At a campaign rally on a cold winter evening, thousands of individuals crowd around a stage to hear a presidential candidate speak on life, liberty, and the Constitution. Homemade signs litter the crowd as the fiery congressman from Texas speaks to a sea of activists, many whom had never before taken an interest in politics. As he concludes, cheers erupt from the mass of people as they celebrate the one man speaking what no other candidate dares to say. Ron Paul has ignited a crowd desperate for a leader and in doing so has energized the thousands in attendance, as he asks for their support in the upcoming presidential primary.

The next day, about 75 percent of them do not show up to vote.

The above illustrates the difficulty facing the liberty movement today -- the willingness of its participants to engage in philosophical discussion, policy talk, or social activism, but their reluctance to engage in political action, the only thing that counts on Election Day. With the Ron Paul campaign over and his supporters looking to continue his vision, we see many cling to the same techniques that were unsuccessful during his run for the presidency.

I count myself tremendously blessed to have experienced a number of facets of the liberty movement. From training college students at a political think-tank to volunteering for Paul in his candidacy for president, I was able to see first hand all that goes into one of the few honest and trustworthy movements in politics. Later, when I served as campaign manager for a Ron Paul-endorsed candidate for Congress, I was able to put those skills into practice. This essay relates what I have learned.

Liberty candidates and their supporters all too often believe a fancy website with an automated real-time ticker will revolutionize the campaign and bring immediate media attention to their cause. They believe simply announcing a "money bomb" will be all that is needed to reform the system and transform their candidacy from an upstart libertarian radar blip to a powerhouse ready to take on the political world. But, as wonderful as money bombs and interactive website assuredly are, there is more to real politics.

Despite the signs, the blimps, and the unmatched enthusiasm of Ron Paul's supporters, on election night when the returns came back the votes were not there. Not in Iowa, or New Hampshire, or Wyoming, or Michigan. Paul's supporters were often quick to react to the tactics of the political establishment and media, tactics we believed to be underhanded (and which oftentimes were). But the liberty movement limited its effectiveness when it only played defense.

We watched political talking heads dismiss Ron Paul as a fringe candidate, who purportedly had a handful of supporters spamming polls with text-message votes, and our only response was to complain about the bias that we were up against and pour efforts into more online polls. Just as conservatives and libertarians should not expect favorable editorials from the New York Times or the Huffington Post, we should never be content to sit and complain. We can whine about how unfair the media is and how we will never be given a fair shake, or we can do something about it. We can hit the establishment where it really hurts, not in the online polls, but where the political class is most vulnerable -- in local elections and the grassroots organizations that are the base of the political pyramid.

One look to our town councils, state houses, or local political parties will show us the people we are up against. Many of these folks have dedicated their lives to destroying the principles we believe in. They have done so for only a paycheck, their proverbial 30 pieces of silver, and sometimes only out of a desire to have a title or control an office. In response we have committed ourselves not to taking their titles and offices away from them but instead to complaining about the system and offering symbolic protests.

If elections were won by text messages, blog posts, or facebook links, the liberty movement would have achieved victory 20 times over. Instead we will continue to lose, and lose badly, until we realize it is up to us, as the next generation of freedom advocates, to learn how to win.

The starry-eyed advocate of liberty believes a sound philosophy is what should take precedence above everything else in political life. He believes an uncomprising adherence to principle should trump hard-won victories, party politics, and a desire for power, fame, and fortune. The starry-eyed advocate of liberty is 100 percent correct. It is in this that the true believers in freedom hold the advantage.