They don't get us!

BillyDkid · 11-03-2007, 06:57 AM

After watching Tucker last night it dawned on me what has been obvious all along - nobody in the media understands the Ron Paul movement at all - not even Tucker whom I would have thought would know better. In Tucker's mind the only people who could possibly support Ron Paul are the relative handful of people in this country like him who "really understand" what Ron Paul is about, leftists who hate the war and tin foil hat wearing, ex-hippie conspiracy theorists. Well yes, we are all of those things, but we are also doctors and lawyers and soldiers and scientists.

And we are civil libertarians and conservatives and liberals and democrats and republicans and libertarians and constitutionalists. We are shelf stockers at Walmart and high powered executives and self employed small business owners and internet gurus. We are policemen and firemen and ditch diggers and even people on public assistance. We are black and white and asian and hispanic and some mixture of all of these things. We are people who's ancestors came over on the Mayflower and who's ancestors met those people when they arrived. We are people who became Americans six months ago.

We are young, pot smoking college freshmen and guys who fought in Vietnam. We are people of virtually every possible stripe and persuasion who all have one single thing in common - we love this country and want to see the promise of what America was intended to be fulfilled, so that we can leave our children the American we grew up believing in - free and prosperous nation with justice and opportunity for all where any person who wants it and is willing to put in the effort has a reasonable chance of being whatever he or she wants to be and can make a better life for their children than they had. We want an America which is the land of liberty and where the idea of the pursuit of happiness means something.

A place where courage and gumption and effort and creativity counts for something - where the deck is not prestacked so that those on top can not lose no matter what they do and those on the bottom have little hope of winning no matter how hard they try. And where our leaders are people we can be proud of and who represent the best of what America is and not America at its basest and most venal. As for myself, I am proud to be associated with all of these types of Ron Paul supporters - even the whackiest among us. I happily welcome all the tin foil hat wearers and the hippies as well as the veterans and the old right conservatives and even the lefty liberals. When I start hearing stuff about needing to keep the movement "pure" then I know I'm talking to somebody who doesn't understand the movement at all.

uncloned21 · 11-03-2007, 07:06 AM

great post!

deedles · 11-03-2007, 07:07 AM

I'm skeptical enough to believe that they DO get us exactly and want to shut it down. One approach is marginalizing RP supporters into kooks.

PatriotG · 11-03-2007, 07:07 AM

"great post!"

Here Here !

PatriotG

BillyDkid · 11-03-2007, 07:08 AM

You can't cover everything, but I should have added - we are Christians and Atheists and Jews and Muslims and even Scientologists.

pcosmar · 11-03-2007, 07:12 AM

Good post. A mirror of my thoughts.
Put a thumb tack in it, and stick it to the wall.

entropy · 11-03-2007, 07:16 AM

Freedom brings us together

when the power of love becomes greater then the love of power, then we will know peace Jimi Hendrix

Freedom is the GREATEST gift we can give to future generations, for in freedom we will find love

BillyDkid · 11-03-2007, 07:19 AM

You know, I wish we could capture in some form of advertising what I am trying to get at in the OP - that we are an incredibly motley and diverse cross section of American and that the Ron Paul message transcends all the typical, easy labels and brings all of us together. Many of us, even just in here, are very different and from different backgrounds, but we all found our way here on our own and we were all drawn together by this message of liberty. Ron Paul is the candidate that the Democrats aspire to be - a genuine uniter who brings all kinds of people together. Only Ron Paul has the genuine big tent and speaks with the voice of the people.

Corydoras · 11-03-2007, 07:20 AM

That was a beautiful post.

But there IS one large demographic group that is severely underrepresented among us but highly represented among other candidates' backers. The media wants to see us get more of them before giving us the airtime and respect we deserve.

Who is underrepresented among us? The inarticulate. The non-verbal. People who don't think in words, or at least not a lot of words.

I wish I were joking. But I am, unfortunately, dead serious.

We need more voters who can NOT exactly explain why they are voting for Ron Paul except that he "seems presidential" and "will do the best for this country."

Everybody knows people who are that inarticulate. Even people in the media know people like that. Most of them are not stupid... words are not just their thing.

Until people in the media start hearing from them that they're voting for "Ron" or "the doctor guy," they're not going to take us seriously. Inarticulate, non-verbal people have the right to vote, and there are a lot more of them than there are of us.

Yeah, THOSE are the non-crabgrass "real thing" that Luntz says we don't have.

BillyDkid · 11-03-2007, 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Corydoras

That was a beautiful post.

But there IS one large demographic group that is severely underrepresented among us but highly represented among other candidates' backers. The media wants to see us get more of them before giving us the airtime and respect we deserve.

Who is underrepresented among us? The inarticulate. The non-verbal. People who don't think in words, or at least not a lot of words.

I wish I were joking. But I am, unfortunately, dead serious.

We need more voters who can NOT exactly explain why they are voting for Ron Paul except that he "seems presidential" and "will do the best for this country."

Everybody knows people who are that inarticulate. Even people in the media know people like that. Most of them are not stupid... words are not just their thing.

Until people in the media start hearing from them that they're voting for "Ron" or "the doctor guy," they're not going to take us seriously. Inarticulate, non-verbal people have the right to vote, and there are a lot more of them than there are of us.

Yeah, THOSE are the non-crabgrass "real thing" that Luntz says we don't have.

So, I'm guessing these are the "name recognition" people? The people who vote based on how familiar they are with the candidate's name? The "He's famous, he must be good!" crowd? How do you reach people who don't think? I guess you just put a face on TV over and over and repeat a single slogan over and over - sort of like Ghouliani's "9/11" mantra.

11-03-2007, 06:57 AM	#1
BillyDkid Senior Member Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 1,719	They don't get us! After watching Tucker last night it dawned on me what has been obvious all along - nobody in the media understands the Ron Paul movement at all - not even Tucker whom I would have thought would know better. In Tucker's mind the only people who could possibly support Ron Paul are the relative handful of people in this country like him who "really understand" what Ron Paul is about, leftists who hate the war and tin foil hat wearing, ex-hippie conspiracy theorists. Well yes, we are all of those things, but we are also doctors and lawyers and soldiers and scientists. And we are civil libertarians and conservatives and liberals and democrats and republicans and libertarians and constitutionalists. We are shelf stockers at Walmart and high powered executives and self employed small business owners and internet gurus. We are policemen and firemen and ditch diggers and even people on public assistance. We are black and white and asian and hispanic and some mixture of all of these things. We are people who's ancestors came over on the Mayflower and who's ancestors met those people when they arrived. We are people who became Americans six months ago. We are young, pot smoking college freshmen and guys who fought in Vietnam. We are people of virtually every possible stripe and persuasion who all have one single thing in common - we love this country and want to see the promise of what America was intended to be fulfilled, so that we can leave our children the American we grew up believing in - free and prosperous nation with justice and opportunity for all where any person who wants it and is willing to put in the effort has a reasonable chance of being whatever he or she wants to be and can make a better life for their children than they had. We want an America which is the land of liberty and where the idea of the pursuit of happiness means something. A place where courage and gumption and effort and creativity counts for something - where the deck is not prestacked so that those on top can not lose no matter what they do and those on the bottom have little hope of winning no matter how hard they try. And where our leaders are people we can be proud of and who represent the best of what America is and not America at its basest and most venal. As for myself, I am proud to be associated with all of these types of Ron Paul supporters - even the whackiest among us. I happily welcome all the tin foil hat wearers and the hippies as well as the veterans and the old right conservatives and even the lefty liberals. When I start hearing stuff about needing to keep the movement "pure" then I know I'm talking to somebody who doesn't understand the movement at all. Last edited by BillyDkid; 11-03-2007 at 07:10 AM.

11-03-2007, 07:07 AM	#4
PatriotG Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 1,299	Damn Right! "great post!" Here Here ! PatriotG __________________ "Poverty of the state exchequer causes an army to be maintained by contributions from a distance. Contributing to maintain an army at a distance causes the people to be impoverished." Sun Tzu Restore The Republic.Org PokeTheEye.ORG

11-03-2007, 07:12 AM	#6
pcosmar Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: UP Michigan Posts: 10,560	Good post. A mirror of my thoughts. Put a thumb tack in it, and stick it to the wall. __________________ Liberty is lost through complacency and a subservient mindset. When we accept or even welcome automobile checkpoints, random searches, mandatory identification cards, and paramilitary police in our streets, we have lost a vital part of our American heritage. America was born of protest, revolution, and mistrust of government. Subservient societies neither maintain nor deserve freedom for long. Ron Paul 2004 Registered Ron Paul supporter # 2202 It's all about Freedom

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11-03-2007, 07:06 AM	#2
uncloned21 Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 664	great post!

11-03-2007, 07:07 AM	#3
deedles Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 1,304	I'm skeptical enough to believe that they DO get us exactly and want to shut it down. One approach is marginalizing RP supporters into kooks.

11-03-2007, 07:08 AM	#5
BillyDkid Senior Member Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 1,719	You can't cover everything, but I should have added - we are Christians and Atheists and Jews and Muslims and even Scientologists.

11-03-2007, 07:16 AM	#7
entropy Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 261	Freedom brings us together when the power of love becomes greater then the love of power, then we will know peace Jimi Hendrix Freedom is the GREATEST gift we can give to future generations, for in freedom we will find love

11-03-2007, 07:19 AM	#8
BillyDkid Senior Member Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 1,719	You know, I wish we could capture in some form of advertising what I am trying to get at in the OP - that we are an incredibly motley and diverse cross section of American and that the Ron Paul message transcends all the typical, easy labels and brings all of us together. Many of us, even just in here, are very different and from different backgrounds, but we all found our way here on our own and we were all drawn together by this message of liberty. Ron Paul is the candidate that the Democrats aspire to be - a genuine uniter who brings all kinds of people together. Only Ron Paul has the genuine big tent and speaks with the voice of the people.

11-03-2007, 07:20 AM	#9
Corydoras Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 3,651	That was a beautiful post. But there IS one large demographic group that is severely underrepresented among us but highly represented among other candidates' backers. The media wants to see us get more of them before giving us the airtime and respect we deserve. Who is underrepresented among us? The inarticulate. The non-verbal. People who don't think in words, or at least not a lot of words. I wish I were joking. But I am, unfortunately, dead serious. We need more voters who can NOT exactly explain why they are voting for Ron Paul except that he "seems presidential" and "will do the best for this country." Everybody knows people who are that inarticulate. Even people in the media know people like that. Most of them are not stupid... words are not just their thing. Until people in the media start hearing from them that they're voting for "Ron" or "the doctor guy," they're not going to take us seriously. Inarticulate, non-verbal people have the right to vote, and there are a lot more of them than there are of us. Yeah, THOSE are the non-crabgrass "real thing" that Luntz says we don't have.