Here’s the announcement I promised. I said it was a “big announcement,” and it is for me. It might not make any difference to some of the folks reading this post, however. For others, it may cause celebration. For me, it’s a life-changer. Last May, I was extremely honored to receive the nomination and election to the position of Canyon County Republican District 10 chair. I was very excited about the opportunity of working with politically like-minded people in taking America back. Although I have been deeply involved in politics since I was twelve, I had never attended a state political convention, so I looked forward to a great experience at the convention in Moscow this last June. However, after delegates from throughout the state gathered, it became quickly evident that there were going to be some serious challenges. Some of the county delegations had failed to follow party rules in the selection of their delegates. A new party platform was brought before the Platform Committee that would have reversed the conservative nature of the party. As a member of that committee, I helped “dispatch” that platform in short order. A few amendments to the standing platform were approved, and it was sent to the general body of the convention for adoption. However, the Credentials Committee had challenged those who had broken the rules of delegate selection, so when the general session began, the entire day was spent in fighting and parliamentary challenges, and the convention ended without getting anything done. It was clearly a fight between the liberal faction of the party, who has been called the “Establishment” and the conservative side, who have been called “Liberty-minded.” The “Democrat-Republicans,” as I call them, ultimately won in the end, and with no real conservative choice for state party chairman, conservatives were duped into supporting the candidate who the liberals wanted to see elected as chair. The supposed conservative party in Idaho has been infiltrated by Democrats who know that it is impossible to get elected under their banner. These folks campaign year-after-year using all the catch-phrases of a conservative, and once elected, vote any way but conservative. A review of Idaho Freedom Foundation’s “Freedom Index” (accountableidaho/freedom-index-2014/) clearly proves my point. It is simply shocking to me that the people re-elect State Representatives and Senators in their Districts who are at complete opposite ends of the spectrum. I have felt for years that most people either go into the voting booth and vote for the “R,” or they fall back to the bad habits of “popularity voting” they learned during their school years. I have run for various positions several times during my lifetime. Each and every time I’ve run, I’ve made it a point of clearly explaining my position on the various issues that would be considered by whoever was elected. Apparently, people don’t want to elect those who are open and honest with them, but would rather vote for the people who have the fanciest campaign materials; those who send out multiple post cards that say nothing. People don’t consider where candidates are getting all the money to pay for all those things, even though that information is readily available to them (sos.idaho.gov/elect/finance.htm). In all the races I ran in, my financial support came from individuals – not special interests or organizations. If you review the Financial Disclosure Reports of those in office, you will find that I am the exception, not the rule. I cannot begin to properly thank those who have supported my candidacies over the years. Voters don’t seem to care whether or not a candidate has been involved in other service to their community, or how long they have lived in their District. Heck, they don’t even care whether or not the person they are voting for even lives in their District. They’ll vote for candidates who have shady legal pasts and for those who continue to have legal and financial challenges. They’ll quickly accept and forgive some for their “activities” if they are popular, and demonize others for standing up for what is right. Voters overlook repeated involvement in scandals if the candidate is “popular.” The party who purports to be staunch supporters of the Constitution allows office holders to violate or side-step it. They follow the rules that they want to follow, and ignore rules if it is politically expedient to do so. A prime example of the latter took place in the last election, where “Butch” Otter and Mike Simpson were allowed to run as Republicans even though they had violated party rules by refusing to sign the required oath to the party to support the party’s platform. Many in the party of “limited government” continue to support the growth of government at all levels, and violate our Constitution through their support of Common Core, Obamacare (State Health Exchange), going into debt through Garvey funding for highways, and refusing to utilize the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, which reads, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” So-called “conservatives” come out publicly in support of RINOs (Republicans in name only) under the guise of “party unity.” As a person of principle, I simply cannot play those “political games,” and I took some heat for my support of former-Republican John Bujak in his race for governor as a Libertarian in the last election. I refused to support the Republican candidate for governor in the most recent election, who refused to follow party rules to support the party Rules, and who has been involved in scandal-after-scandal during his tenure. As a party District chairman, I am expected to stand behind every candidate on the Republican ticket – whether or not they are really Republicans. I am expected to help raise funds for all of the Republican candidates – again, whether or not they are really Republicans, or whether or not they support the party Bylaws. Again, as a person of principle, I simply cannot do that – and I refuse to play political “games.” The only hope for the Republican Party is the Republican Liberty Caucus – a national group recognized by the Republican Party – whose motto is that they are “The Conscience of the Republican Party.” This group not only stands 100% behind the Constitution, but they work diligently for limited government, balanced budgets, and freedom. This dedicated group is shunned by the so-called “Establishment” Republicans, who, while saying they are conservative, are working in support of quite the opposite. The “Establishment” likes to label RLC people as anything but Republicans – but I am here to tell you that they are the only REAL Republicans in America today. With all of that said, part of my “big announcement” is that I am resigning, effective immediately, as chairman of Canyon County Republican District 10. The second part of my “big announcement” is that I do not intend to stand as a candidate in any future election. As one friend told me recently, I am “too much of a cowboy.” When I asked for more in the way of a definition, she wrote that I am “a textbook symbol of American Individualism -- perhaps a bit reckless for Canyon County Central Committee and the ‘way we do it’ attitude.” I guess that’s another way of saying that I am a person of principle who will not bend that principle to succeed politically. I’ve never been a “politician,” and don’t intend to become one so that I can win an election.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 07:20:20 +0000
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