RedStateEclectic

Ron Paul Voters

On election day, we learned that it's one thing to dis Ron Paul and his delegates. It's quite another to disenfranchise them. Ron Holland writes:

The world knows how the Romney campaign and GOP establishment trashed Ron Paul and his supporters during the GOP primary season and in front of millions at the GOP national convention.

… The Republican Party would have captured the Senate and they would have millions of young supporters promoting both the party and our freedom agenda. But this was not to be, due to the arrogance and animosity of the GOP big-wigs and the Republican operatives running the Romney campaign.

This from Muir Boda:

The Republican Party had an opportunity to bring into its fold a generation of a well-organized grass roots effort. It had an opportunity to appeal to millions of independent, unaffiliated and libertarian leaning Americans who did one of three things, vote for Gary Johnson, write in Ron Paul or not vote at all.

Instead, Mitt Romney and the Republican Establishment did everything they could to silence, hinder and obstruct Ron Paul and his supporters. They changed the rules at the last minute at the Republican National Convention, looked for ways to disqualify Paul’s delegates and tried to disrupt its own nominating process in every state. Simply put, Mitt Romney did not have to cheat to win the Republican nomination, but he did anyway.

I'd like to agree with these assessments, but I can't help but think about how close the election was - even with Paul followers eschewing the GOP. Romney and the GOP machine still got 58 million votes to Obama's 60 million. While I realize that votes by states and electoral paths matter more, and that swing states could have resulted differently with more republican votes, it was still close without Dr. Paul's happy band of liberty lovers.

Maybe we mattered more in local political races? But at the federal level I'm not so sure. Also, I wonder just how badly the GOP really wanted this current mess. With a dodgy economy, a looming fiscal cliff, and Obamacare coming online in 2014, it could be they have more to gain in the coming years with the democrats donning the façade of "conductor" during a train wreck.

Maybe I'm giving them too much credit and that they truly are controlling, power-hungry goons bent on severely breaking their own rules to portray a unified neocon front. Answers to such questions will appear in the future. Hopefully, more liberty will come, bringing with it the answers I wanted to hear.

Get Out the Vote

Hilarious satire from J. R. Hammond in response to Breitbart’s attempt to argue in favor of a Romney vote:

That’s why it’s silly to dismiss Romney as no different than Obama. Some wave off their obligation to choose with a cliché, that Romney is just “the lesser of two evils.”

That’s true, but the key is “lesser.” If you have to choose between pissing off Stalin or Hitler, you’d be a fool to shrug your shoulders and risk some face time with the dude with the funny mustache (no, the other one with the funny mustache). Make no mistake, you are obligated—obligated, I tell you—to choose between one of two pro-establishment candidates! Don’t throw away your vote by denying that obligation and refusing to lend legitimacy to the perpetuation of the status quo!

This is no time to “make a statement” or pout that Ron Paul got treated badly in Tampa. He did get treated badly in Tampa, and that was stupid and unnecessary. Again, let’s put that behind us! If you are truly dedicated to the Constitution you won’t let it be trampled on by a Democratic president in order to make some soon-to-be-moot point to the anonymous GOP party hacks responsible for not giving Ron Paul a primo speaking slot because they knew he would just repeat truths we really just don’t want to hear.

Priorities, people. Nothing less than the Constitution is at stake here. And I think we can all agree that it would be much better to have a Republican president trampling the Constitution.

Bravo, Mr. Hammond. Bravissimo.

A Nebraska Delegate's RNC Convention 2012 Wrap-Up

As Laura promised more than a week ago here is my update of the RNC convention for 2012. This update is late thanks to not having any Internet access at the Nebraska delegation hotel. Likewise there wasn’t anything available near the hotel. Somebody made the comment that hotels are either Presidents, Minerals, or Animals. The Presidents are luxury, the Minerals want to be Presidents but aren’t, and finally Animals are the dogs. We stayed in an Animal on the beach. Nice location even though we were 45 minutes from the convention, but certainly not what you’d expect in regard to “deluxe” accommodations.

Paul Fest on Saturday night and the Ron Paul Rally on Sunday are what you’d expect. The Sunday event had a kind of “finale” appeal to it where we were summing up the efforts of most of us over the last 5 years.

Monday saw the convention cancelled, but we still had a delegate breakfast and lunch reception. Pretty much a down day since the weather wasn’t all that great due to the hurricane flying by in the gulf.

The biggest day of the convention came on Tuesday. With Monday’s business portion of the convention pushed to Tuesday that meant that the normal afternoon session would conflict with anything that may have been scheduled during the afternoon down time. For the Nebraska delegation that would mean making a choice between being there for the credentials report, rules reports, and the roll-call vote or participating in the booze cruise.

From what I could see on the floor, it looked like the current Chairman, Committeeman, Committeewoman, future Committeewoman, two establishment delegates, and two Ron Paul delegates stayed behind. The rest of the delegates, alternates, and guests were on the boat during the votes.

A couple notes about this part of the day. The two establishment delegates were somehow able to stay for the credentials and rules vote but left before the roll-call vote and headed to the boat which was waiting for them. Why didn’t the rest of the delegation stay on the floor for the credentials and rules vote since the boat was going to wait for them?

After the delegation returned, it was reported to me that one of the establishment delegates that left after the credentials and rules votes reported to the Governor that the two Ron Paul delegates booed the results of the credentials and rules vote. This made it sound like we were one of the few on the floor that were against the vote. Remember, none of the people on the boat knew what happened and many probably haven’t seen the video below even to this day. See the video below and you judge for yourself if only two people could make that much noise. Oh, and you might want to discern who won the vote, the Yay’s or the No’s. Also, can only Ron Paul delegates make this much noise? Not at all. There are many in the party upset at the centralization of power at the top. (My apologies for reshowing this video from a previous post here at RedStateEclectic.)

The roll-call vote was a lot of fun. Both Ron Paul delegates were asked for their vote earlier in the day at lunch. They both held firm. I asked the Chairman if he could just say Ron Paul’s name, and he wouldn’t answer that. I told him I understood he has his orders. It is the Governor who runs the Nebraska GOP and thus obvious where the Chair’s direction comes from. You can see the Nebraska vote below. Pay attention to how many votes Nebraska gets and how many Romney received.

As I said earlier the Nebraska delegation was told that there wouldn’t really be anything going on while they were gone. Two problems with this. One is that voting on credentials, rules, and the roll-call is the meat of the convention besides electing the nominee. The other problem is that they didn’t miss anything. It was a forgone conclusion that the RNC lawyers would shove the credentials and rules down the delegates throat, and of course Romney would be the only candidate’s name read aloud, or at least mostly read aloud and counted.

Tuesday’s business (or rather Monday’s business) was modified from the previous schedule for two purposes. For one, the roll-call vote which is normally a prime-time event and broadcast on television was originally moved to Monday night in prime-time. When they cancelled Monday’s session and began rewriting the RNC rules the RNC could tell that the rule changes were going to be unpopular. They were also concerned with Ron Paul’s name being used on prime-time TV during the roll-call. Thus, to ensure that more delegates would not skip the first session on Tuesday, they moved the roll-call vote to Tuesday’s afternoon session. This move made sure that the roll-call vote would not be televised and that more people, as in party regulars who don’t normally care about rules votes, were in attendance to help with the rules vote. In politics nothing happens by chance and the manipulation of the schedule is yet another example of this.

That wrapped up Tuesday and the first and only day with any real business. The rest of the week was spent with some great events for the Nebraska delegation. The convention in the evening had the typical speakers with maybe the exception of Clint Eastwood.

The convention is a political junkie’s final game. Having the floor fight and Ron Paul element there, even though squashed, was a great experience. Convention politics is a lot of fun. The RNC convention though is nothing but a marketing event where any dissenting voice in the party must not be seen by the public. Unfortunately, the rules changes that were adopted, even though watered down, will ensure that dissenting voices don’t even get to the convention next time. Perhaps more on that some other time.

 

For Want of Two Votes

The world does not revolve around Nebraska.  I know that.  Nebraska is rarely a difference maker in much of anything (other than football).  Actually, we sort of like it that way, I think.  But today an old rhyme keeps going through my mind:

Last month, I wrote a rather extended tale of Republican Liberty Caucus-Nebraska’s efforts to gain delegates to our county and then state conventions (and ultimately, to the national convention).  In the month or so since I finished that multi-part story, a number of us have given money to Republican candidates (and some of us have given to the Nebraska Party); many of us have been out walking in parades and volunteering for candidates—including  the Republican U.S. Senate Candidate here in the state; all of us were looking ahead to the rest of the fall campaign and continuing involvement in the Republican Party.

Last night, the Nebraska Republican Party kicked us in the ass.  Sorry, I’m not sure how else to say it.

Back in July, the chair of the Nebraska GOP and myself came to what I thought was an agreement that would last.  The GOP called off their plans for “extra security” at our state convention, and we agreed that we wouldn’t engage in “any kind of dilatory or disruptive tactics that could interfere with the mutual goal of an orderly and efficient convention.”

Oh, and we said that we believed in “The Nebraska Way” (defined in our joint statement as: honesty, cordiality, neighborliness, practicing the Golden Rule—and when differences occur “shaking hands and agreeing to disagree in a respectful way”).

And we behaved at the convention.  We didn’t engage in any of the practices that the Party had heard about in 49 other states before us, and was fearful that we were going to do.  We called for exactly TWO counted votes, which we lost.  We didn’t challenge the platform.  We let things flow.  We elected TWO of our folks out of the 35 total delegates.  We were generally pretty subdued, and let chips fall where they would.  We got a standing ovation from the convention for our involvement.  I’ve even got a handwritten note from the Governor, thanking me for “the manner in which you and your supporters conducted yourselves” at the convention.   He said he “looked forward to everyone’s involvement in moving the Republican Party forward.”

Gosh, that seemed o.k.  It seemed like the “Nebraska Way.” We all knew that we weren’t going to agree with each other on everything, but surely we had proven that we could treat each other with respect, in spite of our differences, and that we just might be able to show the rest of the country that the liberty movement was welcome in the GOP.

And then last night.  The roll call vote.  Nebraska, as you’ll recall from a few paragraphs back, had TWO Ron Paul committed delegates.  Just TWO of our 35 total.  The other 33 were Romney Committed.

We listened to the roll call.  States were calling out their total, including those for Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, Michele Bachman.  None of those had the necessary states to have their names put into nomination, so the calling of names didn’t represent numbers on the tally—only Romney’s names were formally recorded.  But the delegations all seemed to be willing to show a modicum of respect to the supporters of other candidates who showed up, worked the system, and got themselves elected to the National Convention.  Awesome!, I thought.  There must not be direction from on high to completely shut down any non-Romney delegate.  Good will by the winners will get us a long way toward healing some of the divisions.

Michigan.  One of Mitt Romney’s home states.  His brother, Scott Romney, announced the vote, which included 4 votes for Ron Paul.  YES!  If Scott Romney can say “Ron Paul”, our folks will at least get their efforts acknowledged, and then we can move on.

Nebraska.  The usual Nebraska is the home of ____ stuff, and then: Madame Secretary, Nebraska casts 33 votes for Mitt Romney (not a direct quote).  And then the crickets started chirping.  And…..?   Nothing.  TWO Delegates (including Jon, who hasn’t yet had an opportunity to post here) were there, standing on camera, behind the Nebraska Chair, and Nebraska didn’t say that those two delegates abstained, didn’t say that they had cast their vote for Ron Paul….  They just pretended that they didn’t exist.

And then my e-mail and Facebook messages started to light up from my RLC/Paul colleagues.  Why didn’t our votes get mentioned?  What are we going to do? Can we fix this?  I saw Jon there!  I can’t believe they did this!  Everyone else mentioned their Paul votes, why not us?

I have no answers; I have some suspicions.  I don’t believe it was accidental.  I believe that someone wanted to make sure that the Nebraska Republican Liberty Caucus folks didn’t get their votes cast.

I sent out a press release last night expressing my disappointment in this, after our earlier agreement about the “Nebraska Way.”  And establishment hacks started attacking me on *their* blogs, and Facebook, and Twitter—telling me I should stop whining—we lost.  Yep, we did.  And then, the comments started in.  My favorite: “You Paultards should shut up and just vote for Romney.”

Oh.  I missed that lesson in the “How to Win Friends and Influence Enemies” class—call the people whose help you want names, and then make rude demands of them…

For want of two votes, what’s going to happen in Nebraska?  I don’t know, but I’ll bet we’ll have some fun things to report in the next few months.

We Are Not Just the Future: We’re Becoming the Tent!

Outside of the Tunnel—Lessons Learned & Where We Go From Here

What follows here will probably be a little bit disjointed, but will cover some of the things that I’ve previously mentioned only briefly in the earlier pieces—or in some cases, maybe haven’t mentioned at all.  If you’re just now stumbling onto this, I’d suggest giving a quick read to the following (in order):

Part 1  (Setting the stage—Pre-conventions)

Part 2  (Getting ready for County Conventions/county conventions)

Part 3 (Post County conventions-Night before State Convention—Dr. Paul’s Call)

Part 4 (State Convention Day)

 

The Rest of the Story

• We lost the delegate race.  We lost fair and square—of that I have no doubt.  I have taken slings and arrows from Paul supporters around the country who have criticized us for not demanding a hand counted vote. But the numbers just weren’t in our favor, and the Romney forces were as well organized and stable in their vote for their slate, as we were in ours.  At least one commenter to one of the earlier pieces will claim vote fraud occurred (or at least that it likely occurred, or that it might have occurred, so we should have preemptively demanded the hand count).  We were prepared to raise the issue if there was any hint that there were problems, but there just wasn’t, and since we had already started looking to the future of the movement within the Party (rather than one candidate alone), we decided not to start implying that they were cheating us when our observations and intuition suggested that they weren’t. 
• Strategic, temporary alliances are sometimes necessary.  By the time our conventions came around, there were no visible signs of any other campaigns operating here.  Even the Romney campaign hadn’t done much of anything in Nebraska, until (maybe) the last few days—unless you count the Governor’s efforts.  We knew our numbers (critical, in any political operation), and we knew that we didn’t have the majority.  There was no “Santorum group” or “Gingrich group” or “Bachmann group” that we could reach out to in order to form something of a “unity slate”.  It was us, and the Romney people.
• Ultimately, we made some deals with some folks who wouldn’t otherwise have been able to get to the national convention, we don’t think, if they didn’t have our assistance.  They were Romney committed, but at least non-hostile—perhaps even friendly--to our group.  Their inclusion on our slate of people to vote for (in 2 out of 3 cases, for alternate delegates) represented our trying to look look ahead and build bridges to the larger party, rather than going it completely alone in the future.
• The temptation to blame everyone but yourself is commonplace.
• The “establishment”, if you will, here in Nebraska, has gotten lazy.  Because we’re a late primary/convention state, we have slipped into irrelevance most of the time.  State law for filing for the county conventions is often ignored, because there is such a culture of just seating everyone.  Our folks filed, and yet when they got there—in some cases, in the majority in their counties—considerable hostility was directed their way in some places.  The “new kids”/”Paul people”/”Liberty Caucus” got blamed for upsetting the normal structure of things, but really, all we did was follow the rules—it was those who couldn’t be bothered to follow the rules who howled the loudest.
• That said, “Paul people” outside of Nebraska, occasionally engaged in their own brand of histrionics.  In the weeks before the state conventions, I was taking phone calls and e-mails, and Facebook messages from (sometimes) a dozen different people a day.  “Invite Ron Paul”; “Call out supporters from around the country to form a barrier of intimidation”; “Threaten lawsuits”; “Find ways of wearing the old guard down and having them go home till you have the majority.”  All of this assumed that we could have come up with a majority—or that we at least had enough votes to change agendas, fight rules, etc.  That prospect was tenuous at best, since we only had 40% of the delegates to the state convention at best, and our rules didn’t require any 2/3 votes—in other words, a simple majority could have shut us down.
• I find myself, quite frankly, perplexed by some of the reaction from the Paul contingent around the country.  Within minutes (literally), of our convention ending, I was getting Facebook messages and e-mails, calling me a traitor, suggesting that I had somehow been “bought” when I forged a joint statement with the state GOP Chair that would relieve some of the tension surrounding the event.  Of course I’m still taking some heat in the local blogs (and in the comments section), as well—but those bother me far less than the attacks from the “Paul folks.”  I have, after all, been playing in the Paul sandbox since 2007—first as a blogger, then as an organizer in Nebraska, then as Nebraska RLC Chair, and then as C4L State Coordinator.  I’ll admit that I had sort of hoped that Ron wouldn’t run again this year—not because I thought any less of him, but because I feared that something could happen which would end up discrediting him and the movement. I took the “gambler” approach—I thought that it was important to “know when to hold ‘em; know when to fold ‘em; know when to walk away…..” But once he was the only liberty Republican game in town (and the RLC national had endorsed him), I was all-in, and have spent countless hours over the last 7 months traveling, training, writing, etc., on his behalf.
• In the days leading up to the convention, as people were still messaging me, I started either ignoring them, or telling them “we’ve got a plan we’ve been working for the last 3 months, and it’s not going to work to change it now.”   In a few instances, when I was particularly tired, and weary of taking these phone calls, I ended up saying something along the lines of: “Nebraska is the last state to choose national delegates, if we’re the magic 5th, then that means 45 other states have failed to do THEIR jobs, and if we mess up, we’ll be joining a large group.” 
• While I’m all for exploiting the rules to the extent possible, it’s still unclear to me how people can truly think that Ron Paul would get the nomination (I know, our comments section is going to get blasted with that one).  He didn’t win the popular vote in a single state.  Without that, how can we credibly claim that it’s the will of the people that he get the nomination? (No, I don’t believe that the primaries were rigged in all 50 states.) Would I like to see all sorts of things happen at the RNC next month?  Sure.  Would I like to see a truly brokered convention?  Of course—I’m a political scientist by training, and a political nerd by nature—those are things I’d love to watch happen—in either party.  But do I really believe it’s going to happen?  No.  I can only imagine one scenario where it would even be conceivable for us to end up in a brokered convention—and that possibility is so remote, that it’s really not worth gaming.
• So why did we do all of this?  Why—if Nebraska is at the end of the list, and irrelevant anyway, did a small group of 6 of us (initially)—joined by odds and ends of others later—decide to organize for Ron Paul way back in January?  A couple of reasons:
• Some fights—even when you lose (or even suspect you’ll lose)—are worth the effort.  The liberty movement in the Republican Party of Nebraska is now an element of the Party that needs to be considered.  The Party tent has to get just a little bigger now, because while we see things similarly to the Tea Party in some areas, we are far less (I think) co-optable than the Tea Party.  We (RLCNE-related folks who supported Ron Paul, primarily) now hold a number of State Central Committee seats.  Our folks control a number of County Republican Parties.  Whether the “old guard” likes it or not, the GOP in Nebraska is changing.  I’m the “mom” of the group—the “kids” are the 20-30-somethings who have been inspired to get involved, and who have started forming the backbone of the Party organization that will just grow, and become a major voice in the Party for the next 30 years.  I really do believe that—and have told some of our folks that it’s critical to remember what it was like today, when THEY were on the outside fighting for a seat at the table, when a new group tries to break through in 25 or 35 years, and THEY are the “establishment.”
• In other words, we lost the battle for delegates, but I think we won a lot over the last 6 months—and the Republican Party of Nebraska will be stronger (eventually) because of that—as soon as some of the “regulars” realize that we’re not the enemy; we’re the next wave…the reinforcements.
• Principle.  Sometimes, you do things, even when you know it’s going to be painful, for what you believe to be the right reasons.  Not everyone agrees with those principles, unfortunately.  Our continued effort—even when the delegate race nationally looked hopeless—was done because we wanted to take a stand, and show that we weren’t just flashes in the pan.  My personal refusal (supported, for the most part, by my fellow Nebraskans), to engage in preemptive demands upon the party (like hand counting of ballots, or repeated pointless parliamentary maneuvering), was based on principle, as well.  Have some NEGOP regulars been hostile?  Sure.  But did I think they’d deliberately cheat?  Well, I didn’t think most of them would, and I believed that we could do things the “Nebraska way”—with a sense of cordiality and agreeing to disagree and letting the chips fall where they may.  I think my trust for my fellow Nebraskans—in spite of what happened in some places around the country—has been justified, on the whole.  And the truth is, I don’t think the political culture in our state nurtures an atmosphere where people really know how to cheat well—yeah, I know that sounds funny.  But it’s true. We’re not Chicago; we’re “Nebraska nice”—and even those few counties where there was some “funny business”—they didn’t do it well.  It was obvious to anyone who knew anything about the rules.  We just lost on the credentials battles on those (probably because the credentials committees seldom have anything controversial to deal with)—but even if we’d won those battles, the numbers wouldn’t have been enough to make up the difference.
• So, what’s next in Nebraska?  I’m not sure, in total.  But here are some thoughts.
• The RLCNE paid membership has quadrupled in the last 6 months.  Those identifying themselves as “RLC” but not having paid dues yet, increase our reach even further.  The RLCNE is healthy, and getting healthier.  At some level, we’re becoming the “shadow party”—although we have a lot of work to do, yet.
• The big question for many of us is the role of the C4L.  What’s become clear is that among the “core group” of organizers for this year’s effort, our primary interest is in playing party politics—issue advocacy is important, but none of us are really eager to jump back in to that.  I expect that in the next few months, some of us will have some discussions about the C4L’s future in Nebraska.  I’d hate to see it disappear altogether, but how to deal with it is the unknown.  The answer would probably be more apparent if there was more than $200 in the bank, and if there was a donor base that would allow for the hiring of an executive director for the organization who could take on a lot of the issue advocacy goals.  But there again, it’s been primarily a volunteer organization, thus far, and the leadership has been all volunteer.
• Our NEGOP State Central Committee members will start having a voice in the Party.  They’ll elect a new Chair next January or February—perhaps someone who is friendlier to us (or perhaps not). 
• In the counties where we control County Party organizations, I’ve seen Facebook pages popping up, and have been on the receiving end of e-mails organizing activities.  These are usually counties where the party organizations have been pretty dormant, so it’s exciting to see some new life in some of these counties, and especially to know that they’re being led by younger men and women who are committed to the principles of conservatism that were widely known 40 and 50 years ago, rather than the “expedient conservatism” that seems to be so in vogue today.  I’m sure that party regulars will follow—eventually—if our folks prove to be effective leaders and organizers.
• On whole, I have a great sense of hope about what’s going to happen in our state.  It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen, I believe.

And finally, I feel the need to make some truly personal comments about the last 7 months….

I am, by nature, something of a loner.  I’m not anti-social, but I’m not exactly a gregarious person, either.  My Myers Briggs tests always show me as an INTJ—which basically suggests that I’m a planner/organizer/strategist who lives in my own head.  I don’t think the last 7 months have changed that, but I do have to say that for an introvert, I’ve now got more people I count as friends who I would walk through the gates of hell with, than I’ve ever had in my life.

The men and women who I have worked with over the last 7 months—ranging in age from 17 year olds who were eligible for the process only because they’ll turn 18  before the General Election, to the 90-something Pearl Harbor survivor—are the finest men and women who I have ever had the privilege of knowing.  They inspired me to write late night e-mails, and go through lists one more time, looking for people who might be “ours.”  They inspire me to do more—even in my own Democratically controlled county (ironically, I live in one of the few counties in the state where Democrats outnumber Republicans).  We didn’t always agree on strategy or tactics, but almost to a person, we could talk through our differences rationally—and when it came time for the convention, they were almost always “on board”, and worked the plan.

Ron Paul supporters and those in the “liberty movement”  take a lot of heat from the “regulars.”  We’re called “Paulistas” and “Paulbots”; it’s implied that we’re all a bunch of wild-eyed drug addicts because we believe that the war on drugs is an abysmal failure; we’re accused of being immoral, because we don’t want government legislating morality.

Yes, we have some on the “fringe”—as do all emerging movements—but the vast majority of the folks I’ve worked with are wise beyond their years, are well-informed on a broad array of topics, and are scared to death that the opportunities that their parents and grandparents had aren’t going to be available for them or their children, if we don’t return to sound constitutionally limited governance.

Sometimes, the Paul phenomenon is likened to a “cult” of sorts.  I’ll acknowledge that there are some who do seem to be almost cult-like in their devotion.  But I think that most of the comments—which oftentimes sound so hysterical—are really just signs of how truly desperate people are to be heard, and to have others understand (even if they don’t agree) how scared we are for the future of our country.  My INTJ personality doesn’t let me show that level of emotion, as a rule—I tend to stay on an even-keel most of the time—but I think I’m coming to understand at least some of my fellow Paul supporters.

When I called Dr. Paul back the day before the convention (after ignoring his call), the first question that he asked me was “how are things going in Nebraska?”  I kind of laughed, and he said something like “Just another normal day, right?”

I don’t think that things will ever be politically “normal” again around here—or at least not until the “new normal” is well established.  There are too many new people who have taken on too many new roles in the liberty movement and the greater Republican Party in the the state, for things to ever go back to normal.  But that’s o.k.—normal isn’t always fun—and boy, have we had some fun!  Dreadlocks, body piercings, mohawks are all part of the new Republican landscape in Nebraska.  Will they stay?  Probably not—we all tend to grow out of those things eventually, and the look will morph into something more conventional.  But it’s great to see new ideas—to see Young Republicans who aren’t just trying to be “mini-me’s” of the “big Republicans.” 

I wouldn’t give up the friendships that I’ve made in the last 7 months for anything in the world.  Even those amongst us who drive me a little crazy, I can’t imagine not having around.  They’re good, solid people, who want to make a difference, and if I’m asked to predict, I think they will.

Nebraska’s in the center of it all (no, really, just look at your map ).  If we’re any indication, the future is bright for the liberty movement.

Tales from the Other Side of the Tunnel—the Convention

So, our last piece of this little serialized account of Nebraska’s convention process ended with Ron Paul’s call to our delegates this past Friday night (July 13), and with our formation of “the slate.”

A bit of a discussion about the “slate creation” process here.  First, we wanted to make sure that everyone who we put on the Paul slate was absolutely, positively committed to going to Tampa, if elected.  We found that we had a good number of folks who were willing to go as delegates, but not as alternates, so that stymied some of our slate creation efforts.

Second, we were also trying to create a geographically and demographically diverse slate.  We didn’t want just us “old folks” on the slate, nor did we want just the “young guns”—we thought that diversity would make us stronger in the long run.

Third, we knew, going in, that we didn’t have a majority of the delegates to the state convention.  40% was about the best number we could come up with, if EVERYONE showed up, and voted for the slate.  We knew that if the other side was organized and cohesive, that we were in trouble—by the same token, we knew that if they WEREN’T organized, that we had a pretty good chance of capturing a sizable chunk of the delegates.  Much would depend on how well the “establishment” dug in.

Fourth, we DID make some “deals” with other people—some who were committed to Romney.  Our goal in doing that was to try and get them to bring some people over to our slate and boost our numbers a bit.  Coalition building seemed to be our best opportunity, if the Romney forces were organized.

Fifth (related to #1) we only put people on the slate who we knew were fully qualified to serve.  Nebraska’s party rules call for the Letter of Intent to run to be filed before the County Conventions in May, and then a Notice of Commitment to be filed in early July.  We knew who had told us that they had filed those forms, but we managed to get a list a few days before the convention, from the state party, of all who would be on the ballot for national convention delegates.  Unfortunately, the list that we got apparently wasn’t completely accurate, and a few of our folks showed up on the ballot, who we hadn’t put on the slate because we thought that the Party hadn’t gotten their forms (and didn’t have them listed as qualified).

To come up with our slates, we had asked our known delegates to fill out a brief questionnaire via a web form we created.  Then we started double checking with the state party’s names.  Because we knew that we didn’t have the majority of the delegates, we couldn’t do what the governor ended up doing—creating a single slate, which was put on the ballot—for delegates and alternates.  We had a hierarchy of folks who we wanted to get to the top of our list, based on how much they’d helped us, and how able they were to go.

Our first priority was our Congressional District candidates.  But we needed to leave room on our At-Large slate to see to it that if they weren’t elected, that we could slide them over to the At-large slate.  More on all of that later.

Registration for our convention began at 7 a.m.  We attempted to gather our forces for a 6:30 tailgating breakfast of donuts and juice, and a little bit more discussion and pep talk.  We handed out special pins (see photo below) which would help us to identify one another.

Once registered, we organized by Congressional District, and seated ourselves in that manner.  We had a text messaging system set up, so I was able to send out “flash” messages to everyone who had signed up—almost 2/3 of our delegates.  We’d handed the “final” slates out, which included 7 Ron Paul supporters and 2 “friendly” Romney folks on the Congressional District slate, and 15 or 16 RP supporters and a few “friendlies” on the At-Large slate.  And we had some others—spouses or “maybe willing to attend” folks on the Alternate slate that we’d put together.

We made sure that there was room for “failed candidates” at the CD level, to be moved to at-large, because we had a limited number of people who were willing and able to go to National under any circumstances.  In one or two instances, we stuck one spouse on the Delegate list, and one on the Alternate list.  We didn’t have 64 people who we could have plugged in to ALL of the Delegate and Alternate positions—we had about 35 people who had various levels of commitment to attend, if need be.

The first round of voting—for Congressional District Candidates: we managed to get two delegates elected from the 2nd Congressional District (the Omaha area, which you’ll recall from an earlier installment had a lot of success in the County conventions).  The 3rd Delegate from that district was one who we made the strategic decision to support, even though he was a Romney supporter.  He is an icon in the GOP in the 2nd District, and it was obvious that he wasn’t going to win if we didn’t support him.  After a brief phone conversation, and consultation with a few others, it made sense to have him generally on our side.  If we’d replaced him with a pure Ron Paul supporter, we would have gotten one more delegate, but it wouldn’t have made any difference in the final results in terms of the “majority/plurality state” issue—and again, since our efforts were not just for the delegates, but to improve the standing of the RLC, this seemed a sign of goodwill for the long term.  We’ll see how that plays out.

We slid our unsuccessful Paul delegates into the at-large slate (we’d fortunately left enough room for all of us), and had at the second round before lunch.  The results were even more dismal.  The Governor’s slate held together, and Romney people continued to get elected.

After lunch we had CD alternate votes, and, since our hopes were pretty well dashed, we looked to building alliances for later.  We elected one Ron Paul supporter as an alternate, and 2 friendly non-slate Romney supporters as 2nd CD alternates.  None of our folks got elected anywhere else, in either the CD or At-large alternate races.

Some (mostly outside of the state) criticized us because we did not demand a hand count of the delegate votes.  I suppose we could have pushed for that, but it seemed pretty pointless, and something that would have likely drug things on longer, and caused irritation amongst those with whom we will be working with in the future.  We did run some test votes—just to see how strong the organization of the “other side” was.  One was a credentials committee challenge.  We lost on voice vote, called for division, and went with standing votes.  The numbers showed about 38% to 62%, not in our favor.  Both “our folks” and the Romney folks had vote clues available—people raising signs suggesting “vote yes” or “vote no”.

A second vote, on a rule which we challenged, turned out similarly, about 42% to 58%.  It was pretty clear after those votes that our 40% estimate of power was pretty darned close.

Delegate votes (in the at-large) showed that the slates were holding.  The spread between the Paul slate and the Romney slate votes were very close to that 40-60 split.  Could we—hypothetically—have been cheated by the voting machines?  I suppose so.  Do I think we were?  No.

Platform-wise, we’d had two members on the platform committee (including myself).  We made some suggestions, got most of what we wanted, and declared it a success. 

In the end, the RLC-associated folks (mostly Paul folks), comported themselves with great dignity and grace—even though we were all disappointed in the delegate results.  Our folks left eager to stay involved, and happy with the place we’d earned at the table.  There’s no denying that some on the other side were hostile, and will remain so.  But many of the “regulars” who were there—even though they voted with the Governor’s slate—treated us cordially, and in the end, the State Chair took a moment to thank the new folks for showing up, and the “liberty caucus folks” were given a standing ovation. 

Afterwards, I had the chance to talk to those of our folks who weren’t otherwise occupied by the State Central Committee that was taking place (a goodly number of our folks now sit on the State Central Committee).  There was disappointment, yes.  But no regret in what we had done, and no sign that they were ready to give up the fight.

This post has gotten long…so the last one will deal with some of the lessons learned, and prognostications for the future of the liberty movement in Nebraska, and some reflections on the liberty movement nationwide.

Fishing in Nebraska - GOP 33, Ron Paul 2

One day, when I was a boy, I was taken by Austrian friends to a pier at the Attersee, to catch fish at the crack of dawn. Handling the fishing rod absorbed all of my attention and when I was retrieving the line once again, I suddenly felt weightless. In an instant, the world turned cold and wet: I had ended up in the lake. I took the incident as a sign from higher spheres never to pursue the practice of fishing again:

However, for some people fishing seems to be a most exquisite form of relaxation.

Maybe some of us need some chilling out after all this (see below) - perhaps even just looking at these pictures of cormorant fishing might do the trick:

Phew! By denying Ron Paul a majority of the 35 delegates at its state convention, the Nebraska Republican party saved itself, and the rest of the national GOP, the embarrassment not only of having Ron speak at the national convention, but of having his name placed in nomination. 90% of the party constituents, and 100% of its establishment hierarchy, will now be saved the pain of listening to ideas that express philosophic principles that were once popular among the GOPers. Wars, police-state practices, torture, presidentially-decreed assassinations, imprisonment without trial, censorship, etc., represent the "new world order" that will bring conservatives to their feet. No more will these people have to suffer the indignity of having to listen to Ron suggest that the peaceful thinking of Jesus should govern American foreign policy! ("Ain't that treasonous, Ralph?" "Well, it's at least blasphemous, Martha!")

The source.

The Old and Nothing New

Massachusetts disregards rubberstamping and chooses 18-year-old Evan Kenny as a delegate, among others. What does the party do? Changes the rules, of course. They disqualified the fair-and-square delegates.

A very engaging young Mr. Kenny is interviewed by Rachel Maddow:

The crux of the interview can be summed up with Mr. Kenny’s words:

These are only a few corrupt power brokers in the leadership… I’m not a republican that George Bush represents. I’m a republican that the republican oath represents.

Welcome to the minority, Mr. Kenny. I give you high marks for your principles but what is to be said about a party that is controlled by “a few” power brokers? It’s more than a few and even those who showed support for the duly elected delegates (delegates no longer) remain steadfastly loyal to the oligarchy. And we’re now supposed to tow the line and vote for Mittens in November?

The GOP lost their moorings years ago and are headed in a direction that I can not follow. As for life under Obama, it’s very much like life under Bush’s gang, who produced liberty-stripping laws, preemptive wars, and a bubblicious ownership society – long since popped. Except now all that extra government, tacked on by the GOP when they should have been shrinking it, is implementing newfound ways to lessen our quality of life.

It’s clear that those in power wish to exclude the Ron Paul people and the tenets of liberty they represent. If their voice has no place, then the only venue where one’s voice can be heard is the ballot box. Show the power hungry that you will not feed them. Let the GOP remain adrift, nationally, and see what strides can be made locally. 

Become a dissatisfied customer. A group of bees is comprised of individual stingers capable of attention. Vote third party and make it sting.

Laura in the News - Via Lew Rockwell

Reports Lew Rockwell:

As the Gratuitous Omnivorous Parasites threaten violence against the Paulians. Of course, violence and the threat of violence are government's method, and the method of government's political parties, too. if the fat cats' hold on you is ever threatened.

The source.

To find Laura in the news, click on the link above or here.