GordonUnleashed

The Symbiotic Relationship of Ron Paul and His Revolution

December 3rd, 2007 by Steve

Regarding the Salon.com article I just noted, I’ve have a couple of observations.

Michael Sherer grasped the significance of several factors pertaining to the Ron Paul campaign that other journalists don’t seem to get, such as this Paul quote:

The congressman climbs onto a chair, looking giddy. “You have gotten rid of my skepticism. I was a skeptic,” he calls out. “You are the campaign. I have joined the revolution.” There is a roar.

Was Paul’s baptism to some degree symbolic? He’s certainly been a leading member of the freedom movement long before it was christened in his honor. Or is the “Ron Paul Revolution” some new entity which has been created this campaign cycle?

The current manifestation of the movement is about ideas, about people, about people tired of an oppressive government. Because of his ten terms of consistent work in Congress (as well as other campaigns and many published articles), Ron Paul has rightfully earned his position as the focal point for his eclectic mobs of supporters. However, this relationship doesn’t utilize the traditional top-down Republican approach, nor is it entirely grassroots driven. The relationship between Paul and his supporters is symbiotic.

A great deal of the grassroots support has been out there for some time. Activists from the Libertarian, Constitution and Green parties are out in force. Counterculture activists are numerous, but so are mainstream soccer moms and members of more traditional middle and upper-middle class families. When Birchers and hippies can unite over the same issues and candidate, the unity of the “Ron Paul Revolution” clearly marks the birth of a new political movement.

This said, many of the individual elements which make up this movement have been around for some time. Ron Paul has recently given each of them a voice loud enough to be heard above the white noise of status quo journalism.

The question is whether Ron Paul or the political issues of the day provided the glue which binds the movement(s) to the candidate. I’d say it is the combination of the two .

It may be that there are two symbiotic relationships at play; both are mutualistic in nature. One is the conglomeration of the various elements of the Ron Paul Revolution; the other is the relationship of Ron Paul to the Revolution named after him.

Disparate groups of people, such as counterculture types and traditional conservatives, are working together to achieve at least one common goal: Electing Ron Paul. In so doing, their cooperation provides a significantly greater result than sum total of the previous actions of these individual groups. As one of many possible examples, compare the amount of money already raised by this presidential campaign to the combined totals donated to Libertarian, Reform, Green and Constitution parties’ presidential candidates in the past.

There is also a symbiotic relationship between Dr. Paul and his supporters. Paul benefits because he’d have no real presidential campaign were it not for these supporters. The supporters benefit so long as Paul is around to be their voice.

Ultimately, Paul will have to disengage from politics because of his age or health. When this happens, will the movement portion of the Ron Paul Revolution select another mouthpiece with a relevant background and similar political views, such as Judge Andrew Napolitano or former Congressman Bob Barr? Will the Revolution split up, some following Ralph Nader, others following various third party candidates, others going back to a life of political disengagement?

Currently, new political organizations are being formed which are filled with Ron Paul supporters. New candidates are appearing claiming to be Ron Paul Republicans. Third party presidential candidates are endorsing Ron Paul and promising to step out of the way should Paul receive the GOP nomination. From what one can guess at this moment in the genesis of the movement, the Ron Paul Revolution will survive, but the form it will take following this election cycle is yet to be determined.

Sherer’s column failed in one regard:

In New Hampshire, where independents and Democrats can vote in the Republican primary, he polls in the high single digits, with his numbers ticking up in recent weeks. But the early primary states are not likely to catapult Paul into front-runner status. A recent University of New Hampshire poll found that 61 percent of the state’s likely Republican primary voters would not consider voting for Paul under any circumstances.

I’m well aware that it is quite common in politics to brag about positive polling numbers while dismissing those not quite so favorable. This said, pollsters continue to miss out on several critical factors. To begin, Ron Paul isn’t running to become President of the Republicans, but President of the entire Republic. Polls which consider only likely Republican primary votes disregard the largest sector of Paul’s base. It doesn’t matter how many 2004 pro-war Bush primary voters won’t vote for Paul in 2008, his loudly anti-neocon campaign never had those votes in the first place. What does matter is the combined number of Republicans, Democrats and independents who pull Paul’s lever in the voting booth.

Another factor with regard to polling numbers is the considerable amount of cell phone toting younger voters without access to the land line telephones used to conduct such surveys. And what about the millions of politically disenfranchised voters who feel they actually have a choice this election cycle?

Another important element is who will actually show at the polls. A short drive in any part of the country will indicate how strongly Ron Paul supporters feel about their guy. Simply count the signs and bumper stickers and divide this number by the sum of signs and stickers you see for all of the rest of the candidates combined. Paul supporters will certainly turn out at the polls, but I’m not so sure about other GOP or Democratic voters in this general time of historically low approval ratings for both the President and for Congress.

There’s a new movement afoot, comprised of a symbiotic relationship between Ron Paul and his supporters. This movement is energized in the manner one seasoned political observer opined at a meeting I attended last week: “I’ve not seen this level of enthusiasm since the Goldwater campaign.”

No matter how Ron Paul fares this election cycle, some manifestation of this movement will certainly be a force with which the political establishment of both parties will have to reckon for years to come.

Posted in Culture, Ron Paul, National Politics, Libertarian Movement

9 Responses to “The Symbiotic Relationship of Ron Paul and His Revolution”

Craig wrote on 12/3/07 at 6:03 pm :

Three things that would help carry this movement forward:

1. Identify the best pro-liberty politicians already in the system. The US Senate seems pretty lacking of them, how is the House? Any potential in the state legislatures? Someone needs to put together a ranking system, and publicize the results.

2. Start stocking the shelves. Ron Paul isn’t getting any younger, and there aren’t many like him out there. Pro-liberty leaders need to start getting elected to state legislatures, so they can move up to Congress, so they can break through to the Senate. This will take a couple of decades, but the infrastructure is in place.

3. Work in BOTH major parties. Third parties have little chance, thanks to voter apathy and media bias. Any movement that ties itself too closely to one major party eventually gets taken for granted by them — who else ya’ gonna vote for, they ask.

A movement with 5-10% support can WIN in the primaries, just by getting its supporters to turn out. Once a pro-liberty candidate has a major party nomination, most voters will vote for him or her out of habit when seeing the label. In some districts, the Dems or Republicans have a cakewalk in the general election — voter apathy is our friend in this case.

In districts that are heavily Republican, run as Ron Paul Republicans, stressing conservative themes. In districts that are heavily Democratic, stress liberal themes. At the national level, back the best qualified candidate. If pro-liberty forces don’t win either primary, leave the general election endorsement up for grabs, to the candidate who best advances our goals.
Eric Dondero wrote on 12/4/07 at 10:03 am :

Craig, the Republican Liberty Caucus already does pretty much everything you outline above, including extensive voting Indexes of all Congressmen from a libertarian perspective.

www.rlc.org

As for a list of elected libertarians nationwide:

www.mainstreamlibertarian.com
Robert Milnes wrote on 12/4/07 at 11:13 am :

Craig, it is a lost cause to scan the dems & reps for the best pro-liberty politicians. The best ones to end the war are ready to serve in the form of the LP & GP candidates. The Progressive Alliance Strategy is the way to go. Not RP/RP & the rlc.
Craig wrote on 12/4/07 at 12:59 pm :

I think the RLC is on the right track, but there should be a Democratic counterpart to it. Is there a Democratic Freedom Caucus, or something like that?

If pro-liberty voters get too tied to one party, they will eventually be taken for granted. We should be active in both parties, for leverage, and to push both toward liberty.

I think a Libertarian/Green progressive alliance is a good idea too, but the apathy hurdle among the average voter is hard to clear. A third party needs 34% of the vote in a general election to win — around 34 million votes. A pro-liberty movement in the major parties needs only 26% of the combined D and R vote in the primaries to get a major-party nominee — around 10 million votes.
Eric Dondero wrote on 12/4/07 at 1:02 pm :

No, having libertarians in two different parties is plain stupid. It splits our forces. We all need to be united under the Republican banner, as we have been for 4 decades now.

There’s zero hope for liberty among the Democrats. Look who they’re touting as an example of a libertarian-leaning Democrat? Mr. Smoking Ban himself - Bill Richardson.
Martin Cleveland wrote on 12/4/07 at 1:51 pm :

There’s a Democratic Freedom Caucus

http://freedomdemocrats.org

Small, but with plenty of room to grow.
B.J. Lawson wrote on 12/4/07 at 11:52 pm :

The Revolution is spreading, and it’s amazing, yet ultimately not surprising, for me to see the path that it’s taken through my life.

As an anecdote, I first learned about (and became concerned about) the banking and financial system five years ago after leaving surgical residency to start a software company. As I became engrossed in the world of business and economics, I gradually shouldered the burden of knowing that our country was heading down the WRONG road, and quickly.

But the idea that a principled politician might show up (and in fact had been there the whole time) never crossed my mind until a friend forwarded a YouTube clip from the second Republican debate. After a month of carefully studying Ron Paul, I was hooked.

Fast forward from May to December, and we have a Meetup in Raleigh/Durham NC with over 300 members. On the strength of this passionate grassroots support, I’m preparing to launch a congressional campaign in the next two weeks against our 11-term big-government incumbent.

Folks in the GOP who are not close to the Revolution consider challenging our Democratic incumbent to be sheer folly — but I know better. We can raise the money, we have the passion and enthusiasm, and bringing Ron Paul to the White House is just the beginning.

Respect for the Constitution and Rule of Law will not stop with just one election. Out of our Meetup, we have new folks getting involved at every level — block, precinct, mens’ clubs, YR/CR, and looking at a variety of state and local offices.

The tide is turning, and for the sake of my family and children, I am thankful for the Divine Providence that (in my opinion) has given us this moment of decision to choose Hope over Fear, and Liberty over Tyranny.
B.J. Lawson wrote on 12/4/07 at 11:53 pm :

… sorry, should have said (wo)mens’ clubs :-)
GordonUnleashed » Blog Archive » The Ron Paul Movement's First Slate of Candidates wrote on 12/5/07 at 1:04 am :

[…] had previously noted that a few people are now running for congressional seats as Ron Paul Republicans. I know someone […]

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The Symbiotic Relationship of Ron Paul and His Revolution

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