Readers of Liberty Maven know by now how much we adore Ron Paul and his message of freedom, prosperity, and peace. That does not mean we can’t be critical of him when circumstances call for it. Anyone who views the list of candidates Ron Paul has endorsed for office should notice something missing. He hasn’t endorsed a single candidate who is running against an incumbent Republican in a primary.
As a Ron Paul supporter of all the liberty minded candidates it greatly concerns me that Ron Paul has not endorsed some candidates who are close to 100% in line with his platform. A perfect example of this is the race in Virginia’s 10th District between Vern McKinley and incumbent Frank Wolf. Vern McKinley is about 90% aligned with Paul on the issues. Frank Wolf is an Iraq war supporter, who voted for both SCHIP and minimum wage increases along with the Democrats. Wolf voted against repealing the DC gun ban. Wolf voted for Bush’s prescription drug plan. Wolf just had a bill that he sponsored signed into law by President Bush that will make property rights advocates vomit.
The purity of Ron Paul has ruined my opinion of politicians. Frank Wolf, the current incumbent in Virginia’s 10th congressional district is a perfect example. The man has been in office for 28 years. If we could plot his conservative voting record on a graph over those 28 years it would look like this:
Yet for some strange reason many conservative minded voters in his district (my district) think he walks in the shoes of Ronald Reagan. The simple truth is that many voters in this district just aren’t paying attention. A perfect example appeared today in the editorial section of the Great Falls Connection newspaper.
Both Vern McKinley and Amit Singh, Virginia Ron Paul Republicans, have picked up endorsements from the Republican Liberty Caucus of Virginia. This is not surprising but it certainly validates both of the candidates and their messages of liberty.
Tomorrow Thursday, May 1st, 2008 is the Mayday Mckinley Money Bomb. If you haven’t already done so, sign up and pledge a few or a few hundred dollars. He is who I call the first Ron Paul Republican because he decided to run for Congress before Ron Paul decided to run for President. Both share many views on the issues.
Yes, there is a question about whether Vern McKinley, a Ron Paul Republican will get the endorsement of the NRA. However, the other day a friend of the family told us that they received a political alert mailer that criticized Frank Wolf on several Second Amendment related votes and views and touted Vern McKinley as being the candidate NRA members should vote for in Virginia’s 10th Congressional District. She mentioned the mailer was received about 3 weeks ago and that she did not keep it.
I have no reason to believe this friend would lie. It is not surprising the NRA would do such a thing since Wolf voted against repealing the DC gun ban and McKinley has received a 100% rating from the Virginia Gun Owners Coalition.
However, until it is confirmed the question mark remains.
Two promotional videos have been created for the upcoming Vern McKinley money bomb on Thursday May 1st, 2008. We have endorsed McKinley for Congress in the 10th District of Virginia. We also encourage those of you with the means to participate in his money bomb on May 1st no matter where you live. The more Ron Pauls we have in the U.S. Congress the better our country will be. Check out the videos below and pledge for the money bomb at: MaydayMcKinley.com
There has been much criticism to go around about the official Ron Paul campaign dropping the ball here and there during the Presidential race. Much of the criticism came from his own supporters. Questioning his campaign strategy has become easy to do in hindsight, especially when you now have Ron Paul clone campaigns in overdrive across America for comparison.
By all measures Ron Paul has been an extreme advocate of the Second Amendment. In 2003, he introduced legislation that would make any gun control advocate want to shoot themselves or something else in frustration.
Specifically, my legislation repeals the five-day waiting period and the “instant” background check, which enables the federal government to compile a database of every gun owner in America. My legislation also repeals the misnamed ban on “semi-automatic” weapons, which bans entire class of firearms for no conceivable reason beside the desire of demagogic politicians to appear tough on crime. (Source)
Also, during his Presidential run he has repeatedly stated that 9/11 may never have happened if airline companies were allowed to arm their employees. This is some of the strongest advocacy for the Second Amendment from any politician. It is interesting then that the NRA gave Ron Paul a ‘B’ in 2006 largely believed to be due to him opposing the NRA compromise on gun locks legislation. Apparently, when a candidate sticks to the original intent of the Second Amendment it is grounds for negative points, according to the NRA.
The Gun Owners of America (GOA) are a different story. They gave and still give Ron Paul an A+ rating, as it should be.
There is no doubt Ron Paul is serious about our Second Amendment rights, but could he have gained the support of a Second Amendment celebrity? Someone like Dick Heller, who has taken the Second Amendment all the way to the Supreme Court? A local Virginia Ron Paul Republican, Vern McKinley is campaigning at the “Nation’s Gun Show” this weekend, and there have been reports that Dick Heller is hanging out at his table.
It’s no secret that we (Liberty Maven) love the McKinley effort to unseat Frank Wolf in Virginia’s 10th District. Truthfully, following our interview with him, we have become Vern McKinley fanatics, and for good reason. Frank Wolf voted against repealing the DC gun ban, so it is not surprising that Heller would be supportive of McKinley’s campaign as well. (NOTE: Grassroots supporters of McKinley are holding a money bomb for him on May 1st, check it out and pledge a few bucks or more at the website.)
Perhaps the timing just wasn’t quite right, but it would have been a perfect political move for Ron Paul to seek Dick Heller’s endorsement. They tried to make waves with the Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe) endorsement, but it barely made a wimper. There’s a good case that gaining the endorsement of Dick Heller would have done the same. Once a candidate is dubbed ‘unelectable’ by the media, endorsements only get mentioned in passing. Then again things may have been different.
At least it would have been a counterpunch to the face of the NRA for giving Ron Paul that ‘B’ rating.
Liberty Maven
