Ron Paul's Open Source Campaign (By Lew Rockwell)
Submitted by retrorepublican on Mon, 08/13/2007 - 20:39 Bio | Blog | retro-republican.blogspot.com
Writes Jay Roberts:"I started thinking about the economics of the unofficial campaign when I saw the results of the supporters who whipped together a full page ad for the Ames paper in a couple of days. Wonderful result that would have taken weeks and lots of 'buckage' from a PR firm, assuming that they could even put together something as good as that.
"Anyhow, the unofficial RP campaign has a lot of similarities with open source efforts, which I deal with a lot in my startup software company. The dispersal of effort among dedicated volunteers can produce excellent results. We see that in open source, where the best of the applications are better than direct commercial competitors.
"Given that much of the RP unofficial campaign has arisen on the net among the tech savvy, the similarity between it and open source organizing principles is hardly coincidental.
"However, open source doesn't always work - the next biggest thing for some years has been desktop Linux, which remains problematic. Office applications are pretty lame, and open source has utterly failed in the CAD arena, despite this being a huge and interesting area. So one could be worrying, is a campaign something that works as open source, or is this just a lot of wasted effort that could be better spent elsewhere, or what sort of decisions are all these loons going to be making and can they be trused?
"Well, the real beauty of open source is that in addition to producing excellent results in certain areas is that it also ends up being a very efficient allocator of resources. Loser projects never get very far because the participants bail or don't attract much participation in the first place. Collectively, the herd generally spends its resources on winnable battles much more efficiently than commercial/government development efforts, where loser projects can stagger on for years sucking up resources.
"So it is nearly paradigmatic that big efforts by the unofficial campaign will be successful, it is the collective betting by the participants that gets enough resources to initiate a project. And we've seen this so far in nearly all the issues that this group has focused on - online polls, SC, Iowans for Tax Reform, etc. Bad ideas just languish on ronpaulforums.com without any takers.
"Sort of fascinating to see this in action."
Open source campaigning
Open source is OK provided the volunteers want to fulfill the usual campaign duties that a directed campaign has...and not going out to confront the police, while holding Ron Paul signs. Also, not everyone will know the revolution signs are a presidential campaign so they must at least be mixed with the regular ones that say Ron Paul for President 2008 with the website on them.
Just as LINUX was intended to fulfill the role of an operating system, the volunteers must take the place of the paid workers and get out there and BOOTH IT, every weekend, every venue. Just my thoughts after 20 years in this business.
Sometimes I feel like the unofficial campaign nazi here in NH, but dammit, I'm just trying to set a good example for what should be done and where to go on our own, even if the campaign isn't telling us to do it... this does not matter, BEING THERE DOES.
I implore the Meetups to GET INVOLVED in this. I'm tired of hearing excuses such as, Oh, it's a GOP event? No thanks... This is the wrong attitude to have. Remember, the only reason Ron is on the ballot is that he is a member of one of the two parties, a Republican.
Material Sharing
My girlfriend and I have been working on a RP video and have mined several picture sites for every picture we can find. I am working under the assumption that since they are also supporters they will not mind, but it seems like one person going to you tube could get the thing yanked. I will certainly recognize this site and others at the end but recognizing ever person posting pics in their flicker account could take longer then the video itself.
My thought is that if someone had the server space we could create one repository of pictures and video clips. People could post their pictures and videos (not you tube encrypted) for everyone to use. Then people who had the ability could use them in their creations. Just a thought. If someplace like this already exists please let me know where to find it.
Pic sharing great idea
Out of my capabilities, but great idea. One of the better one's I've seen on here today, but have been a lot. No sense in reinventing the wheel when time is important. Look forward to seeing more vid's in future.
Bob W., Naples, FL
Bob W., Naples, FL
Sharing
Rule of thumb: I like it when people post photos to WMUR our local NH TV station, because that is where the mainstream go to see the candidates. So when I see good photos on FLICKR I simply ASK. I've never been refused.
The other thing many of you are overlooking (I think) is the uReport for Fox News...to upload your videos there.
I wonder how many have tried that? I think I would have heard complaints that they weren't used if so.
Has anyone uploaded videos to them yet? I suppose they can grab them from YouTube...if they wanted.
Making more Ron Paul signs with less work.
I work among computer programmers, even though I'm not one. I sometimes have ideas for them and they sometimes actually do these ideas for me, which makes me happy. This is one of those times. I can't do this myself, but if someone else can it's likely to save the entire Ron Paul campaign a bit of work, especially as these things proliferate.
The idea stems from the fact that the Brevard/Melbourne Florida meetup just made a nice rEVOLution sign stencil -- see http://ronpaul.meetup.com/502/photos/199233/1879296/ for a few pics. I'm sure more and more of these sign stencils are about, and NOT making one saves energy and resources to go toward rEVOLution-signs. Making the stencil took a lot of time (and we were lucky to have talented and well equipped rEVOLutionaries!). It was fun, but obviously I don't want anyone within about 100 miles at least to also do it.
What we as a "herd of cats" campaign NEED to avoid duplication of this effort is a nationwide, state by state, directory of the approximate locations and at least email contact info behind ALL of these spray-paint sign-stencils. (The existence of this resource might also encourage more eEVOLution signs, which is never a bad thing!)
Anyway, if someone here can do it that's fine. If someone wants to repost the idea elsewhere, and see if it lives or dies in the marketplace of this campaign's ideas, that's fine with me too. I just hope someone with the talent steps up and actually does it. Thanks.
JMR
Git'along
I've heard it said that organizing libertarians is like herding cats. I never appreciated lack of organization as a good thing before. Now I see that a project led from the top down is one person's vision, and is likely to be flawed, whereas bottom-up thinking means one person begins with action, and IF it works, more follow in their footsteps.
"To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world."
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"To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world."
open source forums
Someone should post this on some open source forums. Those people are generally independent thinkers. I don't mind being part of Ron Paul's herd. He's a good shepard and listens to his flock;-)
The Herd?
The Herd?
MOOOOO!
It's OK; he's just saying that we're all out-standing in our fields.
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What is begun in anger, ends in shame.