Today I left work early and made my way to Rochester for the Minnesota State Republican Convention. There are some activities going on this evening, but I’m not certain exactly what yet. The bulk of the convention will begin tomorrow morning.
It promises to be a very contentious convention. The Ron Paul campaing and supporters were very effective at getting their people elected to National Delegate and Alternate positions during the first round of Congressional District conventions back in early April. However, the party elites quickly wised up to what was going on, and have been throwing up all possible roadblocks. They have also been very hostile to Ron Paul supporters, and even Ron Paul himself. Paul will be in town tomorrow morning to speak, but he was not invited to speak at the convention, he will be speaking in the park next to the convention center before the convention starts. They wonder why Ron Paul’s supporters are so adversed to supporting their beloved candidate, presumptive nominee Juan McCain*. Ron Paul is still an active candidate for the Republican Nomination for President, and to snub him when he is in town by excluding him from the convention (be it directly or indirectly) is a sign of such utter disrespect, which I find quite appalling. It has nothing to do with my support of Ron Paul either; if Sam Brownback or Tom Tancredo (who together never received the support that Ron Paul has received) were still in the race and were in town during the convention, I would expect them to be invited to participate. Of course it gets even worse, not only was Ron Paul snubbed, he was told by Ron Carey, Minnesota Republican King-maker, that the only way he would be allowed to speak at the convention is if he withdrew from the race and pledged his support to Juan McCain. What a slap in the face! Minnesota has less than 2% of the votes in the Electoral College, and even a smaller percentage of the total delegates in the National Republican Party. Clearly he didn’t think that Ron Paul would cater to such a demand simply to be allowed to speak to 2000 people! Ron Carey is an incredibly arrogant @$$hole (excuse my language).
Aside from voting for Ron Paul delegates and alternates to the National convention, I may not participate too heavily this weekend in the convention while I’m there. Most of what goes on at these events is changes and amendments to the party platform. This is a process that has no other purpose than to pacify the delegates and make them feel as though they are actually doing something that matters, when in reality it doesn’t matter a hill of beans. I find the whole process to be a bit of a joke. There are many changes made with little discussion and near unanimous support. There are other changes that raise heated discussion and can come close to almost physical violence. But in the end, what is the value of a platform at all when the candidates, both elected to office and seeking office, are free to disregard the platform completely? All they have to do to get the (R) by their name is kiss the right butts. I personally have some disagreements with the Republican Party platform, both at the state and national levels. However, I would be happy to vote for a Republican who stuck exactly to the platform when it comes to actual policy making. Even where my opinion differs from the platform, at least I know what those differences are and can rest comfortably in knowing I won’t be blind-sided and betrayed at some time in the future, which is fast becoming the rule rather than the exception these days.
I am in Rochester this weekend for two reasons. The first is that I was elected by the people in my BPOU to be here and to represent them as a staunch Conservative who favors small and limited government. I owe it to those who voted for me to go. The second reason I am here is that I am so impressed by the way that Ron Paul has served in Congress over ten terms that I am happy to give him as much support as I can in his bid for the Presidency, even if he is mathematically out of the race. I agree with his message and I want to do what I can to give him as much of a platform to keep spreading it as I am capable of giving him. Beyond that, my obligation to the voters of my BPOU ends on Saturday morning, and with that my participation in the Republican Party ends as well – unless and until they move back to the Right and restore their allegiance to their own platform. I certainly won’t be granting any support to the Minnesota Republican party so long as Ron Carey is in charge, and the party keeps putting up watered-down Democrats like Tim Pawlenty (Governor), Norm Coleman (Senator) and Juan McCain.
*I will be referring to Mr. McCain as “Juan” from now on, as he seems to be more interested in catering to the Hispanic illegal immigrant community than law-abiding, tax paying American citizens.