jbauer
08-31-2012, 12:13 PM
I've had a bit to reflect on what happened this past year. I'm upset with the result but I'm furious about the way at which it went down. I figured the best way to voice that is to our government and especially our elected officials. You might do something similar. If we want change we need to be active in our own party but we also need to let our officials know what’s on our minds. Here's what I had to say:
Dear Representative Dianne Black,
My name is Josh Bauer. I am a happily married father of two. My wife and I are Christians and both run our own small businesses that employ constituents of your district. I’ve been a fiscal conservative my entire life. As a fiscal conservative, I’ve voted for the Republicans because I felt that the Republicans best suited my view point. Political science taught me that Republicans stand for limited, fiscally responsible government. I also was of the mindset that the Republicans stood for something the Democrats didn’t: Integrity. The actions by “our” party at “our” convention in Tampa have brought to light many things I probably would have rather not seen because it has jaded my views of the Grand Old Party.
I watched the convention with great anticipation and excitement to see what “our” chances were of removing Barak Obama from office. I will pretense my comments by saying that because of my fiscal conservative views I did not vote for Romney in the primary but intended on doing what Mr. Santorum so eloquently stated during the last debate: “politics is a team sport, folks, and sometimes you've got to rally together and do something” When the elections come around this November I was planning on doing just that, taking one for the team. However, what I saw this week disgusted me and even worse, it came from “our” team against “our” team. The blatant disrespect for duly elected delegates from their respective states was ridiculous. Those delegates put in the massive amount of energy and effort that it takes to get elected. What we all saw on national TV throws mud into the faces of those grassroots activists who volunteer their time, heart, soul and most importantly money into making the GOP what it is supposed to stand for. What reaction do you suppose they are having after the convention? Is it really a good move to ostracize parts of the party during this most critical election?
I want to specifically talk about Rule 16 that passed (although I’m not sure it had the majority during the voice vote). Rule 16 as I understand it, gives unlimited power to whoever the eventual nominee of the party would be. The nominee will have unlimited veto power over state delegates and thus has control of everything within the party. It gives him/her total control in shaping the party platform and rules and explicitly takes away the rights of the states to determine what their party should stand for. You claim to be a Tea Party representative. What happened to States rights? What is a party that is supposed stand for conservative, responsible, limited government doing giving all that power to one person? I have to ask, do you see this as a good thing? Are we really going to remove the power of the local activists and grant everything to whomever is on top, especially when there are countless fractions within the Republican Party who call themselves Republicans and vote for Republicans in November? Does the idea of a group of party elites making all the decisions sit well with you? It certainly doesn’t to me. I was under the impression this was a bottom up party rather than a top down party like the Democrats.
Equally important, I want to discuss the theme of Senator McCain’s and former Secretary Rice’s speeches because their remarks certainly gave me great pause. It was pretty clear to me from carefully thought out words and their tone that we’ll soon be fighting more wars. Is the GOP really trying to convince Republicans and the elusive Independent voters that we should trade more Welfare for more Warfare? I dislike Welfare as much as the next conservative but I’m also just as sick of the perpetual wars we’ve been fighting. Both programs are bankrupting our society economically and morally. We’ve spent more fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan then Obama’s worthless stimulus packages. Frankly, each has been just as successful at spending TRILLIONS and accomplishing nothing. Everyone says: “support the troops” I want to remind you that it’s not un-American to support our troops by getting them out of harm’s way by bringing them home.
Mrs. Black, I’m concerned. I’m concerned about the direction of our country. I’m concerned about the massive deficit and our inability to even mention it in political debates. I’m concerned about our never ending wars. I’m concerned about domestic reckless spending. I’m concerned about entitlements and social programs that have no chance of remaining solvent over the coming years. But most importantly for you, I’m concerned with the direction of the GOP. At the end of the day I have to say, as scary as another term for the Socialist might be. The moves made this past week certainly remind me of another just as scary political ideology: Fascism. I’ll leave it to you to determine if that definition fits the actions taken by our Grand Old Party this past week.
Webster’s definition of Fascism is as follows:
often capitalized: a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
I look forward to your response. More importantly I look forward to your voting record. Political ads are just that, advertisements that try to persuade consumers to purchase your product. They might be effective at getting elected, but voting record is where the rubber meets the road. Trust me I’ll be watching.
Sincerely,
Josh Bauer
Dear Representative Dianne Black,
My name is Josh Bauer. I am a happily married father of two. My wife and I are Christians and both run our own small businesses that employ constituents of your district. I’ve been a fiscal conservative my entire life. As a fiscal conservative, I’ve voted for the Republicans because I felt that the Republicans best suited my view point. Political science taught me that Republicans stand for limited, fiscally responsible government. I also was of the mindset that the Republicans stood for something the Democrats didn’t: Integrity. The actions by “our” party at “our” convention in Tampa have brought to light many things I probably would have rather not seen because it has jaded my views of the Grand Old Party.
I watched the convention with great anticipation and excitement to see what “our” chances were of removing Barak Obama from office. I will pretense my comments by saying that because of my fiscal conservative views I did not vote for Romney in the primary but intended on doing what Mr. Santorum so eloquently stated during the last debate: “politics is a team sport, folks, and sometimes you've got to rally together and do something” When the elections come around this November I was planning on doing just that, taking one for the team. However, what I saw this week disgusted me and even worse, it came from “our” team against “our” team. The blatant disrespect for duly elected delegates from their respective states was ridiculous. Those delegates put in the massive amount of energy and effort that it takes to get elected. What we all saw on national TV throws mud into the faces of those grassroots activists who volunteer their time, heart, soul and most importantly money into making the GOP what it is supposed to stand for. What reaction do you suppose they are having after the convention? Is it really a good move to ostracize parts of the party during this most critical election?
I want to specifically talk about Rule 16 that passed (although I’m not sure it had the majority during the voice vote). Rule 16 as I understand it, gives unlimited power to whoever the eventual nominee of the party would be. The nominee will have unlimited veto power over state delegates and thus has control of everything within the party. It gives him/her total control in shaping the party platform and rules and explicitly takes away the rights of the states to determine what their party should stand for. You claim to be a Tea Party representative. What happened to States rights? What is a party that is supposed stand for conservative, responsible, limited government doing giving all that power to one person? I have to ask, do you see this as a good thing? Are we really going to remove the power of the local activists and grant everything to whomever is on top, especially when there are countless fractions within the Republican Party who call themselves Republicans and vote for Republicans in November? Does the idea of a group of party elites making all the decisions sit well with you? It certainly doesn’t to me. I was under the impression this was a bottom up party rather than a top down party like the Democrats.
Equally important, I want to discuss the theme of Senator McCain’s and former Secretary Rice’s speeches because their remarks certainly gave me great pause. It was pretty clear to me from carefully thought out words and their tone that we’ll soon be fighting more wars. Is the GOP really trying to convince Republicans and the elusive Independent voters that we should trade more Welfare for more Warfare? I dislike Welfare as much as the next conservative but I’m also just as sick of the perpetual wars we’ve been fighting. Both programs are bankrupting our society economically and morally. We’ve spent more fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan then Obama’s worthless stimulus packages. Frankly, each has been just as successful at spending TRILLIONS and accomplishing nothing. Everyone says: “support the troops” I want to remind you that it’s not un-American to support our troops by getting them out of harm’s way by bringing them home.
Mrs. Black, I’m concerned. I’m concerned about the direction of our country. I’m concerned about the massive deficit and our inability to even mention it in political debates. I’m concerned about our never ending wars. I’m concerned about domestic reckless spending. I’m concerned about entitlements and social programs that have no chance of remaining solvent over the coming years. But most importantly for you, I’m concerned with the direction of the GOP. At the end of the day I have to say, as scary as another term for the Socialist might be. The moves made this past week certainly remind me of another just as scary political ideology: Fascism. I’ll leave it to you to determine if that definition fits the actions taken by our Grand Old Party this past week.
Webster’s definition of Fascism is as follows:
often capitalized: a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
I look forward to your response. More importantly I look forward to your voting record. Political ads are just that, advertisements that try to persuade consumers to purchase your product. They might be effective at getting elected, but voting record is where the rubber meets the road. Trust me I’ll be watching.
Sincerely,
Josh Bauer