How to get mainstream Dems to listen to Ron Paul?

[giskard]

???

Here's one little point. When queried about global warming, his answer was to start by ending the subsidies of the oil companies. I thought it was a damn good answer.

The biggest point of course, is that he was vociferously against the Iraq war from the very beginning...

[Sparx]

Definitely a good point. Just last week I was talking to my Journalism professor about Dr. Paul. He was digging everything from voting against the war to the importance of individual freedom. Then he remembered something he had "heard" and asked me "Wait....is THIS the guy that wants to get rid of the federal income tax? Oh god." I think he would have walked away at that point if I hadn't mentioned all the waste that goes on within our government and the fact that prices rise because of the involvement government as well as big business has on our lives.

I think most mainstream dems just like repubs will be extremely dismissive and resistant at first as to be expected when treading into seemingly unknown water. I know not ALL people of political affiliations will like Dr. Paul even after learning all there is about him. Then again, my grandma is not only a tough cookie, but a bit of a fascist. :rolleyes:

[JoshLowry]

If you're talking to a woman, doctor, or nurse, also remind them that he is an OB-GYN who delivered over 4,000 babies into this world.

The government would still be getting taxes, we wouldn't be paying zero taxes.

He wants to revamp the system in effect. Although getting rid of the IRS seems crazy, the current state of the system is such a mind boggling maze that it is long overdue.

[MsDoodahs]

I've been working to spread the freedom message for about 6 years. It is difficult.

It's been my experience that when you're talking to others about the freedom philosophy, you may get a lot of resistence. I consider that normal. The concepts are new to them.

New things - new ideas - can be very frightening.

When discussing Dr. Paul's ideas with college profs, tread carefully. These individuals have been some of the most vehement anti-freedom individuals I've had the pleasure to engage.

Some of them may be extremely resistent because they see his ideas as threatening to their income. Think about it - who makes the loans to the students to use to pay tuition that the school then uses to give them their paychecks? Where does the gov't get that money? And end to income taxation could be seen by them as a very personal "pocketbook issue." If they see it that way, they will fight you tooth and nail, and some will go so far as to actively seek to silence you.

MsD

[Michael Wilson]

I had a fall-out with a Democrat because he was trying to say that the small businesses that go out of business because of Wal-Mart should be subsidized so that they could remain in business, and I told him that if people really wanted that business to survive then they could shop there he had nothing else to say to me after that.

[Sparx]

When discussing Dr. Paul's ideas with college profs, tread carefully. These individuals have been some of the most vehement anti-freedom individuals I've had the pleasure to engage.

Some of them may be extremely resistent because they see his ideas as threatening to their income. Think about it - who makes the loans to the students to use to pay tuition that the school then uses to give them their paychecks? Where does the gov't get that money? And end to income taxation could be seen by them as a very personal "pocketbook issue." If they see it that way, they will fight you tooth and nail, and some will go so far as to actively seek to silence you.

MsD

Good point. It was on a night when we were discussing media, ethics, and law and I think even if he disagrees on some points it was nice to at least see him encouraging discussion within the class. We were actually modeling and analyzing the spiraling silence theory and I doubt he wanted to try and silence any opinions at that point! I probably wouldn't mention Dr. Paul to any of my other college profs .....as I know if they have a negative reaction, they may apply that reaction unjustly to my grade.

[furface]

>>>Think about it - who makes the loans to the students to use to pay tuition that the school then uses to give them their paychecks? Where does the gov't get that money?<<<

You make a good point, but I find your post a bit anti-academic. I think Ron Paul has hit on something that's very important, which is that the federal government using its incessant money printing ability has basically screwed up our economy and is screwing up the world in any number of ways. For instance as you put it, federally funded student loans have contributed to runaway college tuition and turned a lot of profs into self serving layabouts.

Concerning global warming, one way to curb global warming is to get rid of an income tax and replace it with a consumption tax. That way people aren't encouraged to over consume like we're doing.

[MsDoodahs]

I'm not anti-academic, but I AM anti-"self serving layabouts."

;)

[Bryan]

An interesting point on the income tax, Dr. Paul has reported that "Even today, individual income taxes account for only approximately one-third of federal revenue. Eliminating one-third of the proposed 2007 budget would still leave federal spending at roughly $1.8 trillion-- a sum greater than the budget just 6 years ago in 2000!"
http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2006/tst041006.htm

So basically people think the income tax is everything but if we cut to year 2000 spending (we weren't exactly hurting then, no?) we wouldn't need an income tax.... not that that solves the deficit issue but the point is solid.

One consideration on the Democrats issue, after the last number of years its going to be a tough sell to get votes from Democrats but when talking with them stress to them to look at Dr. Paul and promote him to other Republicans even if they still plan to vote Democratic. It should be in their best interests, for many Democrats the point can be achieved by noting Dr. Paul's stance on the war.

[billv]

That's brilliant. I was just studying government spending in my economics book and it didn't sink in on me until I read your post.