A Progressive Quartet
GOP leadership in Washington and numerous states, both red and blue have aligned with big government progressives against millions of conservative-minded Americans who consider ObamaCare and amnesty a toxic threat to their children’s future. GOP leaders like Senators John McCain and Mitch McConnell no longer pretend to champion small government. national sovereignty or individual freedom. The grassroots have realized for quite some time that leaders in the Senate have been reluctant warriors in the fight against illegal immigration and government-run health care, feigning concern as required during reelection cycles. When citizens made a stand, demanding that Congress show leadership on these issues, Senator McConnell and friends decided it was easier to defame Senate colleagues like Mike Lee and Ted Cruz than fight the march toward tyranny.
Senator McConnell recently instructed GOP candidates and legislators to stop doing business with Washington advertising and consulting firm, Jamestown Associates. Why? Because this firm does business with the Senate Conservatives Fund as well as Senator McConnell’s primary challenger Matt Bevin. What hubris. He demands that GOP officials in DC boycott a private company that helps a wide variety of candidates and elected officials. We’ve heard this before; isolate and discredit the target to turn public sentiment against your foe.
Senator McConnell led the “lip-service caucus” of GOP progressives through the Continuing Resolution showdown. But when it mattered, he worked a deal with Senator Reid, negating the efforts of conservatives to defund Obamacare. For his efforts, he received a convenient multi-billion dollar earmark for a project in the Bluegrass State. Working with Senator Reid to sell out freedom is dealing with the Devil – it’s no coincidence that Alinsky dedicated “Rules for Radicals” to old Lucifer.
I mentioned a progressive GOP influence in numerous states, most recently in Virginia. Progressives in both parties played a role in the outcome of the Virginia Governor’s race between former DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe and conservative Republican candidate Ken Cuccinelli. The Dems unleashed their latest incarnation of “War on Women” while applying the term Tea Party as a Scarlet Letter to smear the Attorney General who first filed suit against Obamacare on it’s long journey to the U.S. Supreme Court. Leaving nothing to chance, a faux Libertarian candidate was employed to siphon away votes for Mr. Cuccinelli. The Libertarian candidate in this race, Robert Sarvis, enjoyed funding from President Obama’s campaign bundler Joe Liemandt, an Austin, Texas software billionaire. Not surprisingly, Mr. Sarvis’ views on every issue run 180 degrees contrary to accepted Libertarian principles. The truth about Mr. Sarvis was hidden until Election Eve, when it was too late for the Cuccinelli campaign to alter the outcome. And of course, the President interjected his imperial self into the race near the end on behalf of Mr. McAuliffe. In short, Ken Cuccinelli battled every possible obstacle including the kitchen sink…and almost won anyway.
Democrat shenanigans aside, Mr. Cuccinelli’s bold unapologetic conservatism attracted voters that appreciate candidates who don’t parse their views. Nonetheless, establishment Republicans ran away from his campaign. In addition, the GOP pared back funding, cutting off most of the money on October 1 to ensure a loss and allow the false narrative to prevail that Republican candidates must run to the middle. As Ben Domenich chronicles in The Federalist, “In 2009, the RNC spent more than $9 million in Virginia to elect Bob McDonnell – this year, they’ve spent around $3 million, mostly targeted at fledgling minority-targeting efforts. Cuccinelli expected he’d become a national election – he did for the Democrats, but not the Republicans.” McAuliffe eventually outspent the Republican by $15 million. In the final push Mr. Cuccinelli focused messaging on Obamacare and fiscal issues. The close finish, 2.5 points, sent a dozen vulnerable Democrat Senators running to the White House begging for relief from the health care disaster. The message here is that Ken Cuccinelli offered a winning message – only the combined efforts of GOP moderates and a garbage bag full of Democrat dirty tricks stole this election from the people of Virginia.
It appears the GOP Establishment want the Tea Party to lose more than they want the Constitution to survive. Fortunately, constitutional conservatives are running and winning in local races for school boards, trustees, city council races and regulatory boards. This is the genesis of a new farm team, filling local precincts and taking over state central committees. The Republican party is rotting at the head, but grassroots are spreading far and wide, engaging a new generation of Americans that understand the current trajectory of the nation cannot continue. Criticism of the wayward Establishment cannot obscure a harsh truth tea party conservatives must face; our battles with progressive-minded Republicans must be fought and won in primaries, not the general elections. If people like Lindsay Graham or Lamar Alexander are not challenged and beaten in a primary, we must swallow the castor oil and support them on Election Day. I hear a resounding “Hell No” across the Southland. We may claim they are no better than the Democrat, but we know this: They will vote for the GOP Majority Leader and that determines everything that follows. We also know they are susceptible, in some degree, to pressure from voters in their states. If we don’t offer a better primary candidate, sitting home on Election Day is tantamount to voluntarily strapping on the yoke and harness. If it seems that an inordinate amount of time and effort will be required of we the taxpayer, the answer is yes–the cost of freedom rises exponentially when we allow others to rule rather than serve.
Rove, McCain, Graham and McConnell will enjoy fleeting success against the Constitutional-Right and receive fawning media accolades each time they defame the character of principled conservatives, but these are Pyrrhic victories. The GOP Establishment has ignited – not a brush fire, but a bonfire in the minds of patriots that will burn down their kingdom. On the ashes of their shattered progressive dreams, Americans can rebuild a shining city on the hill, relying on the solid foundation of a Constitution more relevant today than when the Framers first set quill to parchment.
