Why You Should Take a Walk - For Paul
Posted October 14th, 2007 by militant
The above post on RPF a bit ago got my mind working on the experiences I had at the flea market Ron Paul booth today in Charleston WV. Thanks to Larry White for setting up the event! My thoughts below, please excuse the lack of capitalization, my wrists hurt :)
Larry had set up a nice table in a good spot and I took two people down to help out. We gave out cookies and brownies and fed random dogs, and learned a lot about public interfacing.
for starters, people are rarely going to stop and open a conversation. stand there, not sit, look lively, ignore your aching feet (even if you wear dress shoes, and i DO sincerely suggest people try to dress professional, guys get a collared shirt and maybe even a cheap tie, girls keep wearing your paul shirts and tight jeans :D ). when you see a voter looking at the signs and literature, slowing down, hesitating, he's ASKING to be approached. a simple 'hi, have you heard of dr. paul?' if you're in mixed company, or a more direct approach like the gun show bits above in the thread linked above. 1 or 2 supporters working a table is ok, but having a crowd generates enthusiasm/energy and makes an impression. that leads to and helps with the next point: once you have a voter talking with you, other voters are more likely to stop by and listen in, or glance over the material, so having extra people to pick them up is mandatory. we noticed that we had fluctuating clusters, whenever i'd pull in a voter a couple others would come by really fast, and some would even open up first.
now some experiences today. the very first voter i spoke to paused to look at the table. i asked if she'd heard of paul, she said no, i said he was the only republican running who voted against the war from the start, and she shouted that she had a son in iraq and she wasn't interested. that was ironic, and sad.
but i didn't let it weigh me down. a few minutes later i snagged an older gentleman who told me his name was gary, and see, gary is a poet. actually, a fine poet, in some instances, it turns out to my surprise. i have video soon to youtube (once i figure out how to bleep out his address, help, i run debian! also have lots of other vids on sd cards and on dv tapes, including june 30th iowa and my ambush of paul, outside the pbs debate). he was nearly rabid about the pharma industry, worrying a lot about the mercury in vaccines and so on, so i provided him a health freedom act speech, and some other gear, and taped his poetry, and he walked away a life-long democrat who was sworn to vote for paul.
next up was a fascinating character. i sadly do not remember his name, but he was a korean war veteran, and he showed me his scars to prove it. told me a riveting story, even with the sun in my eyes and crowded quarters, of his service over there and the final days of the war. seems the north koreans were pushing for every inch of territory before the ceasefire, so our new pal was bombarded with 20,000 artillery shells in 3 days. i asked if he thought we should be there, and he said of course not. he was visibly upset to learn that the south koreans were asking us to leave, at least some large segment of their population, and especially that we were refusing to do so. i'm not sure what to make of his voting for paul, but i have a generally good feeling. he's loyal to his commander in chief, he was after all a BAR man in the army, camped in a bombed out Seoul. but i think he has the common sense to make the right choice.
during that rather long talk, my tablemates picked up some voters who were intrigued by the war story, and were indicating agreement with the anti-war statements and non-intervention i was pushing. i learned very quickly that it's NOT a bad thing to have a longwinded voter, it generates interest in passing voters. a surprising number of people showed up and said they'd heard of him, were curious or in fact already liked him, and wanted some bumper stickers and papers to give friends. next time i'll make sure we have a signup sheet. i'm learning this as i go along.
at the end of the day, we had solid contacts with dozens of voters, had a very high rate of success, probably 60-70% of people who got past the first statement, and i am a bit proud to say i converted 3 lifelong democrats into paul voters, most likely, including the vet and a mason/shriner who tickled my palm.
next time, i'll do what i intended these last two table events, which is to have someone follow me with my camcorder, and go pester every vendor and table in the place. the table is fun to man, but taking a walk for ron paul will be even better.
my point in all this?
1) it's worth it. just look at the interesting stories, the talk i had about military hardware with an old hand, the funny youtubes i'll post. it's just exciting.
2) what else are you going to do with a saturday morning besides sit around reading Daily Paul? :D
3) WE DON'T HAVE ANY OTHER CHOICE
4) WE DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME
it's been said that repetition is the key to persuasion. commercials, literature, rallies, signs, youtube, all are great. but we must apply as many as we can, in condensed blocks. and beating the street is one of the most effective ways. if you know your politics and policy, you can exude the confidence that wins voters in droves.
what say, friends? wear out some dress shoes for ron paul?
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An excellent example...
You set an excellent example for what needs to be done. We absolutely must reach out those that aren't following the alternative media or don't have the Internet. The best way to do that is to take it to the streets and show that it matters to all Americans that Ron Paul be elected.
Repetition is absolutely the key - the establishment uses it because it works. They make people believe that it's patriotic to be pro-war and all the other nonsense by hammering slogans like "Honor their sacrifice", "Fight them over there" and "WMD found in Iraq." As you can see, the message doesn't have to be true to take root - but it's more powerful when it is!
We can hit just as hard with messages like "Just bring our troops home.", "Follow the constitution." and "Secure our borders."
Rapid City, SD All America Walk for Ron Paul
http://www.youtube.com/wa...
This is the link to our small town meetup1 It was fun and we got alot of info out and honks and waves!
Keep up the good work!
I am so happy with what you are doing. We met Rudy here in my small town of Ada, Oklahoma last month. Of course we met him with some huge 4' x 8' Ron paul signs and lots of Ron Paul Chants! LOL His evil little smirk when he got out of his ride was very telling. It was called fear, and we all loved it. We had SO MANY people coming up and asking questions about Ron Paul and of course we had literature very handy.
Long story short. Voting against the war in Iraq is a huge part of Ron Pauls campaign and the reason most of us learned about him and now do everything in our power to tell others. I'm sorry but you don't have all day to talk to every single person that comes by and again the war is a huge selling point for Ron Paul. You don't have the luxury of learning the persons life story and the story of their children. Why in the world would you want to butter up the fact that Ron Paul voted against the "war" in Iraq?
The lady that just walked away didn't want to hear Ron Paul's message of peace and liberty. Oh Well! I personally spent 5 years in the Marine Corps and I can see me listening very intently to a candidate who voted against the "Upcoming Iran War" in the future. I have an 11 year old son that will be affected by any upcoming unconstitutional war because as Ron Paul said, "an undeclared war never ends". My son and every little child that I see running around playing, are the reasons that you should point out that Ron Paul voted against the war.
Almost 80% of Americans are against this unjust war, and to not use Ron Pauls stance on the war as a major selling point because one lady kept on walking and mumbled something under her breath would be crazy! We're trying to get Ron Paul elected President of the United States, not Mr. Congeniality. Use the messages that work and grabs voters. If someone is offended by Ron Pauls voting record or the stance on the war, then it's not someone your going to convert anyway. WE WILL NOT WIN VOTERS WHO ARE PRO-WAR, PRO-WELFARE, PRO-POLICE STATE. So let those dummies vote for Rudy Clintromnobama.
Stay on message and spread the word. Obviously if you know of pre-existing circumstances that need to be worked around it's one thing, but to not use one of the biggest messages of Ron Paul's candidacy because 5% of the people would be turned off by the fact means that you don't have as strong an argument for the other 95%. Do the math. If someone gets offended, they can vote the other way. But I'm going after that 95%, and Ron Paul voting against the war is how we're getting them around here.
For you with all the suggestions, how bout a "Kudos" for the work that's being done by this person, and by the way are you doing your part or just coaching? Use what message works and spread the word, this is about our children, grandchildren, and every existing freedom lover in the U.S.
Sorry for the rant, but I was offended by the fact that they set up a booth and worked the crowd, just to be told to not use the "Iraq Stance" because it might offend someone. If Ron Paul had 50,000 supporters working like this, it wouldn't even be a race. I'd like to encourage everyone to do their part to spread the word. DailyPaul is great, but reading it 5 hours a day won't spread the word.
FYI, yesterday my family and I went to Six Flags in Arlington, Texas. We passed a BUNCH of cars with Ron Paul stickers/shoe polish..etc.. Also had our Ron Paul t-shirts on and a pocket full of cards. It's amazing how many people will talk to you when you stand in line with them for an hour and a half! LOL
Have a great day everyone and don't forget to spread the word when you have that chance!
hrrrm?
who said not to use the anti-war message? i just asked if we should look for the best way to word it.
and btw, i am the one doing the work, and coaching. maybe i'm confused but your comment sounded positive, negative, and aimed at 2 or 3 different people/ideas, and i'm not sure what to make of it. either way, yesterday was great, and we're doing these things a couple times a week it seems like, now, which isn't bad in a large, very empty region.
as for the 'don't have all day' ... if you have enough people in your group, you can devote more time to each person. with gentle persuasion, i am able to convert many people who would have been turned off if i gave up a few minutes into it. the conversation attracts other people, and my friends take care of them.
I'm 100% behind you in every way possible
My only complaint is that people like you go out and get things done while so many people who read and respond on these boards have nothing positive to say. People want to script what others are doing and critique things, in a not so positive way, and I just don't see the point. I am 100% grateful and excited about what you are doing, and I'm 100% behind your actions and message.
My problem is with people claiming that we shouldn't use the fact that Ron Paul voted against the Iraq War, because it might offend someone.
My point is that 99.9% of the time you don't know the person your talking to and you especially don't know if their child might be in Iraq or any other country thanks to our "leadership" in Washington. I was basically pointing out the fact that when you are addressing complete strangers as you were during the flea market, you don't really have the time to get their whole family history and then decide whether or not to point out that Ron Paul is anti-war. For people to critique how to get the "Ron Paul is Anti- Unconstitutional War" message out is just crazy to me. That's the message and there's no need to sugarcoat it for people (unless you know of some underlying issue). And I think that almost 80% of Americans would agree with me. Those are the people we're after and like it or not there will be people offended with that message. Like I said we're trying to help Ron Paul win a Presidency, not a Congeniality award.
The anti-war message is a very strong message and I think it needs to be used, whether or not it offends a small % of people.
In my humble opinion there are positive ways to critique what and how a message gets out. If people here are going to critique a persons hard work we should at least show our deep appreciation of the work being done on behalf of Ron Paul and his supporters.
It just seems like there are people like YOU who are out working hard and getting the message out. And then there are others who have a habit of critiquing others on message boards, rather than getting out there and getting their hands dirty.
YOU ARE DOING AN AWESOME SERVICE!!
Unfortunately my post should have been below the one I was actually addressing instead of yours.
I hope that clears it up a little. My thoughts and prayers are with you in your work and the work of every Ron Paul Patriot who is out there beating the paths and doorways to a true Constitutional Democracy.
Excellent
Ahh, clears it up and provides much reassurance, at the same time. Thanks! Today's my day off, but I'm pondering driving up to the Ohio University meetup..
Well, maybe not *too* professional...
...one fellow who stopped by the Tidewater Virginia's wonderful table at the gun show yesterday surmised that Ron Paul must have a lot of money to be able to pay all of us...LOL!
Seriously though, wearing out dress shoes or any shoes for Ron Paul is what we have to do. No need to do massive organizing; just do it. Our group often throws together very effective mini-events on very short notice.
We've had many people say to us, "this must be important if you're standing on the street corner waving signs and passing out information on Friday/Saturday night when I'm sure you'd rather be hanging out with your friends". One lady told us she'd check out Ron Paul on that fact alone.
I agree, engaging in conversation is effective and it brings more people in. I can't tell you the number of times I'd wished I'd had a video cam to record people literally gushing about Ron Paul and Freedom. Or the people going on about being a dyed in the wool liberal democrat but realize that their party has repeatedly sold them out. Or the people who think our country is lost, but hear and see our passion and are willing to give Ron Paul a chance. Or the people who ask, "Who is Ron Paul?" and are actually interested in hearing about him.
Sure, there are some negatives and some people are nasty about it. But remember, name recognition for Ron Paul, a conditioning if you will, is important too. There's still potential for the scales to come off the nay-sayer's eyes.
On the positive side, we get lots of good feedback. We hear that people have seen our signs, our banners over the highways, our groups waving signs on street corners. Heck, a lot of people even heard our hour on our local talk radio! They wonder what all the hubbub is about. Some have already checked out Ron Paul, others want more information.
Further, we've found that there are a lot of people out there who have adored Ron Paul for years. One guy told me that he had been sending RP money for years and years and wrote to him, "You're MY rep in congress even if I don't live in your district." :D
Ask anyone in our meetup group, and I'm sure others, you will be inspired and motivated by the response!!!!!
If you're a little shy, hang out with your group and watch how others "operate". Many of us have agreed, a year ago, we'd have NEVER had the courage to approach and speak to strangers. Now we're all out there because of our passion for and knowledge of Dr. Paul.
We can make this happen. One person at a time!!
Friends and Family In Iraq
As a vet with friends in Iraq as I write this my approach is not to open with "voted against Iraq War" Instead I will say, "Our troops have achieved every mission they have been given, now it is time for them to come home to their heroes welcome and the loving arms of their families."
Great work, one little point of encouragement if I may
In case you run into another person with relatives in Iraq you need to connect on a human level first. With the lady for example how about a "Madam I have no doubt in my mind you love your son dearly and wish him to be close to you." / OR / "I understand your pain madam, would you like to see your son never leave again?" / OR "I am sure you rather have your son work close by and not in constant danger!"
then I am sure she would stop, and hesitate, and maybe turn around. "How can our country make sure need to stop sending troops into mortal danger around the world? There are a few issues here... " / OR / "Madam how do you rate the current government's performance?" and take it further from there on...
Good luck and keep inspiring people,
Francesco
Don't curse the darkness, light a candle
a thought
maybe we shouldn't say 'voted against the war' ... we're not against things, we're for things. like bringing the troops home. don't want to be conflated with voting against funding for the troops and all. yeah, let's try to word it better.