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View Full Version : Where Were You Before Ron Paul?




tbone717
03-07-2012, 04:45 PM
It's been a while since I have seen this type of poll run here (if there was a recent one, please let me know and we can bump that one). But here is the question. Whether you came on board in 08 or this year, what was your party allegiance before becoming part of the libertarian movement in the GOP?

I'll define the answers here for clarity:

1) GOP (Part of the Libertarian Wing) - this means that you were active in this movement before Paul came on the national scene in 08.
2) GOP (Mainstream) - this means you were a Republican, but toted the party line (for lack of a better term)
3) Democrat - Self explanatory
4) Libertarian Party - Again, self explanatory
5) Constitution Party - Yet again, self explanatory
6) Green Party - Self explanatory
7) Independent - You were registered to vote, but no party affiliation
8) Minor Party - Any one of the myriad of minor parties that are out there (America First, Peace & Freedom, Socialist Workers, etc)
9) Not Registered (Under 18) - this means you were under the age of 18 when this whole thing got started and you registered GOP right from the start
10) Not Registered (Apathy) - you weren't registered and you didn't care.

I think I covered all possible scenarios. So please vote, comment and bump.

Thanks

sailingaway
03-07-2012, 04:50 PM
None of the above. I was GOP but never voted in primaries, it was more apathy plus general conservatism. I wouldn't know if that was 'mainstream'.

ohgodno
03-07-2012, 04:50 PM
Registered Republican when I was 18 as mainstream for a loooong while.

Questioned all the wars and spending under Bush - then became interested in libertarianism… switched affiliation to Libertarian - then back to Republican to vote for Paul in the primary in 08.

so: 2, 4, 1.

tbone717
03-07-2012, 04:51 PM
None of the above. I was GOP but never voted in primaries, it was more apathy plus general conservatism. I wouldn't know if that was 'mainstream'.

10 choices and you are the first trouble maker LOL.

seyferjm
03-07-2012, 04:54 PM
Mainstream GOP but not heavily into it.

LisaNY
03-07-2012, 04:54 PM
I chose 10- this will be my 1st vote since the general in 2000. I voted for Bush as a republican, but had to re-register since it's been so long.

tbone717
03-07-2012, 04:55 PM
Registered Republican when I was 18 as mainstream for a loooong while.

Questioned all the wars and spending under Bush - then became interested in libertarianism… switched affiliation to Libertarian - then back to Republican to vote for Paul in the primary in 08.

so: 2, 4, 1.

I think a lot of us flirted with a third party at one time or another. Even though I have been GOP since age 18 and always part of the Libertarian side thanks to my family upbringing, I did have a brief stint with the CP to work on a Senate race in PA.

BuddyRey
03-07-2012, 04:57 PM
I was registered Independent because I didn't think the Democratic Party was liberal enough.

Crazy, huh? Trust me, I'm not sure what I was thinking at the time either.

cdc482
03-07-2012, 04:57 PM
I wasn't old enough to vote, but I considered myself a democrat. Who could be a republican under Bush?
Besides Ron Paul, I am apathetic to politics in general. User to like it, now I hate it and try to stay away from it.
I've always had a libertarian mindset though I never knew there was a term for it.

tbone717
03-07-2012, 04:57 PM
BTW there is a prize for anyone who was a registered member of The United State Pirate Party (http://us.pirate.is/) and can prove it :)

cachemaster
03-07-2012, 05:04 PM
9) Not Registered (Under 18) - this means you were under the age of 18 when this whole thing got started and you registered GOP right from the start

I was 14 in 07/08 lol.

kahless
03-07-2012, 05:06 PM
Missing the GOP Paleo-Conservative option - Buchanan supporters. He was hated by the establishment GOP and MSM like Ron Paul.

No mention of Reform party which with Perot got 19% of the vote in the 1992 election. His support was double that in the summer when he was the front-runner and dropped out only to re-enter in October. He popularity and support was cut in half because of that.

People always forget that when discussing Ron as a 3rd party candidate. Perot may have won if he did not sabotage his campaign by dropping out and re-entering.

NoOneButPaul
03-07-2012, 05:07 PM
I had lost the will to care, and the motivation I had out of high school to try for a career in politics was dead.

I was quite certain it would never come back...But now i'm in the process of giving up the life I have worked for so I can re-invest myself in trying to win office. It's all because of everything Ron has done...

I owe everything to Ron, he woke a good lot of us up and proved without question that no matter how hard the world is stacked against you one man absolutely can make a difference no matter how quickly or how often he is dismissed.

Everything about Ron Paul has the makings for a real legendary story.

I'd like to see it end with the 20-somethings he woke up spending their lives taking back the GOP and restoring freedom to the country....

When I see the negativity and apathy setting in right now I laugh... if Ron Paul has shown us anything it's that you should never give up (although it is time to focus in on the senate and house races for liberty).

A KEY difference between Ron Paul and the rest of the field is that Ron Paul never came to us, we finally came around to Ron Paul.

Godmode7
03-07-2012, 05:08 PM
Can you add sucking at life in the military? lol

Karsten
03-07-2012, 05:10 PM
I'm shocked I'm the only Libertarian Party member so far. As the grassroots Ron Paul events around my area in early 2007 it was almost all LP.

Lishy
03-07-2012, 05:12 PM
I was a commie supporting Obama. That is the truth. I actually have a copy of the Communist Manifesto in my room.

However, as I learned more about Ron Paul, I realized Libertarianism achieves the same social justice that Communism strives for, but without need of violating our freedoms or government intervention.

Essentially, by eliminating unnecessary government, there is no need to tax large businesses because it makes the business environment fair for everyone due to the nature of competition.

I was never registered however. I am Canadian.

1stAmendguy
03-07-2012, 05:14 PM
You left out the hijacked neocon tea party. I know some people that are now Paul supporters that considered themselves tea partiers but never heard/wasn't informed about Ron Paul. They were also Palin supporters. Luckily I won a couple over and informed them about the intellectual Godfather of the Tea Party movement.

tbone717
03-07-2012, 05:15 PM
Missing the GOP Paleo-Conservative option - Buchanan supporters. He was hated by the establishment GOP and MSM like Ron Paul.

No mention of Reform party which with Perot got 19% of the vote in the 1992 election. His support was double that in the summer when he was the front-runner and dropped out only to re-enter in October. He popularity and support was cut in half because of that.

People always forget that when discussing Ron as a 3rd party candidate. Perot may have won if he did not sabotage his campaign by dropping out and re-entering.

I would group the paleo-cons with the libertarian movement of the GOP since we cross paths on so much really. I consider myself more of a paleo-con than anything else, and worked hard for Buchanan in the early 90's.

The Reform Party is by all definitions a minor party, in the mid 90's they did have the registration numbers to make them a 3rd party, but that dwindled quickly and by 07 when Paul came on the scene they were a minor party.

tbone717
03-07-2012, 05:17 PM
You left out the hijacked neocon tea party. I know some people that are now Paul supporters that considered themselves tea partiers but never heard/wasn't informed about Ron Paul. They were also Palin supporters. Luckily I won a couple over and informed them about the intellectual Godfather of the Tea Party movement.

Technically, I would throw the Tea Party folks in with the libertarian wing, simply because in its infancy that is what was driving it. But yea, it could have been an option I imagine.

mport1
03-07-2012, 05:23 PM
Libertarian Party. I'm done with those clowns now though. However, I will never join the GOP.

If I vote in the future, I will just vote for candidates who I think are very principled libertarians no matter what party they are in. I don't see myself affiliating with a party though unless the LP gets its act together at some point.

tbone717
03-07-2012, 05:25 PM
Libertarian Party. I'm done with those clowns now though. However, I will never join the GOP.

If I vote in the future, I will just vote for candidates who I think are very principled libertarians no matter what party they are in. I don't see myself affiliating with a party though unless the LP gets its act together at some point.

But what about primary elections? There are a lot of libertarian-leaning candidates running in competitive GOP primaries not only this year, but there will be in years to come.

Wooden Indian
03-07-2012, 05:27 PM
Voted Bush in 2000... was pissed at myself in 2003... didn't vote again until the 2008 primary... Then again this year.

It still makes me sick that I supported that douche.

DerailingDaTrain
03-07-2012, 05:33 PM
9) Not Registered (Under 18) - this means you were under the age of 18 when this whole thing got started and you registered GOP right from the start

I was 14 in 07/08 lol.

Same here but I've always considered myself a Libertarian. The only reason I'm in the Republican party is for Ron Paul.

tbone717
03-07-2012, 05:34 PM
Same here but I've always considered myself a Libertarian. The only reason I'm in the Republican party is for Ron Paul.

Just curious, will you stay now that you see that there are dozens and dozens of libertarians running for office in the GOP?

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?365683-List-of-Liberty-minded-Candidates-for-US-Congress

seekingliberty
03-07-2012, 05:36 PM
I was a mainstream Republican. I listened to the talking heads and faux news. Would prob even be considered an "evangelical" republican. I voted for Huckabee last time around. Couldn't stand McCain but liked Palin and voted for the pair. Didn't even consider Ron, after all he was a kook and had a horrible foreign policy. A whole lot has changed in the last few years! Awakening to the truth was a real experience. I'm grateful to Ron Paul for being so patient with those of us that are a little slow. I feel like we owe it to him to continue on. It's much easier now days with all the support. I couldn't even imagine going through everything he has.

DerailingDaTrain
03-07-2012, 05:40 PM
Just curious, will you stay now that you see that there are dozens and dozens of libertarians running for office in the GOP?

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?365683-List-of-Liberty-minded-Candidates-for-US-Congress

Yeah. I can't see myself voting for an LP candidate after what Bob Barr turned out to be and there are far too few Dems I agree with anything on.

LisaNY
03-07-2012, 05:44 PM
Voted Bush in 2000... was pissed at myself in 2003... didn't vote again until the 2008 primary... Then again this year.

It still makes me sick that I supported that douche.

Me too, especially when I think of my cousin who got killed in Iraq. I actually helped put a man in office that ended up killing one of my relatives.

tbone717
03-07-2012, 05:45 PM
Yeah. I can't see myself voting for an LP candidate after what Bob Barr turned out to be and there are far too few Dems I agree with anything on.

My issue with the LP and CP is that they spread themselves too thin, 40 years and never a Congressional win is not a good record. And only 12 state legislator victories in all those years, again a poor record. When I flirted briefly with the CP I had the ear of the state chairman, I asked him why they didn't focus on one or two House races rather than spending all their money on trying to run for Governor, etc. It fell on deaf ears.

BuddyRey
03-07-2012, 05:46 PM
I was a commie supporting Obama. That is the truth. I actually have a copy of the Communist Manifesto in my room.

However, as I learned more about Ron Paul, I realized Libertarianism achieves the same social justice that Communism strives for, but without need of violating our freedoms or government intervention.

Essentially, by eliminating unnecessary government, there is no need to tax large businesses because it makes the business environment fair for everyone due to the nature of competition.

I was never registered however. I am Canadian.

Yup..."Socialist" or at least "social democrat" would have been the the closest label that would have fit me back then. I never bought the Communist Manifesto, but I did check it out from the library once (bet I'm on all kinds of nifty gov't databases for that).

It's weird how quickly libertarianism "clicked" with me once I started thinking about what it actually meant instead of viewing it in the terms I had been taught to. I always thought libertarians were just greedy people who only cared about the bottom line and wanted corporations to run everything. But when I realized their disdain for government arises out of a more general desire to steer society away from institutionalized coercion and violence, that's when all the pieces came together.

I went from Marxism to Rothbardianism in about three years. And Ron Paul was the conduit that made it possible. :)

bunklocoempire
03-07-2012, 05:55 PM
GOP (Mainstream) Apathy

DGambler
03-07-2012, 05:59 PM
Mainstream R, came to Ron in 2008. I left POTUS blank in '04 as "it" had started in my thoughts and something smelled fishy about W. I did vote for Perot the first year I could vote.

TheGrinch
03-07-2012, 06:05 PM
Voted Bush in 2000... was pissed at myself in 2003... didn't vote again until the 2008 primary... Then again this year.

It still makes me sick that I supported that douche.
Yep, Bush in 2000 was the last GOP candidate I ever supported, though in our defense, he did talk about not going around "national-building" :rolleyes:, and I sure wasn't voting Gore, but you know, in the words of Bush, "Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."

At different times over the last 10 years, I've considered myself every one of those labels, but all that means is that at the end of the day, I'm going to support the ones who seem to have the country's best interest in mind, which has pretty much resulted in all 3rd party/libertarian votes; But I couldn't be happier that it ended up being Dr. Paul with the answers, after all the years of searching....

mport1
03-07-2012, 06:10 PM
But what about primary elections? There are a lot of libertarian-leaning candidates running in competitive GOP primaries not only this year, but there will be in years to come.

If that is the case, I'd vote for them. They'd have to be very principled though. I'm not wasting my time voting (which is already a waste of time) to vote for the lesser of two evils. I'm just saying I have never and will never identify myself as a member of the GOP.

ChristopherShelley
03-07-2012, 06:13 PM
On disability without direction, frustrated and angry. Now I have hope of getting off of disability, knowing there are people out there who believe in something real.

mad cow
03-07-2012, 06:28 PM
Card carrying,dues paying member of the Libertarian party from about 1985 until about 2005,$25/month off my
credit card for about 2 decades,until I started to get discouraged.I was amazed by the support Ron Paul got from
the young in 2007,and it has only grown.

Don't get discouraged.

Uriah
03-07-2012, 06:41 PM
Any room for a studious anarchist still examining the political scene?

tbone717
03-07-2012, 06:43 PM
Any room for a studious anarchist still examining the political scene?

In terms of the 10 choices I put up there, I'd say that would be apathy because you weren't registered, but were of age - correct?

mport1
03-07-2012, 06:46 PM
Any room for a studious anarchist still examining the political scene?

There is always room for anarchists in the political scene :)


In terms of the 10 choices I put up there, I'd say that would be apathy because you weren't registered, but were of age - correct?

But being an anarchist doesn't mean one is apathetic. I'm an anarchist and am very far from apathetic or uninvolved in politics.

raystone
03-07-2012, 06:47 PM
I was a commie supporting Obama. That is the truth. I actually have a copy of the Communist Manifesto in my room.

However, as I learned more about Ron Paul, I realized Libertarianism achieves the same social justice that Communism strives for, but without need of violating our freedoms or government intervention.

Essentially, by eliminating unnecessary government, there is no need to tax large businesses because it makes the business environment fair for everyone due to the nature of competition.

I was never registered however. I am Canadian.


thank you for sharing. Profound, I thought

Lishy
03-07-2012, 06:48 PM
Yup..."Socialist" or at least "social democrat" would have been the the closest label that would have fit me back then. I never bought the Communist Manifesto, but I did check it out from the library once (bet I'm on all kinds of nifty gov't databases for that).

It's weird how quickly libertarianism "clicked" with me once I started thinking about what it actually meant instead of viewing it in the terms I had been taught to. I always thought libertarians were just greedy people who only cared about the bottom line and wanted corporations to run everything. But when I realized their disdain for government arises out of a more general desire to steer society away from institutionalized coercion and violence, that's when all the pieces came together.

I went from Marxism to Rothbardianism in about three years. And Ron Paul was the conduit that made it possible. :)

Hail, comrade! The proletariat shall rise one day! ;) (I still lulz how some people actually talk like that... Even when I was a commie, I found it awkward hearing people call me comrade...)

tbone717
03-07-2012, 06:49 PM
There is always room for anarchists in the political scene :)



Being an anarchist doesn't mean one is apathetic. I'm an anarchist and am very far from apathetic or uninvolved in politics.

I did not state that he was apathetic but merely using the available choices. I couldn't come up with a choice for every conceivable scenario. This is more about party registration prior to 08/12 than political persuasion.

tsetsefly
03-07-2012, 06:54 PM
Me too, especially when I think of my cousin who got killed in Iraq. I actually helped put a man in office that ended up killing one of my relatives.
+2 , except mine was in 04, so I feel even worse... I was pretty much pro liberty in all areas by then, against the drug war, against, government interference int he economy, health care , education... Still didn't understand teh fed and gold standard and why we were really fighting those wars.

I voted Libertarian for everything else but in the end couldn't vote for Badnarik and since I hated Kerry I voted for that asshole Bush, ugh, all I can say is I regretted right after and I am embarrased to admit it even on a forum... Ugh, I can remember I had pressure from my family who in the end where happy I voted for Bush yuk! they will all vote Rp now though :)

TheGrinch
03-07-2012, 06:56 PM
It is offical. Paul is a synonym for grace:



Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

When we've been here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun.

camp_steveo
03-07-2012, 06:59 PM
I voted independent, but I was a registered Repub. I never voted strictly party line. In fact, I voted for John Kerry in 2004. That was my way of say "Fuck You George" from my barracks in Baghdad.

tbone717
03-07-2012, 07:06 PM
My own personal story for those who haven't read it before:

I grew up in a GOP family. My parents and grandparents both supported Reagan and Goldwater. My grandfather was even a Taft supporter back in the 40's and 50's . He would say, "We'll never have another one like Coolidge". So it was natural for me when I turned 18 in 1988 to look for a candidate that was like the ones my family had always supported. I liked Kemp in 88, but he never gained any traction, and by the time PA voted in the primaries Bush had the nomination. I heard about Ron Paul from a radio program hosted by Irv Homer on WWDB in Philadelphia. Homer, by the way, was the VP selection on the America First ticket in 1972. So I voted for Paul in 88, and that was the start of my involvement in the libertarian wing of the GOP. Over the last 25 years I have worked as an activists off and on for a number of races from Presidential all the way down to local elections. I did for a brief time jump ship and went to the CP, but that was very short lived as I realized I could be more effective working within the GOP then being on the outside.

So that's my background in a nutshell. It is refreshing to hear all the different stories of how we all got to this place where we are now.

Nicholas F.
03-07-2012, 07:31 PM
I was/am an Independent that stands by traditional Christian values and have a voluntarily distributist economic view. I'm voting for Ron Paul because I respect him for standing by his principles and for being about persuading people to change their lives through love, not coercion.

In Christ,
Nicholas

justatrey
03-07-2012, 07:40 PM
I voted for Ralph Nader, then John Kerry! Wow, that second one hurts to even think about. I still think Ralph Nader is a good guy, although I disagree with him on many issues now. But John Kerry?! All I can say is THANK YOU whoever made that "Who is Ron Paul?" sign which I spotted on the way home from work one day in 07.

FreedomWon
03-07-2012, 07:42 PM
Voted for Dr. Paul in '88.
Dropped politics altogether until 07
when he decided to run.
Pretty much had the political perspective
of George Carlin.