This just published on Wired: Ron Paul supporters are planning to have a rally on January 1st, 2008, at 8:30pm EST ... in Azeroth. That's right boys and girls, we're about to witness the first virtual Presidential rally in the World of Warcraft!
Regardless of whether the Ron Paul Revolution actually gets him into the Whitehouse (and I can only hope that it does), I firmly believe that we are witnessing a real revolution that will fundamentally change the face of political campaigns forever. The WoW rally is just the latest manifestation of a conflagration of grassroots support that has risen predominantly through internet aided spontaneous order that's almost never coordinated by Ron Paul's campaign at all.
To me this is an incredible phenomenon. Without a giant political machine, having rejected all PAC donations, this campaign has certainly shown the untapped potential the internet community can generate. At first, no one in the mainstream media even paid attention to Ron Paul. It was the grassroots support that has made it impossible for the media to ignore Ron Paul. After every GOP debate, every major media poll shows that Ron Paul won the debate. The fervor of support has caused a lot of reporters, most notably Sean "Cry Baby" Hannity, to call Ron Paul supporters nutcases who just want to manipulate the results*. At every mention of Ron Paul on CNN, FOX, MSNBC, and even on news radio, supporters email or call in ad nauseum.
What's more incredible is that this is no empty lip service support either. Many people, including yours truly, have put their money where their mouth is. First there was the money bomb on Nov. 5th that raised over $4 million in a single day. More than just the amount of money raised, it was shocking for two reasons: 1. the money didn't come from a small handful of wealthy donors or large corporations, it came from tens of thousands of small donors. 2. it was organized by someone who had no contact with the Ron Paul campaign and who had never been involved in political organization, ever. Then on December 6th, the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, another moneybomb got Ron Paul even more money -- to the tune of $6 million in a single day. Compare that to Mike Huckabee's money dud yesterday that raised, that's right, $95000. That's less than half of Ron Paul's daily average over the entire 4th quarter.
Ghandi once said, "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win". The media started out ignoring Ron Paul, and then ridiculing him as a Libertarian kook. But faced with the incredible outpouring of support at the grassroots level, they are now actively attacking Ron Paul. They find every reason to brand Ron Paul as an isolationist, a cold-hearted Libertarian, a Dixiecrat, and a racist. For probably the first time, post-GOP debate polls were thrown away by mainstream media because they claimed that all the votes for Ron Paul were sent by two people. Surprisingly, even Objectivists have weighed in to criticize Ron Paul's support for the gold standard.
Yet for every critic of a certain political party or walk of life, a vocal supporter also exists from the same group. I can think of no better vindication for Ron Paul's position on racism: "Racism is simply an ugly form of collectivism, the mindset that views humans strictly as members of groups rather than as individuals". At every Ron Paul rally, there are Libertarians, Barry Goldwater conservatives, and even democrats and anarchists.
The diversity of support Ron Paul has been getting shows that the amount of grassroots support isn't just about a secret tactic that's used to tap into previously unused political potential. The fact that most of the support has been formed spontaneously without coordination from the campaign illustrates this point perfectly.
Ron Paul espouses a lot of things that has struck a raw nerve with his supporters. Democrats like him because he is pretty much the ONLY candidate in EITHER party that unequivocally opposes the war in Iraq. Traditional conservatives like him because of his position on fiscal responsibility. And libertarians and anarchists love his position and track record on defending individual liberty. Personally I feel comfortable with him as President even though I am strongly pro-choice and I am strongly anti-religion. Why? Because he does not want to take undue power and he won't assume unauthorized power. It might feel good to have someone who agrees with you 100% take office and then give him lots of power to get things done. But what if the next guy to take office agrees with you 0%? Now he's got all that power and he's not going to stay away from it. You're going to get fucked like you just dropped a bar of soap at Riker's Island.
Ron Paul's supporters picked the "Ron Paul Revolution" as the slogan to unite their support for Paul. What they didn't realize is that even if Ron Paul does not win the election, Ron Paul supporters have already started a revolution in political organization. But more than anything, *I* hope that people realize the truth about what Ron Paul has said about his own supporters: "Freedom unites people", and Shamans and Rogues and Paladins.
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