Phil Orenstein, a Republican from Queens, has written about the recent Tea Parties on the Democracy Project blog. The Tea Parties offer an important opportunity to the RLC. If the RLC can integrate the Tea Party movement into its organization, it could become the dominant force within the GOP. RLC members need to think about how to get the word out at Tea Party meetings.
The Republican Party is in disarray. Arlen Specter’s decision to become a Democrat and Al Franken’s conversion of the Minnesota Senate seat give the Democrats a 60-40 majority in the Senate. In the House, Republicans have a sorry 41% of the seats.
In an April 27 article, pollster Scott Rasmussen suggests that the Beltway Republicans are becoming irrelevant because they have broken their link to rank-and-file Republicans, who are close to the RLC’s positions. There is a risk that the Republicans will become a minor party, or at least spend the next twenty years in the wilderness, as they did from 1932 to 1952. George W. Bush leaped to associate his administration with the massive bailout last fall. Whether his idol is Herbert Hoover I don’t know. But the Republicans have breached the trust of economic conservatives, and without economic conservatives the Republicans will become a minor party.
There are significant threats to the economy, arising from the bailout and Federal Reserve Bank policy that no major media outlet, including talk radio, and neither of the parties are handling. The Tea Parties have arisen to protest the absence of meaningful discussion in American politics. The RLC can fill the gap.
One model that the RLC might consider is the Bourbon Democrats of the post Civil War period. The Bourbons were pro-gold, conservative or classical liberal businessmen who, after twenty years saw their candidate, Grover Cleveland, elected in 1884 with the support of elite “Mugwump” Republicans. Might the RLC meet with similar success? Perhaps tea is as good as Bourbon.
The Republicans’ failure can be seen not only in monetary policy but also in fiscal policy. In 1980 federal outlays were $591 billion. Prices from 1980 to 2009 increased by 158%. The federal budget increased by 391% during the same period. Much of that increase occurred during Republican administrations and Congresses. Certainly there were no cuts during those years. The absurd bailouts and stimulus bills that have been passed under George W. Bush and Barack H. Obama were as much a Republican as a Democratic response.
Cultural conservatives will continue to occupy a dominant role in the Republican Party because economic conservatives cannot win without them. As much as 36% of the electorate reflects cultural conservative values. But the Republicans cannot win without economic liberals, and the recent decades of indifference to the interests of economic liberals are the reason for the Republicans’ steep decline.
The RLC needs to play a leadership role in integrating the tea party revolutionaries back into the Republican fold. The alternatives are bleak.
Lisa Mallory, Treasurer of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Texas, was interviewed on the Liberty Cafe Show hosted by Nancy and Katie.
Lisa is running for Leander Independent School District Trustee, Place 1, which is a large school district in the Austin area.
At Lisa’s website, she explains that America “is suffering from a leadership deficit and a general decay in the moral standards necessary to maintain America’s status as leader amongst nations.”
Lisa already serves as Travis County Republican Party Pct. 379 Chair and Election Judge.
Listen to Lisa to learn about the value of running for School Board! She’s also a very qualified, well-spoken candidate who is prepared to run for this office.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the RLC.
Last summer I reported on growth of the RLC’s state-based eGroups. These eGroups, operated by YahooGroups.com, serve as the RLC’s primary online communications vehicle. They are consistent, reliable, and allow for membership participation, event announcements, and grassroots coordination.
Membership in eGroups has steadily climbed since the summer of 2006. What follows is the information how many subscribers each state had in 2006, followed by 2008, followed by 2009.
Please keep in mind that the above numbers are not membership numbers, but eGroup subscription numbers. One does not have to join the RLC to subscribe to our eGroups.
Additionally, the RLC now has a presence on Facebook. Our Facebook numbers are as follows:
RLC National: 1,402 members
Alabama RLC: 37 members
Arizona RLC: 33 members
California RLC: 117 members
Colorado RLC: 5 members
Connecticut RLC: 21 members
DC RLC: 39 members
Florida RLC: 114 members
Georgia RLC: 160 members
Hawaii RLC: 19 members
Illinois RLC: 34 members
Indiana RLC: 126 members
Louisiana RLC: 12 members
Maryland RLC: 75 members
Massachusetts RLC: 40 members
Michigan RLC: 73 members
Minnesota RLC: 200 members
Missouri RLC: 26 members
Nebraska RLC: 8 members
New Hampshire: 35 members
New York RLC: 80 members
North Carolina: 62 members
Ohio RLC: 35 members
Oklahoma RLC: 10 members
Pennsylvania RLC: 40 members
Tennessee RLC: 34 members
Texas RLC: 133 members
Utah RLC: 63 members
Virginia RLC: 87 members
Washington RLC: 23 members
Wisconsin RLC: 64 members
Wyoming RLC: 12 members
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the RLC.
Using some of the same survey data that I used last week to analyze a potential shift in Republican priorities in the libertarian direction, Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com cites a Gallup poll that claims 80% of Republicans believe Big Government is the largest threat to the country, while just 10% believe big business is the greatest of threats. Just 9% of those surveyed said Big Labor is the largest threat.
In an article earlier this month, libertarian Tim Carney documents how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has given low rankings to liberty-minded Republicans as of late. According to Carney, “Rep. Ron Paul — the most steadfast congressional opponent of regulation, taxation, and any sort of government intervention in business—scored lower than 90% of Democrats last year on the Chamber’s scorecard.
Carney correctly points out that the agenda of big business is often much different than the agenda of liberty-oriented Republicans such as the members of Congress endorsed by the Republican Liberty Caucus. According to Carney’s research, eleven House Republicans failed to win the Chamber’s award — a mixture of libertarian/conservative members like Paul and liberal members like then-Rep. Wayne Gilchrest.
All but Gilchrest in this group of “business unfriendly” Republicans earned a black mark from the Chamber for voting against the Wall Street bailout twice. And conservative or libertarian Republicans Paul, Ted Poe of Texas, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Jack Kingston of Georgia, Paul Broun of Georgia, and Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin voted against the college aid bill, while seven of the 11 voted against Bush’s stimulus.
Concludes Carney: “Advocates of bigger government like to assail their opponents as pawns of big business. The Chamber’s shunning of DeMint and Paul will hopefully help put that lie to rest.”
All true. Unfortunately, only 11 members of Congress had the courage to vote against the Bush stimulus package and only 17 Republicans did not vote for any of the bailouts — including Paul, Jeff Flake, Paul Broun, Jack Kingston, and Ted Poe.
It seems a majority of Republican legislators are corporate pawns when it suits their interests. There are a few principled outlyers — Republicans with a conscience. Most of those folks have been endorsed by the RLC for many years.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the RLC.
RLC members across the country are engaged in the political process and many have run or are running for leadership within their state or local Republican Parties. In Tennessee, for example, RLC Tennessee Secretary Matt Collins* was elected Davidson County Republican Party Vice-Chair earlier in the month.
A week ago Saturday, four of six Republican Liberty Caucus members running for District and State GOP Committee At-Large seats were elected. (The remaining two remain in contention for three Wake County seats yet to be determined due to the loss of a quorum.) A slate called “Republicans for Principled Change” was run. Of those, the following RLC members were elected to party positions:
Durham County: Jeff Palmer*
Wake County: B.J. Lawson, John Underwood*, Andrea Walker
Five of eight candidates for the remaining three seats — Will Adkins, John Lahtinen, and several others — were also “Liberty Slate” members. These seats will be filled by appointment by the new District Committee.
Overall, the liberty slate secured 12 of the 17 at-large seats filled thus far, and only one liberty slate candidate lost to a non-liberty slate opponent. Many of those elected who were not liberty slate members are, nonetheless, responsible and fair GOP stalwarts with whom we look forward to working. Among them is District Chairman Zan Bunn who was reelected — soundly defeating a challenge by a vitriolic B. J. Lawson opponent with 68% of the county-weighted vote. A pro-state sovereignty resolution was also unanimously passed.
In Utah, the Salt Lake County Republican Party 2009 Organizing Convention took place last Saturday. RLC member Kurtis Constantine* was elected Secretary of the Salt Lake County GOP. He was also selected to serve on the Utah GOP State Central Committee. Joining him on the SCC will be RLC-endorsed candidates Nancy Lord and Merrill Cook. This is the second year in a row that the RLC has run a slate of candidates for party positions in Utah.
According to Interim RLC Utah Chairman Rob Alexander, “At the convention on Saturday I spoke briefly with Mark Maxon, a K-TALK AM 630 Radio Host who is also a County and State GOP Delegate. Mark was impressed with our slate and said that he plans to dissolve his Defenders of Liberty organization and to encourage his radio listeners and the 40-50 people who have been attending the Defenders of Liberty meetings to get involved with the Republican Liberty Caucus (a 527 electioneering-focused organization) and Campaign for Liberty (a 501c4 issues-focused organization).”
If you haven’t already, mark your calendar for Saturday, May 16, when the Republican Liberty Caucus of Utah will hold its 2009 convention at the Tyler Library in Salt Lake County from 12 noon to 4 PM (recent minor time change). For more details and to RSVP whether you will be attending, maybe attending, or not attending, you can go online to http://tr.im/RLCUT2009.
These successes are a testament to the RLC’s mission of working within the GOP to promote liberty-related ideas and individuals. Our challenge now is to sustain these efforts as members of the GOP State Committee and as delegates at the upcoming GOP State Convention.
RLC member Kurtis Constantine was elected Secretary
of the Salt Lake County Republican Party.
___________________________________________________________
* Denotes a state RLC Officer.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the RLC.
Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight.com posted earlier in the week at his blog, asking “Are Republicans Going Galt?”
Pointing to the Tea Party’s origin within the libertarian movement, Silver questions whether the Republican Party is tilting in the libertarian direction in wake of their solid defeats in 2006 and 2008.
The objective evidence Mr. Silver presents includes:
• A recent Gallup survey suggests that 80 percent of Republicans believe that Big Government is a bigger threat than big business, versus just 10 percent who think the opposite. He says “it has now become almost a definitional issue for Republicans.”
• “The Republican alternative budget could be considered a somewhat radical experiment in libertarianism”; and
• Republican insiders are increasingly uncertain about whether gay marriage, which was such an important issue for the party over 2000-2004, is any longer a winning issue at all for them.
Comparing Big Government to big business doesn’t really tell us what we need to know, unfortunately. Big business may be one of the entities competing with limited government that Republicans “sell their souls to” — however, there are a plethora of other entities that Republicans have chosen before smaller government, including puppet politicians, special interest groups, neo-conservatives, pork projects, and religion, to name just a few.
The idea that the Republican alternative budget is radical in any way is foreign to me. It is a far better budget than any one that Republicans proposed under the Bush Administration (no surprise there), and this budget would ultimately reduce the size of government if adopted. However, it is not even close to “a radical experiment in libertarianism”.
Speaking to Mr. Silver’s final point: I’m no Republican insider, but I never believed gay marriage was an important issue for the GOP. Ditto on abortion.
To this point, I count just two libertarian-leaning legislators (both from New Hampshire) who had the courage to take a principled stance of supporting marriage equality for gays and lesbians. If Republicans are going to stand up for equal rights in the near future (and why shouldn’t we?), it will have to be libertarian-leaning Republicans who lead on the issue.
As evangelical social conservative commentator Cal Thomas wrote recently, “The battle over same-sex marriage is on the way to being lost [for social conservatives]. For conservatives who still have faith in the political system to reverse the momentum, you are — to recall Harold Hill [in The Music Man] — ‘closing your eyes to a situation you do not wish to acknowledge’.”
In summary, I think the Republican Party is shifting, but it is not proven with the evidence provided by Nate Silver. Instead, I measure it by how fast the RLC is growing (at a very rapid pace — we can barely keep up!), the enthusiasm of the Ron Paul movement, and the anger in the faces of those who attended the Tea Party protests last Wednesday.
The battle for liberty has just begun. Brace yourself.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the RLC.
As highlighted in the RLC’s latest press release, the House and Senate are considering versions of the Employee Free Choice Act, also known as “card check,” legislation that would place “an unreasonable burden on small and mid-sized businesses and would be a disaster for America’s already troubled economy,” warned RLC Chairman Dave Nalle. The House version of the bill is sponsored by George Miller (D) and already has 233 co-sponsors. The Senate version is sponsored by Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and has 46 co-sponsors.
“With such strong partisan support,” warns Nalle, “this ironically misnamed bill, which would take free choice away from workers, stands a very real chance of passing.” Under the current rules laid out by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), unions organize workers through a private election system with secret balloting and then bargain collectively with employers.
Under EFCA, American workers will lose the protection of the secret ballot which is a cornerstone of democracy. “If card check passes, workers will be coerced into joining unions against their will, swelling union treasuries with billions of dollars that will go to support the same Democrat politicians who have been promoting this bill,” said Dave Nalle.
According to statistics compiled by the National Institute for Labor Relations Research, over the five years from 2002 to 2007, private-sector jobs in Right to Work states increased from 40.92 million to 44.85 million, or 9.6%. Over this period, states which forced unionization on private-sector employers saw much smaller job increases, from 67.27 million to 69.72 million, a gain of just 3.6%. “At a time when we’re losing hundreds of thousands of jobs a month, placing roadblocks in the way of private employers is pure madness,” noted Nalle.
“EFCA is almost certain to pass the House, so the best hope for stopping it is in the Senate,” said Nalle. He suggests that concerned citizens write to Democrat Senators Baucus of Montana, Begich of Alaska, Bennet of Colorado, Dorgan of North Dakota, Lincoln of Arkansas, Pryor of Arkansas, and both Republican Senators from Maine. Nalle believes these Senators will play a deciding role in whether card check will pass and impose forced unionism on businesses and workers nationwide in 2009. “We have fought to ensure that we would have an economy based on free labor. Workers who are forced to join a union are not free,” concluded Nalle.
Founded in 1991, the Republican Liberty Caucus exists to promote individual liberty, limited government, and free enterprise within the Republican Party by: (a) promoting these ideals among Party officials and its various organizations, (b) identifying and supporting candidates sympathetic with these ideals, and (c) promoting Caucus membership among Republican Party registrants, officials, and officeholders.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the RLC.
In February, Missouri RLC Chair Rob Hillman testified before a legislative committee in support of a Missouri Sovereignty Resolution. Since that time, the Missouri RLC and Mr. Hillman have not let up about the sovereignty initiative.
Recently, Rob Hillman took his passion for limited government to the Saint Charles County Council. The County, which has over 280,000 people, is located in the metro St. Louis area. There are six members of the County Council. County Council Chair Joe Brazil sponsored legislation, Resolution 09-03, to support Jim Guest’s State Sovereignty Concurrent Resolution, HCR 13.
Rep. Jim Guest was endorsed by the RLC in 2008. (And is again endorsed in 2010.)
Recognizing the value of asserting the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, St. Charles County legislators adopted the Resolution by a vote of 5-1.
When RLC activists in Missouri want something from their legislators, they take it right to them. Rob Hillman has paved the way for the Missouri RLC to continue its legislative victories such as the victory obtained on Charles County Resolution 09-03.
The Missouri RLC Board unanimously resolved support for HCR 13. The RLC Board’s resolution was delivered to Republican Majority leaders in the State House and Senate, Rep. Guest, and Missouri GOP Chair David Cole.
The next step: passing HCR 13 through the State Senate.
RLC Chair Rob Hillman (right) with Charles County Council Chair Joe Brazil.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the RLC.
After many months of hearing about H.R. 1207, Ron Paul’s bid to audit the Federal Reserve, the resolution has finally advanced to a phase where grassroots citizens can have a say on the matter via their member of Congress. That’s because H.R. 1207 is now in the House Financial Services Committee, whose member list is here.
Paul’s legislation, which would reform the manner in which the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is audited by the Comptroller General of the United States and the manner in which such audits are reported. As of this writing, the legislation has 71 co-sponsors, making it perhaps a historical piece of legislation for the oft-lonely Congressman from Texas.
Not surprisingly, nearly all RLC-endorsed candidates in Congress have signed on to co-sponsor this legislation.
Some of the surprises on the list of co-sponsors, at least from my perspective, include Republicans Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Dean Heller (R-NV), Mary Fallin (R-OK), Rodney Alexander (R-LA), and Rob Wittman (R-VA). Most of the Democrats who have signed on are, in my estimation, often “go at it alone” types such as far-left Peter DeFazio (OR) and Pete Stark (CA) and Blue-Dog Dems. Gene Taylor (MS) and Steve Kagen (WI). A few powerful Democrats have also signed on, such as Lynn Woolsey (CA) and Neil Abercrombie (HI).
For many months now, RLC members across the country have spent quite a bit of time promoting H.R. 1207. For example, in Alameda County (Bay Area) California, where the RLC holds a majority of members on a very large County GOP Executive Committee, a resolution supporting H.R. 1207 passed.
The resolution, championed by California RLC Secretary Walter Stanley and California RLC Board member David LaTour, says, in part, “We applaud transparency and accountability in government and reject government secrecy involving monetary policy that impacts the entire economy.”
A resolution supporting H.R. 1207 also passed in the Sonoma County GOP, thanks to the efforts of California RLC Chair Matthew Heath.
Similar resolutions are being worked on and introduced in other localities throughout the country.
The official Audit the Fed Facebook group has over 3,000 members.Please write theHouse Financial Services Committee members today and ask them to advance H.R. 1207 to the House floor.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the RLC.
When the Republican Party was founded, it formed around a nucleus of anti-slavery activists and northern labor reformers. They saw that the larger economic and political issue of the time, of which the abolition of slavery was only a part, was the idea of free labor. Slave labor was not free, and neither were workers in the industrial towns of the northeast who were in debt bondage to their employers. These 19th century liberals believed in free markets for the products of agriculture and industry and in a free market for labor, where workers were free to choose where they worked and to negotiate fair terms of employment based on market wages.
Abraham Lincoln was willing to go to war over this principle and hundreds of thousands fought and died to secure the right to live and work in an environment of freedom. In that era there was an understanding that labor and capital worked hand in hand for mutual benefit. This relationship was recognized in the Republican Party Platform of 1872:
Among the questions which press for attention is that which concerns the relations of capital and labor, and the Republican party recognizes the duty of so shaping legislation as to secure full protection and the amplest field for capital, and for labor — the creator of capital — the largest opportunities and a just share of the mutual profits of these two great servants of civilization.
Today there are those who would upset the balance between labor and capital and who would love to see an end to free labor and a return to a closed and controlled labor market where workers no longer have access to a free market of wages and opportunities. At the urging of labor unions who seek to establish monopolistic control over the workforce, Congressional Democrats led by Rep. George Miller (D-CA) have introduced a bill ironically titled the Employee Free Choice Act (HR1409). This act would take free choice away from workers and force unionization on workers in businesses nationwide without consideration of their best interests or preferences. This bill, also known as “Card Check,” would take away the right which workers currently have under the National Labor Relations Act to decide whether or not to join a union under the protection of a secret ballot. The EFCA would instead allow a public vote with no protection for the rights of workers and do so using deceptively worded authorization cards where the mere action of agreeing to hold a vote may obligate workers to accept unionization. If a vote is held, the public nature of the vote will subject workers to intimidation, peer-pressure and coercion from union operatives, making it easy to bully them into joining. If card check passes, workers will be coerced into joining unions against their will, swelling union treasuries with billions of dollars that will go to support the same Democrat politicians who have been promoting this bill.
A study from the National Institute for Labor Relations Research found that forced unionization hurts businesses, workers and the economy by slowing employment growth. Over the five years from 2002 to 2007, private-sector jobs in Right to Work states increased from 40.92 million to 44.85 million, or 9.6%. In this same period, states which forced unionization on private-sector employers saw much smaller job growth, from 67.27 million to 69.72 million, a gain of just 3.6%. At a time when we’re losing hundreds of thousands of jobs a month, placing roadblocks in the way of private employers is pure madness.
It’s vitally important that government protect the right of workers to organize and form unions and negotiate freely for better wages and working conditions. But this does not mean allowing workers to be forced into unions against their will and when it is not in their best interests. Protecting the rights of workers includes protecting their right to privacy and to decide whether to join a union on their own terms without intimidation or interference. Card Check is designed to unbalance the relationship between unions and employers, between labor and capital and impose union membership whether it is needed or not, doing particular harm to smaller businesses where it is unnecessary and often causes prohibitive costs and job cuts.
With 224 co-sponsors, EFCA is almost certain to pass the House, so the best hope for stopping it is in the Senate where it does have 46 sponsors, but where Republicans and some responsible Democrats could still block passage. Key Democratic Senators who might vote against Card Check include Baucus (MT), Begich (AK), Bennet (CO), Dorgan (ND), Lincoln (AR) and Pryor (AR). Republicna Senators Snowe and Collins from Maine could also play a deciding role. You can contact these Senators and let them know that you believe in a free market for labor where government protects workers rights, not the ambitions of union bosses. We fought a Civil War to ensure that we would have an economy based on free labor. Workers who are forced to join a union are not free.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the RLC.
