Darrell Castle talks about the concept of “lesser” evil.
Evil Is Evil
October 3, 2012
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Republican Royalists
August 29, 2012Darrell Castle talks about the Republican National Convention and republican tactics.
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Rand Paul’s Betrayal—a Constitution Party Response
June 12, 2012Last Friday’s endorsement of Mitt Romney by Senator Rand Paul conjured up images of how George Washington must have felt when betrayed by his trusted general, Benedict Arnold.
That’s way too harsh, you may say, because Washington was betrayed when his countrymen were fighting for their lives and the life of their nation against the greatest empire on earth at that time. Benedict Arnold traded his honor for position and power with the empire, and as a result his name has been forever synonymous with treason and deceit.
I can’t help but conclude that Rand’s endorsement of Romney falls into the same category of deceit. Those of us in the liberty movement are struggling to survive against an even more powerful empire than that which existed in Washington’s day. Rand has not only set the liberty movement back but perhaps has also destroyed his father’s legacy.
Why he would do it is the question that begs for an answer.
Did he do it because he has been corrupted by the Washington power elite with promises of position and power? If so, then he is a deceiver and by definition a corrupt one. In addition his deception will not work because he has underestimated the rage his endorsement has provoked among his followers.
Did he do it because he has always been a loyal subject of the Republican leadership and principles really don’t matter to him? If that is true the result is even worse because that makes him a lying hypocrite for pretending to be something that he is not.
Did he do it because he wants to be a contender in 2016 or 2020 and needs to exhibit loyalty to the leadership of the Republican Party?
Whatever the reason that Rand Paul endorsed Romney, to many of us in the liberty movement, he just eliminated himself from contention as a presidential candidate now or in the future. He not only endorsed Romney, he said he would be honored to be Romney’s running mate.
He admitted, therefore, that he would be honored to serve with a man who stands opposed to virtually everything his father has represented for his 35 years in Washington. Reaction to the news has been so bad, and has come in such large numbers, that one cannot help but wonder if he did not miscalculate.
The fact remains that it is Ron the liberty movement has supported for 35 years, not his son. Is it possible that Ron did not approve his son’s decision in advance? It hardly seems likely but if so a brief statement to that effect would seem to be in order. The statement would need to be something similar to this:
Rand is my son and I love him, but I do not support his decision to endorse Mitt Romney. I completely disavow his decision and I have separated myself from it. Should I fail to gain the Republican nomination, which now seems likely, I will be giving my endorsement to the Constitution Party’s candidates—Virgil Goode and Jim Clymer.
That statement would go a long way toward preserving Ron’s legacy as the champion of liberty that he has always appeared to be.
What candidate will you support now that Ron Paul has admitted defeat in his bid for the Republican nomination and his son, Rand, has proven himself to be just another Republican loyalist?
I urge you to consider the Constitution Party and its candidates—Virgil Goode for President and Jim Clymer for Vice President. When Ron Paul was eliminated from the Republican nomination in 2008, he endorsed the Constitution Party’s candidates.
The Constitution Party always has and always will lift high the torch of liberty. Go to www.constitutionparty.com and www.goodeforpresident2012.com for information about the Constitution Party and its candidates.
Darrell L. Castle
Constitution Party
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Tennesseans Not Quite Ready For Revolution
August 10, 2010Knoxville mayor Bill Haslam easily defeated his two closest rivals in the August 5th Republican primary for governor of Tennessee.
Haslam received about 52% of the vote to 27% for Wamp and about 16% for Ramsey. Those numbers represent a significant victory for a moderate Republican selected by the people who are presumed to be the state’s most conservative voters. In other words, it wasn’t even close.
Why did the election go the way it did? Haslam, a very wealthy man, got in the race early and spent a lot of his own money. He is a businessman and mayor of one of the state’s four largest cities, just as Gov. Bredesen was when he won the election eight years ago. Haslam is handsome and charismatic and says nothing better than any of the others, but I don’t think any of those things represent the reason the election went the way it did.
The real reason is that Tennessee and Tennesseans are just not ready for the revolution that we read so much about. Voters are supposed to be angry at government – so angry that they want to send a message that they will not take it anymore. Well, Tennesseans sent a message on August 5th, and that message was “give us more of the same.”
Tennesseans obviously think that Governor Bredesen has done a good job during his eight years in office. They remember the economic shambles left by his predecessor, Don Sundquist, and they would like just to avoid a repeat of that.
Wamp and Ramsey campaigned by accusing Haslam of not being conservative enough, and it obviously didn’t work. Haslam was able to convince voters that his business experience combined with his experience running Knoxville give him the necessary credentials to lead the state economically.
That seems to be what people are concerned about now: economics. It’s a mistake to use labels such as liberal, conservative, left and right because voters are wise to the fact that most of the time the labels are meaningless. “Do I have a job, can I find a job, can I keep my house and car, and can I feed my family without public assistance?” are the kinds of questions people want answers for today.
If you are planning on being a candidate for executive office, you had better be prepared to answer those questions. Not many people take the time to discuss economic theory with voters. Either candidates don’t understand it, or they assume voters don’t understand it and don’t care to.
People do appreciate a candidate who is willing to tell them why everything is so fouled up and what he or she plans to do about it if elected. None of the candidates did that as far as I was able to determine, but voters assumed that Haslam has the formula for prosperity because he is a successful businessman. The campaign attack against him that he is an “oil billionaire” fell on deaf ears.
Wamp has the disadvantage of a 15-year voting record in Congress, and hopefully voters could see that his words do not match his record, which supported the Republican Congressional leadership more that 94% of the time. That would seem to make him the establishment candidate, but he failed to understand that fact. He at least didn’t campaign around it.
Ramsey’s brand of conservatism didn’t work either, and that surprises me, but only a little. To my knowledge, he said very little about the economy or why his political thought is the best choice economically.
In the end, the advice given to Bill Clinton is still correct. It’s the economy, stupid.
- Darrell Castle
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