Paraphrasing:

You damn turrists better be afraid cause we’re going to assassinate you and then piss on your body! Hell we assassinate Americans so you better believe we’ll kill yer ass!

So to my fellow TEA partiers: you have to do something about this. Mitt Romney cannot win. Ron Paul is the answer.

Why am I so sure that Ron Paul is the man you need to rally behind? Well, let me count the ways:

1) The man is as TEA Party as TEA Party gets

The Campaign for Liberty and the Ron Paul Revolution have been marching on Washington and protesting big government since 2007, inspired by Ron Paul’s presidential campaign. When the bailouts occurred in 2008, they set up more rallies and were joined by grass roots conservatives from many other groups. In 2009 the term “TEA Party” had coalesced all of these groups under one label (while they remained numerous and different in actuality) in the fight against Obamacare.

You stood arm in arm with the Ron Paul Supporters, whether you realize it or not. You pledged to throw all the bums out and get rid of RINOs and get back to the Constitution.

Stand with them again. Fulfill your promises. Respect the Constitution. Vote for Ron Paul. You must do it to save this country.

2) The man has a PLAN to restore America and Save Social Security

If you haven’t read it already, you need to read the Plan to Restore America. This plan includes a real cut of $1 Trillion in year one, eliminating five federal bureaucracies. This plan gets serious on spending and the debt because guess what? We have to, right now!

The TEA Party marched and protested so the government would cut spending. Not reduce the growth of spending, but CUT spending. Well, here is your plan, get behind it or else you are exposing yourself as a hypocrite.

Lastly, this plan will save Social Security and Medicare. Ron Paul wants to allow people to opt out of those programs, that is true. However, he is fully committed to making sure that anyone who has paid into those programs gets their money back and receives what they were promised. He does this by cutting spending in other areas and balancing the budget in 3 years, ensuring the value of your savings and the promises that were made to you.

None of the other candidates have a plan to ensure Social Security and Medicare. They don’t want to cut spending. The only thing they’ve proposed is that they increase spending a little bit less than Obama would increase spending. Guess what happens if we don’t cut spending? Your social security checks become worthless as the government prints more and more money to cover the mountain of debt. Do Santorum or Perry or Gingrich have a plan to ensure the value of your savings and make sure Social Security remains solvent? NO. Get behind the one man with a plan.

3) The man will FIGHT for America

Pundits and Media types call Ron Paul “kooky” for his stance on foreign policy. What they won’t tell you about is the fact that Ron Paul is 100% determined to protect this nation. Due to his Christian values, Ron Paul believes in the doctrine of Just War Theory, in that we have a right to defend ourselves and eliminate our enemies with just cause. This means that we will not have any arbitrary rules of engagement, set by the UN, that endanger our troops. This means that we will not have any international body telling Israel or us when we can defend ourselves. Under Ron Paul, we will declare war, we will wage war, and our troops will return to a hero’s welcome, with sound mind and body.

He is also 100% determined to follow the Constitution. So if you are afraid of Ron Paul’s foreign policy, you have a very simple way to deal with this: follow the Constitution. Pressure your representative or senator to declare war with Iran, or whatever other country you believe is a direct threat to our safety. If you do your job and make your congressman declare war, Ron Paul will unleash the full might of our military to get the job done and get home. That is what America used to do in war, and that is what Ron Paul will restore.

4) The man will be VERY effective in Washington

We’ve heard in recent weeks that Ron Paul hasn’t passed many laws while in Congress, so he won’t be effective as president. This comment shows a complete lack of understanding of the Constitution. Any person who feels they understand the balance of powers in the Constitution, such as TEA Party conservatives, should know that the president has a lot of power when they want to STOP the government and when they want to CUT spending.

You see, our current government does many things which are not properly passed by congress and are not authorized by the Constitution. Ron Paul can slash spending and regulations on day one without congressional approval simply by eliminating all of the executive orders and eliminating any of the regulations enacted by the many executive departments that aren’t specifically called for by congress. Ron Paul can also drastically reduce our military spending by bringing the troops home from places like Japan and Germany. Why should we subsidize socialism by paying for their National Defense?

More importantly, think about the message we would be sending Washington by electing Ron Paul: we’re damned serious about cutting spending and getting the government out of the way. If we send up Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum or Rick Perry or even… ugh… Mitt Romney, what does that say? “Well, we want you to cut spending, but there’s no rush. You can micromanage the economy too, just be nice about it.”

I don’t think so!!! That’s not the TEA Party message. If we elect Ron Paul, the members of congress will be put on notice, that their jobs are not secure, and that if they don’t vote with us, their days are limited. This will help Ron Paul be VERY effective.

5) The man has a nationwide campaign structure and grassroots support

Ron Paul is the only candidate other than Mitt Romney that is actually on the ballot for all of the primaries. What does that tell you? Do you really think Perry or Newt or Huntsman are going to challenge Romney when their organization can’t even get them on the ballot? Ron Paul raises more money than everyone else except Mitt Romney, and Ron Paul does it with small contributions from lots and lots of individuals. While Romney rakes in the lobbyist cash, Ron Paul rakes in the grassroots support.

Ron Paul is driven by hundreds of thousands of supporters around the nation who aren’t political insiders, have never worked for campaigns, and aren’t being paid by anyone. Mitt Romney and Barack Obama can’t touch this. Just check out this map of Ron Paul meetups:

In addition to that, he dominates the internet and social media. He is generating about 50% of all internet traffic related to the GOP Primary campaign, and he has over 100,000 videos on Youtube posted by various random supporters. Check out this chart from Google Trends showing the amount of search traffic per candidate (these are unique searches – meaning it’s not the same person searching over and over again):

6) The man is praised by TEA Party heroes

7) The man polls well against Barack Obama, and beats him with Independents

Ron Paul is currently neck and neck with Barack Obama according to Rasmussen. Also, Ron Paul beats Obama 47% to 40% amongst Independent voters, according to this CBS article.

We all know that you have to win the Independent vote to win the Presidency, and Ron Paul is the only one who stands a chance.

Santorum only gets 41% of independents vs Obama, and nobody else comes close.

and finally…

The man OWNS the future

In both the Iowa and New Hampshire exit polls, Ron Paul absolutely dominated the vote with the voters from age 18-30, getting about 50% each time. These are Republican voters who are serious about their country and are the future of the GOP. They realize that they face the very real possibility of the collapse of the country they love unless something is done RIGHT NOW to cut spending, balance the budget, and restore liberty to this land.

These voters have been dismissed by TEA Partiers and by talking heads and by GOP members. Think about what that means: if you don’t bring in the young voters, you are going to destroy the party, and you’re going to lose to Obama.

Ron Paul and the message of liberty own the future. Get on the bandwagon now, before its too late.

In Conclusion,

Ron Paul IS the man. Dump all of these conservative wannabes or get run over by the Mitt Machine. Do you want Mitt Romney to be your candidate? Do you want four more years of Obama?

I didn’t think so. VOTE RON PAUL!!!

Here’s the problem everyone seems to agree upon: Ron Paul is having a hard time convincing people over 40 that he would be a good candidate. The two main reasons for this are they believe he will end Social Security and Medicare on day 1, and that he blames America for 9/11 (or that he wants Iran to have a nuclear bomb.)

I believe this stems from the nature in which the campaign has been run to this point. He has run a campaign of (great) ideas, and he has espoused the philosophy of freedom and the principles of a free society. All of these are great things. However, the only actionable plan he has put forth is his Plan to Restore America, which cuts $1 trillion and eliminates 5 executive branch bureaucracies. It’s a great plan, so why is this a problem?

Simple: nobody reads the plan. Sure, I’ve read it. I’m sure other Paul supporters have read it. But nobody who’s undecided or currently favoring another GOP candidate is going to read the plan. They just aren’t.

What this leads to is a bunch of scared voters who think Paul is going to slash the military down to such a small size that we’ll be invaded by China and he’s going to zero out Medicare and Social Security on day one so the elderly will be left out in the cold. These people hear “cut $1 trillion” and they immediately assume that their favorite government program is on the chopping block.

Now to be fair, this isn’t only because of the campaign or because of lazy voters, the mainstream media has a lot to do with it. Ron Paul’s philosophy is right on and his plan is great, including transition periods and sustainable government, etc. but the media always condenses things down to small, simple, concrete statements that are totally wrong more often than not. So when Paul says he’s going to cut the government by $1 trillion and provides a report to give the details, the media skips the report and just says he’s going to throw old people over a cliff.

So how can Ron Paul get around this? How can his campaign attract many more voters who are very receptive to his “cut spending” message but fear the actual ramifications of cutting spending? Well, that’s where all the suggestions come in. I’ll list a few that I’ve observed online today and provide my comments:

1) Paul should say “Government” and “Feds” and “Washington” instead of “we” and “America.”

This is extremely important. When Ron Paul talks about foreign policy he often times says “we installed a puppet Shah in Iran” or “we trained Al Quaeda” and things of that nature. These things are true, and powerful, when talking about the US government. However, “we” the people didn’t do these things, and “we” the voters don’t like to be blamed for it. I personally understand that Paul means the government, but a lot of people react defensively when they hear these statements, and if it was phrased differently, they wouldn’t.

One side note – before anybody says “but we’re responsible for the government” – I wasn’t alive when we installed the Shah of Iran, so sorry, that theory doesn’t hold up.

 2) Paul should clearly and simply outline a plan to save Social Security and Medicare

In all of the polling, virtually none of the voters over 50 favor Ron Paul. Most of them think that he will eliminate Medicare and Social Security on day one. We know this isn’t true, and in fact, it is spelled out in his plan to Restore America.

Again – so what? The campaign and Paul need to go after this aggressively and point out that: a) If we don’t cut spending, there won’t be any money available for those programs. b) The Paul plan would actually guarantee payouts to current beneficiaries, and c) Ron Paul will fulfill the government’s promises to seniors while allowing future generations to opt out.

The message needs to be clear, the plan concise, the guarantees firm. Someone watching Wheel of Fortune catching a 30 second ad needs to be able to comprehend it. Ron Paul needs to be able to get the point across in a quick response either at a debate or in an interview.

We can no longer afford to talk about the constitutionality of the programs or the principles of a government safety net or a free society. Those things can be outlined in long speeches, but not in quick answers or in quick commercials. The voters need to be reassured and then convinced that Ron Paul is the only one with a plan that saves these programs.

3) Paul should outline a plan to deal with Iran

Again, the same principle: less philosophy talk, more practical planning talk. The campaign and Paul need clear messaging that reassures people that Paul will have a strong national defense and that Paul will defend this country against threats.

Additionally, we need more aggressive messaging that the US government is currently picking a fight with Iran through sanctions and that this will accelerate their nuclear ambitions and the risk of war.

4) Go Positive, go Practical

The Ron Paul campaign doesn’t need to attack any of the other candidates any more. Everybody knows what’s wrong with Romney. Everybody knows Santorum has no campaigning capability outside of Iowa. Everybody knows what’s wrong with Newt. Nobody else is a threat.

Get positive in the ads, get aggressive with the messaging, and take the concrete realities to the media rather than allowing them to fill in the blanks. I’ll say it again: outline practical plans and illustrate the positive results that Ron Paul will generate for the voters.

Enough “life in a free society is great,” bring on the “I will do X and Y and you can expect Z.”

That is all I have for now. I’m sure there is more. I hope someone from the Paul campaign is paying attention. I also hope people don’t take this as a hit piece on the Paul campaign. I think they have done a great job so far. There are several strategic decisions that are very intelligent and the message of liberty is very powerful. For example: Paul’s answer to the third party question is perfect. It keeps them guessing and that’s great.

Now is the time to win over voters as rapidly as possible. A movement has been started by Dr. Paul and the message of liberty, and that movement will educate and inspire voters once they’ve warmed up to Dr. Paul. Right now though, the focus has to be on breaking down people’s barriers and getting them to consider Ron Paul as someone to vote for in the here and now.

Why?

Simple: people who support Ron Paul are enlightened. They see the failures of the government for what they are. They see liberty as the ultimate goal, not party victory. They understand the principles of a free society and the efforts made by the Founders to protect liberty. They aren’t anti-Obama or pro-Republican, they are pro-Freedom and anti-government.

For these reasons, Ron Paul supporters aren’t going to vote for some establishment hack like Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum if they win the nomination. Just as they did with McCain, they’ll stay home and Obama will win. So it absolutely doesn’t matter one bit if Ron Paul runs as a 3rd party candidate or not – if he doesn’t win the GOP primary, his supporters will not vote Republican in the general election.

In addition, I believe Rand Paul is an all-star and his father doesn’t want to do anything that would hurt his chances at an eventual run for President. If Ron were to run as a 3rd party candidate if he loses the GOP primary, Republicans would hate him (even more) and that would spill over to Rand, making it impossible for him to ever run. Rand is the more skilled politician of the two and so I highly doubt Ron would do anything to hurt his chances.

Here’s a quote from Rand Paul on the subject today:

“You know, I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) told Paul Westcott on New Hampshire’s WGIR-AM while campaigning on behalf of his father. “Because people have been asking me for a couple years now if the Tea Party is going to stay within the Republican Party and I’ve been saying that the Tea Party has power and influence by primarily keeping Republicans and making them more consistent with their platform and their principles.”

via Rand Paul On A Ron Paul Third-Party Run: “Don’t Think It’s A Good Idea” | RealClearPolitics.

I first got interested in the whole freedom movement when I heard that Ron Paul wanted to end all foreign aid, including to my country, Israel. This seemed like a spectacular idea to me. I hate the idea of taking American tax payer money I don’t need. The only reason we take it, by the way, is not because we need it. It’s that we don’t want to feel alone, and Jews always feel a deep existential isolation and loneliness. “As I see them from the mountain tops, gaze on them from the heights, this is a people that dwells alone, not counted among the Nations,” says Balaam of the People of Israel in Numbers 23:9. We still feel that loneliness. So we take the money. It’s shameful, it’s theft, it’s destructive, it’s morally wrong, and it makes people hate us for tying them into a conflict they have no business trying to solve. I wanted it to end and didn’t trust any Israeli leader to give it up on his own, so I looked up more about Ron Paul.

What I found was fascinating. On the forums, I learned of people who, back in ’08, literally gave their lives short of death to this man. Some poured money into his campaign they could not afford to give, and some even lost their marriages because of their single-minded insane dedication. This shocked me. I couldn’t yet understand it, but after a few days of listening to him, it began to click.

What is it about Ron Paul that inspires such extremes? Such maddening support on the one hand, and such fear and loathing on the other? I can give the answer in one word: Soul.

The essential soul of a human being is by definition free. The idea that men are free as determined by God is a concept that is foreign to most men. This is because most men want to control others, to take away their freedom. This is usually referred to as the drive for power. The drive for power is antithetical to freedom because power means the ability to control others. There is only one legitimate thing that power can and should be used for, whether it be military, legislative, or executive power. That is, to legalize freedom.

via From Israel: Vote Ron Paul and Let My People Go!.