Dear Friends and Family,
It was with great joy and anticipation that I watched the New Year’s ball in Time Square usher in 2012! This was the long awaited year of change, an opportunity to rid the White House of Obama and participate in politics once again! Many Presidential campaigns have come and gone since my last political involvement, which was in 1980 for Ronald Reagan. This year I was excited at the prospect of working for Ron Paul, a candidate I could work and vote for, not just accept as the only choice against the Democrat opponent. And what a ride it has been!
You may have received a letter from me earlier this year expressing my reasons for endorsing Republican Ron Paul, the liberty candidate for the Republican nomination. And throughout the year I have sent emails to many of you and I have had conversations with some of you on the phone or in person. Now I write this follow up because I must, because I care so deeply. I am delighted to report that as a result of my involvement in the great fight to rid this country of Obama, I have made new friends, reinforced my knowledge of parliamentary procedure, and even reconnected with my niece Vicki and her family in Sarasota. Emotions for me ran high. Voting for Ron Paul on March 6 brought tears to my eyes and once home, I broke down and actually cried. Watching Ron Paul rallies on the internet also brought tears to my eyes. Then I finally got to be at a rally and lend my voice to the crescendo of screams as 11,000 supporters welcomed Dr. Paul to the podium at the Sun Dome in Tampa, August 26, a day I will never forget. These passions will last forever.
My active involvement this year began at the precinct caucus back in February. Then I was a delegate to the county convention, an alternate to the congressional district convention, and was an alternate to the state convention until the establishment found out whom I supported, and I was crossed off. To summarize the experiences, more people participated than ever had in the past.
The leadership was shocked at the numbers of extra chairs they needed. Bleachers normally empty were amazingly full of people. I know this because as Congressman Tom Price walked in I heard him say as he passed by, “Look at all of these people!” Each one of these extra individuals meant the membership in, and coffers of, the local GOP organizations grew. Party leaders and elected officials were able to address larger crowds.
But I was lied to, 3 times that I know of, and rules were changed at the last minute. Intimidation was the tactic of the worried “in” crowd and an overall feeling of our being controlled, top down, by a higher authority, became evident. The purpose of the convention was to elect delegates and alternates to the next levels, but it was apparent that the real purpose was to hear politicians and party leaders speak. You see, no candidate for delegate position was allowed to speak, which is what we all expected. Unity was the theme of all of the elected officials and party leaders’ speeches. Unity, yes of course. They want our money and our support, and our vote, but do not expect to be granted one, not one delegate or alternate position to the state or national conventions! In other words, you really do not belong here!
Across the nation there were reports of out and out cheating on the part of insiders to prohibit Ron Paul supporters from becoming delegates. In one case, in Clarke County Georgia, the chair said the “ayes” have it on a vote when the opposite was true. The chair ignored calls for “Division,” which calls for an actual count; he just walked out of the room. In some cases ballots were counted behind a screen; names on fake slates were distributed to confuse the Ron Paul people. The stories abound. Some state or district conventions were held in the parking lot because the situation was so unfair. The state chairman of the convention in Louisiana had his bones broken. The elite was very scared.
By now you have probably heard the reports that this same “ax” to cut people out was used at the national Republican convention in Tampa. It may not have been reported on your favorite news program, but 100% of the delegates were not supporters of Mitt Romney. You were not supposed to know that.
Prior to the convention, the RNC removed Ron Paul delegates, individuals duly elected as delegates from Oregon, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Massachusetts. At the convention, the RNC attempted to change their own rule that with a plurality of delegates in five states, an individual could have his name placed in nomination. There was an effort to change this five -state rule to 10 because Ron Paul had a plurality in Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, and Virginia. By the way, did you know that Ron Paul won Iowa? This effort failed however. He unquestionably qualified for nomination under this rule. But, it did not matter, because Maine was stripped of the majority of its delegates.
The RNC and Romney forces replaced Maine delegates with Romney people, ones chosen by people in other states, not Maine. The Ron Paul folks showed up anyway, and when cries of “Seat them now” echoed in the auditorium, the Romney forces had their guys in green ball caps with communication devices in their ears yell “USA.” These chanters were given messages from the RNC what chants to yell and when.
The Rules Committee Romney-approved rules deal as you have probably heard, passed, despite strong opposition. A committee will select delegates to the national Republican convention in the future. Presidential campaigns will be empowered to disapprove and remove delegates and alternate delegates selected by state parties. The large majority will be handed to those who give the most money. States have been stripped of all control and local activists might as well stay home.
The strong opposition to this change did draft a Minority Report, but the delegates were not permitted to vote on it because John Boehner who was the Chair at the time did not allow it. One strong opponent to the rules changes who supported the Minority Report, was Morton Blackwell of Virginia, a member of the RNC’s standing Committee on Rules, former member of Ronald Reagan’s White House staff, and a Romney donor. He could not get to the convention hall for the vote on the rules changes Tuesday because he was stuck on a bus of delegates from Virginia, Iowa, and Rhode Island. The bus circled the convention 3 times, as those on board yelled “let us off this bus.” All of them missed the vote.
Even without them, there was clear division on this issue. Many in the media were quite surprised that Boehner said the “ayes” have it. He ignored all calls for “Point of Order.” You see, the teleprompter had the script all written out for him. “In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it.” So be it.
During the roll call of the states the convention secretary Kim Reynolds declined to read out the delegate votes for any candidate other than Romney. The states with a plurality of Paul votes were recorded as “one” or whatever it was for Romney. She never said Paul’s name. One commentator said he had never seen a convention not announce the votes for all of the candidates.
Ron Paul participants were not permitted to bring signs into the convention hall. This of course was a rule only for them. Romney signs were everywhere.
It is unlikely that your TV coverage pointed out the fact that there was at least one delegate vote for Ron Paul from: Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and the Virgin Islands. And, yet, they would not let him speak!
You may not have heard the 3 votes from Georgia because something went mysteriously wrong with the chairman’s microphone.
The delegations from Nevada, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, and Oklahoma were further from the convention floor than the delegations from the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Northern Marianas Islands. No wonder Boehner could not hear them!
Also probably not covered was the walk out Wednesday night by the Ron Paul supporters who said they would not go back. Anyone who might blame them and call them “cry babies” or “poor losers” should understand the treatment they received was rude, and quite unnecessary. Romney had the votes to win the nomination. These Ron Paul delegates worked very hard to get to Tampa. Trust me, it is not easy to get this far, and it is costly, not only in terms of money, but also in terms of time.
So, the opinion of the Chair, the roll call votes, the timing of when and what to chant were all scripted, just like a May Day parade behind the Iron Curtain, everything must and did look powerful, unified, and perfect.
As a guest at the 1976 convention as a Ronald Reagan supporter, I witnessed the strength and power of the establishment. (Interestingly, Ron Paul was one of 4 Congressmen there that year as delegates for Reagan. His son Rand, then 13, was also in attendance.) Georgia, a state at the time that was for Ronald Reagan, who was Ford’s opponent, was housed in a motel in the cornfields of Kansas, hours from the convention. And, the Ford people had 1/3 of the seats, Reagan had 1/3 of the seats, and the White House, guess who…Ford, had 1/3 of the seats. As Chris Manion wrote recently, “Ford’s fixers did everything they could to eviscerate Governor Reagan’s supporters…and then tried to reunite the GOP and try to recoup the Reagan supporters they had alienated, all to no avail. It failed because it was sheer pretense, disingenuous on its face.” We see how it worked out for them.
So, we are left with candidates for President and Vice President on the Republican ticket who supported the National Defense Authorization Act giving the President the power to direct the military to arrest Americans, put them in jail indefinitely with no court order, no trial and no lawyer. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights just get ignored again.
Meanwhile, our nation’s most serious threat, and the reason we have such economic woes, is the deficit. We have a vice presidential candidate who voted for TARP, the auto bailout, every one of Obama’s stimulus bills, to raise the debt ceiling almost every time it was voted on, and with the unions on at least two occasions, causing an increase in the debt of the country. His plan to balance the budget in 2039 or 2040 is dependent on Congresses yet elected, and really we do not have that much time!
We have a presidential candidate who promises to cut the budget and yet is silent on what he would cut. Will he cut the defense budget, entitlements, any department of the federal government? If he is silent now, what do you suppose he will propose if elected? We have a vice presidential candidate who says we must cut deductions for the “wealthy” in order to give everyone a tax cut. What? Cutting tax deductions and loopholes is not a tax cut. We have a candidate for President who receives his largest monetary support from the same banks, Goldman Sachs for one, that support Obama. We have a vice presidential candidate who would establish Washington, DC approved insurance companies for seniors to buy their insurance from with his vouchers. We have the creator of Romneycare running for President. In a Romney administration, US foreign intervention will not decrease, which we cannot afford and which threatens our security.
The current candidate for President and his cronies unnecessarily railroaded a national convention and turned it and future ones into coronation ceremonies. Throughout the primary process his agents did manipulate, but worse, did cheat, did lie, did break the rules, did treat fellow Republicans as the enemy. As H.L. Mencken said, “Government is a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advance auction in stolen goods.”
Friends, if Obama wins, do not blame the Ron Paul supporters, who want sound money, less government, only Constitutional wars, and who therefore will not vote for Romney. Do not say that when we vote for neither one we are voting for Obama when we have spent so much time, effort, and money since January to seek his defeat. By being involved in the trenches and taking our hits in the arenas of politics this year, we got ourselves muddy and our noses bloody; we have every right to complain whether we vote or not, no matter who wins in the current race. We supported a candidate different from Obama someone to vote for. And, if Romney wins, do not expect a safer more prosperous America. Election after election, I was forced to vote for the lesser of two evils. This year I will vote for no evil one.
All the best, Lynette
