Start Promoting Ron Paul to Others
I want to thank Michael for opening up this blog for me. I'm actually the Organizer of the Pittsburgh Meetup, and I want to use this site as means to help share good ideas amongst groups about how to get the message out there about Ron Paul. We have been fortunate to have a good amount of success in our area, and from having spoken to a number of the Organizers, both through Meetup and Facebook, we have learned some important things.
To address this more generally, I want to let everyone know how vital it is that we continue to take what we are doing off the internet and out to the people. The message is getting out there, but with under four months to spare, and with a media conglomerate from whom neutrality would be an improvement, we need to take the message directly to the people. As we have been doing this here, and have found others doing in hundreds of other places, we are making an impact.
Right now, the biggest thing that Ron Paul needs from us is to get his name out there and to show ourselves as supporters. When you talk to people, you'll learn that most do support the message, but the thing that restrains them is a belief that he cannot win. By putting yourself out there, by working with others, by building into the grassroots network, you are offering a compelling counter-argument for why we can win!
As time passes, we will need to be able to compete on radio, television, and other formats to dispel the propaganda against us, but right now, we can use what we have: ourselves. The most effective political resource any candidate can have is an actual person willing to take the time to speak on his behalf, and we have an army over 40,000 strong. That needs to grow and it needs to get out there, but it is a good beginning, and promising.
Last night, Ron Paul had an excellent performance at the debates. He showed himself as passionate, focused upon the Constitution, and drew himself up as a candidate who is promoting something different. That is why we all support him, but we should realize that we do not (and in all seriousness, probably never will) represent a majority of the Republican vote for this cycle. However, if we can mobilize our people, because we are enthusiastic and they are resigned, we can win this nomination. Ron Paul did his part in drawing the distinctions. Now we need to reach out to others.
In our group we have learned the easiest way to do this is to simply put the ideas out there. Get a yard sign, a bumper sticker, a t-shirt, and talk to your friends, neighbors, families, and coworkers. When you do this, remember the message is not necessarily about why you support Ron Paul, but why we all do: because we believe in liberty and the Constitution, something every patriotic American will naturally love.
In subsequent posts, I want to share some ideas we have had that have been very successful so others can use those, and to share the success stories that are sent to me, as we all gain from working together.
Controller General
The Comptroller General (Mr. Walker?) has been speaking to groups throughout the U. S. on some of our long range commitments and the need to get our financial house in order. This speaks to Dr. Paul's assertions that we are getting closer to a financial time bomb if we continue spending for this wastefull war.
Watched an old flick the other night "Rollover" with Jane Fonda and Kris Kristofferson. It was fiction; however, very real possibility -- Arabs turned on their paper and started converting to gold and other hard assets with the result that the whole world went into a hyperinflationary environment and depression. Was a very scary situation. (Glad it was fiction)
We now have three major players where we are a major debtor, Arabs, Chinese and Japanese and if we continue to print paper it could possibly scare these holders into an action, which would not be to their benefit because they could also be big losers; however, human nature being what it is and since these governments always have people on one side versus another, an accident could happen.
I hope Dr. Paul or some equally competent individual (Paul Craig Roberts)can get their arms around this problem before it blows up in our faces.
barry manilow?
i checked out barry manilows contributions and came up with ,hillary obama and edwards and joe biden all at max and nothing on ron paul. is this all from the first quarter?i thought you could only donate $2300 total. i guess its for each candidate. anyways i assume the money he is donating is mainly an anti war donation but i think manilow should do his homework. the only one he should have as an anti war candidate is ron paul.
Pass this Tool on to Iowa, NH, SC, Oh Meetups
Want to know who in your neighborhood will vote?
Want to mail them some RON PAUL info?
Want to do a friendly door to door campaign?
GO here: http://fundrace.huffingto...
just type in the zip code, find out who donates to which candidate, find out where they live, do a mass RP mailing and door to door campaign.
Here is where you can find all the Zip Codes in every State:
http://www.mongabay.com/i......
Remember, studies have shown, it takes 5 Post Cards to earn full name, issue & face recognition. Just 5, thats 100% cheaper than TV advertising. I am already working on this for my state of Arizona, so Contact me here trey4600@yahoo.com and I will help you with 5 pre-designed Ron PAUL POST CARDS, each one which stresses a different theme. Be sure to leave a phone number. I have a source which can get us the post cards cheap, or you can find one in your local area. GO GO GO RON PAUL !! Treg
Ron Paul DVD - www.ronpauldvd.com
Nate Jones, a dedicated Ron Paul Supporter has now made available a DVD for dissemination. It contains about 3 1/2 hours of video, including clips from the debates, network interviews, the complete Google interview, etc.
I've ordered 300 copies (quite cheaply) to send to friends, family, neighbors, and anyone else. Many people do not have a high speed connection to view the YouTube videos, don't have cable TV, missed the debates, and do not know who Ron Paul is.
Please consider taking advantage of the powerful DVD medium to spread our message of freedom, liberty, and constitutional government.
Moreover, please consider ordering the Liberty Cards. http://www.libertytalk.co...
They are an inexpensive (1,000 for $50) and effective tool to hand out.
Together, these two tools will give you all the information you need to introduce Dr. Paul to anyone and everyone.
Free Campaign Assistance
One of the biggest challenges facing any group, from an individual to a group of several hundred is what supplies to buy, but I think that these examples above are great ways that a group or even an individual may choose to take their message to many people for a low price.
I wanted to make everyone aware of how you actually can arrange for your meetup group to obtain bumper stickers and palm cards from the national campaign as many people may not already have this information.
1) Go to www.ronpaul2008.com.
2) Click on "Get Involved"
3) A few paragraphs down, click on "Organizational Survey"
4) After completing the survey, you can request as many cards and stickers as you require.
As a piece of advice, I'd suggest ordering too many as it usually takes the campaign about two weeks to turn around any request.
As an additional thought, I would suggest that if you are in a smaller group, contact the largest group near you (or, alternatively, that you have larger groups reach out to the smaller) and see if they can help as well. I know that we have already given away over 100 yard signs to rural Pennsylvania, but it has a real impact up there in GOP territory.
Democrats: How about Hedging Your Bets and Voting for Ron Paul?
Here is another thought for Anti-war, pro civil liberty democrats who really don't care if Hillary, Obama or Edwards wins. If you think the war is immoral and must end then think about hedging your bets and momentary crossing over to the republican side and vote for Ron Paul in the primary? Think about it. If Ron Paul wins the primary no matter happens, even if the democrats happen to lose the election we can bring our troops home. Certainty Ron Paul must be better than Rudy or McCain!? You might even find you agree with a lot of what Ron Paul supports. Indeed Liberty is Popular. Government is not the solution Government is the problem.
Something to consider
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I like Pittsburgh. Went to Carnegie Mellon for a time and enjoyed it. Learned much and had fun. You are lucky to be there.
Now then... What is rarely discussed about the other candidates, is that most of them are members of the CFR, or Council on Foreign Relations. This is a highly elitist, manipulative organization that is just no good for the United States. You can find out all about it on Wikipedia and of course a Google search. Its aims are one world government and most past presidents and top industrialists and broadcasters are members. About the only candidates who are not members are Ron Paul, Dennis Kuchinich, Mike Gravel and Mike Huckabee. Everybody else is a CFR member. This very much like being in the mafia, and it is a good reason to support Dr. Paul, who is as squeaky clean (and as smart) as a candidate can be.
Ron Paul fan
Thank you for your input and look forward to any suggestions to help get Dr. Paul's message out. I think that people over the years have been conditioned not to care about the elections anymore. It is very challenging trying to discuss any politics. People really hate the politicians so much they just don't believe that there are any that actually care about them or they have any power. It is so great to come here and be with people who understand what is at stake. My husband and I worked on a one page letter to mail out in our community that covered economy, immigration, and a few other issues we used facts and numbers we got on line. It took us about 4 drafts and a few people reviewing before we finally got a letter that hopefully will make people want to look for more information. The title I wrote "Are You Mad As Hell" and Dr. Paul's comment "We don't have to give up our liberty for one bit of security." I am going to enclose a slim jim with the letter my hope is maybe people will be more receptive getting a letter that they can read and think about rather than having me talking to them. I hope it works.
Letters and targeted
Letters and targeted handouts are a great way to reach people. I don't know if they ever replace personal contact, but the truth is many people are wary of being instantly sold on anything. Sometimes, just having the right thing to share and confidence in presenting it helps so much.
We actually started making teams in our group to make specific materials for events. We have a gun show flyer, for instance, that worked very well. I know our friends in Harrisburg (Central PA) have an immigration document, and just the presentation makes a huge difference.
I personally think letters that show thought are great, and honestly, if you can have a variety of materials, it really supplements the basic and sometimes imperfect "slim jim".
Ron Paul's Constituency - Targeting ? ?
I know There are still alot of People who do nbot know the name, and they will not watch the debates, or even listen to to much politics. Putting the Ideas out there is good for these people. I am also in Western PA so I know you are doing good work.
I wonder though, Have you found any advantage in targeting certain groups, or places ? It would seem that perhaps Bikers, or Students, or antiwar groups, or Gun clubs, or . . . ? might be mor effective than perhaps the Sean Hannity Fan club meeting.
There are some people that will not accept Dr. Paul's message. It is better to work on getting his constituency out to vote rather than getting into shouting matches with Neocons - as much fun as that can be sometimes.
To answer your question,
To answer your question, there is great value in targeting. I think you want to craft a message that will capture the attention of your audience.
When you are with an anti-war crowd, for instance, you probably don't want to hand out cards with pictures of Ronald Reagan. Instead, focus your message on what you think will make sense. Some people, you simply cannot convince, but I will share something I've said elsewhere and that I think is a really smart and effective way to craft a message.
We have two subgroups here in Pittsburgh in our group that I call the "Constitutionalists" and the "Libertarians". They are broader than that, but the message is slightly different in scope and very different in tone.
The Constitutionalist appeal is fundamentally conservative, places Ron Paul in the traditions of Natural Law (the idea that we get liberty as a consequence of God granting us free will), and aims for conservative voters with a traditional message.
The Libertarian appeal is fundamentally progressive, places Ron Paul in the traditions of humanistic ethics (the idea that we support liberty as a choice to allow to others the same equality we enjoy as a social right), and aims for younger non-traditional voters.
Both support the Constitution and liberty, but they are interested in different issues, and the tone is so different. The young people love hearing about revolution. We tell them that. The older people, instead, want to hear about a return to better days, and we tell them that. They interact less than you would think, but it has proved effective.
As for specific places to hit, I know gun shows are great. Anti-war rallies are more problematic. Churches and groups linked to them are also surprisingly good. Leave a flyer or two at your local house of worship on each car, and you might be surprised. This is especially true with Catholics, for whom both Popes stood against the wars.
Neocons
I like how Ron keeps talking about neocons. Most people don't even know what a neocon is. It means that they are being neo conned. The more he tells about the neo conservatives the more people say, what is a neocon, and why do people keep saying that the bad Republicans are neo cons?
Some people need to think long and hard and look at themselves in the mirror and ask themselves, "Am I a Neo Con?" Hopefully, the ideas of neo conservatives are so repulsive, the answer to the question will be, "No." And then the person is ripe for Ron Paul's message.
"Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitude." Frederick Douglass
I think most Republicans
I think most Republicans would be aghast if they knew neo-conservatism was an outgrowth of a Marxist doctrine. It actually came out of Cornell in the late sixties if memory serves, and it took this Wilsonian stance that was far afield from traditional conservatism and simply said, rather than importing a revolution, let's import our values to everywhere else. I guess that didn't work. :/
neocons came from U of Chicago
Leo Strauss bequeathed them to us there. At least that's the story I heard.
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Get active NOW to put Ron in the general election. ronpaul.meetup.com
Great!
It is great that the Daily Paul opened its site for you to post! I'm looking forward to hearing what you and your group have been doing, what works and what doesn't.
I'm starting to get impatient with the group I joined, since no one responds or updates anything. I have suggested several events and write messages, but alas, nothing happens. It sucks, to say the least!
Carpe diem, my friend.
Carpe diem, my friend. Actually, this is a really common problem, and I'll address in detail in a day or two because I want to talk about organizational problems that meetups face, but I have this advice. Try talking with your organizer to make something happen. As often as not, they just don't know how to make things work. But, if they don't know what to do, and you are a natural leader, then lead. Pick the events, and take the people who will come with you.
The way these groups are set up, it is as much chance as anything else if you have a good leader or not, but I have found most groups do have someone who is very committed to this cause, and everyone is trying to make it work. So, if you aren't happy, try to take the lead where you can, and don't be afraid to do things for yourselves.
It is an unusual campaign, but it seems to be working, and I'll tell you from our experience out here that we definitely have found that all other things being equal, you just need to do things sometimes, smart or not. It's how you learn and get better, and if you have to prod your group, it will take that extra push sometimes.
Thanks for the reply.
Looking forward to your next installment.
As far as the group goes, I have tried multiple times to get in contact with the main organizer, as well as the assistant organizer... not a peep. If nothing else, I want to be able to let people see and read the same information I have seen and read. Even if we can't make a group event out of it, people would at least be informed and could go at their own will.
I see cool RSVP notices on the front of most meetup group pages, as well as filled out calendars and message boards. There are a lot of cool features that meetup has, that we don't use. Either they don't know how, or they don't have time. I know how and have time! I can't do any of these things unless they give my account the right permissions (obviously). So I'm stuck, at least until some form of communication from one of the organizers.
I'm mad, because now over 50 people are stuck with no information. I would just start another group, but that would only further confuse and dilute things. I send messages out to the mailing list, but I don't think people pay as much attention to it. I will eventually take the lead somehow, I have just been waiting to see if I could do it officially.
I'm going to be on Channel 3
with my RON PAUL tee. I gave Ron Paul's speach to the TV, radio and news people there. And most important, I got the 200 people there TALKING about what I said. I can hear them now: "Can you believe she did that?"
HELL NO
"Who does she think she is making the community question us?"
She's a RON PAUL supporter...
People talking to each other about RON PAUL is what we want isn't it???
Allot of people watch the Town hall meetings on TV...
You are far far from alone
There is a movement of Independents claiming the GOP corporation hijacked the Ron Paul revolution and control Meetups., I'd like to suggest you start you own Meetup up. GOP corporation with their bs in 25 states/valid in 25 states, so their one policy for ALL states stratigy and delegate campaign is so WRONG it's KILLING the revolution. All this happened when Ron Paul's grassroots outgrew his orginial staff. They are correct to say, they can not control us. We are not doing anything illegal, they are; and it's called coersion and it's a HUGE TURN OFF.
But that will NOT stop this rEVOLution. I bet if YOU start a new meetup without the campaign's input, you will have the ROCKINEST RON PAUL Meetups like we are. We still prefer our homemade signs to their corporate looking BS signs, and we have divese groups of people that cater to TRUTHERS; we're fearless...we're awesome. We know RON PAUL is the EXCEPTION in the GOP corporation. We know he ate lunch by himself for years and these folks didn't care. We know many new hires on the campaign voted for Bush TWICE, are not antiwar, but see this campaign as a way to keep their party alive. They are LIARS, and we've caught them in their lies.
WE GONNA WIN FOR RON PAUL despite the GOP. Wanna start your own Meetup and give it a shot to join the REVOLUTION and not the GOP coersion? We're ROCKING for RON PAUL and having a GREAT time withOUT them. Hell, they'll vote for Fred in the long ron anyways...this is just a job for them. They have NO faith in Ron Paul...they are called PAULBOTS. They are obvious to everyone but themselves.
If your meetup has a CLOSED message board...you've been PAULBOTTED
If the only signs your Meetup has is corporate printed...you've been PAULBOTTOD
If the biggest news is "being a GOP delegate" YOU've been PAULBOTTED
If the ideas being proposed sound like the same stuff your dad fell for..you've been PAULBOTTED
If truthers are put down, You've been PAULBOTTED.
If your organizer treats Meetup like a prayer circle, You've been PAULBOTTED.
If your organizer is unavailable, you've been PAULBOTTED
If the Meetups are organized like a board room, You've been PAULBOTTED.
If your Meetup has one member signing up, You've been PAULBOTTED
Break out of the PAULBOT RUT! Start your own Meetup and join the FUN.
Many revolutionary Meetups are doing screenings on 9-11 conspiracy films. The PAULBOTS FREAK OUT. It's FUN to watch them cringe. Our plan is to educate the public on how BRILLIANT Dr. Paul is to make this a foreign policy issue in the debates.
We are also talking about having TIN FOIL HAT Halloween competitions,,we can laugh at ourselves in the name of FUN!!!! Something the PAULBOTS can not and will not do.
We are successful getting college campus to give us clubs, because WE ARE FUN.
The PAULBOTS are not fun. They are all business because it's their job.
I respectfully disagree with
I respectfully disagree with your analysis. The thing you have to remember is that campaigns are about coalition building. No matter how fervent your belief may be for a particular set of issues, if you don't get to a majority of the voting population, you lose.
There's a balance to be had. I think you have to be able to let people express themselves as they best see fit, but you also really do need to consider how people will see what you are doing. Obviously, anyone can do whatsoever they choose, but my guess is actually we will need to be more professional to win.
Some people want to play like this is a game, and that's fine. But, if you're serious about winning, you have to step up and be smart. And honestly, while parties are fun, I'd rather celebrate a victory.
That said, there's no reason not to create multiple groups to do what people choose. I see no problem with providing people information internally to make choices they will, but realize that you don't need to preach to the converted.
Locations to spread literature/do sign waves
County and Local Fairs
Festivals
Old Home Days
(call for 'reservations' if you want a table)
Parades
Gun Shows
Gun Shops
Retirement Homes (call first and ask to speak)
Veteran's Homes ( ditto )
Colleges ( ditto )
Busy Ice Cream Stand (I've done this, it was great!)
Busy Intersections where the cars stop
Hold a Car Wash!
Monthly Meetings (LP or GOP - call ahead, make a 3 minute presentation and bring your stuff)
Do the research, post the events, invite people to come work with you and see what happens! That's what I do.