A poignant reminder to all of my friends with whom I am working hard to maintain our Republican majority in the House, build a Republican majority in the Senate, and capture the White House with a Republican in 2016…
From 2002 – 2006 we, as a party, had achieved all of those political goals — the “triple crown” was achieved. Yet, we did not achieve our end-goal as a party. After all, the purpose of a political party is not merely accumulating power — it is expending that power to achieve your goals (as articulated in your platform). During those four years when the GOP ran the table in DC, federal spending increased, regulations increased, and entitlements expanded. It was a horrible chapter in our party’s history, from my perspective.
I bring this up as a reminder to all of those out there who wonder why there seems to be such a strong effort, by conservatives in the party, to make sure we have more strong Constitutional conservatives in our House and Senate GOP Conferences, and likewise with our GOP nominee for President. Because we’ve been to this dance before.
That is why I will back a Constitutional conservative in a primary even though they may have a harder go of it in November. Because, unfortunately, not all Republicans are created equal, and there is a mission to accomplish beyond political control.
Constitutional conservatives define “winning” as bringing the size and scope of the federal government back in line with the principles of our founding documents — the Declaration and the Constitution. Those who define “winning” as simply having Republican control are ignoring history, or are not interested in the goal of returning more liberty and freedom to people.