Why Ron Paul Lost New Hampshire?

Ronald Holland Explains How the Ron Paul Campaign can win in the future.


Only 8,000 votes would have made the NH Primary a success with a third place finish but the Ron Paul Campaign didn’t make it. First, we can’t blame it on Fox News, if anything their debate exclusion helped the campaign on a national basis. The harassing of Hannity the Neocon on TV was a major PR mistake regardless of how good it felt at the time. The enemies of freedom will smear the campaign as extreme and scary whenever they can, hence we should counter this false perception instead of playing into their hands.
 
Ron Paul’s 5th placing showing in the GOP New Hampshire Primary was disappointing but the campaign should be judged in the larger context of the entire 2008 election cycle. Remember, it began as an educational endeavor to spread the message of how the benefits of a return to limited government, the Constitution and personal and economic freedom can benefit our nation and citizens.
 
The campaign has achieved education and fund raising success as who would have thought a year ago that a presidential campaign getting near 10% of the GOP vote would have rallies where the chant was “stop the FED” or bring sound money, a balanced foreign policy and the Constitution into the general Republican debate.
 
Frankly the educational and fundraising success has not been translated into similar success at the ballot box for a number of reasons but the primary reason is brand packaging. We are letting the competition define us and our vision for America.   
 
This Is A Restoration Movement Not A Revolution - First, although the Ron Paul campaign message is identical to our Founding Fathers goals and beliefs for our early Republic, the campaign marketing brand has been called “The Ron Paul Revolution”. It doesn’t matter if you spell “love” with the word Revolution, this word scares average Americans. We are restoring the original vision of our Founding Fathers not revolting against our country.
 
Remember, most voters do not read von Mises, have no historical or philosophical reference or understanding of the basic foundations of liberty, economics, sound money, American history, the Federal Reserve, our republic or the Constitution.  The media, our public schools and political institutions never cover any of this so why would you think one brief campaign could turn the tide against 100 years of cover-up, indoctrination and misinformation.
 
The Foreign Policy of George Washington - Ron Paul advocates a return to the original foreign policy of George Washington and our founding fathers. The Neocon’s call it “isolationism” and we call it “non-interventionism” but the average voter could care less about the definition. Who would oppose the foreign policy of Washington, Jefferson or Franklin?
 
Oppose the Federal Reserve Because of the Housing & Stock Market Crisis - 99% of the voters don’t know or want to know anything about the Federal Reserve. They hear about it in the news and this “government institution” as far as they understand is designed to “protect us and our economy”.  Yes it is a tool of the financial and Wall Street elites to maximize their profits at the average persons expense but you can’t explain the Federal Reserve in a political campaign. Their easy money policies designed to benefit the banks and Wall Street have created the recession we are now entering. This is enough information.
 
Sound Money Means Lower Priced Imported Goods, Service, Cars & Gas Prices – This is the message not competing or gold backed currencies. Most people are too busy trying to work, survive and raise families to concern themselves with the currency.
 
The Average Voter Doesn’t Care About History - I love history but the voters do not care about the past as this is a consumer driven “I want it now, lifestyle economy”. Few care about the War Between the States, the fall of the Soviet Union, the Great Depression or our history in the Middle East. There is plenty of time for those interested to thoroughly research why our nation has turned into a Neocon empire abroad and a centralized power hungry government at home but this should not be part of the rhetoric of the campaign..
 
The Campaign Should Act At Once! - The campaign should keep the message simple, educate supporters on the importance of public relations and explain our vision for America in easy, understandable terms. There will be plenty of time for the scary stuff when the economy goes into the tank or we get into another war. We are dealing with entrenched special interests who will do anything to maintain control of the two-party monopoly but Niccolo Machiavelli was right. "The wise man does at once what the fool does finally".


Ron Holland has long been a freedom advocate while working in the marketing and financial services industry. He is the author of The  Protest Fox Exclusion webpage at  http://www.ronaldholland.com/protestfox.htm   and “Heidi Remembers Ron Paul’s Election” at http://www.ronaldholland.com/heidiremembersPresidentPaul.htm   He can be reached at skironholland@yahoo.com
 
Ron Paul supporters, be sure to vote in the new Free Market Hall of Fame “Issues, Programs & Politics Survey“ at http://www.freedomfest.com/halloffame  Make sure you complete question #4 (If Ron Paul is not on the GOP ticket as President or Vice President, will you vote Republican, vote Democrat, consider a third party or stay at home in the general election.) Ron Paul supporters need to let both parties know they will not be taken for granted in the 2008 elections.