Hip-Pocket Politics: How To Become a Tack by Gary North
Ron Paul continues to attract young conservatives which gives me some measure of hope for our future. This Gary North fella says some things I'd like to repeat here. Here's one:
"Ron Paul is still dismissed as a gadfly or kook by the mainstream media. He is not taken seriously. Yet he keeps scoring straw poll victories. This should not be happening, they believe.
When I was his research assistant in 1976, we knew that on some votes, the outcome would be 434 to 1. He would be the lone "no" vote. This has not changed. He is still the lone ranger in the House.
The problem for the Republican Establishment is that he represents a rising swing vote nationally. He and Palin together represent a growing threat to the Party's Punch and Judy show that Republican incumbents play with incumbent Democrats. The doctrine of representation matters in politics. These two represent disillusioned Republican voters who are in a position to inflict permanent losses on Republican candidates who operate in terms of politics as usual.
In 2010, Ron Paul remains the ultimate loner inside the Beltway. Outside the Beltway, he is not a loner. The Republican voter in the street knows who he is. There is no other person in Congress even close to his ability to gain votes at this stage.
This is causing consternation inside the Republican Establishment. Paul can raise tens of millions of dollars on the Web. They know that. He has a constant YouTube presence. They don't. He has a hard-core audience inside the Tea Party movement. Only Sarah Palin matches him, which gives the big-spending Republican Establishment no comfort. They hate her, too."
His conclusion perfectly illustrates my personal position on the subject. Read on:
"The most important power in politics is the power to impose pain on politicians. Civil government is about imposing negative sanctions on law-breakers. So is politics.
Any time a politician begins to think you are in his hip pocket, make sure he knows you are a tack.
The Tea Party movement is growing. Rising taxes and rising deficits will guarantee that this will continue.
If the Tea Party bloc cannot get its candidates nominated, it should run third-party candidates every time. It should kill the chances of any Republican candidate unless he decides to pander to them.
The Establishment Republicans will wail in despair. "This is keeping the party from winning." Exactly! The goal is to do this for as long as the Republican Party does not publicly pursue the agenda of the Tea Party wing.
Two election cycles later, the wafflers will be gone. At that point, the Tea Party bloc will control the Republican Party's grass roots.
The political cancer today is big spending. Big spenders must be removed with surgical precision. Every candidate must know that he will lose in November if he waffles.
Politicians see the light only when they feel the heat. This is the doctrine of hell in politics. It is time to give politicians hell."
