Republican Tyranny in Tampa: What Happened and Why?

Republican Tyranny in Tampa: What Happened and Why? 

I just read on one of the social network sites I belong to that Ron Paul is planning a 3^rd party run for President.  People have their panties in a bunch saying he will be the reason Obama gets re-elected.  I have a few thoughts to share and several questions to ask on this matter.  The questions I have need some answers from people who will take an objective look at what I write and respond with thought rather than emotion.  Put your partisan hat aside and read on.

For any who are not aware of the situation I will give a short “cliff notes” version of what happened at the RNC convention in Tampa.  The establishment was so afraid of Ron Paul that they threw the rules out the window for the benefit of Mitt Romney.  The Republican Party establishment, along with the Romney campaign advisors, managed to change the rules to allow Romney to “select” the delegates he desired and to disqualify those elected at the state level if he didn’t like who they were committed to vote for at the convention.  Essentially the “presumptive nominee” now chooses who the delegates are despite what the state conventions might have done to elect their own choices.  So, if I run for president and am the “presumptive nominee” I get to disqualify anyone I think might vote for a candidate who garnered enough votes in a state to have a few delegate votes at the convention?   How nice for me!!!  No more floor fights, EVER!!  This is the short version, not the epic story.

I thought the idea of the convention was to get together, and to work within the rules of the party to nominate a candidate for the presidential election; that it is the method to settle disputes and come out the other side in agreement.  Apparently I am under a misconception.  The result of this convention is an extremely fractured party with the Ron Paul delegation already being blamed for what could very well be the re-election of Barack Obama in November.  I have some questions that I hope readers will ponder objectively before they answer.

First of all, when Romney had a majority of the delegates sent by the states, why inflame passions by starting a big fight over changing the rules to silence what was obviously a minority of delegates?  Were they really trying to avoid a fight on the floor for the nomination or were they deliberately alienating people?   What about those whose delegates were aligned with Santorum or Gingrich?  Hasn’t the Romney camp and their establishment elitist allies just disenfranchised them as well?  Isn’t a party convention the place where these nominee fights are supposed to take place, in a fair, honest, and democratic way?  When the whole purpose of the convention was “unity”, with a strong and cohesive voice, why did they go to all of this trouble to keep passions enflamed and drive the fight to the general election in November?  I saw this same thing happen at the state convention in Oklahoma.  I was a Santorum supporter which left me without a dog in the fight.  The established rules of the party and parliamentary procedure were violated repeatedly in what I saw as a deliberate tactic by the party establishment to divide the party.  I was appalled at the way party officials behaved in Norman, Oklahoma.  And then I see what happened in Tampa!!!  Why was a war that didn’t need to be fought started?

If the Romney camp and the establishment who runs the party wanted a unified voice why did they not just allow the process to proceed and come to the end with everyone feeling like they had a fair chance, to “have their day in court” so to speak?  Why disenfranchise a huge block of party delegates, and the voters they represented in Tampa?  Could it be that the Republican Party would rather lose as they did in 2008 and then sit back and snipe from the bushes like they have been doing since the last presidential election?  Republicans took the House of Representatives in 2010, and by that election control the finances of the government; yet they blame Harry Reid for their own failure to stop Obama when they have the power to do so.

In 2008 John McCain was a very weak, very liberal, candidate who picked Sarah Palin, a fiery conservative, as his running mate.  The McCain handlers repeatedly silenced Palin while McCain made a mess of everything he did. He irritated and alienated every group he was supposed to reel in with the “charm” that was to overcome his liberal leanings.  When he got his head handed to him on a platter by Obama the McCain team came out the very next day blaming Palin in a smear campaign that makes the Obama “blame Bush” tactic look like child’s play.  It was all too plain to me.  McCain ran a pathetic campaign and used Palin as the patsy to “save face”.

Now, in 2012, Mitt Romney has the same campaign handlers used by McCain in what was a huge disaster four years ago.  I wonder WHY????  Why is Romney using the same people who couldn’t get McCain elected over a nobody with less experience in politics than Sarah Palin?   Why does he take a bunch of losers and employ them in what I have been told is the most critical election in our lifetime?  Does this seem odd to anyone else or is it just me?

I also find it odd that what could have been a very positive and unifying convention was handled in a manner that caused more fractures than an earthquake.  Are the people who run the party really so stupid they can’t figure out how to handle something as simple as a vote of delegates?  Aren’t these people the “professional political experts” who know everything us “rubes” don’t know about politics?  If they are as smart as they are supposed to be, and would like for us to believe they are, why did the convention erupt in the chaos it did?  Are we looking at incompetence here or it is something more sinister? 

I am having a difficult time wrapping my brain around the developments I saw at the convention.  All of this contentious atmosphere could have been avoided by simply following the rules and being fair about how the convention was handled.  Instead of fighting and blaming each other why are Republican Party voters not asking these questions of those who caused the problems in the first place, the party “elites”?  Are Romney supporters Romneybots who fear a fair hearing for others or are they “useful idiots” being used by establishment insiders with an agenda that has yet to be seen?

Who does this bickering between Romney supporters and Paul supporters benefit?  The obvious answer is Barack Obama and Democrats but does it go deeper than that?  What happens if all of us get together and support Mitt Romney, and he is elected?  Will Romney and Republicans make good on their campaign promises or are those promises more empty hot air to garner votes from desperate citizens scared of a 2^nd Obama term?  Has John Boehner fulfilled any of the promises he made so we would vote for Republicans in record numbers in 2010? 

If you will take a real close and objective look at the promises made by Boehner prior to November 2010 you will find he has done nothing but posture and bleat without really accomplishing anything.  We the People have seen repeated votes to raise the debt ceiling; and one continuing resolution after another to keep government funded at the levels established by the Democrats while Republicans blame Harry Reid for not passing a budget.  That is like complaining about a drug addict not getting clean while handing him the drugs he uses to stay wasted.  Boehner and the Republican Party sit in the shadows, doing nothing, and snipe at Democrats.  Obama does nothing to improve our nation yet spends all of his effort blaming George Bush.  So, Democrats blame Bush; Republicans blame Democrats; and now the Romney camp will blame Ron Paul if he loses in November.  And while all this “blame game” is happening nothing gets done as our nation goes ever faster towards the cliff that leads to the abyss of financial ruin, ending in poverty and slavery for all of us.

Am I the only one who has figured out that neither political party has any intention of fixing what ails our nation?  Am I the only one who cares where we are headed as a people?  The politicians go right along living the high life off of the taxes we pay to fund their lavish lifestyles, while blaming each other for the problems.  Most of the tax money collected goes to government overhead, at the clip of about 72%.  They use some of the money, about 28%, to buy the loyalty of illegal aliens, poor people, the elderly, and anyone else they can buy; knowing full well that the goose that lays the golden egg is almost out of eggs.  They know we will collapse like Greece in a very short time but neither party is really doing anything to stop it are they?  They do nothing to solve the problems, but instead spend their time pointing fingers at each other.

So while we sit and snipe at each other and try to fix blame on Ron Paul, Gary Johnson, John Dummett (www.johndummett.us ), or any one of a dozen others who have a plan to restore liberty and financial stability both political parties and their high dollar financiers go on living life in style and laughing at us peasants fighting over crumbs.  What a sight we must be to those who are in control.  We the People fight each other while our enemies (Republican and Democrat elitists) sit back, laughing and waiting for the right time to drop the hammer of tyranny on all of us.

When We People should be looking to God for salvation from the evil foisted upon us by political parties most are looking to those same political parties for answers.  Way too many people are looking to Mitt Romney to save this nation just as many looked to Obama four years ago. Obama wasn’t the answer then, and Romney isn’t the answer now.  Prayer and only prayer will save our nation from the ravages of tyranny that is being brought by the Republican and Democrat Parties.

I hope those who read this will read it several times and get the true meaning of what I write.  I would really like some thoughtful answers rather than sniping and name calling.  I have posed questions about some serious issues that need thought put into them if we are to find reasonable answers that can be used to correct the situation.  Partisanship is not the answer here.  I don’t care if you support Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, or someone else, that isn’t the point.  We the People are on the Titanic but the politicians aren’t on here with us.  They have set themselves above us and have insulated themselves and their friends from the effects of the disaster that we are facing in a very short time if we don’t find some solutions.

I submit this in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, in faith, with the responsibility given to me by Almighty God to honor His work and not let it die from neglect.

Bob Russell

Claremore, Oklahoma

September 7, 2012