Let Me Get This Right, I’m Supposed To Be A Democrat According To Ron Paul?
Drew Emmer linked to a Time article titled Why Ron Paul Scares The GOP and said it was worth reading. I’ll be honest, I didn’t make it past the first paragraph before I spit out my coffee in a Jom Carey-esque way screaming ‘oh come on!’
There used to be an organization for people who believed in a truly limited government — limited taxes, limited spending, limited interference in individual lives and limited intervention in foreign affairs. That organization was known as the Republican Party. But the only one of those beliefs that still motivates the G.O.P. establishment is limited taxes. In 2008, people who still hold all of them joined the Ron Paul Revolution.
I believe in a strong national defense and the expansion of freedom across the globe for the benefit of all man-kind. Does that make me a Democrat? Apparently to Ron Paul and his movement.
I’m sorry, but if I’m not allowed to be a Republican because Ron paul and his supporters want to take the GOP back to the days that led up to Pearl Harbor, just where am I supposed to take my political beliefs? We live in a global world now. Oceans and borders mean nothing. Traditional isolationism, which sounds just lovely, is unrealistic. It will not keep America safe, and leaving evil men free to take over the rest of the world and spread oppression through terror doesn’t seem like a good idea. Eventually they will reach our own shores. Â
It sucks, I wish we weren’t the only country left with both the desire and capability to defend freedom and liberty around the globe, but God has blessed this nation with both. We have a responsibility to help those who cannot help themselves, especially when our own security is at stake should the evil men be left alone to as they will.Â
So, do I have to become a Democrat now in order to make Ron Paul and hi supporters happy? Can the GOP still be the home to those who believe in defending America and freedom?Â
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The GOP is still the last best hope for those who love individual freedom, want reasonable taxes and smaller government. A rather significant segment of the party has lost it’s way, though and is drifting ever more “port-side,” which I think is the point. Conservatives need to get more active and steer the Republican Party back onto the right track.
Well, many well-meaning Republicans have called other good Republicans names like “Democrat”, or “RINO” over the last years and months. The Paul supporters were not the first.
Has anyone from the non-Paul ranks written about the positive contribution of the Ron Paul folks this cycle?
Every bit of commentary I’ve seen is full of vitriol toward people who took the time to show up at their precinct caucuses and activate their right to participate.
The GOP is a big tent, isn’t it?
No, Drew, I’m afraid that the Republican Party is NOT a big tent anymore. With weopon-words like “RINO” and “LIBERAL” and now with dishonesty and deception, us Republicans seem to have adopted the “Party of One” mentality, a “I am right and everyone who disagrees with me is inherently misguided or just plain wrong” mentality. Some of this has to do with our shared conservative characteristics, those of can-do, do-it-myself rugged individualism. I’m proud of that characteristic. Sometimes, though we need to be reminded to play fair, and accept that we are all not going to agree 100% on everything. If we don’t accept that, it will get very cold and lonely in our individual pup tents.
Drew said:
That’s the point of my post. The Paul people who I have interacted with and heard on the radio etc, are saying the big tent is the problem with the party nowadays and we need to clean house at the grassroots level.
Look I share a lot of views with them, but if the anti-war, weak on defense and foreign policy part of the Ron Paul movement seems like the most important thing for them. Well, I have a huge problem with them threatening to throw me out of the party and blaming me for why it is the way it is.
Some of the Paul people are very good additions, or long time members of the GOP. But some are new comers who want to change the party in drastic ways. And since I have yet to see the Paul campaign switch from primary mode into supportive GOP mode, well, why should I back off my apprehension into the entire Ron Paul movement being much more than an attempt to embarrass the party and cause a ruckus at the RNC convention.
Last night on Jason Lewis, who has been very supportive of the Paul movement, he had one of the Paul people call in and Lewis got him to admit that there are no plans past the first week of September for the Ron paul campaign. Meaning that all these people who have been turning out for the “good Dr. Paul”, aren’t prepared to do what it really takes to change the political landscape towards a much more center right perspective….. that is get Republicans elected at all levels.
I don’t know if there is any one else in the MN center right blogosphere who has been more critical of our party loosing its way and straying from conservatism, but I am not so sure that Ron Paul’s, more libertarian, vision of the party is what it needs to be since it is in conflict with some core conservative beliefs and aligns closer with the Democratic party (albeit for different reasons) than current traditional Republican principles.
The point of this post was not to say that the Ron Paul people are not welcome, but rather to point out that they may have an entirely different plan for the GOP than the people who have built/made up the grassroots ranks to this point, and they may throw us out with the bathwater.
“Has anyone from the non-Paul ranks written about the positive contribution of the Ron Paul folks this cycle?”
You need to expand your daily reading Drew…there have been lots of positive posts about the Paul folks.
LL
You are correct, Drew, it IS the right of everyone to participate in this process. Ron Paul’s view stray a little from the views of what I think of as “mainstream Republican” (ie; the war on terror), but I can accept that ….. and them! What I cannot and will not accept is the tactic of lies and deception they used to stake their claim to the highest honor the grassroots can bestow upon its leaders. I cannot accept the divisive, scorched earth nature of the means they used to gain their power. We are, after all, supposed to have a much greater purpose than a soapbox for 4 days in September.
I think we should welcome the Paul people, as long as they check their dishonest tactics and their exclusionary attitudes at the tent door.
We definately need to broaden the base of the Party. Preaching to the “true believers” never really accomplished anything. That said, the proof is in the pudding … if the Ron Paul Revolution folks want to make a lasting impression on the Party (and the Country), then they are going to have to become integral, contributing members of the political process.
That means that they are going to have to demonstrate their committment to the Republican Party through the activities that ensure that what we want gets accomplished. They are going to have to demonstrate their grassroots committment through: making contributions to endorsed Republican candidates: working on campaigns at all levels this cycle (as Ron Paul will not be on the ticket); and, becoming involved in the activities of their Senate Districts.
Should this fail to happen, they will have to go back to leading those other “major” parties — the Constitution Party and Libertarian Party.
Ron Paul Republicans have been out there working for other candidates for a while now. Many of them in the 5th latched onto Barb Davis White right away. Sure, they’re not going to go work for the Override Six, but they are more than willing to help good, small government Republicans get elected.
Very few Ron Paul Republicans from the libertarian party. We did bring some people back from the Constitution Party to which they’d fled when Republicans started to outspend and outgrow the Democrats. But we have brought them back. So let’s try to keep them!
Any many of us are old GOP warhorses who’ve been around forever. We have current BPOU Chairs, former BPOU Chairs, people who go back half a century in the party, the old Goldwaterites, the less old Reaganites, people who’ve put a lot of effort into the GOP.
Our party is healthiest when we allow for legitimate debate. When Sullivan ran against Pawlenty for the endorsement in 2002, we debated for 13 ballots and until 1 AM. That was healthy. We all came together behind Pawlenty because we’d had a place at the table.
So I was dismayed to hear at the conventions last weekend that Ron Carey doesn’t want us around, neither us oldtimers or the newcomers who have just started putting their energies into the GOP. The best way to get the Ron Paul people to come behind the nominee after the convention is not to kick them in the teeth, but to offer them a seat at the table, a stake in the debate. Let them feel vested in the process. THAT is how a healthy party operates.
Take a look at what Nevada is doing. They invited Ron Paul to speak at their state convention this weekend, and you know what? They’re winning the allegiance of all these Ron Paul Republicans who now feel grateful and vested in their state party. Nevada has some smart party leadership.
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On a separate note, we are vociferously for a strong national defense. Right there in the Constitution. It’s allowed. Wish we were doing a better job of protecting our borders. Wish we weren’t spread too thin. Defense is a very legitimate function of the federal government unlike, say, a Department of Education which is much better handled at the state level.
“The best way to get the Ron Paul people to come behind the nominee after the convention is not to kick them in the teeth”
Well, Marianne, from what I saw in the Sixth, it was the hard-working, old guard maistream Republicans who got kicked in the teeth, and it was the Paul people who have molar marks in their boots.
Just so you know, I think your people have a lot of fences to mend.
“We did bring some people back from the Constitution Party….”
3 Questions; if the Constitution Party and the Libertarian Party have the conservative message average people identify with, how come they have not taken over as the conservative message standard bearer? Is it’s the Paulbotz goal to transform the Republican Party into a party similar to the Constitution Party? Finally, how much effect has the Constitution Party had on public policy? Answers appreciated!
Answers:
1) I don’t know. I’ve always been a Republican, have always thought WE should be the conservative party.
2) Ron Paul Republicans want to bring the party back to its roots of a smaller government, more personal liberty and responsibility, federalism. We’ve won when we’ve stood on principle. We’ve lost when we’ve become more like the Democrats.
3) See # 1 above. I have no idea what the CP’s goals are or how they’re accomplishing them. I’m glad they’re there to at least act as a conscience for the GOP and to say, “Hey, look: We’ve got a Constitution!”
So this is about other parties coming in to the GOP. Like parties that just haven’t been able to break into having an elected official…. I don’t know…. maybe because they are too rigid to a very narrow set of policies and are unwilling to agree on core principles, but be flexible enough to win elections and build majorities.
It will be VERY interesting to see exactly what the Minnesota GOP Platform looks like after the state convention. Will it be recognizable anymore? Will it look more like the LP or CP ones? Now sure, I think it has become watered down over the years, and also WAY too specific. It is largely useless as it is way to broad and frankly no one can possibly meet every aspect of it. But some of the resolutions are just plain silly.
Hmm. Right now the platform denounces McCain-Feingold. I don’t recall if we denounced amnesty lat time around, but we should. If we held our candidates and elected officials to our current party platform, we’d be in excellent shape. I dare say, we’d be winning!
Actually, Andy, read my post. We did bring some CP people BACK to the party, but my main point was about having a healthy debate. I seem to have to retype things a lot in these blog comments.