The Tennessee state primary election is scheduled for August 5th, 2010. In that election candidates of the Democrat and Republican Parties will be selected to face each other in the November election for Governor of Tennessee.
One of the leading candidates in the Republican primary is Zach Wamp, and fortunately we do not have to search very long to find Mr. Wamp’s philosophy of government, as Zach Wamp has been in the United States Congress representing Tennessee’s 3rd District since 1995.
Let’s now examine a small part of Congressman Wamp’s 15-year voting record.
He voted to authorize the war against Iraq and has repeatedly voted to continue its funding. As a result of that war over 4000 young Americans have lost their lives and tens of thousands more have been physically and/or psychologically injured for life. Only God knows for sure how many Iraqis have been killed – perhaps hundreds of thousands or more. Millions more have been reduced to the status of homeless refugees; the infrastructure of their country destroyed; their land, water, and air contaminated by depleted uranium weapons. Keep in mind that Iraq was a country which had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11 and represented no threat to the United States whatsoever.
Congressman Wamp states on his campaign website that “we need a balanced budget,” and “reckless spending cannot continue.” Those are noble sentiments, but his voting record does not indicate a genuine commitment to them.
He voted against the ban on UN funding, for the Cash for Clunkers program, for the banker bailout, for the Economic Stimulus Act, for the Peru Free Trade Agreement, for foreign aid, for the Oman Free Trade Agreement, for the Iraq War authorization and continued funding as previously stated, for various supplemental appropriations funding, and repeatedly for deficit spending and unbalanced budgets.
Those votes do not indicate a committment to fiscal responsibility or to the U.S. Constitution.
Photo credit: Republican Party of Shelby County
If that were all it would be plenty, but there’s more. He voted for warrantless searches, for electronic eavesdropping, for criminalizing legitimate dissent through the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act, for military tribunals for those designated unlawful enemy combatants, for Patriot Act reauthorization, and against an amendment to deny funds for implementation of the National Animal Identification System.
These votes do not indicate a commitment to the U.S. Constitution and the Bill Of Rights.
Congressman Wamp’s voting record as a whole indicates a firm commitment to the congressional leadership of the Republican Party but a weak commitment to the best interests of the American people. For those reasons I cannot support him as a candidate for Governor of Tennessee.
- Darrell Castle
Posted by cptennesseedarrell 
