Exactly…you nailed it.

If Paul wants to educate the public, then he will have accomplished a great deal if he just gets his poll numbers up to 8 or 9%. Because he will then have converted a significant percentage of the population to what, for them, is an entirely new philosophy, and that is a difficult thing to do.

But to try to convert 50% of the electorate to such a philosophy is an enormous task. If you’re going to insist, for example, on strict constitutionalism you have to educate the public on what the constitution says. Even Hillary and Obama with their huge war chests, do not try to do it.

So if you get bogged down in questions about why you want to abolish the CIA or the Dept of Education, you never get to discuss the things you would do that you can actually accomplish and that would make a difference. Let’s face it. The President cannot abolish the CIA or the Dept of Education, or the Federal Reserve or the IRS. Congress has to do those things and it isn’t very likely that they will even if RP is elected President.

So what RP needs to do is concentrate on a few main issues, explain those issues, and show why the country will benefit from them. I’m not talking about just the debates. Admittedly, he usually only gets asked questions about the War in these debates. But he’s giving speeches all over the country, and he will probably soon begin to start advertising, and at that point he needs to communicate his PRIORITIES. He can’t do all the things he advocates once he’s in the White House so he needs to communicate what he will DO, not what he THINKS. Otherwise, let’s accept that this is an educational campaign, RP is going nowhere in the election and any electoral fruits of this effort will have to wait for the future as RP supporters continue to spread the message.

Wow! That just sum up to me that you really shouldn’t allow to give your opinion. So you only want people to tell you what you want to hear? Bush is a great president then.

I’m sorry. I’ve been to your site a few times (it’s quite popular on digg, so kudos) but i have to finally say something. I’ve watched as you have spoken negatively about Ron Paul a few times now and i have to say a few things (respectfully of course):

1. The key to successful propaganda is to make sure the conversation stays within certain boundaries, in otherwords, it’s ok to argue over the little details, but not the direction. The presidential elections and acts of congress, in fact, the very DESIGN of congress is to make sure all energies are directed at the details, so as to circumvent any effort to change the direction. Remember, when you vote, you give your power away to elected officials who get lots of money from lobbyists to benefit corporate elites, and the remainder of the issues you have are completely silenced by the other members of congress who are voted down by the ‘purchased’ officials. This country is about to be amalgamated with mexico and canada. Amero’s are already minted, and the other 3 unions are coming to a close so as to amalgamate the four global unions under one government. This is fact, it is stated by the world leaders of each union and openly admitted to. These are facts. It’s written in hard copy in the form of signing statements, legislation, and executive orders.
The last true democratic society is being dismantled through erosion of sovreignty, and bankruptcy of the poor/middleclass.

2. Forget Ron Paul for a second. Forget that he is bringing up the issues he’s bringing up at all. Let the issues stand on their own for a moment. This country is broke because the entire budget has gone to fund a war that is being fought for oil, under false pretenses, and a at the discretion of a president that felt he didn’t need congressional approval. Congressional approval is SO important for the understated fact that by doing so constitutes that the american people have told their elected leaders to speak for them when making that decision to go in the first place. But when a president makes that decision despite the voice of congress, well, that’s standard issue dictatorship right there. Then think about how congress is bought lock, stock, and barrel, which constituted it’s willingness to go to war. Then think about our health-care system and why it isn’t working, and how the education system is falling apart, and how the wealth is being transferred from the poor/middle-class to the rich. Then think about the real ID card, and the abolishment of Habeus Corpus, and the patriot act, and the military commissions act, and the legalization of wiretapping, torture, and executive orders signed by this president that make dissent against HIS war a crime. Then think about how once the NAU becomes a reality how MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of mexicans will flood the US and Canada soaking up the welfare and education dollars ten-fold over what they’re taking out of it now. Then think about how the same people who are telling us that we need to fight for our freedom are also saying that social security will be there when you retire even though they’ve borrowed $249 billion from it last year, only to pay it back with….? They can’t, and won’t be able to because they can’t afford to pay back the $2.7 trillion dollars they owe china above and beyond the billions they owe the current deficit. Then think about the private interests that are benefitting from all this war. Then think about the military industrial complex that was warned about in Eisenhower’s farewell speech, and how it has taken a hold of this country. Then think about how a few private bankers created a monetary system that creats inflation by repudiation of debt, which is the OTHER system for transfer of wealth from the poor/middleclass to the rich. Then think about how the same people who are trying to form the NAU and other unions are the same people who control the media.

Then finally, realize that there’s a man, for the first time in well over a hundred years in congress, that is running for president, that is saying all these things that have been oppressed for the same amount of time.

The fact that you Doug, are still reprimanding Ron Paul for what he is saying, and more importantly his thorough, responsible, and moral understanding of these issues, backed by evidence ANYONE with brains could find and put together with what is available, tells me that you are not educated enough in the matters to truly understand and see the greater picture. If you were to take each issue he has brought forth, researched it in the detail with which he has already done so, this “Liberty Papers” site would maybe start living up to it’s name. History didn’t start sept 11th, 2001. It started with the instigation of a national bank, a military industrial complex, and a bunch of rich bastards that want to create a soviet-style, police-state dictatorship, only on a global scale. If you can’t see the blantant obviousness that is right there in front of your eyes, if you can put all that together, then you simply need to stop blogging until you’re informed enough.

So far, all i see, is a bunch of propaganda….or worse……you’re just one of the sheep arguing over the details of the insignificant…and remaining completely oblivious to the direction.

Thank god someone like Ron Paul is trying to come to power….so he can dismantle it.

One last thing. Before you decide to pick apart my arguement, just stop and realize that by not informing yourself better, and letting what is about to happen to occur……think about your children, and what you’re doing to their future by knocking the ONE AND ONLY person who is trying to save the country, instead of continue to propagate it’s destruction. These things ARE happening, and YOU sir….are helping them. Whether you know it or not. I truly hope you open your mind and your eyes, and then turn this site into something that will help, not hinder. We need to come together now more than ever, we can’t be bogged down in the details any longer. It’s time to attack the direction.

The most concerned citizen…

Peace

While he is right and extremely knowledgeable about the issue of the gold standard/fed reserve/abolish the IRS it is a fairly hard thing to explain at a debate. The problem is the voters just aren’t real knowledgeable about these very complex issues. It is not something on the forefront of their minds and is not something that will likely change their vote.

Healthcare is an issue that is pretty prominent right now. The problem is his views of likely getting the government out of the picture probably isn’t going to win him many new votes among the undecided unless he advocates for more incremental change to that end, which may be hard for him to do. I agree that Bush’s health care proposal may have been his best proposal of his entire presidency. The problem for Paul is that he is advocating getting rid of the IRS not using the current tax system for changes in health care. He could say, however, that though his preference is to get rid of the income tax, in the transition we should put everyone on equal footing with regards to taxes and health care and then outline his plan either similar to Bush’s or some other plan.

I think Paul’s got a lot of common ground with the swing voters…potentially more than any other candidate. The problem is, though, that most of them don’t know who he is (which I hope will change when the TV ads start coming out) and most of them have only a passing knowledge of the issues without much desire to gain a more in-depth one. So Paul needs to put the message in terminology the disinterested voter will get otherwise it’ll scare them off and they’ll go for the more conventional choice and not even give Paul an opportunity to make his case. That’s all I was saying.

But I agree with what you’re saying about conservatives becoming the same as leftists (or the pigs becoming the same as men, as Orwell would put it). Frankly, politics is both more complex and more simple than most voters seem to get. It’s more complex because there’s a whole range of stuff outside the standard left-right/conservative-liberal terminology that the MSM often misses. It’s more simple because the only thing that matters about all those views is how they fit into the battle of statism vs. individualism.