republican liberty caucus

I have written a bunch about the role of Ron Paul supporters in the party and the impact that John McCain's military supporters may have. Yesterday, I went to the convention of the Republican Party of Virginia. The only seriously contested race was for the nomination for Attorney General. State Senator Ken Cuccinnelli, the candidate of grassroots conservatives, was the most likely winner, given who normally attends a state party convention. And indeed he won.

However, many people were shocked that he won on the first ballot over John Brownlee, former US Attorney, and Dave Foster, a Republican who sits on the Arlington County School Board. When I drove down to Richmond for the convention, I certainly did not expect that result either.

But when I got to the convention floor on Saturday, it was clear what was going on. The Virginia chapter of the Republican Liberty Caucus had endorsed Cuccinelli. They were out in force. From eyeballing, people identified with either the Republican Liberty Caucus or the Campaign for Liberty seemed to be about 10-15% of the convention. They pushed Cuccinelli over the top. I think that this marks a pattern for the future of the GOP in smaller caucuses and conventions.

During the 2008 Republican Presidential primary, Paul supporters were highly organized and were able to effectively impact events smaller events like lower-profile caucuses. They got close to taking over state parties like Missouri, Nevada, and Idaho. Many more state parties were concerned with how to manage the situation. Ultimately, however, Ron Paul supporters did what you are supposed to do in politics. They brought new people to the process and organized them.

The question remained whether these outsiders would stay organized and be integrated into the GOP in some form.

This weekend in Richmond, they did. They found legitimate reasons to support the candidate whose supporters would probably constitute a near majority of a Virginia GOP convention anyways.  Tom Tinker from the Campaign for Liberty used strong language:

I had the privielege of attending the VA Republican Convention this past weekend.  Though I am usually wary of Republicans and their so-called "conservatism", I left the convention with a new hope for the restoration of Constitutional principles in my home state of Virginia.  Bob McDonnell and Bill Bolling, the two nominees for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, are good candidates, and though wishy-washy when it comes to their conservatism, are far better than anyone the Democrats could put up.  But the candidate for Virginia Attorny General, Ken Cuccinelli, restored my hope in the GOP, and should give all Virginians a hope for bringing our state back to Constitutional roots, both state and national.  I will support him 100% these next few months, and I encourage you to do so.

A lot of people in Washington argue whether libertarians and social conservatives can be in the same party. Operationally, the activists were. And together they carried the day and shaped the GOP. Whether they represent a broader range of voters, we shall see. But the activists did execute this coalition. And RLC/CfL/Ron Paul supporters are likely to continue to hold an important swing role in party contests like this.

Here's a story for you.  It's a story with a happy ending, and one that all Republican officials holding office anywhere should recall before they cast any vote.

On October 3, 2008, Arlen Specter, Republican Senator from Pennsylvania, was one of thirty-four Republican Senators who voted for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) that gave $700 billion to the Wall Street investors who helped wreck our economy.  On February 10, 2009, Specter was one of three Republican Senators who voted for the American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009 (Obama's "stimulus package"), which will dump $787 billion of borrowed and printed dollars into a hodgepodge of Democratic Party dream programs, including vast increases in federal dollars for health programs, environmental programs, social welfare programs, and public education.  On April 15, 2009, Pat Toomey, a former congressman who nearly defeated Specter in the 2004 Republican Primary for Specter's Senate seat, announced that he would challenge Specter in the 2010 Republican Primary.  On April 28, 2009, Specter announced that he was switching to the Democratic Party and would seek that party's nomination for Senate in 2010.

Specter candidly admits that he is switching parties because he expected Toomey to defeat him in Pennsylvania' s Republican Primary.  The Republican Liberty Caucus (RLC)  rated Toomey as a "Libertarian" over his six years in congress from 1999-2005, meaning that he had a strong performance as a legislator who generally favored individual liberty in both personal and economic matters.  Specter is a "centrist," which means he generally favors the ever-growing and more intrusive government we have today.  "I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans, " Specter lamented, and indeed polls showed him trailing Toomey by 10 points in Pennsylvania. 

Specter voted for TARP because "the failure of Congress to take some decisive, substantial, action would run the risk of dire consequences to U.S. and world markets."  (Specter Press Release, Oct. 1, 2008).  Explaining his vote for Obama's "stimulus package," he stated "I am supporting the economic stimulus package for one simple reason: The country cannot afford not to take action." (Specter Press Release, April 3, 2009).  (Specter also procured an additional $10 billion in the "stimulus package" for the National Institutes of Health, a pet program of his, which has absolutely nothing to do with economic "stimulus.")

What if the 'decisive action' taken by our federal government is a really bad idea?  The United States Government caused this recession through credit expansion via the Federal Reserve System and government intervention in investment markets.  The Federal Reserve set the stage for the current economic crisis by several years of artificially low interest rates.  This cheap credit, combined with efforts by the federal government to expand mortgage lending, steadily blew up a financial bubble that was due to burst.  Government through its regulatory powers encouraged lending to subprime borrowers through the Community Reinvestment Act as amended during the Clinton administration.  Government-chartered corporations Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae encouraged mortgage lending through expanding the secondary mortgage market.  The secondary mortgage market developed truly exotic investment schemes to take advantage of the cheap credit available until reality set in and borrowers large and small were unable to repay their debts.  Banks lurched toward insolvency, businesses operating on credit were unable to continue, and millions of people have lost their jobs and homes.  This chain of events was brought to us courtesy of the Democrats and Republicans whose "political philosophy" Specter supports.

Government caused the current economic crisis by artificially expanding credit and thereby encouraging investment that real savings and demand could not support.  This is where recessions always come from, and our Beltway leaders just don't get it.  Now, the federal government proposes to fix the problem it caused by borrowing and printing $1.5 trillion, which it has "loaned" to banks and will spend on a variety of social programs that are guaranteed to have no immediate economic benefit whatever.  Billions of dollars are being taken from capital markets by our government to be spent in non-productive social programs.  Money that is not borrowed by the federal government will simply be printed.  By increasing the quantity of money in circulation, the government will reduce the value of the dollar, setting the stage for inflation.  Is this really the 'decisive action' we need?  No.

The only 'decisive action' taken by Specter today was to stick his finger in the wind and realize that he would be defeated by a pro-freedom Republican unless he escaped to the Democratic Party, where he undoubtedly belongs.  Republicans, take note:  we the people want Republican leaders who believe in us rather than in government.  We want Republican leaders who believe in individual freedom and the principles of limited government on which our nation was founded.  We do not want Republican leaders like Specter who find their "political philosophy more in line with Democrats," and we will be happy to show them the way to the door.

This one is from the newly formed Alabama Republican Liberty Caucus.