Smart To Stay Off The Ballot?
Submitted by Riles Drey on Wed, 11/07/2012 - 12:26By not filing as a write-in candidate for president, Ron Paul might have committed his last selfless act of service to the liberty movement.
If you check the Google election results (http://www.google.com/elections/ed/us/results) you will see that Ron Paul's name does not even show up. That is because most states do not count write in votes where the candidate has not filed formally with the secretary of state. As a result some Paulistas defected to Gary Johnson. Johnson pulled a paltry (relatively speaking) 1% of the electorate. While this is significant in the history of the Libertarian Party, it was not even close to enough to have moved the needle for Romney. Of course, the assumption is that Libertarians are taking votes away from Republicans, which is not a given.
What we do know is that many in the liberty movement pulled the lever for Ron Paul out of principle (I did). I haven't done a scientific survey or anything but I would guess he pulled more votes than Gary Johnson. If that is the case, Ron Paul did have a great impact on the election, on the same order of magnitude as Nader and Perot.
The difference between these third party mavens and Ron Paul is that he (and thus the revolution) can't be made the scapegoat for Republican ineptitude because there's no statistical evidence that he had a significant impact on the outcome.
I believe Ron Paul wanted to ensure the survival of the movement. Instead of feeding his ego by pointlessly jumping on the ballot, only to lose in the end, he decided that in the long run, it's better for the liberty movement to continue to have a strong voice; something that would not have been possible if we were blamed for the continuation of Obama's presidency. History has not been kind to Nader and Perot, but history will remember Ron Paul as a secular prophet and founder of the greatest movement in the approaching history of American politics.
Ron Paul's time has passed, but the movement lives on because he chose not to make it about him. This fight is much bigger than Ron Paul. Now let's get busy and do some work y'all.
Ron Paul's Time has passed?
Pffffffffffft! He's just getting started! Now, let's get busy and do some work!
"A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within" W. Durant
I know it's tough to hear
I've been a Paulista since 1999 when I made my liberty conversion. It's extremely sad for me too, but listen to what Ron Paul himself is telling us. He wants the next generation of freemen to take the reins of the revolutionary horse and charge forward. He talks constantly about Justin Amash and others of the rising generation who are picking up the standard. I will always admire and appreciate Dr. Paul, but the movement has to be bigger than him.
We're on the same page, brother, especially since your name is Freeman. Let's do this.