The Rabid Quill

Only days ago, Google engineer Vijay Boyapati began organizing Operation Live Free or Die, an attempt to marshal volunteers from across the country for one last surge of campaigning in New Hampshire. He wants 1,000 people and plans on them being able to stay in New Hampshire for a week, spending their time canvassing for the Paul campaign. It will all culminate in an escalating series of rallies in the major cities, the last of which being in Manchester.

This endeavor may, in my opinion, be one of the most important things anyone can do for the Ron Paul campaign. Operation Live Free or Die has such a huge significance for a few very simple reasons:

1. The Principle of Primacy

Human memory, and perceptions and impressions are rather malleable things. One principle of memory is that you are more likely to remember that which is most recent. It sounds obvious, but it’s an important principle to be aware of. When given a list like a menu, people usually remember either the first or last thing on that list and will choose one of those. The same goes for an election. The two factors that will weigh most heavily on the run-of-the-mill voter’s mind are his first impression of the candidate, and his most recent impression of the candidate. Operation Live Free or Die can produce a massive and very positive recent impression of Ron Paul to many, many Granite Staters.

2. Newsworthiness

It is almost guaranteed to get news coverage, thus catapulting the exposure and the strength of point number one even further. News outlets, when gaging a potential story, and when writing a story, look first at the “Five W’s” of the event: Who, What, Where, When, and Why. If the answers to enough of those questions are compelling, it’s a good news story. Those Five W’s are used frequently to construct the first sentence of the story, so readers can assimilate it quickly. Consider the Five W’s of Operation Live Free or Die and the sentence they would produce.

Who: A Google Engineer (Vijay Boyapati) and 1,000 people from across the country…
What: …are canvassing and holding huge rallies for Ron Paul, all at their own expense…
Where: …in New Hampshire, the first and often most important primary state…
When: …for an entire week before the primary election…
Why: …to help their man, Ron Paul, get elected in the New Hampshire primary.

Most reporters will be paying attention once they see the word “Google.” And it’s all downhill from there. This is an unprecedented burst of presidential campaign activism. It will make it on the news. Probably national news, but all we need is the attention of the local news.

3. The High Value to the Campaign

A volunteer on the ground is worth $500/day to a campaign. They are probably even more precious to the Ron Paul campaign, which depends heavily on its frugality and volunteer activism. Even if traveling out to New Hampshire for a week costs you $1,000, you will have contributed a value of over $2,000 to the campaign. Think of it as giving to Ron Paul at a 50% discount. If the project gets 1,000 participants, it will be worth about $2,000,000 (that’s two million dollars) to the campaign. In one week. Folks, this is a no-brainer.

4. Viability

Operation Live Free or Die is 100% doable. I’m surprised Vijay’s projection is for 1,000 people and not 5,000. There is an existing camp of pro-liberty activists already living in New Hampshire. They are called the Free State Project. Originally the FSP only planned on having Free Staters move to New Hampshire and simply vote. Instead, they got a crop very dense with activists. Free Staters routinely make it on the New Hampshire news. New Hampshire is not just Ron Paul “friendly” territory. It is heavily so, and there are already reliable advocates living in the state who can help us.

5. Likelihood of Success

This operation has excellent key ingredients: The timing, the newsworthiness, the strength of an impression it will leave. It will open minds at just the right moment, it will get exposure. It can launch the campaign roaring not only into the top tier, but into victory. And it can be done. This is not just another rally-and-canvassing weekend like what so many of the Ron Paul Meetup groups out there are so successfully doing. This is a potentially historic event, and if enough of us just show up, it will be. This could be the moment, the tipping point where Americans already awake from the nightmare of terrorism hysteria and the dreamland of government dependence, stand up at last and speak up too loudly to be ignored, We Will Live Free or Die!

To borrow from Patrick Henry: It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, “Peace! Peace!” — but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!

Like us, Mr. Henry and his people were backed into a corner. They were ignored, unrepresented, and taken advantage of in a government that cared nothing for their liberty, cared nothing about their dignity as human beings. This is very similar to our own situation. For so many election cycles we’ve been given a choice between Dumb and Dumber, a Turd Sandwich and a Giant Douche, one evil versus a lesser one. The system is stacked against us! The war is already on! Is there any question that those bureaucrats in D.C. would tread on you without batting an eye?

Operation Live Free or Die can be as moving an event as Patrick Henry’s speech was to the Virginia legislature. Yet how moving of a speech was it? His speech urging Virginia to prepare for defense against the British only swayed a scant few votes, and his motion passed by only the slimmest majority.

But we don’t even need a majority to win the New Hampshire primary.