Grassroots Defined

Each day, I go through stories similar to this one. Some I share, others I don’t. Yet, each demonstrates how Ron Paul supporters are reshaping the Republican Party from the bottom-up. From a story in Washington’s Bellingham Herald titled “Whatcom GOP sees flood of precinct filings from Ron Paul supporters:”

Ron Paul supporters filed en masse to run for Republican Party precinct committee officers, grass-roots elected seats that will be on this year’s primary election ballot.

The goal, said one PCO race newcomer, is to return the party to the principles it used to have.

“It needs to change,” said Greg Parsons, who is running against PCO Kathy Kershner. “I do have some issues with establishment Republicans. On the contrary, I think we are, in fact, the real, true conservative Republicans.”

PCO seats, elected every two years, often receive no interest, or only one person files. This year, because of a flood of interest in Republican PCO seats, many more contested races will be on the ballot…

But nearly an equal number of names unfamiliar to party officials appeared on the filing list, and many challenged longtime PCOs. By comparing them to the list of caucus participants, they learned they are Paul supporters, Van Werven said.

“I suspect that they are interested in organizing – reorganizing – the local Republican Party,” Van Werven said.

Source: Paulitical Ticker with Jack Hunter

Ron Paul Decisively Wins Minnesota and Carries Delegates in Multiple Other States

Gains in Michigan, Minnesota, Vermont and Virginia affirm delegate-attainment strategy

LAKE JACKSON, Texas – Supporters of 2012 Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul have propelled him to an historic win in Minnesota this weekend, with delegate gains having occurred in multiple other states as well.  The recent achievements affirm Paul’s delegate-attainment strategy, and support the notion that he and his platform will be featured prominently at the Republican National Convention in Tampa this August.

In Minnesota, Paul organizers won a decisive 12 of 13 delegates to the RNC at the Rivers Edge Convention Center in St. Cloud, wrapping up the North Star State’s two-tier nominating contest.  Earlier this spring, Paul supporters won 20 of 24 delegates at district conventions.  In all, the Paul camp has swept the state of Minnesota winning 32 of the state’s 40 national delegates.

In addition to Paul’s consequential victory in Minnesota, Paul organizers won delegates in Mitt Romney’s home state of Michigan.  There, Paul supporters estimate that they have won eight voting slots plus one non-voting delegate and 11 alternates.  Of the 14 Congressional District voting contests held this weekend, Paul organizers won RNC delegates in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 9th Districts, denying Detroit-born Romney a clean sweep of his home state.  The Michigan victory occurred despite a heavy Romney campaign presence promoting a win for the establishment pick and presumptive nominee.

At the Vermont Republican State Convention this weekend, Ron Paul supporters won two of 14 national delegates, with two more considered potential allies, and they won 10 of 14 alternates.  In all, Vermont has 17 delegates including super delegates.

Finally in Virginia, 11 district conventions have been taking place in recent weeks and have ended this weekend.  In those contests Ron Paul supporters won 17 of 33 national delegates selected, with the remainder of the state’s 49 delegates including super delegates to be selected at the June 16th state convention.  Also in Virginia, Paul supporters elected a Republican Congressional District Chair in the Third District, over a dozen liberty-oriented Republican State Central Committee Members five of whom are Ron Paul supporters, dozens of Republican county and city committee chairs, and hundreds of county and city committee members.

“Victories in Minnesota and other states demonstrate that Ron Paul supporters possess the adaptability, organizational muscle, and unmatched enthusiasm required to continue winning delegates in upcoming contests,” said Ron Paul 2012 National Campaign Manager John Tate.

“We’re also pleased to see Ron Paul supporters engaged in party-building to broaden the activist and voting base that will advance Republican majorities for many years to come,” added Mr. Tate.

Ron Paul is Not Out of the Race!

Just as the title says, Ron Paul is NOT out of the Presidential race. This commentary explains how and why, and where the Liberty movement goes from here. Please like and share this video with as many people as possible!

Why Not Just Settle for Romney?

The lesser of two evils

By Zach Foster

Here are two quick insights I wrote on Facebook on why Ron Paul supporters such as myself will not support either Mitt Romney or Barack Obama this November.

The first was a response to a pen pal of mine and close friend of Mitt Romney, Don Huber, who invited me to “Feel free to reapply and rejoin this winning bandwagon for ‘my old but still younger friend of half a century, Tim Yenmor’... a.k.a. the Honorable W. Mitt Romney... when my other friend Dr. Ron and Carol Paul endorse MR!”

Don, I highly appreciate your generosity and your continued kindness, but there's no way I can support Romney. I can't support a candidate who's taken multiple contradictory positions on the sanctity of life, the individual mandate, TARP bailouts, and deficit spending. There are certain things I hold sacred which I cannot and will not sell out on in order to settle for the lesser of two evils.

If the situation was hypothetically reversed I'm sure Governor Romney would endorse my candidate, and you'd support him as well in order to elect anyone but Barack Obama. On my end, I'm not voting for a candidate per se, but rather a set of principles I can't compromise on and still walk tall afterwards.

The consistent Constitutionalist

The second, a general statement:

Dear Mitt Romney supporters, all the ad hominem attacks and false rumors in the world are not going to make us stop supporting Ron Paul. It's not just the man, but the ideals.

--The racist newsletters were NOT written by him. Period. His actual record has proven him a non-racist.

--He ran as a Libertarian in 1988. So what?! He never sold out on his IDEALS. It's about ideals and philosophy, not about having a D or an R next to your name.

--You all make a big stink about supporting our troops, when more than half of the troops (such as the one writing this letter) are tired of a decade of war and support Ron Paul.

--I'm sure Romney's a kind man and a wonderful father, but he's flip-flopped way too many times on key issues like abortion, deficit spending, bailouts, the individual mandate, and the Bill of Rights for us to take him seriously. He literally says one thing, does another, and says something else after that.

So this is not a challenge or an egging on in any way, but rather a brief but clear explanation of our position.

And I’d like to follow up with a reminder that the “lesser of two evils” is still evil.  The greater evil gives us all someone to rally against because we know that we’re united in opposing him.  The lesser of two evils is the one who makes us abandon our sacred principles, and instead of the people telling the elected officials what they will do, it becomes the elected official telling us what we must settle for.

No more.

Romney image courtesy of Gage Skidmore and Ron Paul image courtesy of Jamie Kelso. Both used via Wikimedia Commons and the Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 Unported.

Ron Paul Gains Delegates at Maine and Nevada State GOP Conventions Held this Weekend

Paul supporters are enlarging GOP and elevating his platform of constitutionally-limited government and restoration of our economic and civil liberties

LAKE JACKSON, Texas – Supporters of 2012 Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul made notable gains in state Republican conventions in the key voting states of Maine and Nevada this weekend, affirming his delegate-attainment strategy and injecting uncommon, sorely-needed enthusiasm into GOP party-building efforts.

By Sunday in Maine, Republican convention-goers elected Paul supporters as their state party secretary and chairman, changing the convention atmosphere and altering party operations going forward.  They also elected the state’s RNC committee man and woman, and swept four of four electors.  In addition, Paul supporters won 34 of 50 Maine Republican state committee members elected today, bringing them closer to a majority of the full state committee that consists of 80 members including county chairs.  Especially noteworthy is that the Paul campaign estimates it has elected 20 delegates to the national convention – an airtight majority.  In total, Maine gets 24 delegates, the balance consisting of automatic delegates such as RNC officials, the governor, and the state party chairman.

By Sunday in Nevada, where on Saturday Ron Paul addressed the state convention in Sparks live and in person, Paul supporters won 22 of 28 delegates to the national convention, with establishment-pick Mitt Romney garnering three, and three more reserved for the state GOP chair and two RNC officials.  Other recent developments in Nevada include Paul supporters electing a Paul-friendly state GOP chair by a 2-to-1 margin, the election of a Paul-friendly Nye County GOP chair, acquiring a two-thirds controlling interest in the Clark County GOP executive board, and gaining control of both of the state’s RNC slots.

“We’re extraordinarily pleased with the victories Ron Paul supporters achieved this weekend, and we thank these men and women for their untiring engagement.  Republican Party activists with Paul leanings are affirming the campaign’s delegate-win strategy and making lasting inroads into the party infrastructure, broadening the Republican footprint and strengthening the GOP base that suffers from a dearth of enthusiasm,” said Ron Paul 2012 National Campaign Manager John Tate.

“Ron Paul victories in Maine and Nevada are occurring at a time and in a manner helpful for unseating President Obama and restoring America’s liberty and prosperity – goals that, naturally, all Republicans share,” added Mr. Tate.

Synergy and Cohesion in the Liberty Movement

By Zach Foster

A heavily edited version was originally published in April by Young Americans for Liberty

Syn-er-gy. n. 1. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects. 2. Cooperative interaction among groups, especially among the acquired subsidiaries or merged parts of a corporation, that creates an enhanced combined effect.

This is a very delicate subject, but please approach it with an open mind, and know that in no way do I wish to threaten YAL’s non-partisan, non-profit status in the writing of this communique to my fellow liberty activists.

First of all I must congratulate all the YAL chapters who have actively established and maintained a presence on their campuses and nearby towns.  The many protests and creative demonstrations against violations of privacy and dignity by the TSA have made the papers in many cities.  YAL members have shown that they have what it takes to raise awareness to the issues.

However, I am concerned with a perceived lack of unity among different factions within the greater liberty movement.  For example, in California there have been many complaints of YAL chapter members being hesitant or opposed to partner in activism with members of Youth for Ron Paul.  Among Youth for Ron Paul, there is widespread opposition to working with grass roots activists.  Furthermore, though this gap is being bridged, there are still liberty factions within the Republican Party who will not work with Libertarian Party members to enact change, and vice versa.

I fully understand that overtly doing so would threaten tax-exempt and legal statuses of these various organizations.  However, let us not forget that we are individuals, and as individuals we have a freedom of association.  This author happens to be a member of various organizations, from YAL and YFP to the state defense force.  However, being a member of one organization does not mean that identity is tattooed on my forehead.  I still have the right to associate freely as a private citizen, as do all of you.  If you wish to not compromise the status of your organization, then simply don’t wear the uniform, or the name tag, or the badges, etc.  Wear your Ron Paul t-shirt or Gary Johnson t-shirt, or even a Murray Rothbard shirt or hat.

I urge all liberty activists to reach out to neighboring liberty organizations [you all surf on Facebook, you know who they are!].  Organize with them.  Educate voters on the issues.  Team up with them to get people registered to vote.  Combine your numbers so that you can go door-to-door and cover a greater areas.  Follow the example of groups like the LA Liberty HQ, who are constantly distributing literature, knocking on doors, canvassing parades and farmers’ markets, and making phone calls on behalf of multiple liberty candidates from multiple parties.

Just like having more laborers in the market creates more goods and more wealth, having more liberty activists working together creates more projects and more people reached and voters won.  Multiplying your output means multiplying the chances of our victory.

For those of you who are already working with neighboring organizations, setting aside minor differences for the sake of spreading the message of liberty, I commend you.  Keep up the good work!  We have a lot more ahead of us, but we have the privilege of being the forces on the ground leading the charge of this revolution.

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Image by markn3tel (via Flickr) and published via Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License. The owner does not necessarily endorse this author or his work.