Ron Paul and Focus

This post is in reply to points made by Lila Rajiva and the subsequent discussion at The Daily Bell regarding Ron Paul and his focus.

The subject article is entitled "End of the Fed?" and can be found at www.thedailybell.com/1547/End-of-the-Fed-.html

Lila

Re Ron Paul, I don't have any answers for you; I will only put a few thoughts out there. If they add value, so be it; if not, it won’t be the first time for me.

Unique Selling Proposition (USP). In order to be truly successful, one must have one and stay focused on it. I don’t speak only of businesses, but certainly also of those who want to effect change, change opinion, educate, etc.

What is Ron Paul's USP? He seems quite focused on increasing individual freedom and reducing the power of the state. He seems to have chosen two critical areas to focus on in this regard: 1) Centralized money power, manifest in the FED, and 2) Military and foreign policy intervention by the US in the rest of the world.

I cannot disagree that these are two of the biggest items to knock down if we are to have some chance to move toward liberty and peace. I keep reflecting on the four planks of the Daily Bell/Tea Party platform, of which these are two (the others being separation of education and state, and ending the drug wars/prohibitions). If one stays focused on any one of these items, and affects change in the dialogue of the same, they have really done good work, and can be said to have had some real fulfillment in life. Other encroachments are enabled from these four (actually, end either central banking or government funding of education and the other three would likely start to crumble on their own).

Ron Paul certainly has changed the dialogue as it relates to the FED. I believe I stand on safe ground stating that the national dialogue on the FED would be quite different today had he not run for President three years ago – yes, he was assisted by the internet and the financial crisis, but I look to him as the messenger.

So why not go after Goldman Sachs, etc? When I have heard this come up to him (if my memory serves), Dr. Paul always goes back to the root – the FED. Strike at the root and the tree cannot stand. In any case, the prosecutions will come as sure as I am typing right now. As the economic world continues to implode, the anger will be deflected by going after the bankers and other such participants who are also actually just pawns. The politicians will do this to try to save their own skin. The bankers will be sacrificed if it means saving the system or postponing the killing of central banking.

As to September 11, I also do not recall him making strong statements about getting at the facts – certainly a new investigation is in order. But to press this might seem to take away from his USP. Yes, what might it cost him to take a few minutes or days to work on this? The issue is, no organization or individual can thrive if they go after every battle worth fighting. (Yes, the battles one chooses, or chooses to avoid, say something.) I go back to USP, and cannot disagree with the battles he has chosen, and see each one as a full time job.

Rosa Parks: the most I recall is he had to comment about why he voted “no” on some commemoration. Ron Paul never raised the issue; he was reacting to an item brought up for vote. He volunteered to put up the money out of his own pocket if the other congressman would do the same. They obviously preferred to spend OPM. To the extent he has had to defend his position, he has spoken on this. But I have not seen him proactively raise this issue. I might be wrong.

So, I see Ron Paul as one who is trying to stay on message. I believe he rightly sees that if he goes after all targets in all corners that he would lose his effectiveness in going after the items he feels most crucial – you might feel other items are more crucial, but as I said before, I cannot disagree with the battles he has chosen. He would certainly add to the list of people going after him. This would absolutely diminish his effectiveness in his key topics, his USP.

In any case, my two cents. If it is worth even less, apologies to DB for stressing the server.