Disclaimer - This article is NOT a pro Ron Paul Article. It is an attempt to explain the Ron Paul phenomenon and identify the key ingredients to what is occurring.
It is an attempt to show that market dynamics such as the Linux movement are being manifest very similarly in politics with the Ron Paul candidacy.
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Traditionally when someone runs for office, they court a certain constituency, modifying their position to garner the most support from a group of people. The candidate and their party build a platform to run on and people buy into the position. If more people buy into the position, then that candidate wins.
This year though, something fundamental has shifted the landscape. It is being seen but not felt, it is being observed but not understood. It is the Ron Paul effect.
Ron Paul is the Linux of the Political world. He is an open source candidate
Let me give you an example -
The other night was the California Republican Debate. An online poll was held to determine who the audience felt did the best. 90,000 people responded
You can view the results here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18436681
Here are some snippets from the poll:
Who stood out from the pack?
#1 Ron Paul - 56%
#2 Mitt Romney 16%
#3 Rudi Giuliani 11%
Who showed the most leadership qualities?
#1 Ron Paul 53%
#2 Mitt Romney 15%
#3 Rudy Giuliani 12%
Who was the most convincing candidate?
#1 Ron Paul 55%
#2 Mitt Romney 15%
#3 Rudy Giuliani 10%
What is going on here? Is Ron Paul the most dynamic National Leader to appear on the political landscape since Teddy Roosevelt?
No, he isn’t. This has very little to do with Ron Paul.
What it has to do with is a group of people who are tuned into the tools and the process. These people are tech savvy, are online, and are engaged. They represent a virtual world of people that the traditional (R)s and (D)s don’t understand.
Ron Paul has become a movement, far beyond the man it is named after. Ron Paul represents something fundamentally different about what is happening in American politics today.
This isn’t a Ross Perot, spending billions of his own money to be on the stage with the Republicans and Democrats. This is a humble man who seems to be as surprised as anyone that this is happening to him.
The money keeps coming in. Campaign signs spontaneously appear on street corners, he just won’t go away.
Why? Because his campaign and his candidacy are the opposite of traditional politics. Ron Paul is hardly aware of his supporters. He is questioned by the traditional media about accepting money from fringe groups with outlandish positions. His response is very well put.
“Just because they agree with what I believe doesn’t mean I agree with what they believe”
And when asked about returning the money of questionable donors, he flat out refuses.
He says, “It is better for me to be spending their money on my beliefs, than for them to be spending it on their beliefs.”
What has happened is that rather than seek out a group of people who he could represent, a group of people have sought him out. Ron Paul was found by his followers, he didn’t find them.
The Republicans and Democrats are attempting to sell their candidates just like a technology company would sell a product. They are attempting to build the most attract candidate that people will “Buy” with their votes.
But just like Linux, Ron Paul, isn’t selling anything. His position isn’t owned by a party, it is a position that he believes in, all by himself, and lets whomever wants to join his belief system of Government.
I’m comparing this to Linux, competing against the traditional closed proprietary markets of software. No one owns Linux. People contribute to it, build it, give it back to the community, and it serves everyone. Very similar to the way many of the Ron Paul followers seem to feel that government should be like.
Why the Ron Paul scenario is different than anything that has happened before is because the nature of the movement. The Ron Paul candidacy isn’t owned by anyone. Ron just keeps showing up, stating his position, and the money flows in. He hardly campaigns, hardly seeks out groups to help him win, he just does what he believes in.
This group that is now associated with Ron Paul is going to wake up the morning after the election and realize that they haven’t gone away even though they have lost. Ron Paul might not ever run again, but the movement that he has inspired is going to keep going.
There is a large group of tech savvy, educated, fairly affluent, people who believe that the Republicans and Democrats are selling the same old thing, just with new wrappings. They have grown disenfranchised with the entire system. This election they have found a way to mess with the traditional media by scewing the numbers for any online polling of any kind.
Think about this. If the President of the United States was chosen through a online voting system, who would win? We know the answer and it wouldn’t even be close.
I know my mother and my grandparents will vote, but if they had to do it online, I’m sure they wouldn’t.
The Ron Paul movement will not end with this election. It was born with this election. The Ron Paulers will realize that they have discovered something. That when held together, they wield influence and find themselves with representation that they have never felt before.
A warning to the proprietary, closed systems of the Reps and Dems. The foundation of your demise is being laid at your feet and you are unaware of what it is. It won’t be this year, and might not even be next election, but it is here with us now, and Ron Paul is he manifestation of that birth of a new movement in American Politics.
It is an attempt to show that market dynamics such as the Linux movement are being manifest very similarly in politics with the Ron Paul candidacy.
*****************
Traditionally when someone runs for office, they court a certain constituency, modifying their position to garner the most support from a group of people. The candidate and their party build a platform to run on and people buy into the position. If more people buy into the position, then that candidate wins.
This year though, something fundamental has shifted the landscape. It is being seen but not felt, it is being observed but not understood. It is the Ron Paul effect.
Ron Paul is the Linux of the Political world. He is an open source candidate
Let me give you an example -
The other night was the California Republican Debate. An online poll was held to determine who the audience felt did the best. 90,000 people responded
You can view the results here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18436681
Here are some snippets from the poll:
Who stood out from the pack?
#1 Ron Paul - 56%
#2 Mitt Romney 16%
#3 Rudi Giuliani 11%
Who showed the most leadership qualities?
#1 Ron Paul 53%
#2 Mitt Romney 15%
#3 Rudy Giuliani 12%
Who was the most convincing candidate?
#1 Ron Paul 55%
#2 Mitt Romney 15%
#3 Rudy Giuliani 10%
What is going on here? Is Ron Paul the most dynamic National Leader to appear on the political landscape since Teddy Roosevelt?
No, he isn’t. This has very little to do with Ron Paul.
What it has to do with is a group of people who are tuned into the tools and the process. These people are tech savvy, are online, and are engaged. They represent a virtual world of people that the traditional (R)s and (D)s don’t understand.
Ron Paul has become a movement, far beyond the man it is named after. Ron Paul represents something fundamentally different about what is happening in American politics today.
This isn’t a Ross Perot, spending billions of his own money to be on the stage with the Republicans and Democrats. This is a humble man who seems to be as surprised as anyone that this is happening to him.
The money keeps coming in. Campaign signs spontaneously appear on street corners, he just won’t go away.
Why? Because his campaign and his candidacy are the opposite of traditional politics. Ron Paul is hardly aware of his supporters. He is questioned by the traditional media about accepting money from fringe groups with outlandish positions. His response is very well put.
“Just because they agree with what I believe doesn’t mean I agree with what they believe”
And when asked about returning the money of questionable donors, he flat out refuses.
He says, “It is better for me to be spending their money on my beliefs, than for them to be spending it on their beliefs.”
What has happened is that rather than seek out a group of people who he could represent, a group of people have sought him out. Ron Paul was found by his followers, he didn’t find them.
The Republicans and Democrats are attempting to sell their candidates just like a technology company would sell a product. They are attempting to build the most attract candidate that people will “Buy” with their votes.
But just like Linux, Ron Paul, isn’t selling anything. His position isn’t owned by a party, it is a position that he believes in, all by himself, and lets whomever wants to join his belief system of Government.
I’m comparing this to Linux, competing against the traditional closed proprietary markets of software. No one owns Linux. People contribute to it, build it, give it back to the community, and it serves everyone. Very similar to the way many of the Ron Paul followers seem to feel that government should be like.
Why the Ron Paul scenario is different than anything that has happened before is because the nature of the movement. The Ron Paul candidacy isn’t owned by anyone. Ron just keeps showing up, stating his position, and the money flows in. He hardly campaigns, hardly seeks out groups to help him win, he just does what he believes in.
This group that is now associated with Ron Paul is going to wake up the morning after the election and realize that they haven’t gone away even though they have lost. Ron Paul might not ever run again, but the movement that he has inspired is going to keep going.
There is a large group of tech savvy, educated, fairly affluent, people who believe that the Republicans and Democrats are selling the same old thing, just with new wrappings. They have grown disenfranchised with the entire system. This election they have found a way to mess with the traditional media by scewing the numbers for any online polling of any kind.
Think about this. If the President of the United States was chosen through a online voting system, who would win? We know the answer and it wouldn’t even be close.
I know my mother and my grandparents will vote, but if they had to do it online, I’m sure they wouldn’t.
The Ron Paul movement will not end with this election. It was born with this election. The Ron Paulers will realize that they have discovered something. That when held together, they wield influence and find themselves with representation that they have never felt before.
A warning to the proprietary, closed systems of the Reps and Dems. The foundation of your demise is being laid at your feet and you are unaware of what it is. It won’t be this year, and might not even be next election, but it is here with us now, and Ron Paul is he manifestation of that birth of a new movement in American Politics.
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2 comments:
I realized this in June after joining my first Ron Paul Meet-Up group. I watched dozens of supporters lining up and trying to work in the real world as they would online, approaching problems from a new and different perspective, pooling talents and resources. It's a change in attitude that is entirely refreshing. (It's also very effective!)
As technology grows and plays more of a role in our lives, expect to see phenomena similar to the Ron Paul Revolution. But, I'm convinced you can't 'produce' a movement of this kind- it has to grow organically from a powerful, sought-for message. Because of its nature, it can't be faked. Open source works because it isn’t forced. You try to line up the wrong message and it just won’t ‘take,’ just as a bad idea is passed over by the open source community in favor of better, more interesting projects. When something is that powerful, it isn’t owned by one person anymore.
I'm hoping this will one day lead to a new paradigm of politics; thinking of this nature could transform many aspects of our lives, so politics would not be an exception. And I’m aware how cheesy such a thing sounds. However, I left my cynical, angry side behind the day I decided I didn’t dislike America anymore. I gave in and tried to make my country a better place for the first time. Notice the ownership implied in “my country.” This wasn’t planting trees or joining a political party just to have something to do or to “make a difference.” Those types of activities make you feel good, but they don’t change the world.
I was empowered by the movement to stop being resentful of all the things that were going wrong around me and to take action, even if it just meant being a voice on the Internet at first. As I drove across my state on various volunteer missions, I grew closer to my family, friends, my neighbors, and to myself. You could say I found the power in people that creates ideas and builds things, for the sake of building those things. We were all accountable to only ourselves and our success or failure would not be rewarded or punished by anyone, but we ourselves would know. When I donate to Ron Paul, no one even knows that I do.
Thank you for your blog.
After reading, and rereading, and rereading again your posting I think you hit on some seriously accurate points. I had never considered that Ron Paul is like Linux, but he really is. He's like the kid in the IBM commercial that says "He didn't belong to anyone, he belonged to everyone."
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