Terry Lowry, the Republican Party & the EEEVIL Libertarian Boogeymen

If you're not familiar with Mr. Terry Lowry and his activities, suffice it to say that he has long held an interesting reputation within local Republican activist circles. He's a semi-insider (precinct chair) who claims to host weekday radio programs on FM 100.7 and/or AM 1110 . The problem is if you visit either website, the timeslot he claims to inhabit on the FM frequency actually lists a radio show hosted by a Ms. Marsha Lambeth, and his claimed AM slot is hosted by a Mr. Ray Lucia. I'm sure at one point, he hosted a show somewhere, no doubt tuned into by a couple of family members and/or someone in the listening area with a busted radio. After all, he prints a fantabulous picture of himself over and over on his newsletter that looks about 25 years old where he sports what is I'm sure is his "trademark" stretch-mark hiding mustache and wearing some giant earmuff headphones around his neck. That has to make him radio legit, right?

Now, all joking aside, I'm betting on a personal level, Mr. Lowry is an amiable man; however, what he is really known for is his "Link Letter". This "publication", if you want to call it that, is an amateurish, 70's style, poorly printed mailer, which inside is basically nothing more than a collection of candidate ads, some tabloid-style rumor filled or reprinted articles, and a couple of pages dedicated to who Mr. Lowry personally endorses.

The dirty little secret about the "Link Letter" is, the trick to getting a personal endorsement from Mr. Lowry is having some cash that you're willing to hand over to Mr. Lowry. Oh, and taking him for a couple of meals doesn't hurt either. See, he explains on his "How are Endorsements Made?" page that he meets personally with every candidate, and from what I understand from a few resources, you almost can't get a "personal meeting" without buying the man a meal. Nice gig if you can get enough people to sign up, I guess. That summation made, I honestly think Big Jolly and The County Seat have captured the essence of the Link Letter from a far more interesting perspective than I ever could, so I'll leave the further information to them, if you're interested.

Now, I have to waste a little space to commend whoever compiles the mailing lists for the infamous "Link Letter". The last time there was a Republican primary in this State, the new and improved Y-P-S Manor was little more than a lump of dirt in the back of an obscure suburban neighborhood in South Montgomery County. This primary season, we actually received a "Link Letter" to the Manor, although I found it odd that it was addressed to the only individual in our household whose voting registration is listed "in suspense". Long story short, this person only used our address as a permanent one for a short period and no longer does so.

All this introductory stuff aside though and the point of my screed du jour, is that the common "scare" theme of Mr. Lowry's "Letter" this year is something I've heard in several circles: all "Christian Conservatives" need to "beware" because there's an evil Libertarian force trying to hijack the Republican party. From a personal perspective, and living with one of these "evil" Libertarians myself, I can convey the following message to all good, God fearing Republicans: true Libertarians wrote off the Republican party as worthless years ago. Most Libertarians are satisfied holding true to their never ending competition for ideological purity while steadfastly maintaining their hefty, but ideologically pure 1% voting block.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, here are the facts. Yes, there is a force trying to take over the party, but we've been here in one form or another all along.

Who are we?

Many of us were on the party "inside", (I personally haven't missed a Republican primary since I became of voting age and was myself a precinct chair & member of the HCRP) but the Republican party moved so far away from us and our ideals we could no longer tolerate the hypocrisy.

We've grown tired of the unkept promises, and of the officeholders who run on one set of issues and govern on another. Some us tried to hold our noses and vote for some abominable characters for the "good of the party" and some of us inevitably couldn't bear it. So we suffered while casting our ballots as the not-so ideologically pure 1%. Many of these folks I believe are the origins of the TEA party revolution, although I don't personally consider myself a TEA party activist.

Many of us are the children of Goldwater Conservatism and the Reagan Revolution.

We're sick of what the spoiled and sense of entitled Baby Boomers have done and continue to do to our country.

We're ready to combat the incremental Socialism and Communism that has oozed like some disease into our system.

We're ready for true constitutionalism and actual capitalism, not the crony variety where failure is "bailed out" by the so-called stewards of our hard earned money.

We're smart, we know who are the few good guys in government, and we back them. Unfortunately, most of those currently in power (regardless of party) are drunk with that power, and have time and time again proven their inability to provide the form of government we've tried to elect.

We don't want the absence of Government regulation, except where you think we need it; we want the Government out of our business.

We believe Government is evil and almost everything it touches fails.

We believe in the liberty and freedom granted to us by God, not by Government.

We believe the power to tax is the power to destroy.

Fundamentally, we believe that the promise of opportunity is as it was during the time of our founders.

We want the Federal Government to stick to the Enumerated Powers so eloquently stated in Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution, and we want our State governments to intrude upon us as little as possible.

We believe that our American Consitution is the most perfect system of Government ever codified.

We believe that our Founders provided us with an exit strategy and we're trying so very desperately to not use it.

So, to further our efforts, we voice our malcontent...and over the years we were placated and preached at by our so-called "leaders" and "voices" that a third party was not the answer. We've been told time and time again we need to change the party from within, at the primary level. Well, that's exactly what we're doing, and that means some of these self-proclaimed "voices" and "leaders" who are part of the problem have got to go.

We are our own leaders, we have our families, and we don't need you.

I can imagine the prospect of losing power to someone who has spent his or her life living off the spoils of Government largess, is very daunting. My goodness, Mr. or Mrs. Government official, you might actually have to GET A REAL JOB and live by the horrid laws to which you've subjected the rest of us.

So now to hang on your sacred power you've resorted to lying about us and calling us names.

We, the liberty minded voters of the Republican party, are the people who the wannabe hanger-oners and political extortionists like Terry Lowry are calling the "libertarians who are trying to hijack the party."

The truth is that those like Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, John McCain, Charlie Crist, Lindsay Graham, Chuck Hagel, Rick Perry, Kay Bailey Hutchison, and even Terry Lowry are the ones who hijacked and perverted the ideals of the Republican party, and now these people and those like them need to recognize that they've failed our country. It is time for them to step aside and give someone else a shot.

And if you don't, we'll do our best to put you aside.

...I'm J, and I approved this message.

/rant

The Course of Human Events

If you live in Texas and not under a rock, you may have heard Gov. Rick Perry endorsed secession as a possibility for Texas. More specifically, he said that while it hasn't come to that yet, it might.

The usual suspects are screaming and wailing. Everyone's favorite ridiculous news-muppet, Geraldo Rivera, called Perry's statements treason and sedition. A sizable contingent have claimed his statements are "Anti-American".

Heh. I will simply remind everyone of some words from the past.

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

So, it's apparently treasonous for Rick Perry to voice the same sentiments in regards to the current federal government? Silly me. As I read this document, it's our right as free men and women to discuss the possibility. More importantly, it's our birthright as Americans. We're the only country going to have a violent revolution and come through it better than before. The right, indeed the duty, to try it again if necessary is one of the principles on which America was founded. Rick Perry's statements may be unwise and may cause him to lose an election, but they aren't treason and they aren't unamerican.