Topic: Election 2008
Can we get Ron Paul on the ballot fast enough? If all the third parties align behind one great candidate, we can actually do something about the two party system. We fail because we are a disjunctive gaggle of true believersby Aaron Bellyacher
(libertarian)
Friday, August 22, 2008
What if we got Ron Paul ballot access? Is it too late? I am absolutely fed up right now. McCain is a big government, nation-building Democrat and Obama is clearly marching us towards socialism AND I CAN'T TELL WHICH IS WORSE!
Lets do some math - the Campaign for Liberty should break 100,000 in a week or two. That's 100,000, mostly activists and people who feel very strongly about Ron Paul and his message. All of these people found Ron Paul during the republican primary. If he was in the general election, we'd finally be able to unleash this furious campaign for liberty that might very well ignite a fire inside the hearts and minds of the great men and women in this great country.
Ron Paul has said he doesn't want to run 3rd party because he doesn't think it's possible to get a fair shake which is true, he wouldn't, but how did we find him? Another reason might be that it is too much work for too little results, but look at what happened during the republican primaries! He was pessimistic about 08 and now look at his success!
Remember this; the Republican primary is only relevant to so many people. There are a lot of Liberals that have aligned themselves with us after a few good conversations with a straight shooting, well spoken libertarian.
Could you imagine what would happen if Ron Paul ran as a 3rd Party?
He's always said that a third party might have some success if the person is very rich, or if they are a celebrity, well Ron Paul is a celebrity now and he's got five million to spend right away when he announces it. He has a book on the NY times best seller list for 16 weeks and had no media coverage during the election. When the networks do mention Ron Paul, they always talk about how ardent his supporters are. We are an army, this campaign has changed lives. We will continues to change lives, day by day, minute by minute.
The networks would actually cover his third party run for a few reasons. The main reason is to fill air time. All of us who have turned on FoxNews or CNN in the last year know that they have literally no material. They will cover anything election related. Another reason is that most people aren't happy with McBama anyway and Ralph Nader just never caught on. Ron Paul is hot of the press in 08, at least in the mainstream culture's perspective
I read that Kent Snyder, the Congressman's campaign chairman who passed away this summer, really had to push the reluctant Ron Paul into the primaries, and now there is no Kent to push him, so it has to be us!
If Ron Paul gained 1.1 Million votes in the republican Primary, he will get them again. If Ron Paul is in the general election, he will get many, many anti war liberal votes.
Most people do not like Obama's idea of America as a "Nanny State" and McCain's belligerent foreign policy. These people will either stay home, or vote for Nader this year, but remember I'm talking about this year, this is Ron Paul's year.
Back to the math:
If we take Ron paul's original 1.1 million, Nader's one million, the 500,000 the Libertarians would get, the Constitution Party's 300,000 and the 100,000 from the green party. We're already at three million, and that's before we target the smaller parties and independents. Heck, we could even take votes from Alan Keyes (50,000?) and whichever American independant party he is aligned with.
I mean this with all due respect, obviously I like Baldwin and Barr, but I'm talking about a comprehensive plan to align the third parties, in an effort to break up the clusterfuk we've had in Washington for a long time.
Three million and change. Some would say "well Obama has like a twenty times that"
Listen. Three million is a big number, and we're about to double it next week.
"How you gonna do that?"
Well, first we're going to start talking to people that wanted to vote for Clinton, then we're going to get all the rest of the disaffected democrats, then we're going to get all the disaffected Republicans, and we're going to start talking to people. Then we're going to take back this Country.
Then we're going to go talk to the Obama people. Has anyone ever spoken to a real Obama supporter?
Have they been able to identify their positions? I can't find an Obama supporter that really knows what they stand for, and most agree with Ron Paul more than Obama, they just don't know it because I don't want to burst their giddy bubbles.
Now we have identified the target audience, we can double our number in the first month.
We get to six million - these people will be converts, just like I was, just like everyone I know is, and it will go like that
Maybe he wont win the election, but that would be a heck of blow to the establishment and it would forever immortalize the Libertarian platform.
The views expressed in this
article are those of Aaron Bellyacher only and do not represent
the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Aaron Bellyacher 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.
If you visit www.ballot-access.org you can see a chart of where everyone has qualified so far and the deadlines. Some have already past a few more remain. Every state has different rules but they are all quite restrictive. It is actually a great web site updated daily with news you will never hear otherwise.
I, too, wished Ron would have ran but for whatever reason he did not. My best alternative was to support Bob Barr who believes in less government and more freedoms. Please check out www.bobbarr2008.com He might be an option for you come November.
Posted By: Andrew Panken
Date: 2008-08-22 18:56:57
No, it's too late. None of us had the foresight to pull an Indie Green Party on Ron. We thought no is no. So, we just have to make do with Barr or Baldwin which is causing some intramovement friction, besides the fact that Dr. Paul is the best candidate, neither Barr or Baldwin have the background of Ron Paul. Though, either Barr or Baldwin would be okay standing behind Paul.
Why do you think that the Democratic centeristists who supported hillary whould switch to Ron Paul who is anti-choice? If they can't stomach Obama they are still much more likely to support McCain even if if he choises a hard line neo-con. The only real advantage that Ron Paul has is his ability to get support from the very conservative right wing of the Republican Party. I just don't see him drawing any more votes then he already has. No the Libertarians offfered him a shot he turned it down and now we have Bob Barr for this cycle. Stop getting distracted and focus on where we are and what we have to do.
Ok lets count votes. There will likely be around 110 million votes cast. If you could get 6 million Hillary supports and 1.2 million Ron Paul supporters and 2 million Barr and 2 million Nader you are hair over 11 million votes. the other two sides are splitting the 99 million remaining votes. You still havn't even made it to the debates. There will be no silver bullet this year it is much better to provide a consistent message and not generate confussion by switching things about with only two months to go. I like the idea of a unified third party but this is too late in the game for this cycle.
I liked your article and enjoyed your passion and enthusiasm.
However it is way too late to place Ron Paul on State Ballots even if Ron agreed to it which he doesn't for whatever insane reason.
Jonathan is right , you can learn a lot of state ballots and who is on them on www.ballot-access.org
Your choice comes to endorsing and supporting a candidate that does want to continue Ron Paul's revolution and my opinion is Bob Barr is that man. In addition it looks like Bob will be on more ballots than any other Third party candidate so he is the most viable choice and best option to really make some noize this election. It is simple, the more ballots you are on the more votes you can get.
good luck in finding your candidate to support this election
Posted By: Benjamin Vander Jagt
Date: 2008-08-23 07:48:00
Ron Paul is a great man with a spotless record. My family has known him since the 1980's, and we can say that he is not a flip-flop artist like the vast majority of politicians.
Bob Barr is not perfect, and his record is spotty. There are some policies of his that I disagree with and that the Libertarian party platform isn't aligned with. A great man does not align his platform with the platform of the party.
If Ron Paul is actively running for President come election time, such as by an overturned GOP Convention, then I'll vote for him. Otherwise, I'll be glad to see him still in congress.
I am a Ron Paul supporter, and there is one thing Bob Barr said recently that has made me a Bob Barr supporter as well. He said that in the last ten years his biggest change was his trust in the government. The founding fathers didn't trust the government, the people don't trust the government, Ron Paul doesn't trust the government, and electing a candidate who doesn't trust the government would be the epitome of electing "one of us". Bob Barr no longer trusts the government; he HAS taken the red pill.
Posted By: Diehard Liberal
Date: 2008-08-23 17:47:27
altho the earth would have trembled a bit, this liberal would have voted for Paul: i disagree with your stance that hillary voters would vote for Paul: worse than even McCain or Obama, she was totally pro-war. Idealogically on most issues, McCain and Obama are identical. I disagree with Paul on the following: I'm pro-choice, anti-anwr, and I think federal taxes are a necessary evil. However he had a strong following and may have had a bit of an advantage over Nader since he was in the debates where people could hear him speak (albeit muffled by the media). Because of this chance, I proudly held my anti-war sign in D.C. at the July Ron Paul Rally and would have voted for him in November. In retrospect I would ask you to consider voting for Nader because he is identical to Ron Paul on the following: (1) anti-corporate welfare (2) anti-Patriot Act (3) anti-Police State (4) anti-NAFTA / anti-WTO / anti-shipping jobs overseas (5) anti-FCC (6) anti-lobbyist (6) anti-war and anti-democracy building overseas. Like Paul, Nader has always seemed to have America’s best interest at heart. Also like Paul, Nader has more of a chance of pulling some votes than Bob Barr. I ventured to cross the political divide to support a man ideologically very close to Nader on those issues: won’t you do the same?
I don't think so. Change will have to come from the bottom up, not from the top down.
You're going to have to start in your own community and make changes where you can. I'd suggest getting involved in local Democratic and Republican politics. It would be easier to write yourself in for those elections where you can make a difference. If you want to run for congress, you're going to need allies, and that takes work. A physician-politician from Texas isn't going to make your local schools better and hold down your property taxes, you will.
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