Meetings and Minutes
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[edit] Inaugural Meeting 6-15-07
[edit] Sign-making Meeting 7-03-07
[edit] Those in attendance:
- Ben Byboth
- Ray Clipper
- Darren Daigle
- Josh Mason
- Robert Gaffney
[edit] Description
At this meeting, we made about 30 signs for Ron Paul.
[edit] Organizational Meeting 7-30-07
[edit] Attending
- Ray Clipper
- Robert Gaffney
- John Lavis
[edit] Description
[edit] Ron Paul Birthday BBQ 8-25-07
[edit] Organizational Meeting 9-18-07
[edit] Organizational Meeting 10-04-07
[edit] Organizational Meeting 10-24-07
[edit] Agenda
[edit] New meetup group
update: Contact has been made with Ben and we have full control of the group now. There is no reason for a new group.
Opinions on whether we should do this, what we should name it, and collecting money to pay for it. What is our central zip? Should we divide Metairie/New Orleans? Should we continue the old one, or simply make everyday a meeting informing about the new meetup group? Should we delete inactive members?
[edit] Regular meetings
- What is everyone's best weekday for organizational meetings?
- Do you check the mailing list emails, and how often?
- Do you maintain regular contact with any other group members? Who?
- Can you be active on Saturday or Sunday (or both)?
[edit] Becoming voices of reason
Holding a Ron Paul sign will get you in heated debates. Know truthful, powerful information. Know how to tailor your talking points to your audience. Know how to overcome others' apathy. People believe those they trust and respect. You most likely won't have this distinction, until you say something they agree with, or you show that you are polite. The more it seems like you believe everything you hear, the less likely you will be believed. Also, people are more likely to listen to you if you listen to them
- Be polite, friendly, open, and smile
- Avoid rattling off extraordinary statements, unless they can be plainly shown to be true
- Cater your argument and style to your audience
- Present the positives of a Paul Presidency before making a tirade about the negatives of others
- Nothing is more powerful than raw facts. Don't get John Madden with stats, but keep an arsenal of simple-to-understand facts, that most people don't know
- a year 2000 budget would be balanced without an income tax next year
- The federal gov't is currently spending over $20,000 per household - the only prior time this happened was during WWII, after correcting the dollar for inflation.
- the average farmer receives $900 in subsidies; Ted Turner gets over $100,000 (for not farming)
- Find quotes supporting Paul or his policies from cherished people in the left/right paradigm. It will at least cause uncertainty about any prejudices people had about Paul.
- Wolfowitz quote on removing troops from Saudi Arabia
- Reagan endorsement of Paul's knowledge of foreign policy
- Bill Maher - Ron Paul makes sense
- Patraeus - Honestly uncertain if Iraq has made us any safer
- 9/11 Commission Report - motive for 9/11 not hatred of freedom
- Eisenhower - Warned of permanent armament industry/MI complex
[edit] Information-distribution
We'll find numerous benefits in decentralization, professionalism, and activism. It only takes one person about 20 minutes to cover a whole block. Every additional person that is active means an additional block. After every meeting, we should try to cover 1 new block around our houses. Since we all seem to live fairly far apart, this should be quite effective. Additionally, don't damage property while doing so. One of my cousins said Scalise's people were walking through people's yards and gardens to put slim jims on doors. That's disgraceful and will get a negative response. Try to look nice, act nice, and be open and friendly with any neighbors that happen to be outdoors at the time. Finally, bring distributables to all events, even organizational meetings. They can be dispersed amongst members, on parked cars, to drivers at stop lights, or to pedestrians.
I would like to create a NOLA flyer for Ron Paul, covering issues amongst the city. This should include his position on federal government involvement after Katrina, recovery, and how dismal agencies should be punished, not expanded. It should involve numbers on our tax burden. It should show how the federal government uses discretionary spending to influence our state law. etc.
Finally, I would like to created targeted flyers to target demographic audiences. These would basically be top ten lists to vote for Dr. Paul for war protesters, fiscal conservatives, libertarians/constitutionalists, the Christian right, and anti-establishment (although this might have already found saturation through the internet).
When we pass stuff out, we may to include an email address, or a physical address to contact for more information.
[edit] Take the Ron Paul pledge
How much will you commit to the national campaign?
[edit] Reach out to organizations
Local businesses such as shooting ranges, sports stores...pro-life groups, NORML, etc etc. There are dozens are people who don't know that Dr. Paul wants to protect and enhance their lifestyle. These can be key means of distributing information and garnering support.
- shooting ranges, gun stores
- pro-life groups, churches
- NORML, head shops, concert venues
- ACLU
- consumer advocacy groups
- tax-payers union
- Stock brokers, small businesses
[edit] Eventual goals:
Local press - We need to contact them the next time we rally or march. Also, 12/2/07 is when the national bike ride from Los Angeles to DC stops in NOLA. We should have a rally then, maybe even make a ribbon for them to cross, attempting to get local media involved. We should all write letters to the editors of all the stations and the TP, encouraging a Ron Paul spot.
National press - This isn't likely to happen, unless there's a major event here. What we should do is organize with other meetups to create a brief video of each meetup group, combine it into one video and mail it to the AP. Something like that could be effective.
Winning the primary - register voters either Rep or Dem by Jan 9th to vote in Republican primary. Must get the apathetic voters we know to go cast a ballot on February 9th. Must constantly bombard our families and friends that lean towards Paul to get out and vote. We must turn Paul supporters into activists, who gather the next round of casual support.
