Dylan Schiemann

The successes of Ron Paul include $20 million in funds raised last quarter solely from individual contributions by more than 100,000 people. Ron Paul is basically becoming successful for many of the same reasons that open source software and social software have become so effective and popular.

The campaign is truly driven my its active, rapidly growing, disenchanted community. The established candidates are to Microsoft as Ron Paul is to Linux. Ron Paul provides a consistent, open, inviting platform for followers to contribute.

Most of Ron Paul’s success in raising funds and getting the word out has been organized through social networking sites such as Digg, Meet Up, and Facebook. MySpace recently ran an online presidential primary, and Ron Paul was the runaway winner on the republican site. But the social software aspect is apparent in that he has by far the most active and energized offline communities supporting him as well.

Fox News recently tried to exclude Ron Paul from its debate in New Hampshire. Ron Paul funded an on-air town hall forum that was much higher in quality than the Fox debate, and then tonight, he appeared on the Tonight Show where Jay Leno basically told the world that Ron Paul was wronged.

For anyone that believes Ron Paul is unelectable, the same thing was said in 1980 about Ronald Reagan. I’ve never really cared much about politics prior to this election. As many others have said already, “Ron Paul has cured my apathy.”