Is Your State RLC Constructive or Destructive?

Posted By Kevin Tracy at 6:30 am on November 22, 2009

Should the Republican Party begin purging the RLC from its ranks?

There’s an interesting but anonymous post on a local political blog here in NW Indiana that discusses state and regional issues. In this particular post, the writer, who only identifies himself as “Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkel Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs,” makes the case for the Indiana Republican Party to ban the Republican Liberty Caucus (RLC). Not being a member of the RLC, I’m only able to judge the collective based on publicly available information and their behavior (which has been an issue in county politics).

As the name implies, the RLC is pretty much the Ron Paul faction of the Republican Party. At first, it seemed like they might be a very helpful organization for keeping our party on message, but as many like “OZPINHEAD” are pointing out, the RLC’s tactics have been pretty damaging to the conservative movement here in Northwest Indiana and other parts of the country. In fact, the Florida GOP is already in the process of ridding the ranks within the state party of RLC members – which is a very drastic and controversial step.

Now, OZPINHEAD obviously has something against the local Tea Party Patriots group, probably because many of its members helped the RLC crash a county GOP meeting last month while leaving Democrats unscathed. I wasn’t at the meeting, so I don’t know for sure what happened, but I’m giving the Tea Party Patriots the benefit of the doubt here and assuming he’s just playing guilt by association to the extreme. Plus, I may be a little bit bias. Half of the videos of my public speeches on this website came from events hosted by that group and I’ve participated in several more activities than that.

Likewise, I’m not quite ready to go all out and call for the “Hoosier Purge of the RLC.” In fact, I actually like a lot of the things the RLC is fighting for and I know of a handful of good candidates who stand to get RLC backing in the upcoming elections. I still see the RLC as a potential power for good… using that potential and having that potential, however, are two very different things.

Thus, I have two questions to ask you:

1. Does the behavior of the RLC in your state reflect positively or negatively on them?

2. What, if anything, has your state Republican Party done to keep the RLC in check?

Loading ...

I know I’m probably going to get a lot of first time commenters about this post, which I don’t mind. But please understand that I have to manually approve all first time comments and I’m not going to tolerate SPAM or obnoxious behavior. I pay for this website out of pocket and it’s my right to limit your freedom of speech in the comments section if you’re becoming an obstruction to a constructive conversation.

Comments (14)

14 Comments »

Comment by daltonsbriefs on November 22, 2009

Wow over 10 votes already. I voted “no” they are a voice needed. I think that perhaps we’ve had more of a problem here in NW Indiana than in other areas. Lake County former Paulers have really worked closely with former GOP chair Curley and the new chair. I know that Charlie White Secretary of State candidate from Hamilton County has their support, and I’m sure Marlin Stutzman who is running to throw Evan Bayh out of Washington DC will also.

The local issue, which keeps popping up on my site (thanks for the link by the way) is more of an internal struggle. I have offered to help mediate between the factions, but so far they just get mad when their problems are pointed out. I cannot divulge who anonymous posters are, but I can say that Oscar is inside both RLC and Patriot movements far enough to know who’s who and is demanding major changes in leadership or a total shut down of the operation.

I haven’t said it here, so let me be plain “I, Steve Dalton, am not Oscar …” you’ll need to look behind the curtain a little further.

Comment by daltonsbriefs on November 22, 2009

ooops I meant to type over 100 votes so far, so with the mistype my comment seemed snarky and that was not intended.

Comment by Chris H on November 22, 2009

What I have noticed is that the level of discontent between RLC and RLC type organizations and the headaches had with their local GOP is quite correlated with how conservative the local GOP is. And it should be.

The purpose of a political party is to exercise your fundamental rights of assembly and to redress your government.

To take national issues as an example. If RLC members recognize that our national debt is immoral and therefore deficit spending must stop NOW and the local party pays lip service to that line, yet backs candidates that will not cut Defense, Medicare or Medicaid, then they are not seeking similar redress and they should be at each others throats.

This happens on the local issues as well. An existing party will put up rhetoric claiming to have principles based on individualism, yet put up candidates that will champion globalist agendas. Granted there is a point when the differences are in the minutia and when it is there RLC members are the Donald Ducks as highlighted. But you can’t honestly tell me that the two groups are anywhere close to seeking the same redress.

Comment by Fred Haiss on November 22, 2009

I used to be a stunch conservative however after learning that we have become slaves to a one party system.I have become what is now called a constitution purist,this is where the country is heading not people like Hannity,limbaugh who claim to be conservate still riding on Reagans coat-tails lets do away with the 16th amendment,the Federal Reserve,after this health bill would be passed by both parties as long as you pay into it four years early so the deollar may be temporarely propped up.you think the Reps or Dems will put a lock box on all that money collected by taxing us four years early.Republicans in our area uses threats and democrats use race divide and conquer

Comment by Eric Rowe on November 23, 2009

So with 144 respondents, which is enough to be a decent sample of the readership of a blog that is pretty representative of Indiana party-line Republicans, the majority think that anyone who thinks we should have less government than we now do (which is the chief feature that distinguishes the RLC from the rest of the party), should be purged from the GOP. Interesting.

Comment by briand on November 23, 2009

Republican Liberty Caucus is a group of Republican congressmen. It has about tem members and Ron Paul is not the leader. Joe Scarborough was a member of this group when he was in congress. Campaign for Liberty is the actual card carrying Ron Paul group and they do not try to hide the fact that they would like to transform the Republican party into a constitutionist, limited government party. If they are kicked out they will probably join the Libertarians or start some other third party and work against the Repulicans and you will continue to loose elections. If you leave them in they will drive away the liberal and moderate Republicans and you will loose elections. So pick your poison.

Comment by kevintracy on November 23, 2009

Eric,
Absolutely not. This is a national blog. I have spent more of the last 10 years out of Indiana than in Indiana and as a result, my readership is based largely in Texas, California, and Virginia. While it’s true that Indiana is more highly represented than most other states, my readership is by no means representative of Indiana’s mainline Republicans. A lot of times, local people make the mistake of assuming that I’m an Indiana specific blogger, but I’m really not.

Comment by kevintracy on November 23, 2009

Wrong Republican Liberty Caucus, Brian.
http://www.rlc.org/

Haha, don’t worry about it though. The fact that you’ve never heard of them kind of testifies to their insignificance in the grand scheme of things.

Comment by kevintracy on November 23, 2009

Eric, I just looked at the voting totals… currently the “Don’t ban them” vote is higher than the “Kick them out” vote. I’m not sure what you’re complaining about.

Comment by briand on November 23, 2009

They may also be using the name now but the group in congress has been using it since back in the eighties which I am sure pre-dates this group.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Committee
How many Ron Paul organizations are there and how many does one need?
Well on further examination CFL claims to be non-partisan, while RLC is decidedly Republican. But if the choice is between McCainiacs like Lindsay Graham “I will not let this party be hijacked by Ron Paul” and Ron Paul, I prefer to see it hijacked by Ron Paul.

Comment by Isaac on November 24, 2009

I don’t know what the RLC is like elsewhere, but the Florida RLC has been nothing but a boon to the conservative movement. We support candidates like Rubio, Dockery, etc which seek to bring the Republican party back to its Reagan roots. There are elements of the RLC which seek to pull it well beyond even Ron Paul. Luckily, those are few. Maybe they all got together in Indiana

Comment by Sean Grebey on November 24, 2009

Let’s clear a few things up. The Republican Liberty Caucus has been around since 1991. It’s not a new organization, nor is it the Ron Paul Republicans. It is libertarian Republicans. While Ron Paul certainly had and has followers in the organization, the organization itself didn’t endorse him at the national level in the last presidential election.

That said, the issues in Florida have not been the RPOF versus the RLC. It has been the RPOF versus certain individuals, some of whom have been members of the RLC. Frankly, people on both sides IMHO have acted excessively childish and destructive to the state and local parties.

That said, if you want to know about the RLC in Florida, I would suggest you check out their annual legislation drive, which is really what the organization is about, not some intra-party feuds some people are participating in. The organization was for example responsible for getting an amendment on the ballot changing Florida eminent domain laws after Kelo versus New London to protect property owners from similiar actions in Florida.

Comment by Aaron on November 24, 2009

Brian, you’re totally incorrect. The Liberty Committee is a different group than the Republican Liberty Caucus. Please get your facts straight before misrepresenting either group.

Comment by briand on November 28, 2009

No Aaron you are wrong. When congressmen form groups they call them caucuses. Such as the black congressional caucus or the women’s caucus. The group in congress is in fact called the Liberty Caucus. The Liberty Committee is a group of citizens that support the congressional group, not the actual congressmen. You need to get your facts straight.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Is Your State RLC Constructive or Destructive?

14 Comments »

Leave a comment