Plan A, Plan B

If you have watched campaign coverage of Ron Paul in the last few days you know that there has been a great deal of talk about how "dangerous" Paul and his supporters are to the general election chances of Mitt Romney or any other republican nominee that isn't Ron Paul. This is an opportunity that we need to exploit. It is not time for us to begin thinking about the leverage that our vote could have over the platform of the republican party coming out of the national convention. While I think it would be great for Ron to speak at the convention, I do not think that should be a primary goal of us supporters. I am not about to bargain away four years of dedication for some empty campaign promises.

I am a forward thinker and a realist. I do not bank on one single goal or one single strategy in my approach to campaigning for Ron Paul. I consider the different contingencies, such as a brokered convention, a third party run, an Obama victory, a Romney victory, etc. Which is what leads me to develop what I call plan B.

Plan A is simple, it is to campaign as hard as possible for Ron Paul in the hopes that he takes the republican nomination. If Ron Paul does not get the needed number of delegates, then a brokered convention is the best we can hope for. Nobody disputes plan A.

Plan B is a little more sophisticated, since it both encourages Plan A, but also redirects its focus. Plan B is to prevent a republican from winning the general in the case that Ron Paul does not get the nomination. This supports Plan A because it means telling republican voters to vote Ron Paul because the election prospects of any other candidate are sunk without our support. So plan B is really in line with Plan A, however, the emphasis shifts to how we are going to prevent a republican victory in 2012. There are two ways, 1) One is to simply refuse to vote for the republican nominee under any and all circumstances 2) Get behind a third party candidate even if it isn't Ron Paul (but especially if it is Ron Paul).

The importance of Plan B is clear. If a Republican other than Ron wins the election in 2012, our cause for liberty will be put on hold for 8 years as opposed to only 4 in the event that Obama wins. The only other possibility would be for a Democratic candidate that somehow rallies us the same as Ron Paul. Not likely. This is because the incumbent's nomination is essentially not at stake in the primary during re-election like in the opposition party, where several candidates vie for the nomination. This means that we need to be as committed to preventing a republican victory for Mitt or Newt or whoever takes the nomination (other than Ron Paul) as we need to be committed to getting Ron Paul the nomination.

The two plans are not mutually exclusive so there should be no conflict here. But we must be vigilant. Nothing will harm the campaign for freedom more than 8 years of establishment presidents. If we can't win this year, at least we can create the opportunity to try again in 2016.