Promoted from diaries.  Now spread it around. - Moe Lane

As of August 31, 2009, since the Nov. 2008 election, the Maricopa County Republican Party has increased its precinct committeeman ranks by over 21 per cent. The Party had, in Nov., 2008, 1,989 precinct committeemen representing the 694,000 registered Republican voters in Maricopa County. The quota was 6,231. Thus, the Party was at less than one-third “fighting” strength. Those 1,989 were split about 50-50 between moderates and conservatives.

No more.

Since November, we’ve recruited 434 more PCs. Most at Tea Parties and congresscritter protests. Most, if not all, of these new recruits are conservatives – I’ve been to a lot of Tea Parties and protests – and talked to a lot of people at them in my efforts to recruit PCs – and I’ve yet to meet a moderate.

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Much has been made lately of the Republican Party’s struggles – the latest involving the defection of Arlen Specter to the Democrat Party.

The fight has been cast by the commentariat and a few Republican politicians as a fight between ideological “purists” who, it is said, seek to shrink the Party, and the pragmatic sort who understand the need to remain inclusive.

I do not believe that is accurate – and it undermines the task before us to describe it so basically and so thoughtlessly. My observation is that when everyone is saying, essentially, the same thing, there is little thought behind it at all. How many times can yet another writer, observer, or “thinker” sitting in his office in Washington or New York explain to those of us in the trenches that we simply need to “be more accommodating,” and need to “expand the tent?”

They act as if conservatives want a small tent, to continue to use this tired and overused metaphor (used by many who have never been in a tent other than those put up at a horse race, wedding or fundraiser - by rich people for other rich people). Specifically, they misinterpret Senator DeMint’s recent remark suggesting he’d rather have 30 conservatives in the Senate than 60 unreliable ones to mean he wants to be in the minority.

NO. NO. NO. Of course he doesn’t (nor do any of us) want a minority Party. But he is saying, I believe, that if our Party cannot unite behind freedom and limited government, then what is the point of having 60?

In today’s Wall Street journal, Senator DeMint outlines his vision for the Party – and it is a vision appropriately rooted in the unifying power of freedom. These are the poles necessary to hold up the tent, he rightly contends. He says:

To win back the trust of the American people, we must be a “big tent” party. But big tents need strong poles, and the strongest pole of our party — the organizing principle and the crucial alternative to the Democrats — must be freedom. The federal government is too big, takes too much of our money, and makes too many of our decisions. If Republicans can’t agree on that, elections are the least of our problems.

I commend the full text of op-ed to you, and ask that your forward it to your friends and family. This is an important discussion that should not be monopolized by the “thinkers” in ivory towers who mischaracterize a belief in freedom and limited government as a “purity” test, when they offer nothing in the alternative but polls, weak policy ideas rooted in desperate populism and theories on “messaging.” This is not leadership.

Senator DeMint leads with a vision rooted in our fundamental principles and American exceptionalism.

Governor Rick Perry has upped the ante after remarks during his appearance at the Tea Party in Austin, Texas. According to news accounts, the Governor acknowledged that independence is theoretically an option, but that it’s not currently necessary.

…An animated Perry told the crowd at Austin City Hall — one of three tea parties he was attending across the state — that officials in Washington have abandoned the country’s founding principles of limited government. He said the federal government is strangling Americans with taxation, spending and debt.

…Perry called his supporters patriots. Later, answering news reporters’ questions, Perry suggested Texans might at some point get so fed up they would want to secede from the union, though he said he sees no reason why Texas should do that.

“There’s a lot of different scenarios,” Perry said. “We’ve got a great union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we’re a pretty independent lot to boot…”

Some folks will no doubt be concerned that this statement is too strong and will marginalize the growing movement of citizens opposing the actions of our national government in Washington. Some may even characterize it as unpatriotic.

I completely disagree.

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