I tried talking to my dad and uncle about Ron Paul but they’ve got this attitude about voting. They don’t much care for whatever the person’s positions are as long as they’re Republican and popular. The rationale to this is that they just want whoever can beat Obama. My uncle said that one day I’ll get more ‘realistic’. I utterly do not understand this thinking, since voting for Paul in the primary doesn’t even detract from a Republican presidency. So the question is, do any of you have experience with points like these? And is it even worth trying to persuade them? My dad’s the kind of guy who would never admit the Military-Industrial Complex, so I don’t think that route would work to dissuade him from the other Republican candidates. I even brought up Herman Cain lying about the Federal Reserve and they didn’t seem to care. What gives? Thoughts?
Just point out that everything Obama is doing is what Bush wanted to do, so what difference is it to them if a Dem or Rep is in office when the same agenda is being pushed? Ask why they vote for Rep and why the don’t vote Dem, I’m sure they’ll give you an answer that will contradict itself when you explain the policies/stances of both parties.
My dad’s the same way, I just ignore the fact he’s uttering words about a poltical matter when I see him.
My dad is the same way too; he said Paul is probably one of the smartest guys in Congress and agrees with him on 95% of issues (he’s kind of wobbly on foreign policy, though he’s recently more drifted toward the position that they should be left just to kill themselves and we should stay out of it.) His lament, of course, is that Paul “can’t win” where in his eyes Romney or Perry can. My mother isn’t terribly involved in politics and would probably support Paul over the other candidates if she heard his views. She votes GOP, but mainly in opposition to the Democrats and their calls for social welfarism.
The way I see to capture these voters, so to speak, is to have Paul actually nominated for the GOP or, though less appealing, have Paul run on some kind of Perot '92 campaign, except without all the mess that accompanied Perot’s rise and fall. Paul, in contrast to the other GOP candidates, does very much the kind of straight-talking that is supposedly appreciated by the public. I don’t really know how much of a “hearts-and-minds” campaign we could run before the nomination; I think the real push would have to come after Paul is nominated.
This is a fairly accurate assumption. While I have doubts as to whether Romney or Perry could actually swing enough of the independant vote to take office, I find it extremely unlikely Paul would be able to, even with the nomination. Paul is old and he’s a sloppy speaker and a large portion of his policy ideas only appeal to fringe voters.
Many, many moons ago my father also used the same argument “one day you’ll get more realistic”. The problem is back, by using his logic, I have become much less “realistic” with time: back then I had no money of my own, now I have savings, I have a retirement fund… and I see that all that “being realistic” achieved is a constant, 24/7 assault on my money.
Your relatives’ mental framework is shared by most “Baby Boomers”: it doesn’t matter who the candidate is, which politics he will implement, how much different is he from the “other guy”. All that matters is he has a fair chance of beating the “others”, even if his politics won’t be different and if he will end up hurting his own voters’ interests. Call it a herd mentality, call it a football fan mentality. I personally believe “Baby Boomers” are a lost cause and are best left alone: they’ve already done enough damage and their rigid mindset, so taken up with appearance alone, doesn’t allow them to change. Ron Paul is too old and too honest to appeal to them: they want a “Baby Boomer” just like them who will continue to lie, cheat and steal the way they’ve been accustomed to. All that matters is he is not “from the other side”.
Baby Boomers seem to be the hardest eggs to crack. It seems they especially don’t like to be educated by anyone from our generation. What’s your goal? Why are you trying to pursuade him? Is it because you want to have political discussions with him and both be on the same page? Or trying to make the movement grow by educating him? If the latter, you can try for a bit, but generally I say just move on. I was in a similar dilema with a friend when JJ gave me this advice. I think the reason I was trying so desperately to pursuade my friend is because Austrian economics is something that litterally lit up my life and I was hoping it would do the same for him. Unfortunately, It really just doesn’t have the same effect on some like it does for us.
If they do responed to it, they still like to cleave on to some of their old ways. My dad has statist leanings every now and again.. His main concern is with morality - he agrees with drug laws etc. With him I usually have to take a religious approach and say it was Satan’s plan to eliminate our choices and force everyone to make the right choice. Its God’s plan for us to have agency to chose right or wrong. Otherwise, how would it even be a test? So maybe in the way I pull on my dads religious strings, your dad has some strings he holds onto you can pull?
Perry vaccines or Romney’s Romneycare don’t make him budge?
I think that you may have to take this in stages. For example, if you can get him to agree that that Paul would be better than Romney or Perry, yet he doesn’t have much of a chance, that is progress. With time, as he sees Paul win more polls, he might switch over to actually voting for Paul. Listening to someone repeat what you want to hear has a way of making you like him more.