Ron Paul - The Open Source Candidate

As the Database Programmer this is about the most beautiful piece I have read about Ron Paul. http://gwbliss.blogspot.com/2008/02/ron-paul-open-source-can...

Disclaimer - This article is NOT a pro Ron Paul Article. It is an attempt to explain the Ron Paul phenomenon and identify the key ingredients to what is occurring.

It is an attempt to show that market dynamics such as the Linux movement are being manifest very similarly in politics with the Ron Paul candidacy.

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Traditionally when someone runs for office, they court a certain constituency, modifying their position to garner the most support from a group of people. The candidate and their party build a platform to run on and people buy into the position. If more people buy into the position, then that candidate wins.

This year though, something fundamental has shifted the landscape. It is being seen but not felt, it is being observed but not understood. It is the Ron Paul effect.

Ron Paul is the Linux of the Political world. He is an open source candidate

Let me give you an example -

The other night was the California Republican Debate. An online poll was held to determine who the audience felt did the best. 90,000 people responded

You can view the results here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18436681

Here are some snippets from the poll:

Who stood out from the pack?

#1 Ron Paul - 56%
#2 Mitt Romney 16%
#3 Rudi Giuliani 11%

Who showed the most leadership qualities?

#1 Ron Paul 53%
#2 Mitt Romney 15%
#3 Rudy Giuliani 12%

Who was the most convincing candidate?

#1 Ron Paul 55%
#2 Mitt Romney 15%
#3 Rudy Giuliani 10%

What is going on here? Is Ron Paul the most dynamic National Leader to appear on the political landscape since Teddy Roosevelt?

No, he isn’t. This has very little to do with Ron Paul.

What it has to do with is a group of people who are tuned into the tools and the process. These people are tech savvy, are online, and are engaged. They represent a virtual world of people that the traditional (R)s and (D)s don’t understand.

Ron Paul has become a movement, far beyond the man it is named after. Ron Paul represents something fundamentally different about what is happening in American politics today.

This isn’t a Ross Perot, spending billions of his own money to be on the stage with the Republicans and Democrats. This is a humble man who seems to be as surprised as anyone that this is happening to him.

The money keeps coming in. Campaign signs spontaneously appear on street corners, he just won’t go away.

Why? Because his campaign and his candidacy are the opposite of traditional politics. Ron Paul is hardly aware of his supporters. He is questioned by the traditional media about accepting money from fringe groups with outlandish positions. His response is very well put.

“Just because they agree with what I believe doesn’t mean I agree with what they believe”

And when asked about returning the money of questionable donors, he flat out refuses.

He says, “It is better for me to be spending their money on my beliefs, than for them to be spending it on their beliefs.”

What has happened is that rather than seek out a group of people who he could represent, a group of people have sought him out. Ron Paul was found by his followers, he didn’t find them.

The Republicans and Democrats are attempting to sell their candidates just like a technology company would sell a product. They are attempting to build the most attract candidate that people will “Buy” with their votes.

But just like Linux, Ron Paul, isn’t selling anything. His position isn’t owned by a party, it is a position that he believes in, all by himself, and lets whomever wants to join his belief system of Government.

I’m comparing this to Linux, competing against the traditional closed proprietary markets of software. No one owns Linux. People contribute to it, build it, give it back to the community, and it serves everyone. Very similar to the way many of the Ron Paul followers seem to feel that government should be like.

Why the Ron Paul scenario is different than anything that has happened before is because the nature of the movement. The Ron Paul candidacy isn’t owned by anyone. Ron just keeps showing up, stating his position, and the money flows in. He hardly campaigns, hardly seeks out groups to help him win, he just does what he believes in.

This group that is now associated with Ron Paul is going to wake up the morning after the election and realize that they haven’t gone away even though they have lost. Ron Paul might not ever run again, but the movement that he has inspired is going to keep going.

There is a large group of tech savvy, educated, fairly affluent, people who believe that the Republicans and Democrats are selling the same old thing, just with new wrappings. They have grown disenfranchised with the entire system. This election they have found a way to mess with the traditional media by scewing the numbers for any online polling of any kind.

Think about this. If the President of the United States was chosen through a online voting system, who would win? We know the answer and it wouldn’t even be close.

I know my mother and my grandparents will vote, but if they had to do it online, I’m sure they wouldn’t.

The Ron Paul movement will not end with this election. It was born with this election. The Ron Paulers will realize that they have discovered something. That when held together, they wield influence and find themselves with representation that they have never felt before.

A warning to the proprietary, closed systems of the Reps and Dems. The foundation of your demise is being laid at your feet and you are unaware of what it is. It won’t be this year, and might not even be next election, but it is here with us now, and Ron Paul is he manifestation of that birth of a new movement in American Politics.