Alonzo
05-12-2008, 02:38 AM
Although the campaign is not technically over, it is more than likely that Ron Paul's GOP run for president will go down in history as the most disappointing run since Ross Perot dropped out only to drop back in again. But don't take my word for it, this statement is based on science!
Dr. Eric Cooper, professor of psychology at Iowa State University, once said, "Happiness equals outcome divided by expectation." In other words, finding a dollar bill while strolling along expecting nothing leads to instant, if temporary, happiness. On the other hand, spending the whole day walking around, looking for money - expecting to get at least $50, but only getting $10 - would lead to disappointment. Even though the outcome in the second scenario is ten times greater than the outcome in the first, the expectation in the second scenario was proportionally greater than that in the first scenario.
In the same respect, Ron Paul's campaign was the most dissatisfying in that we had the highest hopes for a victory, we believed this was nothing short of a revolution, but instead of carrying our battle standard to the steps of the White House, Ron Paul decided to set his campaign on auto-pilot and leave our movement with no discernable head.
My hunch is that Ron Paul was elated by this campaign in that his expectation was that nothing much would happen, but the outcome was enormous. In fact, perhaps the outcome was a little more than he was willing to take on.
Although Ron Paul correctly warned us against our cult of personality culture, in that we must unite behind the ideal rather than the man, leaving the campaign without any direction at all was wholly irresponsible. He could have at least encouraged people to explore the Libertarian Party or stumped for some liberty-minded candidates. Instead, he gave a final heart-to-heart via YouTube, as if to say, "I'm tired and don't want to deal with this anymore. Just do whatever you want to from now on. I don't care."
This was not about his seat in Congress - he locked up the primary 2 votes to 1. This was not about winning the election in November - there is a better than not chance we would have lost anyway. No, this was about something much greater than the campaign itself. It was about planting a seed. This was about standing toe-to-toe against the powers to be and spitting. This had the potential to lay the foundations of a Liberty movement in this country that would rock the American political landscape for elections to come. Perhaps it did and we just do not realize it yet. If it did, however, it will be a while before we know, because instead of drawing that line in the sand and announcing to the world that there is a Liberty movement in America on the rise and willing to take on the system Ron Paul just walked away.
The oddest thing of all is that Ron Paul sticks to the GOP so fervently. Rasmussen had him polling as much as twice as high in the polls if he ran as a Libertarian. Yet in spite of nothing but resentment from his own party - no matter how little the Republican Liberty Caucus has accomplished by working inside the GOP since 1990 Paul's commitment to the Republican Party was perhaps the most difficult pill to swallow. The Paul campaign recently gained second place in the Pennsylvania primaries with 16% of the vote and a candidate in reclusion. Imagine how much more we could have done had he stayed in the race as a Libertarian!
Perhaps there's something more to this. Perhaps he was threatened by the GOP. Ross Perot claimed the GOP blackmailed him into dropping out due to compromising photos they claimed they had of his daughter and as ridiculous as that seems I won't go so far as to call Mr. Perot a liar. One has to wonder if perhaps there is not some method to this madness of Ron Paul dropping out. Perhaps there are skeletons in his closet we will never be aware of, but powerful GOP operatives were.
I would like to believe that there was some outside force, stronger than Paul's commitment to liberty, that forced his hand, but with no indications from Paul himself, the rest is only conjecture.
No matter the reason, the abandonment of Ron Paul's campaign is very disappointing. For a time it seemed we were closer to Liberty in our lifetimes than ever before, only to have our own champion give up on the contest. We can only hope that enough people were turned on by the concept of Liberty that the ranks of organizations that promote individual and economic liberty such as the Libertarian Party will reap more benefit from a failed campaign than they would have had he taken the run all the way.
Post Script:
Some readers have responded by making the excuse for Paul that he is not allowed to change parties, the so-called "sore loser laws". Without addressing the blatant disregard of individual rights these laws present, allow me to say two words against this argument:
John Anderson. In 1980 US Represntative John Anderson (R-IL) ran in 2/3 of the GOP primaries before launching an independent run. Also, Mike Gravel has jumped ship and is now in the running for the LP nomination; if Gravel can change parties, so can Ron Paul.
Point being, SORE LOSER LAWS DO NOT APPLY TO PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES! If times have changed, then this is Ron Paul's opportunity to take these unconsitutional laws to court. That action alone would do more for liberty than being the single no vote on numerous bills through Congress. [link edited for length]
Let's face it. Ron Paul is going to go down as a Congressional Representative who accomplished less than nothing to change his party from the inside (the GOP actually got LESS libertarian the longer he was in Congress) and whose best chance at leading a true challenge to the powers that be, was squandered, then abandoned.
I have nothing but respect for Dr. Paul's principles, but too often principled people leave pragmatism at home. He had the base, he had the funding, he had us all charged up, and like a trick he left us hanging just as the movement was beginning to climax.
There's already a party that has the same values as Dr. Paul only it hasn't abandoned its followers since its inception in 1972: the Libertarian Party. The welfare-warfare state GOP will NOT allow Dr. Paul to be their nominee. It's time to work from outside the party. Perhaps that's the biggest favor Dr. Paul could have done for us ... pushing us toward other parties by abandoning his GOP run.
That is the really weird thing about Paul's campaign ... that he would turn his back on the party that loves him (the LP) to run for the nomination of the party that hates him (the GOP) - especially when Rasmussen had him polling twice as high as a Libertarian candidate! Now how is that not disappointing?
Lastly, the most bizarre reaction I've read in the replies are from the people who don't seem to realize that I WANT RON PAUL TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT. He can do it (or, at least, he COULD have) and he has every bit as much of a chance as Ross Perot did, who, btw, happened to out-poll BOTH George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton before he dropped out of the race in 1992. Mike Gravel left the DEM to join the LP, Bob Barr (former GOP Congressman from GA) left the GOP to join the LP - when are people going to recognize that the LP is the new political center with the winning message?
http://www.nolanchart.com/article3593.html
Everytime I read about Ron Paul lately I want to point and laugh like Nelson from the Simpsons.
Dr. Eric Cooper, professor of psychology at Iowa State University, once said, "Happiness equals outcome divided by expectation." In other words, finding a dollar bill while strolling along expecting nothing leads to instant, if temporary, happiness. On the other hand, spending the whole day walking around, looking for money - expecting to get at least $50, but only getting $10 - would lead to disappointment. Even though the outcome in the second scenario is ten times greater than the outcome in the first, the expectation in the second scenario was proportionally greater than that in the first scenario.
In the same respect, Ron Paul's campaign was the most dissatisfying in that we had the highest hopes for a victory, we believed this was nothing short of a revolution, but instead of carrying our battle standard to the steps of the White House, Ron Paul decided to set his campaign on auto-pilot and leave our movement with no discernable head.
My hunch is that Ron Paul was elated by this campaign in that his expectation was that nothing much would happen, but the outcome was enormous. In fact, perhaps the outcome was a little more than he was willing to take on.
Although Ron Paul correctly warned us against our cult of personality culture, in that we must unite behind the ideal rather than the man, leaving the campaign without any direction at all was wholly irresponsible. He could have at least encouraged people to explore the Libertarian Party or stumped for some liberty-minded candidates. Instead, he gave a final heart-to-heart via YouTube, as if to say, "I'm tired and don't want to deal with this anymore. Just do whatever you want to from now on. I don't care."
This was not about his seat in Congress - he locked up the primary 2 votes to 1. This was not about winning the election in November - there is a better than not chance we would have lost anyway. No, this was about something much greater than the campaign itself. It was about planting a seed. This was about standing toe-to-toe against the powers to be and spitting. This had the potential to lay the foundations of a Liberty movement in this country that would rock the American political landscape for elections to come. Perhaps it did and we just do not realize it yet. If it did, however, it will be a while before we know, because instead of drawing that line in the sand and announcing to the world that there is a Liberty movement in America on the rise and willing to take on the system Ron Paul just walked away.
The oddest thing of all is that Ron Paul sticks to the GOP so fervently. Rasmussen had him polling as much as twice as high in the polls if he ran as a Libertarian. Yet in spite of nothing but resentment from his own party - no matter how little the Republican Liberty Caucus has accomplished by working inside the GOP since 1990 Paul's commitment to the Republican Party was perhaps the most difficult pill to swallow. The Paul campaign recently gained second place in the Pennsylvania primaries with 16% of the vote and a candidate in reclusion. Imagine how much more we could have done had he stayed in the race as a Libertarian!
Perhaps there's something more to this. Perhaps he was threatened by the GOP. Ross Perot claimed the GOP blackmailed him into dropping out due to compromising photos they claimed they had of his daughter and as ridiculous as that seems I won't go so far as to call Mr. Perot a liar. One has to wonder if perhaps there is not some method to this madness of Ron Paul dropping out. Perhaps there are skeletons in his closet we will never be aware of, but powerful GOP operatives were.
I would like to believe that there was some outside force, stronger than Paul's commitment to liberty, that forced his hand, but with no indications from Paul himself, the rest is only conjecture.
No matter the reason, the abandonment of Ron Paul's campaign is very disappointing. For a time it seemed we were closer to Liberty in our lifetimes than ever before, only to have our own champion give up on the contest. We can only hope that enough people were turned on by the concept of Liberty that the ranks of organizations that promote individual and economic liberty such as the Libertarian Party will reap more benefit from a failed campaign than they would have had he taken the run all the way.
Post Script:
Some readers have responded by making the excuse for Paul that he is not allowed to change parties, the so-called "sore loser laws". Without addressing the blatant disregard of individual rights these laws present, allow me to say two words against this argument:
John Anderson. In 1980 US Represntative John Anderson (R-IL) ran in 2/3 of the GOP primaries before launching an independent run. Also, Mike Gravel has jumped ship and is now in the running for the LP nomination; if Gravel can change parties, so can Ron Paul.
Point being, SORE LOSER LAWS DO NOT APPLY TO PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES! If times have changed, then this is Ron Paul's opportunity to take these unconsitutional laws to court. That action alone would do more for liberty than being the single no vote on numerous bills through Congress. [link edited for length]
Let's face it. Ron Paul is going to go down as a Congressional Representative who accomplished less than nothing to change his party from the inside (the GOP actually got LESS libertarian the longer he was in Congress) and whose best chance at leading a true challenge to the powers that be, was squandered, then abandoned.
I have nothing but respect for Dr. Paul's principles, but too often principled people leave pragmatism at home. He had the base, he had the funding, he had us all charged up, and like a trick he left us hanging just as the movement was beginning to climax.
There's already a party that has the same values as Dr. Paul only it hasn't abandoned its followers since its inception in 1972: the Libertarian Party. The welfare-warfare state GOP will NOT allow Dr. Paul to be their nominee. It's time to work from outside the party. Perhaps that's the biggest favor Dr. Paul could have done for us ... pushing us toward other parties by abandoning his GOP run.
That is the really weird thing about Paul's campaign ... that he would turn his back on the party that loves him (the LP) to run for the nomination of the party that hates him (the GOP) - especially when Rasmussen had him polling twice as high as a Libertarian candidate! Now how is that not disappointing?
Lastly, the most bizarre reaction I've read in the replies are from the people who don't seem to realize that I WANT RON PAUL TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT. He can do it (or, at least, he COULD have) and he has every bit as much of a chance as Ross Perot did, who, btw, happened to out-poll BOTH George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton before he dropped out of the race in 1992. Mike Gravel left the DEM to join the LP, Bob Barr (former GOP Congressman from GA) left the GOP to join the LP - when are people going to recognize that the LP is the new political center with the winning message?
http://www.nolanchart.com/article3593.html
Everytime I read about Ron Paul lately I want to point and laugh like Nelson from the Simpsons.