How Can the GOP Earn the Tea Party Vote?–Part 2

This is a multi-part examination of the relationship between the Tea Party movement and the Republican party. Part 1 examined the risks and reasons for 3rd party voting and the importance of primaries.  Part 2 spells out what the Tea Party must do to take over the party and what Republican party leaders and active members must do now to prevent Tea Partiers and other activist conservatives from bolting for third parties.

In Part 1 we concluded that, when presented with a “lesser of two evils” choice, conscientious conservatives should rebel by voting for a third party or write-in candidate.   That rule cannot be suspended, even when our very freedom is at stake as in 2010.  Therefore, in addition to its other self-assigned duties, the Tea Party movement has an obligation to infiltrate or intimidate the Republican party towards rehabilitation. At the same time, if GOP leaders are serious about wanting to win, they must be willing to either to fight like Michael Vick’s dogs for what we all believe in, or get the hell out of the way and let conservative pit bulls run the party.

Another slate of politely bowing, country club Republican pansies will and should get the party its head handed back on a platter.  With the stakes involved in 2010, a Republican dash toward the middle, toward compromise, toward appeasement, toward gentlemanliness,  and toward “getting along” will bring about the death of the GOP and, quite possibly, the end of the United States as we know it.  Frankly, I don’t believe most Republicans understand the seriousness of this battle or the lengths to which the Tea Party people are willing to go.  Republicans leaders will learn, though, or they will lose embarrassingly next year.

Infiltrate and Rehabilitate

Glenn Beck likes to tell members of both major parties that they are not allowed to criticize the other party until, he says, “you have cleaned up your own house.”  A few weeks ago, I urged a member of the Missouri Congressional delegation to make a rule among his colleagues that they will not negatively mention the other party for six months.  He heard me, I know, but he did not respond. He did, however, address a problem within his own party very publicly less than 24 hours later.  That’s a start.

This story illustrates what I mean by “infiltrate and rehabilitate.”  To be very blunt, it means having the balls to tell politicians what they need to hear in terms that they may not be used to hearing.  It means getting close enough to them to speak the truth, even though you will probably never be invited into their presence again.  It means, in Sarah Palin’s terms, going rogue.

Too many people are wowed by fame, even the fame Congressmen or of the business card of a party leader.  Get over it.  They’re human beings and often very flawed ones at that. If they’re good people, speak bluntly to them about what people like you want from people like them. If they are beyond rehabilitation, have the courage to tell them and be willing to oppose them.  If you’re not sure, watch them closely and ask people you respect for their opinion.  Never vote or nod your head just to get along, just to block a Democrat, just to get invited back.  That’s lying.

Infiltration also means becoming active in the party at the highest possible level in order to have a strong influence over direction of party and PAC money.  Control of the purse strings determines who gets endorsements, who gets top billing at meet-the-candidates events, and, often, who wins the nomination.  While many in the Tea Party despise the influence of money and endorsements in this process, the simple fact is that there is no other process that can be developed between now and the 2010 elections.  We can either understand that fact and use it to our advantage, or we can pout, play victim, and watch every liberty collapse when Obama’s party retains the House and Senate.

We must infiltrate and succeed, but infiltration will not be easy.  Gaining control of the GOP will require that we Tea Partiers–and that means ALL of us–stop doing most of the things we’ve been doing since February.  It will also require isolating and eliminating opponents with the party.  Finally, it will require careful allocation of financial resources—give money to candidates who believe that first they must represent you against the government in Washington.

Republican Party Triage

Infiltration by a few Tea Partiers and occasional boldness by Republican Congressmen isn’t enough to win the trust of the large numbers of  people who consider themselves “tea partiers.”  The Republican Party currently presents with so many symptoms that healthiness requires advanced and painful treatment.  In fact, it requires the political equivalent of chemo-therapy.  And it better start that treatment immediately or the clock will run out on 2010.

First, the party—and that means everyone from the $60 a year sustaining members up to Michael Steele—must stop advancing candidates who, once elected, reinforce the worst stereotypes of politicians.  You know who I’m talking about.  The ones who hang around with conservatives, but aren’t really conservative.  The ones who espouse vague positions on broadly defined “issues” and call it courage.  The ones who are more interested in telling us about the endorsements they’ve received and the money they’ve raised than about the flaws in their own character and party and how they will mitigate those weaknesses.  I’m talking about people who represent safely Republican districts and who use all the power of incumbency and, when necessary, dirty tricks to prevent a primary fight, knowing the good people of the district will dutifully hold their noses and pull the lever next to the elephant in November.

In the Tea Party era, such cowardly, phony, cynical politicians will gracefully bow out  of the 2010 races,  or they might as well hone their concession speeches.  Tea Party people will not vote for a candidate who cuts deals and blames the other guy.  We won’t support the politician who wants the Tea Party’s endorsement but who won’t endorse the Tea Party movement.  That’s the reason we gave big chunks of our lives to the Tea Party movement—to drive spineless, dirty politicians out of the public life.

Perpetuating the cynical, deal-making politician is the National Republican Congressional Committee, or NRCC.  After that group’s disgraceful handling of the Scozzafava race in New York, I find no way to justify giving them or the RNC a single penny until they PROVE that they will not support leftist Republicans.  Instead, send that money to your favorite candidates—candidates of any party who exemplify and boldly advance your beliefs that the government in Washington needs a major smack-down.  Look at the candidates who rose out of the Tea Party movement itself.  Ed Martin Jr. is running for the GOP nomination to unseat Russ “Reading is Fundamental” Carnahan.  Marine Paul Curtman is running for Missouri’s 105th House seat.  Gary Fuhr is running for Missouri’s 97th House seat.

Eschew Puritanism

Libertarian purists were unhappy that I would encourage people to rally around right-thinking, right-acting Republicans.  I’m sad  about that. Puritanism spells defeat whether it comes from the religious right or libertarians.  There is no such thing as a perfect human being, and some of our finest political leaders have been chock-full of the sorts of flaws that disqualify candidates today:  Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri, whom John F. Kennedy immortalized in “Profiles in Courage,” had almost as many flaws as I do (which isn’t an easy feat to accomplish) yet was one of the greatest leaders this state or the U.S. Senate ever saw.  Kennedy himself was a playboy and partier who inspired the post-World War II generation with challenges that stretched man’s imagination and extended his reach all the way to the moon and back.

Likewise, Ronald Reagan, who did much to stop America’s 50-year drift toward socialism, was far from a libertarian’s ideal.  Reagan should have abolished the Department of Education as he promised.  He should have shrunk government.  He should have eliminated programs and agencies that remain today.  But how much worse off would we all be without his  8 years in the White House?  For those of you too young to remember, John F. Kennedy was the closest thing we had to small government conservative in the White House  from Calvin Coolidge to Ronald Reagan.  Eisenhower, Nixon, Truman, Roosevelt, Ford, Carter, Johnson (x1000), and even Hoover grew government beyond the consent of the governed.  With that much momentum toward despotism, how much, really, could we have expected from one man, even if that man was Ronald Reagan?

Instead of looking for an algorithm that will tell us when to support a major party candidate and when to protest with a 3rd party vote, use heuristics to point you toward the likeliest best choice, and trust your judgment the rest of the way.  Never compromise your principles, but never make the world appreciable worse because the perfect candidate failed to emerge. Best of all, let’s work our butts off to get the RIGHT people nominated in the primaries.  Work for small government candidates in both major parties so there’s no way we can lose in November.

There are no perfect candidates or perfect people.  A candidate with a track record of fighting for the rights of the people against powers and principalities is enough. But you must choose a fighter.  Always choose the courageous, the flawed man who exposes his flaws and keeps on fighting for you and for this great land.  Churchill told us that courage enables all other virtues, and he was right.

Shy From No Necessary Battle

Winston Churchill also left us this beautiful paragraph:

One ought never to turn one’s back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!

To me that says we cannot vote for a Republican or a Libertarian or a Constitution Party candidate who truly deserves to be opposed.  We must fight the Republican who might sell us down the river, the so-called conservative who supported TARP and cash for clunkers.  We do not give primary support to a candidate because he has name recognition or tons of money.  Neither should qualities like name and money be black marks against a candidate.  Instead, we should ask ourselves this:  ”Will he (or she) liberate or bind us?”

The Republican who would bind us only gives tyranny the cover of bi-partisanship.  The Libertarian who wants nothing short of the Articles of Confederation is a fool who will embarrass himself and his constituents.  But a good fighter who will stand for liberty, who will fight for principle, even though he may occasionally take the wrong side, is far better than the leftist from any party who hopes to bind and degrade the people by promising government issued happiness in exchange for our money, time, and freedom.  Freedom for happiness is the deal we made with the Serpent in the Garden, and those holding forbidden fruit today continue to do the Devil’s bidding.  Evil knows no party lines.

Conclusion

In the 2010 election, not a single voter in a single district or state should be faced with a Republican candidate who represents the lesser of two evils.  And if the party fails America by presenting big government candidates like Dede Scozzafava, it is our right and our duty to abandon that party and let it fail in that race in that year.  Contrary to the opinions of several dyed-in-the-wool Republicans I’ve met, it is not the job of the Tea Party to rescue their party from incompetent, uncommitted, or left-wing candidates that the party created.  We will try to stop bad Republicans in the primary, but if we have to fight the GOP itself, as we did in NY-23, we will quickly and without shame or guilt pull the lever for a 3rd party.

Now, let’s get the RIGHT people on the ballots in every race and in every party so that the primary gives us a field of small government conservatives to choose from in November.  But don’t despair or consider this challenge too daunting.  Reagan lost a humiliating defeat to the bumbling Gerald Ford in the 1976 GOP convention.  Four years later, he wiped up the electoral map with the failed carcass of Jimmy Carter’s only term.   With prayer, perseverance, and principle, we will triumph in 2010 and 2012.

They ain’t seen nothin’ yet.