I experienced exponential growth first hand.

[drexhex]

I have an amazing story for you all tonight.

First off, Happy Thanksgiving to you all. It certainly was a happy night for me.

A few weeks ago I appeared on the front page of the NY Times in the picture with Dr. Paul (was the guy in the R3volution sweatshirt above the poster he was signing). I told my dad about it (who wouldn't tell their parents?), and he asked me why I supported Dr. Paul. Now since I knew my father was a die-hard Christian, I told him the facts that would make him like Dr. Paul (married for 50 years, 18 grandchildren, pro-life, etc). This got him interested, but he never really talked to me after that day about him.

Today at my family's gathering (not just immediate family - cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and even people I've never met before), I was sitting down with my grandmother talking to her about college. She asked what I've been doing in my spare time, so I asked her if she saw the NY Times front page image a few weeks back. She said no, but asked if I was on it. I told her I was, and that it was a picture with Ron Paul signing a poster. She perked up and said, and I quote, "He's a great man! I'm so glad your father told us about him. He has changed our opinion of politicians."

I was surprised, for several reasons. One was that my father and I hardly ever talk, so him listening to me is not a normal occurrence. The second was that my dad actually took it upon himself to do research on Dr. Paul and to inform my grandparents about him. The third surprise came next.

So I'm talking to my grandmom about why she likes him so much, and she tells me everything that we Ron Paul supporters know by heart (his stances on the war, the IRS, gov't spending, etc.). She then said that my grandfather, who hasn't been politically active since he was in college (he's 83 now), has been telling everyone about him at their retirement community, and everyone is jumping onto the Ron Paul bandwagon. She told me he mentions Dr. Paul to the waiters and waitresses at the dining hall, and to all his friends, and has even been talking to strangers about him!

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This did not sound anything like my family! Then my fourth surprise came after my grandmother told me all this. My uncle, who I tend to get along with but we hardly ever talk, came over and asked me if we were talking about Ron Paul. I told him we were and asked where he had heard about him. He said from my grandmother! And then a few more of my family members came over, and said they heard about Dr. Paul from my uncle. People I had never met before came over and started asking me questions about what he was like in person! I was in heaven.

We talked about Dr. Paul and how he can actually change the way we see our government, and everyone was asking me questions about his stances. They even asked where they could get some slim-jims to distribute to their friends and co-workers (I had some in the car and brought them in to show everyone). We must have talked for 2 hours, all about politics, but unlike most political discussions, we all agreed on one thing - that Dr. Paul was the best candidate for President since the founding fathers, and that he is the change that America needs.

So now that my story is over (it is true, not a work of fiction), I leave you with this advice: If you're not sure whether or not you should tell someone about Dr. Paul's message (maybe you think they're socialist or too gung-ho about something that he's against, or maybe you just don't typically talk to them like my father and I), do it. If they catch on, his message spreads like wildfire. Never before has my family ever agreed on anything as much as they did this evening, and it was all because I mentioned him to my dad.

Freedom is popular.

-Eric (DrexHex)

[stevedasbach]

bump!

[ClockwiseSpark]

Excellent post, thanks for sharing :)

And Happy Thanksgiving! :D

[hopeforamerica]

What a Thanksgiving!

[hddn-agnda]

I'm tellin ya...

[ClayTrainor]

what a great story, i love hearing things like this

sounds like he's catching on faster than we realize :)

[JordanL]

Excellent story!

I wasn't sure about telling my uncle... but I went ahead and just dropped Dr. Paul at different points in conversations and he reluctantly decided to come to a meetup group.

Boy is he ever enthusiastic now!

He spends almost every day passing out cards and stickers downtown!

[Matthew Zak]

Wow -- that's an awesome story. :)

Thank you for sharing.

[me3]

What an inspirational story.

[freestyl24]

<>

[dircha]

That is incredible. Truly inspirational. There are a lot of good people counting on this campaign.

[torchbearer]

I am seriously teary-eyed right now.... wow. If we could all have that moment with all of our families... we could easily win this election. If only....

[richk]

That was a great and inspiring story.

[curtisag]

Word of mouth is worth a 100 million in advertising. Speak truth to power to everyone you know!

[torchbearer]

Word of mouth is worth a 100 million in advertising. Speak truth to power to everyone you know!

Yes! Don't be afraid to speak! Don't be afraid!

[American]

That was an awesome story, thanks for that.

Happy Thanksgiving as well.

[PatriotOne]

An incredible story indeed! My Thanksgiving was with friends and since I had already converted them all, we all shared stories of others we had converted. I had a RP Thanksgiving also...but we were all preaching to the choir....LOL.

[born2drv]

I love stories like this, good job :)

[drexhex]

I had a RP Thanksgiving also...but we were all preaching to the choir....LOL.

That's actually how I felt when my grandmom started talking to me! It was so strange hearing someone who I'm very close to but haven't had the chance to convert (college) tell me about Dr. Paul!

[Zydeco]

Hall of fame post.

[Trigonx]

this is why i love coming to these forums. stories like this make us all feel more together.

[hatefalseweight]

I talked to my 92 year old stepfather who is still pretty sharp and knows stocks and stuff, but doesn't do the the internet or anything. I've been after him to get into gold for several years and showed him the gold charts again. So I have some street cred with that and used Dr. Paul's stance on the money issue and other things. Gave him a slim jim and he brought it up today that he was thought Dr. Paul was "really qualified" and glad I'd pointed him out. He'd probably have never heard about him otherwise and I think he'd vote for him now.

[mavtek]

Great Story, I had some luck too, but not nearly the luck you had.

[jenninlouisiana]

That's an awesome story! My dad supports romney :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: so I have been slowly but surely working on dropping little Ron Paul bombs on him. He was impressed that I donated on the 5th.

[beobeli]

Ideas from "All Marketers are Liars" by Seth Godin

The more you push your idea/product onto someone the more they are resistant. A yard sign can get far more, than educating your neighbor verbally on every single issue. Simply they don't trust you, or anyone for that matter. It is a low-trust world. Just think how you discovered Ron Paul. That is how you need to spread the "virus" too. Just plant the seed, and let them discover it. Once they discover it, the idea is "their baby".

To stimulate discovery you can do some innovative things. For example, I bought a sturdy yard sign frame (in Home Depot). I also bought "Info Box" (in Home Depot), that I attached to the side of the yard sign frame (this sturdy wire frame goes around the sign). Now when was the last time you saw a political yard sign with an info box. What do I put in this info box? A slim Jim, 2 DVDs (burned from web with free software (http://labnol.blogspot.com/2007/02/how-to-burn-youtube-videos-to-dvd.html) and placed in a paper CD/DVD jacket). These items are bundled together with a rubber band, forming a package. The box says "Take One" and it sits a few feet from the street. My street is quiet and gets lots of neighbors walking by. I am also thinking of including my business card (contact info), or even a sign up sheet if someone wants me to call them.

Wouldn't you be curious to "discover" what this is all about? Especially now when in PA there are no other presidential candidate signs. I've just burned the DVD set and will report how many of them are being taken. I am hoping for success.

On the other hand, at my Thanksgiving dinner I was evangelizing Ron Paul to my own family, thinking they don't need a careful approach. Well, that was counterproductive. My enthusiasm was contagious initially, but at the end they declared me a "cult follower" and that is not what I wanted. Not to worry, I did plant many thinking ideas, and I expect converts. I am just illustrating that giving too much information, shouting on the top of your lungs (believe me, I want to), and waving those signs into people's faces is not effective and possible counterproductive.

I've been also leaving a 3-fold brochure (one at the time, my personal copy only), slim Jim, etc. at Starbucks and other places I occasionally visit. Just like sharing a newspaper at these places, I share my own Ron Paul literature. Now if I placed it on every table, that would be counterproductive (and illegal, it's private property).

Be smart... Help your fellow Americans see the light... And relax... I think we are much stronger than the controlled media polls want us to believe. Nov 5 had 18,000 pledges, but 38,000 actually donated, out of which 20,000 were brand new. People are out there, and not every supporter is comfortable spreading the "virus" as vigorously as (thousands of) us.

Yours in liberty

Beo

[militant]

I have an amazing story for you all tonight.

....

I was surprised, for several reasons. One was that my father and I hardly ever talk, so him listening to me is not a normal occurrence. The second was that my dad actually took it upon himself to do research on Dr. Paul and to inform my grandparents about him.


my father and i had the same situation. hadn't talked or agreed on anything my entire life, except that deer meat and beer were both delicious. so i drove out this summer and took some RP material with me, and came back a few weeks later to see what dad thought. he was ecstatic! we have a new friendship developing. he even took the time to put RP materials in his bar, handouts for everyone, and has been working up RP buzz at the local masonic lodge and shriner's group. he's won most of my hometown over, being a person who seems to know everyone.

we're seeing people steal the signs we post around town, and post them in their own yards. every week i see signs in yards and pull over to knock, ask them how they heard about ron paul, and ask them if they want to help hand out literature and otherwise get involved.

exponential growth is entirely accurate.

[Copperhed51]

I had some success at the dinner table tonight too. I was with my parents, grandparents, aunt, and 2 uncles. I didn't bring up politics because I didn't want to seem like I was pushing anything on anybody but the subject came up and most of my family would discuss things and come to a conclusion about how they wanted to deal with problems and almost every time I would get to say "that's exactly what Ron Paul says." Any time they brought up half truths and ideas that weren't based on facts, I would refute them politely and explain the Ron Paul position. They seemed to get hung up on Iraq. They said, "I wish Ron Paul was in office in 2000." Now they're not sure if we can just "give up." Overall they all thought he had great ideas and I think the seed has been planted in their minds. We'll see where things go from there but I thought it went well. They were all very upset that we were spending all of our tax money on people in other countries. I think they'll probably be making their way to our camp soon.

[ProBlue33]

Word of mouth is needed for those that aren't internet savy.

This is a political wildfire, as one news reporter said, something is going on out there, in regards to Ron Paul support.

It is, from everything I am hearing and seeing, the perfect storm for massive political change.

[szczebrzeszyn]

What an amazing story!

[Ibgamer]

My thanksgiving was rather successful as well

I talked to about 15 of my family members about him and passed around the USA Today Ad as literature. I think I converted a couple of them :D

[ronpaulitician]

My sister-in-law was telling me how many people she's heard talk about Paul. And that a couple of them had been handing out fliers near her restaurant.

[TechnoGuyRob]

Has anyone been telling their converts about the Tea Party? :)

[rebelforacause]

to transfer dvr video to a computer or dvd?

thanks in advance

[ClockwiseSpark]

Has anyone been telling their converts about the Tea Party? :)

Every single one, and those on the fence as well. :D

[0zzy]

Remember, TELL THEM ALL TO VOTE.

And, if willing, become a delegate :).

Great story.

[Trigonx]

just tell the people on the fence to watch the online ticker, that might give them some excitement to participate.

[ClockwiseSpark]

just tell the people on the fence to watch the online ticker, that might give them some excitement to participate.

That's what I'm hoping. ;)

[The Plan]

This is great to hear. I have a feeling that my family will be a bit harder to get through to. My sister in particular is going to be a rough one. I need more religion related material for her. I have that dvd somebody put on here the other day but i have a feeling that i'm going to need more. Does anybody have any suggestions for me in this regard?

[ClockwiseSpark]

This is great to hear. I have a feeling that my family will be a bit harder to get through to. My sister in particular is going to be a rough one. I need more religion related material for her. I have that dvd somebody put on here the other day but i have a feeling that i'm going to need more. Does anybody have any suggestions for me in this regard?

Perhaps this can help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCsh7kLD88o

[OptionsTrader]

Great news!

[Paul4Prez]

Keep spreading the word -- you never know when you might inspire someone who can influence far more people than you can yourself.

[progrock]

ok my quick story for thx giving.
we invited our neighbors over and somewhere along the dinner the discussion of politics and iraq war came up.
my neighbor lady was talking along the line of "we need to just get out of there, it's doing noone any good"
i kept to myself at this point because instead of going off on a tangent like i wanted to.
I thought i'd surprise her.
so after the dinner i said "i have a DVD that i want us all to watch and i think it's very important"
so i slipped in the ron paul DVD i got off bit torrent.
I played a couple music vids to get everyone warmed up to him (evanescence vid is a must!)
Then i played the main movie.

At the end of the movie my neighbor looked at me and said "WOW this guy actually knows what he's talking about, do you have any more stuff on him?"
so i played a few of the extra's, then handed her the DVD and told her to play it for friends and family.
She seemed very excited to see ron paul's message of freedom.

another one converted today ^^

[ClockwiseSpark]

ok my quick story for thx giving.
we invited our neighbors over and somewhere along the dinner the discussion of politics and iraq war came up.
my neighbor lady was talking along the line of "we need to just get out of there, it's doing noone any good"
i kept to myself at this point because instead of going off on a tangent like i wanted to.
I thought i'd surprise her.
so after the dinner i said "i have a DVD that i want us all to watch and i think it's very important"
so i slipped in the ron paul DVD i got off bit torrent.
I played a couple music vids to get everyone warmed up to him (evanescence vid is a must!)
Then i played the main movie.

At the end of the movie my neighbor looked at me and said "WOW this guy actually knows what he's talking about, do you have any more stuff on him?"
so i played a few of the extra's, then handed her the DVD and told her to play it for friends and family.
She seemed very excited to see ron paul's message of freedom.

another one converted today ^^

Another good story. Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving! :D

[I Am Weasel]

Did I ever tell you about the first time I experienced exponential growth in my hand? LOL, sorry, couldn't resist...

Seriously though, my family and I went out tonight for our Thanksgiving dinner and caught a lady reading a USA Today. I couldn't help but to wonder over her way and see if she was reading the Ron Paul article. After watching over her shoulder for a bit, we finally asked her if she read the RP article. She hadn't even noticed it!! What shocked me was her reply though after that... "I thought he had dropped out!" I couldn't believe it! I replied that his campaign was so important to so many people that one individual took that one whole page out, paid for personally out of his own pocket. I have a hard time trying to force people to my way of thinking, so I just let her read on. After a few minutes she commented that "Well, it looks like I have somebody to vote for now!" It makes me wonder just how many people out there read that and reached the same conclusion today... :)

[rfbz]

On the other hand, at my Thanksgiving dinner I was evangelizing Ron Paul to my own family, thinking they don't need a careful approach. Well, that was counterproductive. My enthusiasm was contagious initially, but at the end they declared me a "cult follower" and that is not what I wanted.


Yeah I've tried to be conscious of this as well. I try not to get into crazy old guy mode (im not old btw, but you know what I mean) when talking about Ron Paul. Very casually I'll mention that I'm probably going to vote for him and give a reason or 2 why. Maybe next time I see that person, I'll mention it again with a little more detail.

But with a lot of people, if you come at them too fanatically, it's like someone trying to push their religion on you and you just want to get away from them.

[ronpaulblogsdotcom]

What an amazing story.

Its amazing how similar family members can be no matter how much time they spend together or the miles between them....

[inibo]

I think this thread is a complete waste of time. Don't you people realize we are supposed to be arguing about which day is the best to donate? Don't you realize we should all be going to RedState and Wonkette to post comments calling them NWO Fascists? Come on people, get your priorities straight, you can't honestly believe telling your friends, families and coworkers about Ron Paul is going to have any kind of impact, can you?

:D

BTW, this thread made my day. Great job. Keep it up.

[princessredtights]

Beautiful stories! Way to go!

[troyd1]

And remember, in less than a month we get to do this whole thing over again!

[Eric21ND]

ok my quick story for thx giving.
we invited our neighbors over and somewhere along the dinner the discussion of politics and iraq war came up.
my neighbor lady was talking along the line of "we need to just get out of there, it's doing noone any good"
i kept to myself at this point because instead of going off on a tangent like i wanted to.
I thought i'd surprise her.
so after the dinner i said "i have a DVD that i want us all to watch and i think it's very important"
so i slipped in the ron paul DVD i got off bit torrent.
I played a couple music vids to get everyone warmed up to him (evanescence vid is a must!)
Then i played the main movie.

At the end of the movie my neighbor looked at me and said "WOW this guy actually knows what he's talking about, do you have any more stuff on him?"
so i played a few of the extra's, then handed her the DVD and told her to play it for friends and family.
She seemed very excited to see ron paul's message of freedom.

another one converted today ^^
Which specific DVD did you play?

[Conza88]

3 words.
Ron Paul unites!

- Word of mouth is still the most powerful form of advertising.

Great story!

[Kombaiyashii]

Great story. This shows the power of not only his message but how to deliver it...

I'm from England and I've been trying to speak to people for years about the war, 9/11 and how the economy is run but it's like talking to a brick wall. But now with Ron Paul, it seems to get through to them soooooooo easily, they get extremely interested and I've been in many conversations about him and his stances and how he's not a traditional republican...Keep in mind I'm talking to English people in England, there is no way I can make a difference over here but it shows how easily his message is spread, I can't imagine what it will be like in America.

[constituent]

great post and excellent work!!!!!


now all your grandpa needs is for you or one of the family's younger
children to MSPAINT him a nice RP design and have cafepress or someone
put it on a coffee mug for when they go have coffee w/ their friends.....


what a great christmas present, i'm sure he'd love to show it to all the
friends/family/and waitstaff!

p.s. i believe there are places cheaper than cafepress, but it is the only place
i know of where you can actually make/upload your design and purchase it
placed on just about anything you'd like.

[wildflower]

That is amazing, drexhex. :) Great news!

[freelance]

That's the best Thanksgiving story I've heard! Thanks for sharing it with us. I wonder how many other quiet converts there are out there that we don't know about? I'll bet there were lots of people converted over Thanksgiving dinner.

We're in the middle of a move so we ate out yesterday (UGH). We "worked over" our server, and I went for the kill by leaving her a 40% with a handwritten note. ;) Why not buy the occasional vote?

[Thurston Howell III]

Very inspiring, thanks for sharing.

[klamath]

Great story! I wish I had as good of luck as you. I think my father in law was convinced by my wife by telling her dad that he had to vote for RP because yours truely (aka Klamath) was a delegate and wanted to go the the Republican convention. She has convinced two of our friends to vote RP with this same method.:D

[hasan]

please don't take offense but i think its funny that the title sounds a lot like spam ppl get about enlarging a certain part of the human anatomy.

[speciallyblend]

wow,sniffle thats great

[beobeli]

to transfer dvr video to a computer or dvd?

thanks in advance

To learn how to download and transfer videos from youtube (web) to DVD go to this web site: http://labnol.blogspot.com/2007/02/how-to-burn-youtube-videos-to-dvd.html

[torchbearer]

I noticed a lot of people waving at me on the highway as I was coming home yesterday.. I was wondering why everyone was being so nice and seemed so excited, yet I didn't know who they were....then I realized that I have a Ron Paul bumper sticker on the back of my truck.
I guess he really is catching on...

[leipo]

Great story, drex. These are my favourite to read.
I missed that NYT article aswell, so i just did a search...

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/11/10/us/paulHP600.jpg

That's an awesome photo!

[MsDoodahs]

I love it! Thanks for sharing your experience!

Keep up the great work, everyone.

It's working!

:)

[ShowMeLiberty]

Very inspiring and motivating!

I'll bet we all have planted more seeds than we realize. Keep it up, everyone and kick it up - there are still a lot of people out there who haven't heard about Dr. Paul.

[mport1]

Amazing story!

[aperetti]

I was talking to my grandmother yesterday about politics and I brought in the USA today ad and showed her. I hope it passes along.

[joelfarm]

Thats What It's All About!!! What a Great day for you Eric, I can only relate with your special occasion in a negative way, but it makes me appreciate it all more than most folks, in that I had a similar discusion with my father in 1996, when, as far as I am concerned, the last viable hope for our Nation, Pat Buchanan, was in the middle of his attempt to steer us toward a more fruitful course.
My father, even though he was a 30 year veteran of US military service since WWII, had been lulled into the spell of Bill Clinton, as had many other senior citizens, who, even though THEY lived, built and enjoyed the last of the truly "American" generation, allowed Clinton and the neo-cons put the nail in the coffin a free America. He past away thankfully before witnessing the complete collapse of our manufacturing base , the fedgov all-encompassing meddling in our personal affairs, the degradation of the education system, and the complete erradication of basic American culture and ideals.
Your story is one that should uplift us all, no matter what we think how others will react to Dr. Paul, WE HAVE TO spread the message!

[walt]

that's awesome

[drexhex]

I agree, everyone should read this thread. According to you all, it is an inspirational story.

*bump* >.>

[Heather in WI]

Great story!!! I love it!

[AlexMerced]

my bro saw a bumbper sitcker and made my mom honk

[jb4ronpaul]

someone who worked on his campaigns before told me, when you tell one person about dr paul, you have told 10.