Here are the results from the straw poll taken by the RLCSC at the Patch/SCRN/RLCSC debate tonight:

There were 127 votes total

1. Ray Nash – 27 Votes (21%)
2. Mark Sanford – 20 Votes (16%)
3. Larry Grooms – 16 Votes (13%)
4. Tim Larkin – 15 Votes (12%)
5. Jonathan Hoffman – 9 Votes (7%)
6. John Kuhn – 6 Votes (5%)
6. Chip Limehouse – 6 Votes (5%)
6. Peter McCoy – 6 Votes (5%)
9. Teddy Turner – 5 Votes (4%)
10. Keith Blandford – 4 Votes (3%)
11. Ric Bryant – 3 Votes (2%)
11. Jeff King – 3 Votes (2%)
11. Elizabeth Moffly – 3 Votes (2%)
11. Andy Patrick – 3 Votes (2%)
15. Shawn Pinkston – 1 Vote (<1%)
16. Curtis Bostic – 0 Votes (0%)

Poll demographics:

Of those who indicated who they voted for in 2012, 33% voted for Mitt Romney, 28% voted for Ron Paul, 26% voted for Newt Gingrich, and 13% voted for Rick Santorum.

The post RLCSC Straw Poll Results SC1 appeared first on Republican Liberty Caucus of South Carolina.

Thank you for participating in our first ever online convention. The purpose of this convention will be to vote on three proposed bylaws amendments. The text of these amendments can be found here: http://www.rlc.org/delegate-apportionment-proposals/

In order to make the online convention run as smooth as possible, please read the following instructions carefully:

1) If you have an amendment to proffer on any of the proposals please send it to treasurer@rlc.org no later than 5pm Friday, February 8th, so we can put it into the software for presentation ahead of time (we encountered too many computer/software variables when an individual tries to screen share on the fly).

2) At 3:45pm Sunday February 10th log on to the web site with the credentials you were given vie email.

3) Call in using your landline or cell phone (offers best audio quality) and – IMPORTANT! – enter the audio pin provided (this links your phone to you online meeting session). You will NOT be able to vote on floor amendments if you’re only using the audio portion of the conference bridge.

4) All attendees will be muted at the beginning of the call. If you wish to speak you will use the mood button to raise your hand and be recognized. The Chair will give you the floor and unmute you. You can then turn on your webcam if you wish. Once you’ve finished speaking you would turn off your web cam and change your mood to “I’m good” (lowers your hand). The Chair will then move on to the next person.

5) We will use the software’s polling feature to vote on amendments (remember, amendments must be submitted to treasurer@rlc.org by 5pm, Friday, February 8th. The final vote will be taken via a separate voting service called ElectionBuddy through email. The ballots will have a lifespan of 24 hours, so even if you’re unable to make the call you’ll still be able to vote on the finalized amendments.

As this is the first time we’ve tried something of this magnitude, we expect some bumps along the way. Please be patient.

This week we ran a nationwide survey of Republican Liberty Caucus members on the issue of immigration. The goal was to gauge member views as we prepared a statement in response to Senate proposals for comprehensive immigration reform. 119 members responded to the survey and answered 8 key questions. The results were much as expected, conforming fairly closely to our prior statements on immigration in those areas where it applied.

In determining which issues to focus on in our forthcoming statement we will focus on those where our members showed the strongest concern and were most in agreement and for purposes of clear messaging we will likely avoid taking a position on issues which are more ambiguous. It’s probable that the focus will be on the issues where 60% or more of those responding indicated a positive or negative position, especially those with very strong responses in the most positive or most negative categories, so we will put our heaviest emphasis on supporting a robust guest worker program and opposing any form of biometric ID or national employment database.

SURVEY RESULTS

How important is increased border security as part of a comprehensive immigration plan?

Answer	Votes	Vote Count/Percentage
Very Important		47 Votes(39%)
Somewhat Important		29 Votes(24%)
Not Very Important		23 Votes(19%)
Undesirable		20 Votes(16%)

Total Votes: 119

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How important is the availability of guest worker visas to meet labor needs in a comprehensive immigration plan?

Answer	Votes	Vote Count/Percentage
Very Important		58 Votes(48%)
Somewhat Important		36 Votes(30%)
Not very Important		17 Votes(14%)
Undesirable		8 Votes(6%)

Total Votes: 119

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How important are legal and financial penalties for businesses employing illegal aliens in a comprehensive national immigration plan?

Answer	Votes	Vote Count/Percentage
Very Important		29 Votes(24%)
Somewhat Important		15 Votes(12%)
Not Very Important		28 Votes(23%)
Undesirable		47 Votes(39%)

Total Votes: 119

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How important is the elimination of birthright citizenship in a comprehensive immigration program?

Answer	Votes	Vote Count/Percentage
Very Important		38 Votes(31%)
Somewhat Important		15 Votes(12%)
Not Very Important		25 Votes(21%)
Undesirable		41 Votes(34%)

Total Votes: 119

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How important is it to punish current illegal immigrants by actions like a substantial fine or exclusion from any future entry program?

Answer	Votes	Vote Count/Percentage
Very important		22 Votes(26%)
Somewhat important		19 Votes(15%)
Not Very Important		25 Votes(21%)
Undesirable		48 Votes(40%)

Total Votes: 119

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How important is it that we establish a national biometric ID system like e-verify for all citizens to present to a potential employer to make sure only citizens or legal workers can have jobs?

Answer	Votes	Vote Count/Percentage
Very important		11 Votes(9%)
Somewhat important		8 Votes(6%)
Not Very Important		7 Votes(6%)
Undesirable		90 Votes(77%)

Total Votes: 116

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How important is it that children of illegal immigrants raised in the United States and speaking English as their primary language be given access to a path to citizenship?

Answer	Votes	Vote Count/Percentage
Very important		51 Votes(42%)
Somewhat important		43 Votes(36%)
Not Very Important		13 Votes(10%)
Undesirable		12 Votes(10%)

Total Votes: 119

These three proposals for proportional delegate representation at the RLC National Convention will be considered and voted on by members at a special teleconference at 4pm on Sunday, February 10th.

Proposal 1:

To amend Article VI, Section 3 of the RLC National Bylaws  to read as follows:

Section 3. Each chartered state shall be entitled to be represented at convention by a Delegation consisting of one voting Delegate, plus a number of voting Delegates based on the number of Regular RLC members who reside in that state as of 90 days prior to the convention. Each state shall receive one additional delegate, and one alternate delegate, for every 20 members in the state charter. These Delegates and Alternate Delegates shall be appointed by their respective Charters, according to whatever rules the Charter may adopt for that purpose, and certified as Delegates by the chairs of their Charters.

In addition, each officer, regional director, and at-large director of the Caucus; the chair of each Charter or his or her designee; and the coordinator of each non-chartered state may serve as an ex officio Delegate; these ex officio Delegates shall not be counted against the number of delegates to which each Charter is entitled. Any Regular member certified by the Treasurer as having paid current dues at least thirty days prior to the Convention shall be qualified to be appointed as Delegates or Alternate Delegates.

Proposal 2:

To amend Article VI, Section 3 of the RLC National Bylaws to read as follows:

Section 3. Each chartered state shall be entitled to be represented at the national RLC convention by a number of delegates based on the number of Regular Members who reside in that state.

90 days prior to the national convention, the Secretary shall determine the number of delegates assigned to each state by dividing the total national membership of the RLC by 100 and then dividing that result into the number of Regular Members in each state, rounded up and plus one. Each state Charter may also appoint any number of alternate delegates who may serve in place of absent delegates from their state at the discretion of the convention Chairman.

All delegates and alternate delegates shall be selected by whatever rules their state Charter shall determine and certified as delegates by the chairs of their Charters. Any Regular Member certified by the Treasurer as having paid current dues at least thirty days prior to the convention shall be qualified to be appointed as a delegate or alternate delegate. Alternate delegates will be eligible to serve in place of absent delegates in an order determined by their state chapter when they are appointed.

In addition, each national officer, regional director, and at-large director of the Caucus; the chair of each Charter or his or her designee; and the coordinator of each non-chartered state or his or her designee may serve as an ex officio Delegate; these ex officio Delegates shall not be counted against the number of delegates to which each Charter is entitled.

Proposal 3:

To amend Article VI, Section 3 of the RLC National Bylaws to read as follows:

Section 3. Each chartered state shall be entitled to be represented at the national RLC convention by a number of delegates based on the number of Regular Members who reside in that state.

90 days prior to the national convention, the Secretary shall determine the number of delegates assigned to each state by dividing the total number of Regular Members in that state by 4, rounding up. Each Charter shall also be entitled to any number of alternate delegates who may serve in place of absent delegates from their state.

These Delegates and Alternate Delegates shall be elected by their respective Charters, according to whatever rules the Charter may adopt for that purpose, and certified as Delegates by the chairs of their Charters. In addition, each officer, regional director, and at-large director of the Caucus; the chair of each Charter or his or her designee; and the coordinator of each non-chartered state may serve as an ex officio Delegate; these ex officio Delegates shall not be counted against the number of delegates to which each Charter is entitled. Any Regular member certified by the Treasurer as having paid current dues at least thirty days prior to the Convention shall be qualified to be appointed as Delegates or Alternate Delegates.

At the National RLC Convention each state Charter shall vote its full delegate strength, even if fewer than the full number of delegates to which that state is entitled are present at the convention. The full strength for each Charter includes both the number of Delegates which it is authorized to elect based on its state membership and also any ex officio Delegates who are members of that Charter.

The following were prepared remarks by Daniel Encarnacion, South Carolina state secretary of the RLC, for the Lowcountry Conservative Breakfast in Summerville, SC on January 12, 2013. The Republican Liberty Caucus was founded in 1991 to promote limited government, free markets, and personal liberty within the Republican Party. With the help of my colleagues here as well as our national leadership and dedicated members, the RLC has become the leading Republican Party organization that represents liberty Republicans and Constitutional Conservatives. We see things like the fiscal cliff fiasco which just happened in Washington where taxes increased on 77.1% of the American people, spending went up by $330 billion, and the deficit widened by $4 trillion and believe our nation can do better. We see our Congress giving President Obama the power to indefinitely detain American citizens without due process or right to see a judge on simply the allegation by the President that he is a terrorist, doing a way with nearly a millennium of due process guarantees under Magna Carta and we believe our nation can do better. We see our nation printing money at a record pace under the control of a central planning board that has complete control of our monetary system – the Federal Reserve System. If government cannot be trusted to centrally plan our food, electronics, or health care – what makes us think it can centrally plan our monetary system? We believe our nation can do better. We see our government using public works projects in the name of stimulus to try and build a nation’s economic system and centrally plan every aspect of society. But we do not only see this effort of big government central planning here at home – we also see it overseas with this ongoing fascination with nation-building. Nation-building that weakens our national defense by distracting our armed forces from their core mission of protecting the borders of the United States. We believe America can do better. We see an effort to undermine our nation’s health care system through government boards, mandates, and taxes. We see our Supreme Court stand by doing nothing to enforce the plain meaning of the Constitution that would protect us from this egregious federal over-reach. And of course we see the media and the political lefts to block the implementation of ObamaCare through tools that our founders like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison left us like state nullification. We believe our nation can do better. Here in South Carolina, we see a state with one of the highest income and sales tax rates in the southeast, the highest manufacturing tax in the nation, and double-digit growth per year spending that was nearly $23 billion last year alone. We believe our state and our Republican Legislature can do better. We also see the American Legislative Exchange Council ranked South Carolina 50^th in education last year. We need to offer choice to parents, more free market solutions, and give more control to local officials. We believe that our South Carolina can do better. We can do a lot of things better and the Republican Liberty Caucus draws attention to these issues through candidate endorsements, grassroots activism, and online activism – which helps connect to and appeal to our key constituency and what we believe we can help the overall Republican Party with: young voters. It’s because of young voters that I have hope. There are real problems in this country and in this state. Yet we turn on the TV and hear the professional commentators saying we need to be more like the Democrat Party to be relevant.  Well, I’m here to tell you that’s a bunch of nonsense and all we have to do is look at voters under 30. Young people have been voting in higher percentages than they have in a generation. They are engaged and they are demanding real changes. We saw the excitement in our own primaries among young voters for certain candidates like Ron Paul. But they are seeking out a political agenda that is genuine and consistent. Now do we all here agree with Ron Paul on every issue? Sure. Perhaps you disagree with me on some of the positions I mentioned earlier? But the core philosophy that these young voters believe deep inside and that we in the Republican Liberty Caucus embrace is limited government. We want big government out of our lives. And isn’t that what all of us here believe? Some just go further than others when it comes to particular issues. But we are all heading in the same direction, and while we’re on that journey together, let’s embrace the common ground that we share. In 2010, the Republican Party won a majority with the help of young voters because its message of limited government, cutting spending, and reducing taxes was embraced by the country. In 2012, the Republican Party lost because it didn’t stick to those principles. We must stick to those principles going forward. And that is what young voters in the liberty movement want. Because when we see millions of 18 to 30 year olds reading books about free market economics from thinkers like Rothbard, Mises, and Hayek. Isn’t that incredible? That’s not supposed to happen. The statists think that young people are supposed to be manipulated into thinking government has the answers to society’s ills by the state-sponsored diploma mills. But instead millions of young people are studying the truth and know that their government has failed them – because big government doesn’t work. And the Republican Party ought to embrace that. It ought to embrace them. It must not push young activists out of the party or out of Republican groups on Facebook. Our party should welcome their participation and welcome their activism on behalf of limited government, free markets, and personal liberty. And that is where the Republican Liberty Caucus comes in. We are the voice of liberty Republicans, constitutional conservatives, and young voters dedicated to freedom. And we believe that when the Republican Party embraces our members as well as other tea party conservative groups that the political left and the entrenched political powers that rely on big government to perpetuate their own self-interests will wither away as we promote what we all in our hearts believe to be true:  That we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

WASHINGTON, DC – The Republican Liberty Caucus (RLC) National Committee has voted unanimously to endorse Mark Willis of Maine for Chairman of the Republican Party.

“We’re proud that one of our RLC members has stepped forward to challenge the inept management of the national GOP under the reign of Reince Priebus. But this endorsement is not just because he is one of our own, it is because he is eminently qualified to lead the resurgence of the national Republican Party,” said RLC National Chair Dave Nalle.

Willis is the Republican National Committeeman from Maine and a member of the Maine Republican Liberty Caucus. He is one of the elected delegates from Maine who were unseated by the RNC Credentials Committee at the Republican National Convention in Tampa under the watch of Priebus. He said he saw how the heavy-handed tactics of the national party organization impacted the morale of grassroots which helped lead to the defeat of Priebus’ hand-picked presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

“In the case of Maine, we came home heroes due to the fact that we never gave in as a delegation and even though half our duly-elected delegation was unseated, we refused to take the deals that were offered. We stood up for what is right and never wavered,” Willis said.

Willis said delegates from throughout the country were “outraged” at the fast gavel tactics endorsed by Priebus that enacted rule changes which take control of the 2016 presidential nomination process away from the state parties and the grassroots and put it under top-down control by party insiders.

Rule 12 gives unprecedented power to the RNC to change party rules without input or approval of state parties and Rule 16 removes the rights of states to choose their own delegates, forcing all state parties to allocate and bind the state’s delegation to the Republican National Convention based on presidential preference polls.

Willis said his first act as national GOP Chair would be to repeal the rules adopted at the 2012 Republican National Convention and “apologize to the GOP grassroots for being overzealous and promise that such behavior will never happen again.”

Willis said the GOP can regain regain the confidence of the voters if its top management listens to the grassroots.

“If we are truly the party of liberty, equality and favoritism for none, then let’s start acting like it by embracing the grassroots once and for all! Welcome them, don’t push them away, discourage them and then expect their vote in November,” Willis said.

Nalle said the national Republican Liberty Caucus had been one of the first GOP organizations to condemn the rules changes and Willis shows courage by taking a stand for the grassroots members of the party.

“No one came forward to challenge these rules until state committees started passing resolutions from the grassroots. Mark Willis is demonstrating leadership by stating upfront that hard working local party members should have a strong voice in guiding the party instead of a handful of Establishment elitists trying to shove decisions from the top down,” Nalle said.

Willis holds a Bachelors Degree in International Relations and a Doctor of Law degree from George Mason University. He also has a Masters in Information Technology from Bowie State University. He was a U.S. Army counterintelligence agent in Haiti and Bosnia and was a senior software engineer at the U.S. Army Security and Intelligence Command (INSCOM) and was INSCOM liaison to the National Security Agency. He is currently Applications Security Manager for a Fortune 100 corporation and runs a family Icelandic sheep farm in a small town in eastern Maine, where he is also serves on the local Board of Education.

Republican Liberty Caucus of Pennsylvania Contact:  Lois Kaneshiki, Interim Chair         FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 814-207-0011 Chair@rlcpa.org http://www.RLCPa.org   Republican Liberty Caucus of Pennsylavnia Urges Governor Corbett: “Refuse to Set Up Healthcare Exchanges” The Republican Liberty Caucus of Pennsylvania (RLCPa) passed a unanimous resolution on December 4, 2012, requesting that Governor Corbett refuse to set up the healthcare exchanges. “Obamacare is bad for America, and it is certainly bad for Pennsylvania,” stated Interim Chair Lois Kaneshiki.  “We urge the Governor and the General Assembly to refuse to set up the healthcare exchanges and fight this destructive legislation.” “We urge all freedom-loving citizens to contact the Governor and their representatives in the General Assembly before the December 15 deadline and ask them not to set up these exchanges.” Citizens should call the Governor’s office at 717-787-2500, or email him at governor@pa.gov. The full text of the resolution is below: Whereas the Affordable Care Act (AFA) is a federal government takeover of our healthcare system, and Whereas, we believe it is an individual right and responsibility to choose and contract with one’s healthcare provider for services, and Whereas, the AFA does not allow markets to function more efficiently, but will prevent them from doing so, and Whereas, federal funding for the healthcare exchanges will end in 2015, and will cost Pennsylvania’s families $3,000 extra per year, and Whereas, Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Wyoming have all declared they will not implement the exchanges:   Resolved, that the Republican Liberty Caucus of Pennsylvania requests that Governor Corbett refuse to set up the healthcare exchanges; and Resolved, that the Republican Liberty Caucus of Pennsylvania requests the state Assembly to pass legislation that would prevent Pennsylvania from setting up healthcare exchanges.

On Thrusday an amendment authored by Senators Mike Lee (RLC-UT) and Daine Feinstein (D-CA) which alters the NDAA to protect citizens from arrest without a warrant and guarantees the right to a trial was passed 67-29 by the Senate. This came after an impassioned speech in support by Sen. Rand Paul (RLC-KY) on Wednesday in which he said:

“If you don’t have a right to trial by jury, you do not have due process. You do not have a Constitution. What are you fighting against and for if you throw the Constitution out? When zealots of the government arrest suspects or radicals without warrants, hold them without trial, deny them access to counsel or admission of bail, we have shorn the Bill of Rights of its sanctity.”

Paul had also threatened to put a filibuster hold on the NDAA bill if an attempt was made to pass it with the provisions allowing unconstitutional detention of citizens without a trial included. Since the passage of an earlier version of the NDAA more than a year ago, grassroots groups like the Republican Liberty Caucus have been calling and emailing members of the House and Senate relentlessly expressing opposition to the detention provisions in the bill and it appears that for once our legislative leaders actually listened to the people. Sadly about half of the Republicans in the Senate voted against the amendment.

While the Lee-Feinstein amendment is not as comprehensive as Rand Paul’s version which has had trouble passing the Senate, it does address the most fundamental civil liberties concerns with the NDAA. The substandive part of the Amendment reads:

“(b)(1) An authorization to use military force, a declaration of war, or any similar authority shall not authorize the detention without charge or trial of a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States apprehended in the United States, unless an Act of Congress expressly authorizes such detention.

“(2) Paragraph (1) applies to an authorization to use military force, a declaration of war, or any similar authority enacted before, on, or after the date of the enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2013.

“(3) Paragraph (1) shall not be construed to authorize the detention of a citizen of the United States, a lawful permanent resident of the United States, or any other person who is apprehended in the United States.”

The final clause of (b)(1) has attracted some criticism, including from Representative Justin Amash (RLC-MI) who whote:

“The Feinstein amendment to the 2013 NDAA does NOT protect you from indefinite detention without charge or trial. In fact, it explicitly permits such detention so long as the detention is approved by an Act of Congress . . . such as the 2012 NDAA.”

Prior to the amendment the NDAA permitted detentions solely on presidential authority, but Amash and others are concerned that Congress could use the option provided in the amendment to reverse the protection at will, or that courts could interpret the NDAA itself as such an authorization.  However, Senator Lee has issued an explanation of how the amendment works in context which makes very clear that no existing legislation including the NDAA itself would negate the protections in the amendment, hailing it as “a clear victory for civil libertarians and should be celebrated as a strong step forward in protecting due process rights for all Americans.”

However, a federal court did already grant an injunction against the detention provision in the NDAA and it is likely that if it were further tested in the courts it would be found unconstitutional. In addition, changes to the main text of the 2012 version of the NDAA which actually expand detention authority beyond earlier versions demanded that some response be made to protect civil liberties

While this is not a perfect victory, it remains a major win for civil libertarians who do not believe that the people should have to sacrifice their most sacred rights, nor should the nation abandon the rule of law, even in a times of crisis or war. If the Bill of Rights can be discarded just because we feel threatened, then we have already thrown away the very values for which we fight as a nation.

At a post-election event for members of the Republican Liberty Caucus, National Chairman Dave Nalle made the following remarks on the state of the Republican Party in the aftermath of the Romney defeat.

“If you nominate a candidate who has a position to please every constituency you run the risk that voters will decide that this is the same thing as having a position to alienate every constituency and respond by not turning out to vote. The party has lost its way because of lazy leaders who have ignored the sensible voters who make up the base of the party and have instead given too much influence to outside interest groups who bought their loyalty with the promise of easy votes.”

“It is time for fundamental change at the top of the party. Leaders who basically rigged the nomination process to force Mitt Romney on the party gambled their legitimacy on his success. They put the entire party at risk with a candidate whose failure dragged down other candidates including promising newcomers and incumbents whose seats should have been secure. They lost us seats in the Senate where we could have won a majority and even weakened our position in the House. They must pay the full price for their poor decisions and be stripped of any position of leadership in the party.”

“It is time for the Republican Party to return to the control of the grassroots and to a simple, ethical agenda of limiting the size and power of government and protecting the rights of individual citizens. The practice of giving special influence to outside groups whose first loyalty is to their own interests and issues must stop. Our allies should be drawn to us by our principles, not by our willingness to sell influence and trade favors.”

“The party is aging and becoming isolated from the people. Republicans have forgotten how to be activists and stir up popular enthusiasm for our cause. We have lost touch with the younger generation and we have abandoned minority groups which ought to share our principles. In too many counties and too many states the Republican Party has become an exclusive private club rather than the inclusive political movement it was meant to be. This is the course of extinction for a political party. If we do not grow and embrace new members and new strategies we will continue to stagnate and age into irrelevance.”

“The voters we need to attract to revitalize the party want less government on their backs and more liberty in their lives. They do not want to live in fear of external threats or internal security. They do not want to see the fruits of their labor seized by government or devalued by irresponsible policies. They do not want government in their businesses, their schools, their churches or their bedrooms. The Republican Party of the future should be young, entrepreneurial and inclusive. There is no hope for a party which is not strong enough to preserve its core principles while still embracing change.”

“This is the vision of the Republican Liberty Caucus. It is a challenge to the Republican Party to become a better party, rededicated to its founding principles. This election must be a turning point for the party and if we do not pick up the banner of leadership and embrace the changes which must come, then the GOP will fade away lnto whiggish obscurity.”

This has been a long campaign for liberty and many people have earned our thanks.  Republican Liberty Caucus members played leading roles on every front in 2012 – running for office, working on campaigns, donating unprecedented amounts of money to our federal PAC, helping to promote and fundraise for candidates and serving as delegates to state conventions and ultimately the national convention in Tampa where we were witnesses to the beginnings of the events which culminated in this week’s historic defeat for the Republican Party establishment.  You worked hard with little respect or reward for a cause whose victory sometimes seemed distant and in peril.

There are many who are claiming that this election was a massive defeat for the Republican Party, but after studying the results for two days I’m surprised to be able to report what looks like some major victories for the liberty movement within the party.  Yes, the party took it on Mitt Romney’s chiseled chin, but the party’s losses are not necessarily our losses and while I certainly would have liked to have done better, in comparison to the party as a whole our candidates and our issues fared remarkably well.

Perhaps the most significant victory is a sign of change to come  While the party lost seats in both houses of Congress, the balance of power shifted and liberty candidates gained seats while the party was losing them.  Our endorsees and other sympathetic candidates now control a larger number of seats in both houses of Congress than ever before.  We lost only one incumbent House member and gained at least two solid seats in the Senate while the party lost 3 and gained more seats in the House than the party as a whole lost, effectively doubling the significance of our wins.  The failure of the party leadership and the Romney campaign did suppress turnout and that flowed down to races at lower levels, costing some of our most promising candidates wins they might have had in better years.   Yet 2014 is just around the corner and I expect many of those same candidates to run again and in an off year election we can anticipate the same kind of strong results we had in 2010 and more.

Two RLC candidates won new seats for liberty in the Senate, Ted Cruz (TX) and past endorsee Jeff Flake (AZ).  Four new liberty candidates took seats in the House, including RLC endorsees Steve Stockman (TX-36), Kerry Bentivolio (MI-11), Thomas Massie (KY-4) and Ted Yoho (FL-3) who was overlooked for endorsement.  Many previously endorsed candidates won reelection in the House, including Justin Amash, Tom McClintock, Walter Jones, Jim Jordan, Mick Mulvaney and others.  Perhaps most significantly hundreds of our endorsees won or held onto seats in state government, giving us a very deep bench to run for higher office going into the 2014 election.  Many other great candidates ran strong campaigns and came awfully close to winning, but the weakness of the national campaign and lack of support from state and national party organizations were challenges they couldn’t overcome.  With more independent funding and resources we expect them to do much better in 2014.

We also saw victories on key issues in several states.  Marijuana was legalized in Colorado and Washington and decriminalized in Massachusetts, which is likely to lead to a very important showdown over state sovereignty as the Obama administration and the DEA crack down on those states attempt to form independent drug policy.  In addition, Washington, Maryland and Maine voted to legalize same-sex marriage, a clear challenge to the unconstitutional federal Defense of Marriage Act, and while we prefer a non-governmental solution to the marriage issue, the passage of these propositions was at least a politically achievable step towards greater liberty for more people.  Less publicized but possibly equally important, Alabama, Montana and Wyoming voted on initiatives to nullify aspects of Obamacare within their borders, another development likely to provoke a constitutional showdown with the Obama administration.  It’s not going to be an easy four years for the president or his unconstitutional abuses of power.

Finally, after the attacks on the grassroots of the party launched by the Romney campaign, party leaders and special interests, in many ways a Romney defeat is a victory for Liberty Republicans.  In the long term it may benefit us more than defeating Obama would have.  The party establishment and the special interests which back them placed all their bets on Romney and his failure was their failure as well.  They have lost credibility with all the grassroots groups in the party and they are saddled with the blame for the abuses of power and bad choices which led to this debacle.  Now everyone knows what we have known for years.  If the Republican Party is to survive it needs a substantive change of leadership and a return to principles which can win elections.

After this election it is much more likely that our next presidential nominee will have strong liberty principles and Rand Paul’s stock as a presidential contender is way up.  We should also expect to see the party distance itself from single issue voters on the religious right and a deemphasis of divisive social issues.  This might well be the jolt the party needs to become the fiscally conservative and socially tolerant party which it needs to be in order to win and if it doesn’t happen quickly, we’re here to give change a push.

While this may not be the time for open celebration, this election has created many opportunities to expand the liberty movement within the Republican Party and our voices will be stronger and our opponents weaker than every before as we start a new political cycle.  We have more members with substantial campaign experience, we have better campaign funding channels and we have more experienced candidates.  Plus the Obama administration will supply us with plenty of opportunities for issue activism which can raise the profile of RLC leaders and our pro-liberty, small government agenda.

I’m looking forward to two years of great opportunities for growing liberty and winning key victories in the ongoing campaign to reclaim the Republican Party and make it the vehicle for the restoration of the Republic.