Set a Good Example

[MaidenFan]

Hi, I’ve only been involved in the revolution a short time, perhaps a month. During that time I’ve seen a rather disturbing pattern evolving within our movement. This behavior is in direct odds with one of the founding principles of liberty, and obviously one that resonates throughout all of Dr. Paul’s messages. Put simply: you can’t force your beliefs on other people! Well surely, Paul supporters would never do that, would they?

The biggest issue is what recently happened in Florida. I read on this forum that Paul supporters recently swarmed a Guliani public event, and when Rudy wanted to take questions from his supporters the Paul people made it impossible for him to do so. My point is, we should set a good example if we want people to support our candidate, and we can’t do that by screaming “RON PAUL!!!!” in their faces. Standing quietly behind a candidate w/ Paul signs when he’s on camera is one thing, but we have no right to infringe on that candidate’s, and his supporters’ freedom of speech, and that’s exactly what we did.

The other thing that scared me was when Fred Thompson dropped out and we automatically assumed his supporters would come running towards us. I personally didn’t visit Fred’s forums, but I know we made a ridiculous, super boastful thread welcoming Thompson Supporters on our forums. Some of us, apparently, had the gull to go on the Thompson forums and even suggest Paul as an alternative. Now while this doesn’t directly violate anyone’s freedom of speech, it’s the internet equivalent of a right wing Christian trying to give a speech about Jesus in a Muslim Mosque. Not very nice, and not likely to get a warm reception.

If we act in a way that contradicts our message then we might as well just quit because we’re only turning off potential voters. Nobody likes a hypocrite. We must lead others to our cause by setting a good example. And we must never use the fallacious reasoning that just because the media blacks us out, we have that same right. We aren’t playing on a level field, we knew that going into this, so we shouldn’t jeopardize our beliefs to try to “make things fair”.

Things like this start small, but what if we perpetuate this behavior? Who knows what the revolution might end up like once we finally gain control of the country. Remember, the biased and flawed system we live in today started on the same exact ideals we did. We must always weigh our potential actions against them; otherwise all our work will end up futile.

[Paulitical Correctness]

But the Thompsonites were set free and needed to be snagged ASAP. :eek:

[pacelli]

Hi, I’ve only been involved in the revolution a short time, perhaps a month. During that time I’ve seen a rather disturbing pattern evolving within our movement. This behavior is in direct odds with one of the founding principles of liberty, and obviously one that resonates throughout all of Dr. Paul’s messages. Put simply: you can’t force your beliefs on other people! Well surely, Paul supporters would never do that, would they?

The biggest issue is what recently happened in Florida. I read on this forum that Paul supporters recently swarmed a Guliani public event, and when Rudy wanted to take questions from his supporters the Paul people made it impossible for him to do so. My point is, we should set a good example if we want people to support our candidate, and we can’t do that by screaming “RON PAUL!!!!” in their faces. Standing quietly behind a candidate w/ Paul signs when he’s on camera is one thing, but we have no right to infringe on that candidate’s, and his supporters’ freedom of speech, and that’s exactly what we did.

The other thing that scared me was when Fred Thompson dropped out and we automatically assumed his supporters would come running towards us. I personally didn’t visit Fred’s forums, but I know we made a ridiculous, super boastful thread welcoming Thompson Supporters on our forums. Some of us, apparently, had the gull to go on the Thompson forums and even suggest Paul as an alternative. Now while this doesn’t directly violate anyone’s freedom of speech, it’s the internet equivalent of a right wing Christian trying to give a speech about Jesus in a Muslim Mosque. Not very nice, and not likely to get a warm reception.

If we act in a way that contradicts our message then we might as well just quit because we’re only turning off potential voters. Nobody likes a hypocrite. We must lead others to our cause by setting a good example. And we must never use the fallacious reasoning that just because the media blacks us out, we have that same right. We aren’t playing on a level field, we knew that going into this, so we shouldn’t jeopardize our beliefs to try to “make things fair”.

Things like this start small, but what if we perpetuate this behavior? Who knows what the revolution might end up like once we finally gain control of the country. Remember, the biased and flawed system we live in today started on the same exact ideals we did. We must always weigh our potential actions against them; otherwise all our work will end up futile.

Informed and wise post. We talk about blowback but some of us seem to neglect the fact that the ron paul movement is also susceptible to blowback for the things that a few supporters do on an adolescent whim.

Some people take the idea of a 'revolution' too seriously and don't realize that engaging in vandalism (i.e. putting bumper stickers on someone's car without their consent), violation of private property (i.e. putting literature on a property with "No Solicitations" posted), and assault (i.e. throwing things at TV personalities) will result in blowback for Dr. Paul.

We need the votes, not the blowback.

[billyjoeallen]

From Grizzle Griz:

Andrew,

You got it all wrong again! We Paul supporters don't just wave signs behind Giuliani's head. We wave them behind his whole body: his psterior, his back...anywhere you find Giuliani, you'll find ron Paul signs trailing his elbows. I heard that someone stuck a rEVOLution sticker to his tie and somoene tatooed the entire Constitution on the back of his enormous teeth while he was sleeping (though it might have been Huckabee because people confuse weasel teeth with beaver teeth).

Don't get me wrong, I like Giuliani. Being a child who is afraid of the dark, I need his protection from terrorists and I celebrate his brithday every September eleventh. I'm just saying that, if his Secret Service agents cannot protect him on the way to his current mistress'/next wife's house, we're gonna put some stickers on the guy. It's not wrong to advertise and I'm sure he thinks it's funny because he's always wearing that supecilious smile.

We're equal opportunity about this, by the way. We don't just put stickers on the long-shot darkhorses with low prmary numbers and quixotic bids for the White House. We've affixed stickers to Romney's frosted temples, Fred Thompson's trophy wife, and McCain's Senate record. We put a Hillary Sticker on Obama and an Obama sticker on Wolf Blitzer. Wolf Blitzer punched John Edwards with his Bill Richardson ring so that's gonna leave a cool-looking bruise, but any bruise on John Edwards' face would be cool-looking.

Finally, get your facts straight. We don't shadow Giuliani. He's always following us looking for fundraising tips. We decided to start a money bomb for him on the anniversary of Demagoguery Day (it's a holiday in Venezeula). Statistics show that Giuliani has a good chance of out-fundrasing Paul and sweeping the election...wait...no, the statistics don't show that.

[acptulsa]

The biggest issue is what recently happened in Florida. I read on this forum that Paul supporters recently swarmed a Guliani public event, and when Rudy wanted to take questions from his supporters the Paul people made it impossible for him to do so. My point is, we should set a good example if we want people to support our candidate, and we can’t do that by screaming “RON PAUL!!!!” in their faces. Standing quietly behind a candidate w/ Paul signs when he’s on camera is one thing, but we have no right to infringe on that candidate’s, and his supporters’ freedom of speech, and that’s exactly what we did...
Things like this start small, but what if we perpetuate this behavior? Who knows what the revolution might end up like once we finally gain control of the country. Remember, the biased and flawed system we live in today started on the same exact ideals we did. We must always weigh our potential actions against them; otherwise all our work will end up futile.

Remember when W supporters were down in Florida during the recount sticking bullhorns in the faces of other protestors and screaming, "YOU LOST!"?

We don't ever want to be those jerks.

[Revolution9]

From Grizzle Griz:

Andrew,

You got it all wrong again! We Paul supporters don't just wave signs behind Giuliani's head. We wave them behind his whole body: his psterior, his back...anywhere you find Giuliani, you'll find ron Paul signs trailing his elbows. I heard that someone stuck a rEVOLution sticker to his tie and somoene tatooed the entire Constitution on the back of his enormous teeth while he was sleeping (though it might have been Huckabee because people confuse weasel teeth with beaver teeth).

Don't get me wrong, I like Giuliani. Being a child who is afraid of the dark, I need his protection from terrorists and I celebrate his brithday every September eleventh. I'm just saying that, if his Secret Service agents cannot protect him on the way to his current mistress'/next wife's house, we're gonna put some stickers on the guy. It's not wrong to advertise and I'm sure he thinks it's funny because he's always wearing that supecilious smile.

We're equal opportunity about this, by the way. We don't just put stickers on the long-shot darkhorses with low prmary numbers and quixotic bids for the White House. We've affixed stickers to Romney's frosted temples, Fred Thompson's trophy wife, and McCain's Senate record. We put a Hillary Sticker on Obama and an Obama sticker on Wolf Blitzer. Wolf Blitzer punched John Edwards with his Bill Richardson ring so that's gonna leave a cool-looking bruise, but any bruise on John Edwards' face would be cool-looking.

Finally, get your facts straight. We don't shadow Giuliani. He's always following us looking for fundraising tips. We decided to start a money bomb for him on the anniversary of Demagoguery Day (it's a holiday in Venezeula). Statistics show that Giuliani has a good chance of out-fundrasing Paul and sweeping the election...wait...no, the statistics don't show that.

haha! This post wins the intertubes thread capper post of the thread.. Run them carpetbaggers outta wherever they show up plastered with RP stickers and give them a snuggy as they scramble for a private jet to get the hell out of the heartland.

A Tip O' The Hat
Randy

[acptulsa]

Don't get me wrong, I like Giuliani. Being a child who is afraid of the dark, I need his protection from terrorists and I celebrate his brithday every September eleventh. I'm just saying that, if his Secret Service agents cannot protect him on the way to his current mistress'/next wife's house, we're gonna put some stickers on the guy. It's not wrong to advertise and I'm sure he thinks it's funny because he's always wearing that supecilious smile.

See--good clean fun. That's what's called for. We can be nice and have a sense of humor, too. Save your sarcasm for the candidates only an arms merchant could love and be nice to everyone else. That's the ticket!