Republicans, Grow Some Vertebrae for a Change

Current mood: annoyed, bitchy, cranky

11/25/2012 9:29 AM:

> A small group of Republicans in the south of New Mexico have the right idea. They are planning to attend the State Central Committee meeting
> and start there to change things. Good for them. It's the sort of thinking, the sort of effort we should all be doing. But most of us are not.

More than likely, they'll get the same sort of reception that Morton Blackwell and the Ron Paul Republicans got from Reince Priebus and the RNC at the GOP's National Convention in Tampa, Florida this past August:

"Shut up and go sit in the corner. When we need your support, you better be there for us."

> Why is not the State Republican Party talking to us? Why are not the county RPs sending their members messages of future plans?

Why should Monty Newman and Jay McCleskey care in the slightest what the grassroots Republicans think?

After all, the grassroots turned out for Slick Willard Romney and Heather Wilson, after Wilson and Romney were handed their nominations on silver platters by the GOP-E insiders.

Face it – the GOP-E insiders absolutely love you when you're marching to their orders, no questions asked. It's when you start insisting that the nominees adhere to certain principles that you get the door slammed in your face.

Just ask Ron Paul, Gary Johnson or Adam Kokesh how this works – either one of them can spell it out for you in detail.

Neither Romney nor Wilson were anything resembling capitalists of the limited-government, free-market orientation. Rather, they are more the sort of false "capitalists" that both Frederic Bastiat and Karl Marx excoriated. Wilson and Romney are more properly called mercantilists as Adam Smith defined the term in 1776.

But we all knew this since February and March of this year.

If you truly want to show McCleskey, Newman and Priebus that you're serious players and not just waiting for new marching orders, then you need to tell them exactly where in explicit terms where they can stick candidates like Romney and Wilson.

> Why are we not having town halls in major cities so that grassroots Republicans can mull over ideas, consider plans to become a strong,
> solid phalanx and attract more adherents?

A "solid phalanx" of star-spangled jellyfish is what you'll get under the management of McCleskey, Priebus and Newman.

At least that's what you've gotten in the past from the GOP-E gang.

How will continuing to kowtow to them as you've done in the past yield better results for you?

> Why are we not gearing up to educate the population about the virtues of capitalism?

Good question.

When did you start caring about these?

If Republicans truly cared about "the virtues of capitalism," then why did they nominate the likes of Heather Wilson and Mitt Romney for ANY sort of public office?

If you truly cared at all, then you wouldn't give Republicans cut from the mercantilist mold the slightest bit of slack, just because they have the magic "Big R" after their names.

What did I see in the 2012 election cycle? Did I see any of that sort of courage and fortitude?

No, I didn't. Instead, most of what landed into my inbox was stuff like "your wasting your vote," "Youre either with us or youre with Obama!!!" – stuff like that.

> I do not want to hear more of the same pabulum from the same elected officials that have not stood up for individual rights, limited
> governments and free markets.

What you need to do is tell the GOP-E types where they can stick the pabulum and those who push it.

As long as you continue to support them unconditionally after they give you that pabulum, they see that you're willing to settle for it. Thus that's all you'll really get from them.

> Instead, I'd like to hear Marco Rubio speak and Thomas Sowells, Yaron Brook and Dan Watkins. I'd like to hear John A. Allison talk to us
> about his new book, The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure.

Start raising money – the sooner the better, as all of these potential speakers are likely to charge a pretty penny to show up here in New Mexico.

And make sure to keep the GOPNM State Committee OUT of the loop where bringing speakers in is concerned – or all you will get is more of the same.

For what it's worth, I will observe with amusement the efforts of the "Ron Paul" and Tea Party crowds to "take over" the Republican Party. I suspect that future efforts in this vein will yield similar results to previous efforts along that line.

Rather, I predict it will be the C4L and Tea Party groups who end up getting taken over and co-opted by the GOP-E types, and thus subsumed into being obedient, servile troopies for them. In short, pawns.

So if you LIKE riding in circles on a bus for a few hours, if you LIKE the MC confirming the votes for the GOP-E candidates while ignoring the votes for your candidates, if you LIKE being told what to say and what to think – then please continue on as before.

Anyway, Republicans – PROVE ME WRONG (No one's done it yet.)

Hey, no one ever said that living as free people was easy – if it was, then everybody would do it. Sticking to your principles and standing up for what's right can be costly, in many ways. Sometimes you might have to lose an election rather than put a mercantilist with the magic Big R after his name into public office.

Final notes: Gary Johnson is JUST GETTING STARTED. He plans to do a 2013 college speaking tour, just like he did in the 2012 election. And at his Election Night Party at the Hotel Albuquerque, I asked him to form at least an exploratory committee for the 2014 New Mexico gubernatorial race.

_______________________________________________________________________
Mike Blessing

Who owns you? Who runs your life? Who should – you or someone else?
Freedom is the answer – what's the question?

"If you wanna live long on your own terms
You gotta be willing to crash and burn"
– Motley Crue, "Primal Scream"
_______________________________________________________________________

NOTES

1. Reposted –
   
   
   1. Personal micro-blogs – Facebook / Google Plus / Twitter / Xanga
   2. Personal blogs – Wordpress / Xanga / Yahoo!
   3. LPUSA / LPNM – New Mexico Libertarians Facebook group / [LPNM-discuss] Yahoo! group
   4. The Weekly Sedition – Facebook / Twitter / Wordpress / Yahoo!
   5. Duke City Fix / NMPolitics.org

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Copyright © 2012 Mike Blessing. All rights reserved.

Produced by KCUF Media, a division of Extropy Enterprises. Webmaster Mike Blessing.

This blog entry created with Notepad++.

Results from the 9 October UNM Rally

Current mood: excited

For those wondering how the Gary Johnson UNM Rally for Jobs, Opportunity and Diversity on Tuesday, 9 October 2012 went, here's some of the details:

I arrived right at about 5:25 PM, after spending about ten minutes looking for a parking lot – the "A" lot was packed. I ended up paying the ∅7.00 for a spot in the parking structure next to the square by the SUB.

Upon arriving at the ballroom, I dropped off my plastic milk crate full of brochures at the LPNM table manned by Mark Curtis, Ron Bjornstad, Elizabeth Honce, Elisheva Levin, and others.

After dropping off the supplies (it was a bit painful to carry that crate from the parking structure to the ballroom), I met Tom Mahon and Todd Myers where "Jack Gault" was parked. They had a spare Sharpie marker-pen on hand, so I signed the van on the front of the hood – dead-center, right above the edge where the latch is located.

At the same time, I made contact with the Sigma Alpha Epsilon representative and made myself available for my speaking slot.

While waiting for my speaking time, I went to the "green room" and had my picture taken with Gary Johnson.

So I presented my speech, came in at 6:20 – 1:20 longer than the 5 minutes I had planned for. While I didn't get the standing ovations that later speakers got, several people came up to me afterwards and complimented me on my bit.

Next up for the podium was the Independent American Party's candidate for U.S. Senate, Jon Barrie. If Jon wasn't running, I suspect many New Mexico Libertarians would be casting blanks come their time at the ballot "box." Jon talked for about ten minutes, mentioned that the politicians had their chance (too many chances to be forgiven come the election) to fix things, and ended with a standing ovation from the audience.

Following Jon Barrie was Paul Gessing of the Rio Grande Foundation, New Mexico's only think-tank that supports what the Tea Party claims to support – free-market economics, public-sector fiscal restraint, individual rights and Constitutionally-limited government. Paul talked about what New Mexico needs to prosper as a state.

After Paul, Jim Villanucci of 770 KKOB-AM spoke about how much crap listeners were giving him about his not supporting Mittens. After all, it's either "you're for Romney or you're for Obama," correct? Not even close – and with that, Jim introduced Gary Johnson as the only candidate in the presidential race worthy of libertarians' support.

Here's the video clip on YouTube of Gary's speech – http://youtu.be/bInmA5MhXTg

What did Gary discuss? First, he talked about his business background – he started Big J Enterprises on his own out of college, built it to 1,000 employees, then sold it in 1999 without having to fire anyone. He said that his business career is just a testament to showing up on time and doing what you say you'll do for people, maybe a little more.

His unsolicited advice to the audience? Go into business for yourself as opposed to punching someone else's time-clock – you'll find it much more rewarding. This dovetails with what I've heard from other libertarian entrepreneurs . . . .

Here's some of his talking points:

• With everything that you do in life, there are obstacles – you just have to keep going.
  
  
• When he first ran for office (1994), the GOP leadership blew him off as "unelectable," but he ended up winning the general election.
  
  
• While serving as Governor of New Mexico, he vetoed 750 pieces of legislation – more than the other 49 governors in the country put together. He had thousands of line-item vetoes, taking it to a new level – only two were overridden.
  
  
• With those vetoes, he saved up a few dumptrucks-full of ∅∅∅∅∅∅∅ by cutting out unnecessary spending and blocking regulations that weren't going to make us the slightest bit safer.
  
  
• The powers-that-be predicted imminent disaster after Johnson's vetoes, which didn't happen. Also, he was an equal-opportunity vetoer – he vetoed bad bills from Republicans
  
  
• Of all of the presidential candidates for the 2012 election season, he's the only one viewed favorably in his home state – "people wave at me with all five fingers, not just one."
  
  
• Of all the presidential candidates, he had the best record on job creation, except that he didn't create any jobs as governor – any jobs created were created by the private sector. There was certainty in New Mexico's regulatory environment, and that makes it easier for the private sector to create jobs.
  
  
• Out of all of the presidential candidates, he has the most "Liberty Torches" from the ACLU (21 out of 24).
  
  
• He's the only candidate who doesn't want to bomb or use sanctions against Iran. Iran isn't the threat to America or anyone else that the hairspray-heads supporting the Imperial District make it out to be.
  
  
• China isn't a threat to America due to the way the two countries trade with each other.
  
  
• Bring the troops home from Afghanistan now.
  
  
• Military interventions around the world mostly create more enemies for America.
  
  
• Marriage equality is a federal issue and constitutionally guaranteed.
  
  
• He's the only presidential candidate who wants to end the drug wars now. Over fifty percent of Americans support legalizing marijuana. Ninety percent of the drug problem is prohibition-related, not user-related.
  
  
• If he had been president after "9/11," hw would have vetoed the USA-PATRIOT Act of 2001 and the NDAA-2012. "Homeland Security" is incredibly redundant. Let's leave airport security to the airports, airlines, cities, etc.
  
  
• We need to balance the federal budget now – he promises to submit a balanced budget to Congress for 2013. Otherwise, with the current out-of-control Federal Reserve, we're looking at a monetary collapse at some point in the future. What we need is a 43 % cut in spending across the board.
  
  
• When someone complains about the idea of a 43 % cut in Medicare spending, the alternative is NO Medicare. (Same goes for the rest of the welfare state, too – tighten the belt or lose your shirt.)
  
  
• Cut military spending by 43 % too – the operative word there is "defense," not "offense," not "nation-building."
  
  
• The current spending situation is the biggest threat to our national security.
  
  
• He's the only candidate who wants to dump the income tax, corporate tax and replace them with one consumption tax – the "Fair Tax."
  
  
• He's the only candidate that would shut down the Federal Reserve.

Notes and recollections from the event:

• The estimated total attendance was around 500 people.
  
  
• Cleanup was rather easy – it mostly consisted of policing up unused campaign supplies that were left behind by attendees.
  
  
• I was expecting someone from the GOP to attempt some sort of disruption – bringing in signs for Romney or Wilson, that sort of thing. Luckily, nothing of the sort happened that I saw.
  
  
• I found some campaign cards from three Republicans running for State-level judgeships on the floor in the seating area – Miles Hanisee, David Standridge, and Samuel Winder. It was also reported to me by event staff that Judge Winder himself had been in the audience.
  
  
• Someone (ID unknown) had apparently issued invitations to both Martin Heinrich and Heather Wilson to appear on the speakers' list. After all, it's a non-partisan event, due to SAE being a 501-C-3 entity and all. I was told that while Heinrich declined immediately, Wilson dithered and vacillated around about it for two weeks, declining for sure on the Monday before (8 October).
  
  
• About 60 percent of the brochures that I brought with me were picked up by attendees and passerby – which helped a lot on the way back to the parking structure. (Note to self: get a hand-truck for next time!)

All in all, this was the best-attended LPNM event I've seen yet in my 18 years with the organization. Thanks to all who made it possible:

The UNM Chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Jon Barrie
Ron Bjornstad
Chris Chase
Mark Curtis
Paul Gessing
Susan Ann Holland
Elizabeth Honce
Melanie Hyland
Gary Johnson
Bruce Levin
Elisheva Levin
Tom Mahon
Sean Mallory
Todd Myers
Reviva
Kyle Ruggles
Jim Villanucci
Bob Walsh

Apologies to anyone I've omitted – the fault there is entirely mine.

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NOTES

1. Reposted –
   
   
   1. Personal micro-blogs – Facebook / Google Plus / Twitter / Xanga
      
      
   2. Personal blogs – Blogspot / Wordpress / Xanga
      
      
   3. LPUSA / LPNM – LPNM Blog / LPNM Facebook group / New Mexico Libertarians Facebook group / [LPNM-discuss] Yahoo! group
      
      
   4. The Weekly Sedition
      
      
   5. Duke City Fix / NMPolitics.org

---

Copyright © 2012 Libertarian Party of New Mexico and Mike Blessing. All rights reserved.

Produced by KCUF Media, a division of Extropy Enterprises. Webmaster Mike Blessing.

This blog entry created with Notepad++.