Matt Collins
06-16-2008, 12:08 PM
I sent this out to the Nashville Meetup:
________
Fellow Ron Paul Tennesseans:
This past Saturday I attended the Flag Day Picnic an event hosted by the Republican Party of Nashville / Davidson County that was open to the public.
Only about 75 people were in attendance. Everyone was very friendly and open to conversation. This was not a formal event. Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn was there, a representative of Senator Lamar Alexander was there, State Senator Jack Johnson was there, a local mayor, former Governor Winfield Dunn and several people running for Congress and local / state offices including State House, council, and school boards. Also a straw poll was conducted about candidates and other various issues.
As far as I could tell only two (2) Ron Paul supporters were in attendance including myself. This is a crying shame!!!!. I am both frustrated and disappointed at our lack of participation. Do you want all of our work and what little media coverage we have attained over the past year to be lost? Do you want our little bit of political clout to disappear? Do you want our momentum as a movement to vanish?
Dr. Rand Paul gave us an admonition on January 27th stating “a group this size could absolutely dominate any local Republican meeting”. Did you know that there are about 763 members in the Nashville Ron Paul Meetup (10th largest in the US by the way), about +6000 Tennesseans donated money to Ron’s campaign, and Ron received +31,000 votes from our state?!?!
There is an old saying that “The world is run by those who show up”. This is absolutely true.
Contrary to popular belief not everyone in the Republican Party is a fascist. Contrary to popular belief not everyone in the Republican Party is a McCain supporter (in fact I heard one guy at the picnic complaining QUITE LOUDLY that he wished McCain ‘would quit insulting conservatives’). And contrary to popular belief, there are LOTS of people in the Republican Party who share Ron Paul’s views of limited government, a return to the Constitution, lower taxes, fiscal responsibility, etc etc.
Imagine if just 100 Ron Paul supporters had shown up at this event? We would’ve dominated! For that matter, if only 10 of us showed up and worked the crowd we still would’ve made a difference. How? Because I have been told that public officials figure that for every 1 person who voices a concern, writes a letter, makes a call etc, there are 100 people who share their same view! Therefore every time someone gives their opinion to an elected official the official realizes at least 100 other people agree with them. That's a 100:1 ratio. So for every Ron Paul supporter who actually shows up and speaks out, the power of their voice is really amplified 100 times!
Let me share a brief story with you…. I was at the picnic and there were several candidates running for local offices. And they were working the crowd introducing themselves, discussing their platform, asking for support, hanging out pamphlets, etc. One of these candidates running for State House sat across from me. During the course of lunch he was talking about the Ron Paul campaign and mentioned he was amazed at the level of support for Ron. He remarked on the amount of signs, billboards, stickers etc around town at the time of the Feb 5th primary. His goal was to find the people behind the campaign and get their support for him.
So at this point I told him who I was and that I volunteered for the Ron Paul campaign as an assistant organizer. He then began to pick my brain about why Ron had so much dedicated support in Nashville. As I was explaining to him the reasons why people voted for Ron, he began to ask more questions about what it would take to get the support of Ron Paul’s supporters to support him in his State House race. So I explained to him about Ron’s voting record, his consistency of 30 years, his strict adherence to the Constitution and so on and so forth.
During the course of this conversation I began to realize that something fascinating was happening. I actually had INFLUENCE. I have this guy’s ear now. We are developing a political relationship. I am (unofficially) consulting him on platform issues. Later tonight I will be sending him a reading list to help him better understand the Ron Paul “movement”. Why did this happen? BECAUSE I SHOWED UP!!!
Now imagine if this specific gentlemen wins the office that he is running for? We would have the ear of a member in the State house! Now just imagine if there had been 10 Ron Paul supporters in the crowd having these types of conversations with everyone there? My efforts would’ve been multiplied.
It’s these types of activities, this type of networking, these types of relationships that begin to grow the movement of our government back to a more limited position. The more people who love liberty that show up and mingle, the greater majority of the party we can influence and have a liberty-oriented outcome.
I am not asking for anyone to devote all of their free time and spend all of their discretionary income, neither is Ron or Rand. This is not like the campaign in February where long hours are expected. However EVERYONE should consider showing up to their local monthly GOP meetings. It usually takes 2 hours a month at most. Joining the local GOP will probably cost around $20/yr and membership gives you a vote in internal party elections. In other words it GIVES YOU A VOICE in the GOP.
The more Ron Paul supporters that show up, become members, voice their opinions, and vote in liberty-friendly supporters to GOP offices, the better chance we have at turning the country. But it’s got to start here. It’s got to start now. It’s got to start with YOU. I cannot do this alone. My voice might be loud but is nothing compared to hundreds of other Ron Paul supporters and liberty minded individuals speaking in unison.
Ron won’t be President. And we may not even get a single Ron Paul supporter elected to Congress this cycle either. Perhaps we lost the battle but by simply showing up we can win the war.
Something that was universal among Ron Paul supporters during the campaign was that everyone seemed to be pretty unhappy with our government (at all levels). I know I am unhappy with the way our government governs. Of course the most important thing we can do is vote however the second most important thing we can do is to show up and voice our opinions. Everyone complains and few people vote, but even fewer people show up to let their thoughts known to their elected officials. If you want to make a difference in your country, in your State, and in your community, get up off the couch and simply SHOW UP!!!
The next meeting of the Davidson County (Nashville) GOP is July 14th. The activities of that meeting are TBD. However on Aug 4th Lt Gov Ron Ramsey will be speaking. On Sept 8th Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn will be speaking, and on October 6th State Exec Committeeman John Ryder will be speaking. YOU SHOULD MAKE A POINT TO SHOW UP!
-Matt Collins
Matt@UltraSonicDesigns.com
Here are some relevant websites to local GOP organizations:
Davidson County http://nashvillegop.org (http://nashvillegop.org/)
Montgomery County - http://www.montgomerycogop.com/
Rutherford County - http://www.rutherfordgop.org/
Sumner County - http://www.sumnergop.org/
Other counties not listed:
To find contact information for your local GOP organization go to the URL below and in the upper right hand corner of that page there is a pull-down menu with every county listed. Select your county and click the “go” button.
http://ms.tngop.org/new/county_display.asp
________
Fellow Ron Paul Tennesseans:
This past Saturday I attended the Flag Day Picnic an event hosted by the Republican Party of Nashville / Davidson County that was open to the public.
Only about 75 people were in attendance. Everyone was very friendly and open to conversation. This was not a formal event. Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn was there, a representative of Senator Lamar Alexander was there, State Senator Jack Johnson was there, a local mayor, former Governor Winfield Dunn and several people running for Congress and local / state offices including State House, council, and school boards. Also a straw poll was conducted about candidates and other various issues.
As far as I could tell only two (2) Ron Paul supporters were in attendance including myself. This is a crying shame!!!!. I am both frustrated and disappointed at our lack of participation. Do you want all of our work and what little media coverage we have attained over the past year to be lost? Do you want our little bit of political clout to disappear? Do you want our momentum as a movement to vanish?
Dr. Rand Paul gave us an admonition on January 27th stating “a group this size could absolutely dominate any local Republican meeting”. Did you know that there are about 763 members in the Nashville Ron Paul Meetup (10th largest in the US by the way), about +6000 Tennesseans donated money to Ron’s campaign, and Ron received +31,000 votes from our state?!?!
There is an old saying that “The world is run by those who show up”. This is absolutely true.
Contrary to popular belief not everyone in the Republican Party is a fascist. Contrary to popular belief not everyone in the Republican Party is a McCain supporter (in fact I heard one guy at the picnic complaining QUITE LOUDLY that he wished McCain ‘would quit insulting conservatives’). And contrary to popular belief, there are LOTS of people in the Republican Party who share Ron Paul’s views of limited government, a return to the Constitution, lower taxes, fiscal responsibility, etc etc.
Imagine if just 100 Ron Paul supporters had shown up at this event? We would’ve dominated! For that matter, if only 10 of us showed up and worked the crowd we still would’ve made a difference. How? Because I have been told that public officials figure that for every 1 person who voices a concern, writes a letter, makes a call etc, there are 100 people who share their same view! Therefore every time someone gives their opinion to an elected official the official realizes at least 100 other people agree with them. That's a 100:1 ratio. So for every Ron Paul supporter who actually shows up and speaks out, the power of their voice is really amplified 100 times!
Let me share a brief story with you…. I was at the picnic and there were several candidates running for local offices. And they were working the crowd introducing themselves, discussing their platform, asking for support, hanging out pamphlets, etc. One of these candidates running for State House sat across from me. During the course of lunch he was talking about the Ron Paul campaign and mentioned he was amazed at the level of support for Ron. He remarked on the amount of signs, billboards, stickers etc around town at the time of the Feb 5th primary. His goal was to find the people behind the campaign and get their support for him.
So at this point I told him who I was and that I volunteered for the Ron Paul campaign as an assistant organizer. He then began to pick my brain about why Ron had so much dedicated support in Nashville. As I was explaining to him the reasons why people voted for Ron, he began to ask more questions about what it would take to get the support of Ron Paul’s supporters to support him in his State House race. So I explained to him about Ron’s voting record, his consistency of 30 years, his strict adherence to the Constitution and so on and so forth.
During the course of this conversation I began to realize that something fascinating was happening. I actually had INFLUENCE. I have this guy’s ear now. We are developing a political relationship. I am (unofficially) consulting him on platform issues. Later tonight I will be sending him a reading list to help him better understand the Ron Paul “movement”. Why did this happen? BECAUSE I SHOWED UP!!!
Now imagine if this specific gentlemen wins the office that he is running for? We would have the ear of a member in the State house! Now just imagine if there had been 10 Ron Paul supporters in the crowd having these types of conversations with everyone there? My efforts would’ve been multiplied.
It’s these types of activities, this type of networking, these types of relationships that begin to grow the movement of our government back to a more limited position. The more people who love liberty that show up and mingle, the greater majority of the party we can influence and have a liberty-oriented outcome.
I am not asking for anyone to devote all of their free time and spend all of their discretionary income, neither is Ron or Rand. This is not like the campaign in February where long hours are expected. However EVERYONE should consider showing up to their local monthly GOP meetings. It usually takes 2 hours a month at most. Joining the local GOP will probably cost around $20/yr and membership gives you a vote in internal party elections. In other words it GIVES YOU A VOICE in the GOP.
The more Ron Paul supporters that show up, become members, voice their opinions, and vote in liberty-friendly supporters to GOP offices, the better chance we have at turning the country. But it’s got to start here. It’s got to start now. It’s got to start with YOU. I cannot do this alone. My voice might be loud but is nothing compared to hundreds of other Ron Paul supporters and liberty minded individuals speaking in unison.
Ron won’t be President. And we may not even get a single Ron Paul supporter elected to Congress this cycle either. Perhaps we lost the battle but by simply showing up we can win the war.
Something that was universal among Ron Paul supporters during the campaign was that everyone seemed to be pretty unhappy with our government (at all levels). I know I am unhappy with the way our government governs. Of course the most important thing we can do is vote however the second most important thing we can do is to show up and voice our opinions. Everyone complains and few people vote, but even fewer people show up to let their thoughts known to their elected officials. If you want to make a difference in your country, in your State, and in your community, get up off the couch and simply SHOW UP!!!
The next meeting of the Davidson County (Nashville) GOP is July 14th. The activities of that meeting are TBD. However on Aug 4th Lt Gov Ron Ramsey will be speaking. On Sept 8th Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn will be speaking, and on October 6th State Exec Committeeman John Ryder will be speaking. YOU SHOULD MAKE A POINT TO SHOW UP!
-Matt Collins
Matt@UltraSonicDesigns.com
Here are some relevant websites to local GOP organizations:
Davidson County http://nashvillegop.org (http://nashvillegop.org/)
Montgomery County - http://www.montgomerycogop.com/
Rutherford County - http://www.rutherfordgop.org/
Sumner County - http://www.sumnergop.org/
Other counties not listed:
To find contact information for your local GOP organization go to the URL below and in the upper right hand corner of that page there is a pull-down menu with every county listed. Select your county and click the “go” button.
http://ms.tngop.org/new/county_display.asp