Ron Paul Under-Utilizing the Power of the Internet

If you've been on the internet for long in the past couple of months, you've probably noticed that Texas congressman Ron Paul has a pretty devoted following. In fact, the internet has been the most effective tool for furthering his campaign, both in terms of raising funds and raising awareness. Yet for all the publicity the Paul campaign has done little to bring organization to this grassroots movement, and in that they severly under-utilize their greatest resource.

More than 900 meetup.com groups have spontaneously popped up in support of the Ron Paul campaign. These meetups consist of groups of average Americans, as diverse as gun rights coalitions, anti-abortion activists, and free market entrepreneurs, who decided to get together and locally support Ron Paul's campaign. This emergent local support is every candidate's dream! And while the Paul campaign has taken some steps to utilize these groups, it often involves trying to fit this internet phenomena into traditional politics. Merely replacing a telephone call with an email message and a Google map for directions misses out on all of the benefit that this type of support can provide.

I propose that this grass roots organization be taken to the next level. Right now each meetup group is it's own isolated organization. But if there were some way for local meetups to easily coordinate with each other, and the state and national campaign coordinators, the Paul campaign could effectively field a fiercely loyal volunteer force more than 30,000 strong. And it really isn't that complicated.

The leaders of meetup organizations (of a minimum size to avoid spam) would be invited to join. They would be able to send emails to all meetups within a given radius, or perhaps the 5 closest ones. They would also be able to send messages to all of the groups in the state. Further, this would give the campaign an easy way to disseminate information to the groups, and broken down by locality. Leaders could pass along best practices, easy/cheap ways to campaign, and helpful responses to problems they face while campaigning. It wouldn't be too difficult to spider Meetup for Ron Paul groups, and gather the names and email addresses of the group leaders.

During the American Revolution, the patriots of old created the committees of correspondence; effectively a massive letter writing campaign. Riders were dispatched with letters containing news, tactics, and encouragement to pass along to the next town. When one town came up with an effective way to fight the British, in short order the cities up and down the coast were aware of it. This same technique can be used again for this generation of patriots. I have a box I'm willing to use as a server, and I'm willing to pay for webhosting. I need someone with LAMP development experience and possibly a web designer who are willing to make this happen. If anyone is interested in making this happen, email thehyperaspist@gmail.com

This needs to happen quickly; we're less than 100 days away from the first primary, and every day counts.

Rudy McRompson's Strategy to handle the war issue

Bill Maher posed a question during a recent appearance on "The Situation Room" that Ron Paul supporters would do well to try and answer.

"How does a Republican who is supporting this war to the degree that they are all supporting this war then turn around after he gets the nomination then turns around and wins the general election in a country that is overwhelmingly against this war?"



While their strategy does demand some degree of political gymnastics, it's not out of the realm of possibility. It's common knowledge that a candidate should swing towards their base during the primary and then swing back moderate for the general election. They certainly have to come out strongly for the war during the fall, and all of the ersatz "top-tier" Republican candidates are doing just that. They have carefully nuanced their positions such that they are for the war, but not necessarily supporting the President or this administration's execution of the war. This enables them to let Bush and Petraeus shoulder a large part of that burden. McCain's campaign has been somewhat stymied by his position on Iraq, but the rest seem to be making it through alright. They are still arguing staunchly in favor of the surge and an American presence in Iraq, which they perceive to be requirements to win a Republican primary.

However, I predict that you will see the rhetoric soften as the general election comes closer. Sometime shortly after the GOP candidate is selected, the Republican candidate for president will propose an end to the surge, followed by gradual troop withdrawals. It is expected that Hillary Clinton will win the Democratic nomination. Hillary will not propose an immediate withdrawal of troops; instead she will offer timetables for withdrawal, and eventually decreasing our commitment to something like the level of American troops in South Korea. The Republican candidate offers a slightly longer deescalation period and a slightly higher troop level and Bingo! The two sides are back to quibbling over political pittance rather than substantive policy.

This move by the GOP candidate may be facilitated by the president, through declaring mission accomplished or by suddenly becoming frustrated with the pace of Iraqi government and demanding the Iraqis fight for their own democracy. Perhaps Petraeus will brought back again to testify in front of Congress.

So what can Ron Paul supporters do? Write. Call. Donate. This sort of political maneuvering is par for the course; make it known that Ron Paul is not more of the same. Winning the presidency is goal, and winning some primaries would be a propitious first step.