Support Congressman Denver Riggleman!

Could he Lose the Fifth District Seat? Maybe…

I heard an extraordinary piece of news yesterday on John Fredericks that I hope is in error.

Fredericks said that there is a good chance, since the levers of power in the GOP Fifth Congressional District have shifted to his opponent, that Cong. Denver Riggleman could well lose the GOP Convention to his opponent Bob Good.

Now I think Bob Good ought to remain in politics. I was impressed with his background: Liberty University administration and Campbell County BOCS. I am eager to help him. This office is just not the time or the place. I tried to figure out why the incumbent congressman is in so much trouble and Fredericks speculated that it was Riggleman’s libertarianism that is the cause. (Bob Good is supposed to be a religious conservative.) Allegedly, the congressman performed (who knew a congressman could do this) a gay marriage! OOPS! And Riggleman owns a (gasp!) distillery! He makes (gasp!) WHISKEY! (Yes I spelled it right!)

Just because I am outspoken on temperance, does not mean that I could not support Riggleman. I even caused a blizzard warning in hell for endorsing Denver before! (No word on if the blizzard occurred…)

I disagree with Fredericks in part on the Riggleman issue – maybe it is not so much the liberty issue BUT just unrest and discontent among the GOP activists (and I get it) and sometimes that percolates to the surface in unhelpful ways. This would be one of them.

And libertarianism is not a bad thing, as long as it is grounded in the liberty promises of the Declaration, Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Here is Ronulus Magnus I (Reagan) on libertarianism (hat tip to Reason magazine):

REASON: Governor Reagan, you have been quoted in the press as saying that you’re doing a lot of speaking now on behalf of the philosophy of conservatism and libertarianism. Is there a difference between the two? REAGAN: If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals–if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is. Now, I can’t say that I will agree with all the things that the present group who call themselves Libertarians in the sense of a party say, because I think that like in any political movement there are shades, and there are libertarians who are almost over at the point of wanting no government at all or anarchy. I believe there are legitimate government functions. There is a legitimate need in an orderly society for some government to maintain freedom or we will have tyranny by individuals. The strongest man on the block will run the neighborhood. We have government to insure that we don’t each one of us have to carry a club to defend ourselves. But again, I stand on my statement that I think that libertarianism and conservatism are travelling the same path.

So I would say to the delegates to the upcoming convention to be held whenever it gets held, encourage Bob Good to run for delegate or state senate in a future race. But in THIS election, support and vote for Congressman Denver Riggleman.