Joined in 2007 Members: Share Your Thoughts

[Cowlesy]

There is no question that folks who joined in 2009---some were 1988 Ron Paul for Prez supporters.

From our 21st Century age, I want those who joined in 2007 to share their experiences.

From an internet microcosm perspective...how did you find the forum? What were the most interesting activist ideas on the forum? What was accomplished?



Some of you have been here longer than me, and certainly much longer supporters of liberty than me....and I'd like us to share thoughts to see where we cross or differ.

Going to bed now...will see if I get a response by tomorrow.

[jdmyprez_deo_vindice]

Wow... well first, I had to check to see when I got here and sure enough I got here in 2007. I remember finding the site through a link on www.ronpaulforpresident2008.com which is where I got all of my Ron Paul news at the time. When I first got here there was a ton of stuff going on be I know the hoopla about the first money bombs was underway and I ended up jumping into conversations and contributing to the projects and I have never looked back. This place has changed a lot. Some for the better and some for the worst. I can certainly say that the membership has dropped a lot but that is due to the campaign being over and the sunshine patriots who followed another horse or just gave up after super tuesday.

I can say this. I have been on the internet for three forevers and have belonged to a ton of online communities but I have NEVER had so many people become what I can truly call friends and compatriots. I have never been able to get along with people who were so different than I was in their backgrounds and philsophies and I have never felt so proud of a group of people in my life. This place actually changes lives and beliefs and we educate instead of indoctrinate and that is just priceless in my book.

[Miles Dunn]

The last 2 years have been a very educational experience for me on these forums, probably has not been a day past where I did not log on at least once to be sure to catch up on as much as possible with the movement.

From what I remember I think I got involved in the Las Vegas Ron Paul Revolution Meetup before finding these forums, I am almost certain I "stumbled" to this forum.

From personal experience with listening to random people with the spreading of Ron Pauls name I think the Freeway overpass signs featuring the "Ron Paul Revolution" had a very large effect in name recognition.

I recall being one of the people actually cutting the vinyl for the Las Vegas signs used on the Overpasses here, it was hard work but well worth the labor in the long run.

Anywhere I went those signs were a topic of discussion... from work, at bars, even over hearing people in the mall.

I also thought the Blimp idea was neat, but not sure how well that went with the masses in the cities it was able to be featured in.

We got a lot of peoples attention and a lot of support, it's out there. I know things have died down immensely across the country when it comes to activism, but I have faith and know it would only take a spark to get it rolling all over again.

2012 I will have more time, money, and ambition - hoping the same goes for the lot of you. :D

[tpreitzel]

I think I first found your forum from the forums of www.bodybuilding.com during the push for the October/November 2007 money bomb for Ron. I first visited during the fall of 2007, around August. I didn't really want to register for ANOTHER forum so I just visited Ron Paul Forums for a few more months until the next money bomb for Ron during mid December of 2007. Just prior to December 2007's money bomb, I decided to register. Due to my age, I've already seen most of the same discussions here on BodyBuilding.com's infamous and notorious Religion and Politics section. As one ages, time becomes more and more valuable so I don't participate nearly as much as I used to do elsewhere. I'll leave most of the discussions for the younger folks. I've been involved in the liberty movement for decades although not really committed until the mid 1990s with the dawn of the internet. I thought the blimp idea was novel and had its place, but I understood that the game was rigged against an outsider like Ron. Ron's insistence that we use the GOP as a vehicle for restoring constitutional liberty is a voice of sanity in my opinion. Yes, the task in front of us is still huge, but a critical evaluation of the work so far will show the depth of understanding achieved among Ron's supporters. I don't even feel the urge to reply to many points anymore, because I know another member will eventually respond with my thoughts! Amazing ... Our basic task is to continue promoting and hopefully electing candidates with a constitutional bent until critical mass has been achieved while preparing for the worst. My dad was a member of the John Birch Society so I was around an influential member of my family who knew the truth, was faithful as a dad should be, and worked his tail off for his family, country, and God. I've been blessed.

If we ever hope to achieve critical mass while promoting our candidates, we must also reach the minds of the masses. Although the internet has helped thus far, we absolutely must find a way to the minds of the masses besides the internet. The FCC will likely make this task even more difficult in the future.

[Anti Federalist]

There is no question that folks who joined in 2009---some were 1988 Ron Paul for Prez supporters.

From our 21st Century age, I want those who joined in 2007 to share their experiences.

From an internet microcosm perspective...how did you find the forum? What were the most interesting activist ideas on the forum? What was accomplished?



Some of you have been here longer than me, and certainly much longer supporters of liberty than me....and I'd like us to share thoughts to see where we cross or differ.

Going to bed now...will see if I get a response by tomorrow.

We both got here at the same time.

After following the career of Ron Paul, his writings and speeches going all the way back to the 80's, it was natural, a given, that Mrs. AF and I would, in spite of our well founded cynicism of the political system, jump in and commit 100% percent to the campaign. Not to mention his interviews on regular basis on the Alex Jones show. Love him or hate him, Jones has been a steadfast and constant supporter of Ron Paul and his show brought thousands of people to the campaign, including us.

So, signing up at RPF was a "natural" as well.

What was exciting was, after attending various "libertarian" functions and seeing a turnout of a couple dozen people at best, attending a NH GOP straw poll fundraiser in July 2007. Hundreds of people turned out and RP won in a landslide in that poll.

And even more exciting was the further manifestation of something that first hit me at an "anti Kelo" protest in New London CT in 2005.

Something struck me as odd from the very start and it wasn't until an hour into the whole thing that it hit me: this crowd that was around us, that we were a part of, all of us raising loud voices in indignation, had no clear political lines of demarcation.

None.

There were republicrats and libertarians, greens, anarchists, vegans, gays, gun owners, church groups, and "unaffiliated" of all types, blue collar, white collar, retired, business owners and unemployed, all united against a government ruling that was so over the top everybody could see it.

After getting my head thumped at the RNC in 2004, in what amounted to mostly a partisan bitchfest, this was an epiphany.

More than anything, that is what prompted both of us to throw in behind the good Dr. We realized that there was no other man in all of politics that could unite such disparate factions under a common banner of freedom with nothing more than the force and moral bona fides of a lifetime of scrupulous honesty and integrity and commitment to freedom.

The most exciting ideas and moments?

The "money bombs" without question.

Some hated the idea of the 5th of November. I liked it from the start, although I had my doubts as to whether anything would happen, a money bomb "dud" would be the worst possible outcome.

Well, the rest is history of course, on my own end, to the tune of 6 grand or so I suppose, if I had to add it all up. Coming out of Fanuiel Hall in Boston on the evening of the 16th and doing a triple take at a fellow patriot's laptop at the donation widget, literally brought a tear to my eye.

That was, in a 25 plus year span of various political "activism", the high point for me.

I'd double it to do it all over again and have that effect and impact on people. I regret not a single penny.

What was accomplished?...ah, now you've opened a can of worms.

The cynic, the pragmatic pessimist in me wants to say, wants to scream in frustration, nothing.

Not a fuckin' thing: world without end, hallelujah, amen.

But that would be a lie.

The fact is the political and real world landscape of 21st century America has been rocked to it's core by all of our efforts.

Our man didn't win, we didn't win a campaign, we didn't win respect or a seat at the table. That is to be expected. When you start off by saying to the assembled masses that the "emperor has no clothes" and all your most cherished notions and ideals are mostly nothing more than lies and puffery, you're not likely to be well liked or respected. Ron Paul won't be winning any Dale Carnegie awards anytime soon and neither will any of us.

What we did do, is propose an idea so simple and yet so revolutionary at the same time: the government must follow it's own laws and constitution.

This idea is now out there, it's not going away and the powers that be now must deal with it. How they deal with it will probably determine our next course of action, but what cannot be done now is have it swept under the rug, dismissed or disregarded.

Millions of voices said this:

"This is the law, this is the constitution, you are not following it nor upholding your oaths. We know this and nothing you can say or do will dissuade or discourage us.

We will have our liberty.

The next move is up to you."

[Anti Federalist]

Bump for Cowlesy

[Mesogen]

I've learned the true diversity of people who support Ron Paul and the ideas of liberty.

[forsmant]

I signed up when the daily paul failed to accept my membership. So i signed up over here and the rest is history.

[AFTFNJ]

I came across the forum after I learned thru a AFTF conf call that Dr.Paul was running & I was on the prowl for a websites that supported him. I have learned that you have to go door to door putting banners is not enough! You have to engage the masses 1 person @ a time

[Original_Intent]

I've told my story before but I'll repeat it here.

I heard about Ron Paul thru the JBS in the early 90s. I subscribed to the Freedom Report and loved it. I was involved in the formation of the Independent American Party at the national level, helping to write the platform. When the opportunity for us arose to merge with the US Taxpayers party arose, I met Howard Phillips and felt that was the direction for the party to go - but the party voted to be it's own separate party. I stayed with the IAP for a while, but gravitated to the Constitution Party (previously the US Taxpayer party).

I've run unsuccessfully for the state legistlature in 2000. Reagan was the last victorious prez candidate I supported, I voted for the first Bush but it was very unenthusiastic support. Since Bush 1 it has always been third party - Perot, and Constitution Party candidates. I supported Alan Keyes 2000 Primary run but when he lost I supported the CP.

Anyway, I heard rumors in early 2007 that Ron Paul *might* run. I didn't hear anything definite until May, and I went to his official campaign site and signed up, got directed to his Meetup page and from there got directed here. It's been a great trip since then, there are some great people here.

[resistoppression]

I first discovered RP in 2007 as well. When I heard him speaking the truth about our economic and foreign policy I immediately left the Democratic party and registered Republican.

[hotbrownsauce]

I found out about the forums by people on different forums or maybe youtube info links. I use to use ronpaulforum.com for a few months until I found ronpaulforumS.com which had more supporters on it.
I've learned a lot over the last 2 years. Thousands of hours of learning and gaining my perspective. I've still got loads to do and I have to do it while I'm still young.

I'm glad we all share similar stories.

[nullvalu]

I don't even remember how I found this board. I've become involved locally with politics and have since been appointed to a position on the Board of my county's Republican party. Many are still active in my area, doing low-power FM radio shows, we started the Indiana charter of the RLC, ran a candidate for State Rep in a really close race (came down to 20-something votes! hope he runs again).... The INRLC (http://inrlc.org) hopes to have a large presence at the upcoming Young Republicans convention.

[Dojo]

I'm pretty sure it was the debates that got me interested, I read everything I could find concerning him, and eventually happened across this site.

I don't always contribute to the discussions BUT I DO visit every day! I love this forum. It's the best, most informative site I've come across, definately the right place to find a GOOD intelligent conversation, along with comic relief.......... I've learned more here in the last few years than I have in my entire life.....Thanks to all

[aravoth]

I made a video called "Stop Dreaming" after the first debate, I was reading the comments on that video and I saw "Cujokitten" post a link to this forum. I made an account, said hello, and the rest they say, is history.

[ChaosControl]

I don't remember how I found the place. I was probably referred here by someone way back when. I wasn't very active in the forum though. Not that I particularly am not either though, but much more so than I was then. Heck I think I had maybe 10 posts for the entire campaign season...

[Paulitical Correctness]

I occasionally visited Godlike Productions for a laugh during the summer of 2007. If some of you think conspiracy nuts lurk HERE, you should check that place out...it'll blow your mind.

Anyway, a lot of folks over there posted videos on a daily basis of this Ron Paul fellow. At that point, I cared absolutely nothing of politics and didn't trust anyone on a stage in a suit. I finally decided to watch this legendary 'Educating Rudy' video everyone was talking about.

I know it's cheesy and cliche, but it was like some deeper cause and meaning awakened inside of me. "Who the f*** is this guy?!" I said. Immediately I began obsessively watching every last youtube clip there was. Eventually I sought out a more professional setting to quench my thirst for knowledge, a google search: "Ron Paul forum" brought me here and I signed up immediately. Scared, ignorant, cautious...but so very curious.

I was blown away everytime I logged in. It was like the forum was a living, breathing being. Of course there were bad apples, but I remember hundreds of people expressing themselves (which is usually bad news). Everyone had so much creative energy and excitement they were ready to burst. People couldn't post fast enough, as a thread would fall off page one in minutes.

If we recreate the energy and excitement of 2007, amazing things might happen. This place was the heart of many successes and ideas. Even now, in 2009, I am blown away upon logging in. RPH with his insurmountable and epic activism. LLS with her determination. The way everyone comes together when there's a common goal - that's the key to success. This place seems pretty dead sometimes, but remember the MIAC report? RPF came alive again, and every week there's more HR1207 cosponsors.

In addition to all that, RPF is my main source of news.

[GunnyFreedom]

sub bump - too busy to answer right now. don't want to lose the thread

[ARealConservative]

There is no question that folks who joined in 2009---some were 1988 Ron Paul for Prez supporters.

From our 21st Century age, I want those who joined in 2007 to share their experiences.

From an internet microcosm perspective...how did you find the forum? What were the most interesting activist ideas on the forum? What was accomplished?



Some of you have been here longer than me, and certainly much longer supporters of liberty than me....and I'd like us to share thoughts to see where we cross or differ.

Going to bed now...will see if I get a response by tomorrow.

I believe someone at meetup posted a link to this forum which led me here.

Like so many, , I had been reading Ron Paul for some time at his house.gov/paul site and was a regular reader of Lew Rockwell.

I'm not real sure what we have accomplished. Notoriety for sure, but this may not be such a good thing. Our views are being given more time in media then I can ever recall, and the internet - although always a haven for free thought, seems to be doubly so. I still see the MSM trying to prop up the likes of Palin and Romney though, and have to wonder if anything substantial will have changed in the long run.

[MozoVote]

I don't remember how I found the forum - probably surfed here from DailyPaul - but I remember lurking for about a week, as we headed into the Ed Failor and Iowans for Tax Relief snub.

One of the main things I can take away from here is realizing how much deeper *invetigative* journalism can be found on grassroots sites. (Such as exposing the manipulation of mics and time limits during the debates, the Frank Lutz "undecided voter" scams, etc) I definately look at mainstream news in a whole different way.

[dannno]

I view forums in general as more of a way for those interested in certain topics to discuss ideas and events on a daily basis, and the other main purpose would be to encourage organic movements and projects that spur within the community. Keep the discussion going to keep people here so when the organic grassroots projects come up, there are people to help initiate.

That is why I value this forum so much. The level of moderation here is very well within the tolerance which I would establish in a forum for Ron Paul had I developed one.

[nayjevin]

who's ron paul? i came here for discussions about reptilian shapeshifters. :D

seriously, I was flipping through the channels and saw the republican debate was on - i heard this guy that was either real good, or real slick, so I googled him.

I think it was when I read in that bio on the ronpaul2008 website that said ' - has never voted to raise taxes' when i realized Ron was the man -- then I looked him up on one of my trusted sites and saw some anarcho-capitalist friends liked him, and that was good enough for me to know he wasn't a moderate of some kind.

I forget exactly where i found out about the forum - but just like when I started reading about ron paul - it took almost no time to realize this was the real deal.

next was ron paul library, which was where i started to get a real feel for the man, and he changed many of my undeveloped fence sitting positions.

then came meetups, etc, and the rest is history!

[Omphfullas Zamboni]

Hi,

I have never been so excited to watch a flash-animated thermometer climb, as I was in 2007.

Nobody could do a one day spontaneous Internet fundraiser like us. The only people who even came close were the Huckabee guys. Remember Obama's 24-hour total? Near about $4300--completely yawn-worthy.

Furthermore, we plastered Ron Paul's name on the starboard side of the Goodyear Blimp.

Not to mention sending flowers to "The View". :) The political season was sweet and fragrant with ardor. We mounted a vibrant challenge and survived to dust ourselves off. We will have our day.

Be well.

Regards,
Omphfullas Zamboni

[Peace&Freedom]

I joined RPF in late 2007 affter spending most of that year promoting Paul's candidacy offline or through the meetup system. In January 2007 I and other early Paul supporters anticipated many of the problems the candidate was going to face, that the insularity of the campaign would not address, and felt the internet was an insufficient base to bring Paul's momentum to critical mass for winning the key early primaries. The proposals developed to address this included ensuring Paul raised tens of millions nationwide, that he fund scientific polls that included his name (to counter his exclusion from most major media sponsored polls), promoting his name to actual likely GOP primary voters, etc.

We formed a loose, preliminary independent network to help solve the problems and to encourage the campaign to adopt. Alas, do to some inefficiencies in that coalition (and some needless internal turf fighting within the Paul movement) the effort to head off the problems were stalled. Until the money bomb concept came along, and proved the movement could circumvent the soft blackout of the congressman and raise him serious money, Paul's candidacy was frankly circling the drain by early fall 2007. In hindsight, while we were all hopeful for the best, in truth we were too far behind the curve by that point to get Paul to real frontrunner status to overcome what would become a hard MSM blackout of the candidate by January 2008.

A 'tortoise beats the hare' strategy, where a steady Paul would prevail due to the frontrunners canceling each other out, was the only chance he had left (and showed some partial realization in early primaries). But too many things had to keep falling in place for that to prevail, so true to lackey form the media soon wrapped McCain with the status of winner (to create that reality), and Paul was done. It didn't help that the campaign appeared half hearted about really trying to win from the start, or that Paul seemed to cave on issues of concern to many in the liberty movement (like 9-11/false flags, or continuing to run as an independent), which disheartened his own troops.

About the main thing left to do ever since was to talk about what could have been on these boards, with the hope that a future Paul or Paulite liberty presidential campaign listens and learns from the 2007-08 example. Hopefully the archive of ideas and resources built on RPF will serve that prepartory function. The next great liberty candidacy will still have to build its coalition mostly offline, while raising serious early money and regular-voter visibility, which the Paul campaign did not. Repeating the 2007 mistakes by concentrating on online gabbing, cable TV interviews or debates, or outreaching to the general population instead of to likely primary voters, will doom the next candidacy as much as it did Paul.

[cujothekitten]

I left a comment on one of the first ron paul activist videos and either Josh Lowry or Bryan (I think that's who it was) left me a comment about the forum. I was one of the first 100 people to join the forum.

Seriously, the most fun I had was watching the money bombs. It was hypnotic.


I made a video called "Stop Dreaming" after the first debate, I was reading the comments on that video and I saw "Cujokitten" post a link to this forum. I made an account, said hello, and the rest they say, is history.

Oh hai thar ^_^