MUTH’S TRUTHS

I have four problems with *some* of the Ron Paul folks.

One is Jeff Greenspan…which I’ve been detailing on this blog for the past few days, so I won’t belabored the point further here.

The second is Ron Paul supporters who are just plain nasty. On blogs and emails, they unleash some of the most vile and unhinged assaults on folks who often would otherwise be allies. Indeed, a number of conservative blogs - including Red State - have felt compelled to ban Ron Paul supporters from even posting on their websites.

This includes the emails and blogs this week on which some Ron Paul supporters called longtime Nevada GOP leader and conservative/libertarian Nevada state Senator Bob Beers a “thug” and a “criminal” for his role in chairing the convention last weekend.

And then there was this email from Nevada GOP convention delegate Al Balloqui to the Clark County Republican Party chairman this week:

“My Dear Fellow Republican Bernie Zadrowski: How long is your nose? My fellow Republican you are a LIAR! I look forward to seeing you at the next convention to see how long your nose has grown!”

Liar, liar, pants on fire? Pinocchio-nose? It’s bad enough that this supposed adult lowered the political discourse in the party to such childish schoolyard taunts, but now I’m being told Balloqui is actually Pahrump’s director of economic development! How proud Pahrumpians must be right about now.

Three, are the Ron Paul supporters whose grip on reality is so tenuous that they actually still believe Ron Paul is going to emerge from the Republican National Convention in Minnesota and go on to win the White House in November.

No, I’m serious. There are actually some of those people out there. One lives right here in Nevada and was a delegate at last weekend’s convention. Here’s what Pat Kerby wrote just yesterday in an email:

“Visualize this if you will. After gaining momentum in each State convention, the Ron Paul movement becomes irresistible, and The Republican Party Nominates Ron Paul during the convention in September. This leaves a little over a month before the general elections. In that time there are three, or possible four debates with whatever socialist becomes the Democratic nominee. Ron Paul completely devastates them with his message of peace, prosperity, and freedom. Ron Paul is elected in a landslide victory, returning honor and dignity to the office of President, and victory to the now rejuvenated Republican party. Congress recognizes the shift, and starts working diligently to get us back onto a constitutional course.”

 
Somebody’s playing with the crack pipe again.

Seriously, though, how can anyone take seriously someone so out of touch with reality? I can’t.

Fourth and finally, the paranoids.

The problem with paranoia is that it clouds your judgment and ability to reason objectively. You see boogey-men behind every tree, and you see enemies where allies otherwise are. This definitely was a problem for an awful lot of Ron Paul delegates at last weekend’s Republican Party convention in Reno. And it continues to be a problem for some who think I, personally, am anti-Ron Paul. So let me try one last time to make myself - as a former GOP president was wont to say - perfectly clear.

I am a Ron Paul supporter. I am not a registered Republican. But if I was and I had attended the January 19th caucus I would have voted for him. In fact, I’ve been a vocal and public supporter of Dr. Paul since he was re-elected to Congress in 1995. I have regularly featured his writings and activities in my own newsletters and columns for the last dozen years.

Plus, I donated to his presidential campaign the minute he made his formal announcement over a year ago (something I’ve never done for any other presidential candidate, including Reagan), as well as for his first big “money bomb” last fall.

Capice?

In addition, I wouldn’t have cared less if Ron Paul delegates had shown up in force at the GOP convention and captured each and every one of the 31 delegate slots to the Republican National Convention next September in Minneapolis/St. Paul. It won’t change the fact that Sen. McCain is going to be the nominee. But if it makes y’all feel better to organize and win all those seats on the convention floor so you can wear silly hats and act goofy…go for it.

No, my only real problem regarding this convention business is and has been with Jeff Greenspan. Period.

I’ve given Greenspan every opportunity to confirm whether or not he made a deal on a unity slate of candidates to attend the national convention and, if so, tell us what the deal was and who he made it with. The Arizona Agitator’s response has been to flip-flop around like a mackerel on a sun deck.

In any event, the convention fell into chaos because of his actions and decisions. Maybe it was handled poorly at the end by party officials; maybe not. Maybe Republican leaders WERE scared that the Ron Paul delegates would win all of the slots; but maybe they truly were beyond their time deadline and knew they couldn’t finish the business at hand. I don’t know. Frankly, I don’t care. There are far more important things for us to be worrying about. What’s done is done.

I also have no idea how the party intends to settle this matter, although Sen. Beers mentioned talk of completing the delegate elections via a mail-in ballot. We’ll see.

But however the unfinished elections are conducted, if the Ron Paul delegates come together again and win all 31 seats to the Republican National Convention, I think that’s great. If the party regulars and McCain forces get their hats handed to them by the far-better organized Ron Paul brigades, vunderbar. Viva la Revolucion!

You see, I’m not angry with the vast majority of Ron Paul delegates. You fought hard, stayed organized and played by the rules. But I can’t say that of Jeff Greenspan. You all love the guy and are loyal to him…and that’s fine. But I believe the Arizona Agitator deceived and double-crossed party officials who trusted and welcomed him - and he’s done nothing to convince me otherwise. If he does some day, I’ll buy him a beer.

Let me close with this suggestion.

If you folks want to change the direction of the Republican Party - and I hope you do - you can either do it by force or persuasion. You’re trying to do it by force right now (VERY un-libertarian), even though the party leaders we’re talking about here are libertarian-leaning - just like you, me and Ron Paul. That makes no sense.

You win by addition, not subtraction. And those grassroots activists hoping to gain control over the direction of the party should consider heeding the wisdom of the late great Chinese general, Sun Tzu:

“To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.”

I would also urge you to divert all of the wasted time, effort and energy you’re expending on getting people elected to this silly national convention and shift it to getting like-minded libertarian-conservatives elected to school boards, city councils and county commissions. THERE’S where your efforts and organizational abilities can REALLY make a difference.

I believe it’s been estimated that 600 Ron Paul delegates attended the Reno convention. My question is this: How many of you are planning to file to run for a real elected office on Monday?

I know you’re all focusing on gaining control of the Nevada GOP delegation to the national convention. But when that’s over, what will you have accomplished? Doodley-squat. It won’t mean a thing.

Instead, might I suggest you all consider filing to run for legislative seats, school board seats, board of education seats, etc. And that includes challenging liberal and “moderate” Republican incumbents in primaries!

Then set aside a two-day weekend in early June and bring in a couple of professional campaign trainers to teach you the nuts and bolts of organizing and running a winning grassroots campaign. It’s really not that difficult (or expensive) if you know what you’re doing. Start winning some “down ballot” seats and begin the hard work of moving up to bigger and more influential seats. After all…

You can’t change public policy is you don’t change public officials.

If you want help doing THIS, I’m available. But if all you want to do is fart around with Roberts Rules of Order and meaningless “resolutions” at a state convention…well, I personally think you’re wasting your time.

Then again, it’s your time. So have at it. As for me, I’n off to watch my girls’ softball game. Adios.

Posted on May 3rd, 2008 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Nevada