GOP Establishment Spills Its Tea
So the self-annointed leaders of the conservative party are whining that the conservative rank and file has selected conservatives to represent them in the November 2010 election.
Let’s make this clear: I don’t vote for Republicans so that they can get all chairmanships and the cushy offices in the Senate building. I vote for Republicans to represent my ideals of a strong national defense, limited government and a free and open society.
Over the past decade the Republican establishment has forgotten this simple fact. Under the previous administration the Republican party spent taxpayer money like liberals, and expanded the size and scope of the federal government against the very ideals of the party. They made the DC beltway a cosy nest for themselves, forgetting that while the Supreme Court may have destroyed term limits it hadn’t erased it from our memories.
We thought we sent them a message by sitting on our hands in 2006 and handing the Democrats control of the both houses of Congress. They didn’t get the message. Two years later we bought their argument that voting for a liberal Arizonan would keep the socialist agenda of the Democrats at bay. It didn’t. In the two years since the Republican establishment Republicans like me have realized just how out-of-touch the Republican establishment is with people like me, so others who felt the same way joined together to form the Tea Party movement.
The establishment was happy to encourage us on the talk shows as our popularity grew, enjoying our growing strength at the expense of the Democrats. Limited government? Sure! Get control of the deficit? Absolutely! A return to the principles of our founders? Amen!
What, do they think we were joking?
Instead of listening to us in Delaware, they offered us a man who supported the nationalization of the energy industry and opposed the surge in Iraq by voting his conscience. Mike Castle represented my principles about as much as Rosie O’Donnell, yet people like me were expected to support him because he had an “R” after his name and was a shoo-in for “Biden’s seat” (proving once again that the establishment of both parties “Ted Kennedy’s seat” is guilty of viewing representation as a property right instead of a privilege.)
The Republican establishment has reached a crossroads. Either it will keep the Tea Party within its fold where it can compromise with it, or it will kick it out. If the latter happens, the party will lose its legitimacy with its own membership. If it keeps the Tea Party within its ranks, it is going to lose some establishment heads and likely a few elections here or there, but in the end it will be energized and renewed.
As for Mike Castle, he can follow in Senator Joe Lieberman’s footsteps and run for the seat as an Independent. He has the name recognition and probably enough financial backing to pull it off. He will then caucus with the Republicans on most issues just as Lieberman does with the Dems. Balance will be restored to the Universe and the Establishment will survive long enough to corrupt the firebrand Tea Partiers in its ranks.
Chad:
Delaware apparently has a “Sore Loser” law that prevents the loser of a primary from running in the general election…
15 September 2010, 2:41 pmJoseph:
Well said. If party officials don’t listen to the rank and file, they don’t deserve to be in office.
16 September 2010, 1:55 pm