Liberty Maven

Attending GOP county and district conventions as a libertarian minded Republican is an exercise in resisting temptation. The temptation to stand up and rant about the hypocrisy within the party directly to the hypocrites is the stuff of dreams. Would it do any good though? Probably not, unless there are well organized groups of like minded people willing to participate. It is quite inspiring to read the reports of pockets of organized Ron Paul supporters in several states getting involved and having success in pushing the party back towards the Constitution. Unfortunately, this isn’t happening everywhere. Maybe someday it will.

I attended my local county’s Republican Mass Meeting this week. I went mostly as an observer. What I observed told me that in my county it is all about the party and not about ideas. It was a somewhat organized communal propaganda strategy session to pat the status quo on its back and reject any potential new thought. The experience made me more Libertarian than Republican.

As is common with such things I didn’t stand up and say a word during the meeting. I was too angry and it would have done no good. I was too angry to articulate my thoughts then, but after a few hours of calming I had some things to say. Unfortunately, my only outlet now is this article rather than the ears of those that really need to hear it.

Here is what I should have said:

We say we want to grow the Republican Party yet we conduct meetings like this that do nothing but protect incumbents and stifle new ideas. How is the party going to grow when it is not open to change? I understand the desire to keep your friends in office. After all they are friends. Unfortunately, pursuing this tactic year after year only confirms the belief that the Republican Party is the borrow and spend party.

Most of our candidates brag about bringing home the bacon to the district and in the same breath speak of supporting “limited government.” We are playing hide and seek in broad daylight. To see the hypocrisy we need only to open our eyes and minds a bit. To really grow, the party needs to change. It needs to go back to true Constitutionally limited government, not the fake version we embrace today.

Maybe next time I’ll actually say these words or some like them.

There was no Ron Paul delegate organization in my small county. Luckily, the other counties in the district have some good organization and have more Ron Paul registered delegates than numerically permitted by the rules of the district. I have hope that we can fill all of the delegate slots with Ron Paul supporters. But even if we don’t get a single delegate slot, the foundation for moving the Republican Party back to its “Old Right” roots is in place thanks to Ron Paul.

The GOP natives are restless. They should be.