Rand Is the Man To Enhance the GOP Base

“Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the Democrats believe every day is April 15.” – Ronald Reagan

Romney lost the 2012 elections not only because he was a poor candidate choice for the GOP but more importantly because the Republican leadership did all they could to drive away the millions of young and passionate liberty supporters brought in by theRon Paul Campaign. I generally vote Republican but having watched the GOP elites behind the scenes and in Congress trash my fellow Paul supporters I chose not to vote in the 2012 election, as did millions of others.

America has an entrenched two-party political system and real political change can only be enacted by either the Democrat or Republican Parties independently or working together. Third parties are a waste of time, money and effort, as their often-extreme views and supporters can easily be compromised and rendered powerless to advance their interests.

Therefore, I have chosen to cast my lot with the GOP at the local level even though the party hacks and leadership are as corrupt as the Democrats. The Republican base, despite the failed leadership, consistently supports the free market and is far more open to private initiatives and free enterprise than the Democrats. This is a far better alternative than the union-controlled socialists and block-voting Democrats primarily out to transfer wealth from those in the private sector who earn it to special interests voting to get money.

As President Ronald Reagan stated so well, we should celebrate our virtues and the many benefits earned as Americans with the free-market and capitalist system. But we must also work to limit the amount of revenue taken and flushed annually on April 15th into the corrupt Washington sewer system of patronage and special interest graft utilizing personal and corporate welfare.

My concern is our national demographics: The numbers of private and non-union workers are declining relative to those who receive incomes and payments from government at all levels. Almost 50 percent of Americans now receive some type of pittance or paycheck from government rather than working privately in the capitalist system. No nation can long endure with a majority of personal income coming from forced wealth transfer rather than earned productively through real work in the private sector.

One potential GOP population group for liberty and limited government is the Ron Paul supporters who were shunned and silenced by the Republican Party establishment during the 2012 campaign. This was stupid and self-serving to some GOP special interests at a time when the Party desperately needed more activists, financial contributors and new voters to replenish the aging GOP demographics. The attacks on this group and their resultant walking away from the polls on November 6 guaranteed the election of Barack Obama for a second term.

The millions of Ron Paul supporters were natural supporters for the GOP; the neocon demand that Republicans support every war, invasion and foreign occupation together with their negative mistreatment at the hands of GOP leadership caused them to flee the Party they had hoped to make their political home for decades to come. This hostile political reception of those who would have been natural allies and supporters of the GOP was shortsighted and constituted political suicide for the Grand Old Party. The Party should turn away from the failed Cheney-Lindsey-Bush-McCain neoconservative war policies and support actions that defend American rather than create profits for big business for a change.

Still, it is not too late for this group. Senator Rand Paul, who last week (Washington Examiner) acknowledged he is considering a run for president in 2016, offers millions of libertarians and hard money supporters, as well as those who value the benefits of limited government, a second chance to get involved with the Republican Party.

I hope the Rand Paul supporters are treated fairly and welcomed appropriately this time because his support is strong with traditional conservatives and the younger, more liberty oriented supporters who will be forced to live and work in a national economy ruined jointly by both parties.

I believe foreign policy is the ultimate issue separating the Paul supporters from the GOP and neocon establishment. Quoting Rand Paul, Dana Milbank wrote in the Washington Post:

“I am a realist,” he proclaimed, “not a neoconservative nor an isolationist.” He described himself as being between the two extremes of intervening “everywhere all the time” and being “nowhere any of the time.” He informed the Heritage scholars that “Reagan’s foreign policy was much closer to what I am advocating than what we have today.”

The GOP will win future elections only if we become more inclusive in word and deed. The place to start is with the Ron Paul supporters, many of whom will now swing their support to Rand Paul. To continue to treat this large contingency with indifference or exclusion will spell defeat for the GOP over the next couple of decades. Therefore, the Party leadership at all levels should take notice that a failure to act responsibly here will doom the Party to permanent minority status.

But then again, since GOP leadership tends to talk the talk about liberty and limited government at election time but except for a tiny minority of officeholders never walk the walk maybe this is what the GOP deserves. This is why our nation is in the trouble we are in today.

A Rand Paul candidacy offers a real alternative to the failed Party leadership of the past. All the rest of the potential candidates are just warmed-up leftovers from the bad meal we had the night before.

http://www.thedailybell.com/29019/Ron-Holland-Rand-Is-the-Man-To-Enhance-the-GOP-Base