I'm a Republican and Have Been all my Life!!1!
By Leon H Wolf Posted in 2008 — Comments (27) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
If I had a nickel for every time I've heard that over the last week, I wouldn't need to win all my office decorations from my fellow RedState Contributors.
Now, Captain Ed made it a point to disagree with me about the base of Paul's support. His anecdotal evidence was based on the behavior of Paul supporters at CLC. Mine was based on my observation of them at three Presidential debates this year, and most especially the Ames straw poll. Let me just tell you a little bit about my experience at Ames, to get an idea of where I'm coming from.
Because I was working for the Brownback campaign at the time, I arrived at the Ames site early to help set up the site - however, not early enough to beat the moRons. I was amused at the time to see that the Paul supporters had showed up at the site *ridiculously* early so they could take the first and last parking spot in each row, and they had put huge Ron Paul stickers on the side of their cars. In other words, someone thought it would be a good idea to make it appear that every single person at Ames was there to support Ron Paul. That parking lot stunt, in my mind, is symbolic of the entire Ron Paul campaign thus far.
But that was not all - they had also set up people with signs all along the driving route to shout at passersby. Our car, being a rental, was not visibly identified with Brownback, so they must have assumed that we were convincable, so as we drove through the parking lot, people shouted various slogans at us. Furthermore, after we parked and as we walked to the site, they had set up a corridor of folks to shout at us all the way there on foot as well.
Now, the Ames straw poll is a Republican event. Ron Paul holds lots of positions that Republicans like. So you would have expected his supporters to shout *those* things at us - "Ron Paul wants to eliminate wasteful spending!" and the like. Wrong. I heard "Ron Paul wants to abolish the IRS!" twice. The rest of the things I heard were exclusively leftist anti-war slogans - "Iraq didn't attack us on 9/11!" "Ron Paul will get our troops out of Iraq!" "No WMDs in Iraq!" It's like these people didn't even *know* how to talk in a way that doesn't tick off mainstream Republicans.
But I'm wandering afield. Mike Turk has found evidence of what I'm saying - that supporters of Ron Paul are far more likely to read liberal blogs than they are conservative ones. They are, in fact, more likely to read liberal blogs than Hillary Clinton's supporters are. Chew on that for a while. What that says is pretty much what I've been saying all along - *some* Ron Paul supporters are libertarian-leaning Republicans. More are anti-war leftists who are looking for a candidate to vote for if Hillary wins the Democratic nomination.
Charles Johnson perhaps had more foresight than we did. When he banned the moRons from his straw polls - a decision that got comparatively little attention, for reasons I can't divine, he kept track of where the Ron Paul attention was coming from. You can draw your own conclusions from that.
Oh, and as an aside, there's only one proper response to this: Courage.
I voted for Gerald Ford back in 1976, but then that crazy hawk Reagan came along, so I haven't voted Republican since. But I've always been a Republican, and respect those great Republican paragons of conscience like Linc Chaffee. Now we have a candidate we can be proud of like Ron Paul, who can wrest the party back from those evil neocons like Bob Dole and George Bush.
“I think we are the team to beat in the NL East -- finally.” - Jimmy "MVP" Rollins, 1/23/07
I had you figured for my age.
I'm not sure if that's an insult or not. It's not meant as one.
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We are all heroes, you and Boo and I. Hamsters and rangers everywhere, rejoice!
Turned 23 on Wednesday actually. Born two weeks before Reagan's reelection. It was a poor imitation of a Paulite Life Long "Republican."
It's Friday. I'm ready for the weekend.
“I think we are the team to beat in the NL East -- finally.” - Jimmy "MVP" Rollins, 1/23/07
I just figured some of it was laced with life.
That actually makes you appreciably younger than I, and, but for the Giuliani support, smarter. That's depressing.
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We are all heroes, you and Boo and I. Hamsters and rangers everywhere, rejoice!
I applaud the methods used at Ames. Very inventive and it makes you wonder why the other candidates had to pay supporters to attend. The base is unhappy and they are looking for something to bring back respect to the party.
Get excited about the candidate you support and go out of your way to show it. If that means getting in someones face to show how dedicated you are so be it.
Truly. But allow me to suggest in response that if your goal is to actually try to persuade people to join your "Revolution", then "getting in someones (sic) face" and shouting lefty Talking Points™, at a Republican event, is likely not a particularly effective course of action.
As for me, I'd prefer not associate myself with a Presidential candidate who has chosen to cast his lot with the 911-Twoofers. But YMMV.
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Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock.
... is more a new-age John Birch Society* than anything else. That explains the fanatical, paranoid isolationism with overtones of anti-Semitism.
These people will drop the Republican Party like a bad habit when it suits them. Ditto Libertarianism. These are merely party labels of convenience. The party affiliation I have described elsewhere in these pages as "parasitic".
* - [I can't bring myself to provide a link, but the site is jbs-dot-org if you want to check them out. I've looked all over the site, but I can't find anyplace where they'll let me exercise my G-d-given right to crap on the floor.]
It's such a fine line between stupid and clever. - David St. Hubbins
so help me out here. I "think" I saw a post by Krempasky a short time ago, saying that Haiku about RP would be accepted. NOW, darn it, I slaved over that Haiku piece for minutes, and now I cannot find that post anywhere.
like prawn caught in Gulf
Red-Staters wade through dung piles
left by R-- P--- fans.
“The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men."
it was like poof...gone.
" in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
Abe Lincoln
going down hill fast. For chri eye, I watched that Krempasky guy on TV a while back...banned?
I'm more of a fan of limmericks anyway....any chance RP is originally from Nantucket?
" in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
Abe Lincoln
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The Red Sox Republican: Burkeanism, Baseball, and Sundries.
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The Red Sox Republican: Burkeanism, Baseball, and Sundries.
It's the system, Lara! People will be different after the Revolution!- from Dr. Zhivago
satisfied the left's definition of a true conservative since the death of Trotsky.
is symbolic of the entire Ron Paul campaign thus far
I think it's more accurate to say it's emblematic of the entire campaign. Not symbolism, really.
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We would also like to know your advice for somebody like my daughter, who's going to graduate in two years, advice that you would give a young person.
SEC. RUMSFELD: Advice for a young person. Study history.
Quibble would be the word. I liked Ron Paul at first. I am not a big fan of the war, but I don't believe we need to walk out and isolate ourselves, that could be disasterous! And besides, for ALL THE YAPPING we keep getting about RP, you would think the guy would at LEAST poll in double digits. He's barely a blip on the radar......quibble.
Anyway, I'm searching for a new candidate, and so far I like Huckabee, with McCain as my number two choice. Not sold on Fred yet. But either way, they register more than just quibble.
Wow. In the words of Larry the Cucumber, "you couldn't be more wronger" about those zany RP supporters. About half of the folks that join these meetup groups (over 1000!) are disillusioned Republicans. About 10% or less Libertarians, about 10% Democrats, and about a quarter Independents. Believe me, I am a diehard fan and have never met a Leftist at a RP event. The folks at dailykos hate RP. And we don't like them either.
As a "lifelong Republican" I came to discover that neither major party was following the Constitution, and became "politically homeless" in 2004. I voted for Michael Peroutka that year and took up with the Constitution Party, liking their uncompromising commitment to limited govt, right to life, and the Constitution. (I found that, unfortunately, third parties don't win office.)
I am a homeschooling Christian father of four. I am suspicious of everything the govt says and does, but also view conspiracy theories with a grain of salt. (Nevertheless it's worth noting that conspiracy nuts can't arrest you, tax you, wiretap your phones, or suspend your rights. It's govt that needs watchdogs, not the black helicopter crowd.) I believe in the Constitution and the rule of law, and that the threat of terrorism is decreased by enforcing our borders, and increased by foreign occupations and unnecessary wars. (Sorry, I know I just lost many of you here.)
Party affiliation is not a virtue. Republicans who don't support a return to Constitutionally limited govt are steering the ship in the wrong direction. Yes the Dems are going there full sail....but conservatives ought to insist on steering the ship to an altogether different port. I may not agree with RP on every point, but I'm not going to piss away the rest of the conservative agenda over one issue. I am not content to be just a little more free than Canada.
A choice between the welfare state and the warfare state is not a choice. Both are inseparable from big government = high taxes, central planning, and corruption. These are anathema to freedom and conservatism.
Here's hoping I find favor with the mods, and don't get banned.
[He Who Shall Not Be Named] FOR PRESIDENT in 2008!
You really can't reduce life's decisions to simple, mind-numbing slogans like "return to the Constitution". or overly facile comparisons "choice between the welfare state and the welfare state".
The desire to return to an 18th century federal republic echoes my misguided brethren who want to return to some "golden age" 1st century church. The problem is that the world has changed irreversibly since then, and we can't just go back to recreate a little enclave where we can "get it right this time" - human nature being what it is, we aren't going to get it right, away.
So I don't want to argue for a "living Constitution" - we see the moral chaos that yields, but we do still need to make some hard choices to maintain the consent of the governed and to survive in a world in which nuclear holocaust is just minutes away.
And that is where, RP's foreign policy becomes a breaking point for many of us here, because it's a matter of basic survival, which is the prerequisite for any of our precious constitutional rights.
And beyond that, comparing RedState with dailykos, for instance, there is a clear difference in the views of the State between the two. Pursuit of perfection is noble, but so long a people remain imperfect, we're always going to be having to do the best we can. And right now, when it comes to the general election, that means the Republican party, not a third party.
They seek to return to an Idyllic time which never was. The founding fathers themselves started to monkey around with the constitution from the very beginning, thats why we had the Whisky Rebellion, the Alien and Sedition act, and the usurpation of constitutional review powers by the court.
The government also began giving money, and land away to business and began fighting wars for (at that time) big business
from the very start. That is why we built a navy and invaded Tripoli.
"Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty"
Kyle
Could I get you to expand upon your interpretations of the “…Whisky Rebellion,”…and…”the Alien and Sedition act?”
...a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right...
---Thomas Paine---
You aren't a Republican. You know you can't win elections even at local level with the positions you espouse so you are looking for a party to hijack.
No thanks.
You're free to vote for whomever you wish, but peddle your 5% vote getting hogwash some other place.
"A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition." -- Rudyard Kipling
I've been a Republican for 15 years now (I'm 33), but for me, principle comes before party. The first Presidential vote I ever cast was for Harry Browne because I thought Bob Dole wasn't a real Conservative. I voted for George W. Bush twice, first with enthusiasm, and the second time holding my nose. This go around I have been a proud supporter of Ron Paul. Some of the things I read here on Red State make me think Peggy Noonan was right- Bush has broken the party and I'm not sure it will ever be put back together again. Limited Government Conservatism and Neoconservatism are just incompatible ideologies. That so called "Conservatives" could support a nanny state tax hiker like Huckabee, or a gun grabbing, abortion funding tyrant like Rudy is inexplicable to me. Other than Tancredo (whose xenophobic rhetoric skirts too close to racism for my tastes), Paul is the only option for us Goldwater Republicans, and I'd suggest there are more of us out here than many of you realize. Paul is now polling at 7.4% in NH, ahead of Fred and the Huckster, and he's just starting to make his media buys (remember, his name id was near zero, compared to the near 100% that Rudy enjoys). I truly hope some of you give Paul another look. The Iraq war is not a necessary component to Conservatism, but if you insist that it is, enough Conservatives will leave the flock to doom the Party to perpetual minority status. War is the health of the State.
Or am I confusing insanity with passion ?
While I like Rudy, Fred, Hunter, Huckabee and even the indiscreet senator Brownback, I suffer under no illusions that they will shakeup our government. I am also convinced that its for the best that they won't.
I am no longer looking for a revolutionary, rather I want a candidate who can competently improve what we have.
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"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777