Ron Paul Speaks In Ontario

This weekend I had the privilege to take my family to hear Dr Ron Paul speak at the Republican Convention in Ontario, Ca. It was my impression by the responses and Q&A that many in the room had never heard the man. But the continuous ovations throughout the speech (which covered a grand range of topics) showed a healthy support for him and his ideas. There was a dissenter or two in the room (how dare a republican oppose the war) and he did a good job of fielding the questions. But the overall response to him was resounding approval.

Earlier in this blog a commenter stated that Ron Paul's age, appearance and voice would pose a negative effect on his campaign. Well sir, his campaign and his following seemed incredibly strong and growing (the people we met there were eager and active in spreading the news of Ron Paul and his candidacy). He stood firm on the ideas of a constitutionaly limited government. He reinforced his belief in an economic market based upon competition and a gold/silver standard. He renounced our empirical policing of the world since WW2. He upheld personal responsibility in education. He voiced his support in the pursuit of Al Quaida (he even suggested a hired army might be better suited than our own military) but continued his opposition to our invasion of Iraq (since Congress still hasn't declared war). He supported guns in cockpits to defend our citizens. And he received ovations throughout.

I would say that anyone who thinks Ron Paul can't win because he's old, or has a "raspy" voice hasn't seen Ron Paul. It's true that he has an uphill battle ahead of him. The media continues to ignore him (yet they continue to follow Fred Thompson, who as of yet isn't running). His political adversaries disregard him. The Republican Party tries to keep him hidden. Yet with no help from media or his party, his campaign is growing strongly.

That's why we are here. We must be his media. We must push him into the forums of the public until all Americans have seen him and heard him. "Ron Paul won't be able to finance his campaign" is heard often. The assumption there is that he can't win as a grass roots candidate. That we can't build him up enough with the Internet, and word of mouth to outperform the multi-million dollar ad-campaigns. We must prove them wrong. And if what I saw this weekend is an indicator, our chances are more than fair.

Ron Paul doesn't need us to defend him, he does that quite well on his own. He only needs to have his voice heard. Than America can decide if he's worthy of our vote.

Overtime for Ron Paul

So far, this is the only comment I have seen recently (dated April 7, 2007) concerning Ron Paul's campaign funds:

His campaign is plugged into the Internet and well on its way to raising its first million.

The link to the article is here.

I am not sure if this is including the $500,000 that had been mentioned about a month ago.

A hundred here, a twenty there. A few tens and a few fifties. It all adds up. Pledge petitions are being proposed and this will help even more. I think, though, we are overlooking another possible avenue of funding: overtime.

As a grassroots movement, we certainly have plenty of people who will volunteer their free time to promote Ron Paul and spread the news of liberty. But some of that free time can be used for overtime at their place of work.

Let's say with 5000 people, each person works just 1 hour of overtime a week. If we take a lowball average of $8 an hour, then half that because of government rape (er, I mean overtaxation), then we arrive at 5000 x $4 = $20,000 a week of extra funding.

Now lets look at a more optimistic, yet a realistic possibility in number crunching.

With 10000 people working about 2 hours of overtime at a higher average of $10 an hour: 10000 x (0.5 x $10) = $50,000 a week of extra funding.

If you notice, I didn't calculate time and half for the OT, but I did this to show that even with just regular pay, money does accumulate quickly.

Play the numbers and see what a little bit of overtime can do for fundraising. Fifteen thousand people, maybe 50,000 or more, with only 1 to 2 hours of overtime a week, and maybe with a higher average wage, the campaign would certainly see a quick growth in funding.

So, to all those great people who are volunteering their free time to promote Ron Paul, don't forget to convert some of that free time to overtime!