used to describe the average paulista.
Not that there is anything inherently wrong with being wrapped up in the movement especially once the momentum begins building but we [I'll break journalist integrity for a moment] need to get our act together to begin to be taken seriously.
The lack of a real understanding of policies is patently offensive. Don't misconstrue that comment as elitism the standard line for most Paul supporters is simply 'less government' or a 'Fed is bad' comment.
This coalition, that is being built upon Libertarians, Republicans, Conservatives, Constitutional Scholars, Independents et al. need to become policy wonks. Every proposed bill or policy initiative needs to be analyzed and refuted on a case by case basis with statistics, facts and pragmatism mixed with principled beliefs rather than relying on talking points.
The Paul movement has rightly-so criticized both the Democrats and Republicans for their talking points, yet they themselves have degraded themselves to the minute or two sound byte, or the even more aptly put, two to three sentence rebuttal of a policy based on generalities.
The revolutionaries need to model themselves more closely after its leaders and supportive pundits, such as, Reason.org, the American Conservative, lewrockwell.com, Chronicles Magazine and theprometheusinstitute.org.
These organizations are a guiding light to this movement, if more liberty minded Paul supporters made a commitment to not only read but apply their reasoning and statistical analysis to their debates it would inevitably be more effective.
Most Republican officials and party hacks have been criticizing the legion of constitutional Paul supporters in state delegate conventions already. The only way to change their opinions and refute the current neo-conservative thinking in the party is to become policy wonks.
Paul supporters need to immerse themselves in the inner working of the financial market and the economy in general. Just knowing the Fed is unconstitutional will not help the movement, the constant Fed watch and the diagnosis of every policy, is in order to win the "hearts and minds" of the American citizenry.
Even though Paul himself has said the Iraq war was the direct causation for him entering the race, the underlying economic theme was the real basis. Dr. Paul has fought diligently throughout the 70's, 80's and 90's for economic reform.
At this juncture in American politics, it is the most 'sell-able' platform for the Paul message. The war in Iraq, the war on drugs and the war on the middle class are only extensions on the theme of monetary policy. They are all symptoms of the underlying problem that is failing American economic model.
America has distanced itself from its original, Adam Smith, Milton Friedman, Murray N. Rothbard et al., free-market economic model. Regardless of anyones opinion of wealth or the accumulation of it, it runs the world.
If America the world will follow adopts a true economically free platform it will drastically be a positive force on all other aspects of personal freedom. If someone is able to invest and purchase as they see fit with sound currency it will transcend economics and begin to manifest into civil liberties and ultimately independence for a burgeoning federal government. It will become a logical jump, if you will.
Again, if anything, this was intended to be a motivational, constructive criticism, piece on the Ron Paul revolution. Everything that has been fought, tooth and nail, will be for naught, unless the Paulistas can rally behind a political junkie platform of a mixture between numbers and facts mixed with principles and a true freedom oriented platform.
The views expressed in this
article are those of jposty only and do not represent
the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. jposty 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.
From the blogs to the Students for Ron Paul group on my campus... to working with RP supporters when I canvased here in Florida, I noticed a general lack of in-depth knowledge on policies.
Which isn't unique among Americans... but i think we can do better and should be better than all other political observers because we have truth and freedom on our side.
I agree. If we (the Ron Paul supporters) are going to "talk the talk" we should be "walking the walk". Everyone will have to get involved one way or another and try to make a difference.
Don't overlook a knowledge of history as it applies to those things Dr. Paul opposes. The reason a central bank is bad is because it eventually destroys the country which adopts it through debasement of the currency. ALWAYS.
Sadly, it is a part of human nature to want something now even if the fix causes worse problems in the future. In a nutshell, this is the true nature of politics: pandering to the crowd's desire for a quick fix regardless of the long term cost. An important theme of the r3VOLution is refocussing the masses on the long term good even if short term pain results.
Dr. Paul's supporters need to understand WHY they oppose things, which is sort of the point of the original post.
Cases in point: The FED, Social Security, Medicare, Ethanol, Deposit Insurance, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Campaign Finance reform. Each is/was a short term fix which has resulted in larger, longer term problems. There are countless numbers of other examples too.
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