What We Can Do

Yesterday a girlfriend and I went to our first CRA meeting. That's California Republican Assembly. We got the invitation from the organizer of our local Tea Party, with whom we worked to organize that event.

We met at a private home, listened to a short talk by the current President (of CRA), and asked him questions.

In brief, the CRA is a home for "Rightwing Extremists" within the GOP, working to drag the party, kicking and screaming back to the Right where it belongs. Ronald Reagan called it "The Conscience of the Republican Party". And judging by the people I met, and their declarations of What We Believe on their website, I'd have to agree. (Check out the unequivocal language about the Second Amendment. How could I not love these guys?)

I've been talking to friends about the best was to affect political change, and inevitably, the subject of third parties came up. The frustration of Conservatives with the Republican Party has many of us considering such radical options. The alternative, of course, is remaining in the GOP fold, and working for change "within the system". That option has seemed a gloomy one, given the selling-out, corruption and greed to be found among some of "our own".

Watching Bush increase spending, ignore the borders, and bailing out failed financial institutions; watching cross-over "moderate" Republicans supporting Obama's agenda; witnessing the failure of the Schwarzenegger governorship in California is enough to make you think that the Party is beyond hope. Seeing John McCain as the GOP presidential nominee didn't help matters.

Then came the Tea Parties, where people of all stripes came together to demonstrate that they share our goals of limited government, low taxation, free markets, protected borders, responsible spending...and from that an introduction to CRA which included many of the same people. And it redeemed the GOP for me. At least a little corner of it, from which we can lead our rightwing insurgency. I've thrown my lot in with the GOP "radicals".

All things considered, it has the best practical shot of success. Third parties, no matter how well-conceived, have a history of failure and of splitting the vote to the advantage of their opposite. The only reason I even considered it is because the GOP seemed like such a lost cause....and because too many Republicans in Washington are less "Republicans" than they are "Inside the Beltway" politicians, seduced by the money, and drunk on the power of government. They have got to go.

And so does the invidious, creeping rot of "democrat lite" that has infected so many of our "leaders".

To that point, among the listed goals of the CRA is Term Limits. This is something I've never really supported because I believed that elections were the only term limits we needed in a democratic republic. But the incumbent looters in Washington (and in the states) have rigged the system, so that no longer works. To keep—no, to restore—our citizen government we have to rid ourselves of career politicians who never have to live by or under the laws, taxes and regulations they pass for the rest of us. While they are a permanent and exempted aristocracy, they will do what's best for themselves...at whatever cost to the country and us.

Either we act, or we lose the Republic. I choose to fight. And for now at least, the CRA seems a very good place to bivoac.

For the first time in a long time, I feel like I'm standing on solid ground instead of on the disorienting shifting sands of the earthquake-shaken landscape created by the Obama administration.

I'm assuming there are similar groups in all states. I encourage you to join them.

The Gunslinger