To: Ron Paul supporters
From: Mitch Berg – former Big-L Libertarian, now Republican
Re: Welcome to Saint Paul
Ronulans,
Welcome to Saint Paul – my city. I hope you have a good time here.
Now, as I’ve written in this space in the past, I’m not among the ones crying “foul” that you are coming to our caucuses and conventions and making “us” – the “insiders” who’ve been working within the party apparatus for years – work to defend the status quo, because I used to be one of the “outsiders”, too. And I’ve been frustrated dealing with what I thought was a hide-bound, old-boys-and-girls club. And being in Saint Paul, south of County Road C, I do feel like an insurgent in my own party sometimes.
So I’ve defended you (even as I’ve argued with, let me be frank, some of you more nutbar friends; the people who came to caucuses with sheaves of resolutions about the North American Highway and GATT and so on), because I thought it was good for the party.
Provided, of course, that you were sincere about being fundamentally interested in being in and working with the GOP, even to change it – as opposed to seeing it as a vehicle to forward a personality cult.
So stories like this perk my ears up:
“I have a busload of Ron Paul supporters on the way to Minneapolis-Saint Paul for the National Convention, along with an expanding army of volunteers from more than 1500 locations coast to coast. We are resolved to make these next few months count. We look forward to the list of speakers. We will converge on Minnesota regardless of whether you invite Dr. Paul, but we would prefer to stay in hotels and attend the convention as members of the Republican Party rather than stay at the YMCA and protest outside as disaffected ex-Republicans. The choice is yours.”
Look; you’ve infiltrated the party. You’ve gotten elected to delegate slots – perhaps not enough to pick the nominee, or to drive the Convention Committee’s decisions on which speakers to invite, but you have arrived.
Your choices are these:
- Prove it’s not a flash-in-the-pan personality cult: Find more candidates that believe as you (and to some extent “we”) do, especially down-ticket. Stay involved; get more delegates elected for more races. Remain a factor in the party, and extend your influence. The biggest problem “third parties” have is that they are made up of purists; people who are impatient to see their “perfect” solution right now. That’s not how politics works; it took Ronald Reagan (and his supporters) two tries! You have to show everyone – not just the GOP – that you are serious about reforming politics over the long term, which in politics means the long term.
- Prove it is a flash-in-the-pan personality cult: Find out that Rep. Paul isn’t speaking, walk out in a huff, and stomp around the streets bitching about the party that, after one election cycle, isn’t carrying you (who are, after all, a minority of delegates) to the podium on its shoulders.
So what’s it going to be – influential faction, or petulant personality cult?
That is all.
WOW! Option 2 sounds like the rantings here at Shot in the Onion ever since the ’06 elections. Well, at least the “stomp around the streets bitching about the party that, after one election cycle, isn’t carrying you” part. Interesting!
Flash
Ignoring your friend’s personal history in order to take a public cheap shot sure is classy!
Confused?!? No reference to personal history whatsoever. Had the vendetta against the Over ride 6 in mind, actually. But I realize how hard it is to see the periphery with blinders on!
Er, Flash?
Option 2 is almost exactly what is in my pullquote.
And you’re mixing up “election” with “party caucuses and conventions”. Understandable, given you’re a Saint Paul DFLer and thus don’t distinguish between “party” and “government” any more than a Russian in 1933 might, but a fairly important distinction to the nation and state at large.
Glad to help.
1) Saying that “…the party that, after one election cycle, isn’t carrying you…” fits Mitch.
2) “No reference to personal history whatsoever.”
Pretty sure he’s been working with the party longer than one election cycle. And I’d consider that to be part of his personal history. Maybe it’s just me.
And you’re mixing up “election” with “party caucuses and conventions”.
Cut Flash some slack. He actually thinks the Democrat candidate is picked by popular vote and not the party aristocracy disguised as “Superdelegates”.
They do get to have a balloon drop, though.
Dems like balloons! They look pretty, but are filled with nothing but air! They really serve no importance, but they just kind of hang around serving as a distraction, making Dems think that the balloon is important & even getting things done…
As far as the Ronulans, I’d also encourage them to learn the difference between a black helicopter & a real issue. When talking to even the most sane Paulbot, he eventually pulls out his foil hat.
Also, when Supreme Leader tells you the Constitution demands what Leader tells you it demands… go read it for yourself! Learn a bit about history before you make a fool of yourself while blindly following a fool. For instance, The Fed is not unconstitutional. You could argue whether it’s a good idea, or if they are mismanaging things, but despite what Supreme Leader tells you, it’s not unconstitutional.
The Ronulans have seen barking moonbats infiltrate, then dominate the Democrat party and think they can speed up the process for themselves.
I find myself more in agreement with them than most GOPers, but even I can see the potential for disaster in issuing threats like this one.
You are dispensing wise council here Mitch. They could be a real asset to the party, but they’ve got some groundwork to do.
And they need to chill a bit, too.
Of the many “Ronulans” (for consistent terminology, not as insult) I know, have met or conversed with online, a few are people who honestly believed that Ron Paul was a better and more conservative candidate. When they realized he was the fat mouse at a cat convention and agreed, no more reluctantly than most of us, to support McCain if he’s the nominee, they became Republicans. The rest of them, by refusing to accept that reality, became loons, and not in the state bird sense. From what I’ve seen, the best argument AGAINST Ron Paul is the rabid nonsense emanating from his most diehard supporters.
Mitch is right, the test is simple and readily available. Do these people accept reality and work to make it better, or insist on a world of their own in which they are right and those of us working hard for the last 20 years to accomplish what they only dream of are wrong. It’s not the way to win friends and influence people.
Do these people accept reality and work to make it better, or insist on a world of their own in which they are right and those of us working hard for the last 20 years to accomplish what they only dream of are wrong.
A good segway into reasons to reject proportional representation, instant runoff voting, and other more idealistic forms of representational government.
The “Ronulans” of the GOP are the Greens of the DFL. We’ll see if they integrate as well.
I hope that the Paulites will stay in, fight, and help reclaim a party that has become Dem Lite.
Today I think John Kennedy would be seen as to far right for the Republican Party and Gus Hall might just fall in the mainstream of the Democratic Party.