As some Newtown families, props being used by the very gun grabbers who have set up the kinds of gun-free shooting galleries in which their children were slain, held hands and prayed for more than 60 votes (having been flown in at taxpayer expense to lobby our representatives to take away our natural rights), it occurred to me that, with 16 Republicans voting that a debate on amending an unalienable right is perfectly in keeping with the Constitution, the Republican party then and there died. Went tits up. Ceased to be.
If John McCain and Lindsay Graham and Lamar Alexander are in your party — and carry much weight in that party — you are in the wrong party.
Those pictures of the Newtown parents are why we have an amendment process in the first place. It makes demagoguery difficult. It puts time and space between a ginned up mob and extensive deliberation, something that we no longer engage in — with at least one bill to be voted on not yet released to the public in legislative language.
So. I proposed this half-seriously back in 2008-9, but it’s now time to reintroduce it in earnest: the time has come for a third party. Now, that third party may lose, at least initially, but at least those who join it can point, laugh, and say I told you so. If we’re going to lose anyway — and at this point, a vote for either national party is a losing proposition — we may as well do so with our integrity intact.
Plus, those who join? We’ll know are, for the most part, our natural political allies.
Of course, this isn’t to say we can’t vote for solid conservatives or constitutionalists running as Republicans. It just means that should the RNC foist upon us statist, “moderate” candidates, we reject them and bring a conservative and constitutionalist to the ballot under our own banner. It may split votes. But then it may well force rote voters to look more closely at the candidates, too.
Because as the GOP looks to rebrand and affect hipness by emulating Buzzfeed (and really, who better to make you hip than Karl Rove, Jeb Bush, or Ari Fleischer?), I think I have a better plan. The Outlaw Party. The idea being that when the criminals are the establishment, the outlaws are all that’s left to protect and defend liberty.
Plus, its fucking badass.
So here’s your task, should you choose to tackle it: come up with a party slogan. For instance, “When the establishment outlaws liberty, only outlaws will live free.”
Ready? Go!
Live Your Own Life™
“To live outside the law you must be honest.”
Dylan might get pissed off about using that one, but then again he might not. It’s not exactly clear where his politics lie, but they’re definitely not standard “liberal artist” hooha.
The other two parties already treat you like you’re guilty of insurrection, why not make it official?
Outlaw.
I don’t know that “Get off my lawn and get outta my wallet” is a rallying slogan but it sums up what I want my political party to do.
Can we have a stylish “O” logo to go with it?
Yup.
Tell me where to send my contributions.
I think you pretty much nailed it. Just capitalize the second “Outlaws.”
I admit to having some marketing-related queasiness to naming a national party with a word with such negative connotations, but then again it seems to work for the Democrats.
Also, I have queasiness of another sort altogether with the alternative, which is continuing to vote for the current group of GOP politicians. At least I live in Cruz’s state.
Nothing wrong with voting for a Cruz, say, as long as you like what he’s doing.
What needs to stop is voting for someone just because he claims to be a “Republican”.
This.
Voting for any old person with an “R” next to his name is how we got here. The only way to move off this spot is to stop doing that.
Harvey Mansfield, from his address “Taming the Prince”:
*** There’s also a paradox in Machiavelli’s — relation with, to Christianity. He was opposed to Christianity, and yet borrows from it. He was opposed because he wants to replace the tyranny of God with a tyranny of a Prince. And he borrows from it because he takes the form of government used by the Church and uses it against the Church. Machiavelli had a slogan: use one’s own arms. Rely on your own arms. Don’t rely on the arms of others. Of mercenaries. Of people who come to you, who come to your aid bearing arms. Because, you will come to depend on them. Anybody you ask help from you will come to depend on.
And he illustrates this slogan “One’s own arms”, with the story of David and Goliath. From the Bible. And he says that David used his own arms because he refused the weapons that were offered to him by Saul. He said “No, I’ll use my own.” “I’ll use my own sword and my own knife.” Wait! Knife? In the Bible, he only had a sling, David. And with his sling he killed Goliath.
Humm.
And then he picked up Goliath’s knife — Goliath is the one who had a knife — and what did he do with that knife? He used it to cut off Goliath’s head.
Humm.
Machiavelli is saying “your own arms”, one’s own arms, include the arms of your enemies used against him. To cut off his head. Who is the head of Machiavelli’s enemies? This is a little sample I’m giving you of how to read Machiavelli. ***
come up with a party slogan
“STFU or GTFO” probably doesn’t work.
How about:
“Give me Liberty, or I’ll give you Death”?
“Live Free or Die”
It’s not being used much right now.
[…] Jeff Goldstein has saved me some writing time: […]
It is indeed, an ex-parrot.
POLLY !!!
*thwap-thwap-thwap*
….
There really isn’t a better logo than the Gadsden flag.
Gadsen Our Pennant?
#AbandonTheGOP
Hey all, first Protein Wisdom post for me. Been following this blog for about a year since I first stumbled across it from an Instapundit link, and I must say that it is just great! I have spent hours following links into many past PW posts and find the content far superior to the competition.
Onto the subject at hand regarding third party.
I think it might be hasty to jump towards the third party right now. So many gains have been made in taking over the GOP since the current POTUS came into office. The 2010 midterms brought in a grip of TEA and Liberty members, and many of them survived the 2012 elections. 2012 brough more gains like Cruz, and I would imagine (what with the dawning of Obamacare regulations, gun control, Dodd-Frank regs, immigration, etc.) that 2014 could signal even more gains for TEA/Liberty members.
Like Mark Levin stated on his show several times, I’d rather force the RINOs to go third (turd) party rather than those truly dedicated to liberty split away. Most of the members of the GOP, leadership aside, will be quite sympathetic to the TEA/Liberty message when it takes over. If in 2016 we get an actual TEA/Liberty/conservative elected as POTUS, then they can perform a much-needed purge of the old Bush-dynasty guard. This purge will bring credibility as well as consistency for the GOP.
It has been less than three years since the 2010 elections, and these things (taking over a national party) takes time. Patience, dogged pursuit, and continued effort in electing more TEA/Liberty folks into office would be the best way to take over the institution and send the RINOs off to their own third party. I would rather imagine slogans for them, like, “A Turd Party You Can Believe In” and work to continue the (not abating at all) efforts that are already underway to win back the GOP. Also, as has been pointed out, the future demographics are on our side, i.e., time is on our side.
So, in a sense I am saying: Don’t give up yet, we are winning, this takes time, leaving now would be political suicide – and exactly what the GOP RINOs want.
Look forward to participating more, and hitting Jeff’s tip-jar with my refund when it gets here. This is one of the top-three blogs out there for freedom and constitutionality as far as I am concerned.
I admire your optimism, Cowboy, but can’t figure out for the life of me what you think we’re winning.
Heh. Just called the local office for Lamar Alexander. After explaining that all funds intended for the GOP just dried up, and that Lamar Alexander was a ‘poster child for abandoning the GOP’, they hung up on me.
I’ll follow up with a written response later.
Did Corker join Alexander? I’m not well connected right now…
I hear you, SurfinCowboy. Which is why I hedged my bets a little. I don’t mind voting for Republicans who are conservatives/classical liberals/constitutionalists. In fact, I’m happy to (hell, I’d vote for Democrats if the were any of those things). But what concerns me is the Rove Machine working to defeat such candidates using money we send to the RNC, etc.
I think we could win some votes from Dems by running third party candidates against mush establishment Repubs and socialists in those races where mush Repubs are foisted on us by the big money of the national party and its kingmakers.
But right now, people like Rove and McCain and Boehner are the faces and emblems of the current GOP. And I have no desire to be considered in their company.
Having said all that, thanks for breaking radio silence!
Screw the GOP. It must die before it can be reborn. See: Legend of the Phoenix.
Got matches ?
Right. Ted Cruz is full of win. Kelly Ayotte is (another) Lindsay Graham in a skirt.
What we need is a spark of hope, a gathering of like-minded people furious enough to start a fire.
NRA Annual Convention at the end of April in Houston. Should be exciting.
No liberty, no peace.
Kelly Ayotte is (another) Lindsay Graham in a skirt.
Does Lindsey know she has one of his skirts?
time is on our side
At the very least we should recognize that this proposition is for the moment at best an assertion, remaining a question in point of fact. While we may be capable of adducing argument pro and con, I believe we’d do better simply doubting whether time is on our side, to ask, “what if it isn’t so?”
But what concerns me is the Rove Machine working to defeat such candidates using money we send to the RNC, etc.
Which, by the way, is where I see Mr. Ailes (a party man through and through) standing on the other side. This stance of his is not a function of making money. He has a view (and is welcome to it), and we do ourselves no favors eliding what his view — as expressed in his many programming choices, none of them accidents — is.
Senator Murphy from Connecticut on Senate floor now with photos of kids from Newtown. Preening. Posturing. Emoting.
Our country is fucked. Our politicians have no shame and no desire to follow the Constitution. They only want to position and posture and, in the end, exert more and more control over us. Murphy says these proposed laws will move us far closer to taking guns away from criminals. And he’s right. Unfortunately, he has to create a whole bunch of new criminals in order to improve the numbers.
The old fashioned criminals will continue their use and possession of guns apace.
Fuck these traitors.
Enhanced firearm registration laws would have changed exactly zip about Sandyhook. You know it. I know it. The politicians who are trying to sell this load of fertilizer know it. But they’re trying to sell it anyway, because they have this (not unfounded) suspicion that enough people will be hooked by the ‘nads that they’ll go along with it because they think they should. Not because of any merit.
But Republicans? Liars.
But Republicans? Liars.
I’m guessing the term “Republican” is merely ironic these days, slart.
My husband is of the opinion that there is some sort of strategery to this cloture vote, involving getting the dems on record, et al.
I don’t think that word means what he thinks it does.
One certain measure of the strength which which some of the more favorably viewed politicians (as viewed among us) genuinely stand with us is the extent to which they more openly express — naming names — their opposition to the backstabbing worms in the Congressional ranks, the members of their own “nominal” Republican party. Too often, even down to today, those we favor cannot or yet have not made their break on principled grounds with perfect clarity. As they take heart to speak out, simply on account of finding their own principled footing, so the better will they be understood (and therefore held accountable). And on the other hand, as they weasel about and mealy-mouth their opposition, the worse.
ponca city ok just sent my seam ripper
I have been a life-long Republican (I’m 55 now). Voted for Reagan. I am Officially Done with them. If these treasonous fucks can’t even man up to defend the most important part of the Constitution because they get all weepy when some liberal douche from Mass comes crying to the Capitol building, then fuck ’em. In the ass. With a chainsaw.
Ponca City? You’d think there would be a place in PA that made seam rippers, what with all those old knitting mills all over the eastern side of the state.
Are you still making your own jeans?
If voting could change the system, it would be Outlawed.
I’m an Outlaw, because…Bite Me!
Get you stinkin paws off me you damn dirty apes!
Just think how badly the dim’s fists will be hurt from all these punches to our faces…
Kinda how I feel about the GOP these days. Which is to say: time is on our side.
“Are you still making your own jeans?”
working on pair 2 pair 1 ok
How about the Gonzales Flag?
http://www.galleryoftherepublic.com/txflags/gonzales.htm
Modern edition:
http://www.amazon.com/Come-Take-It-Polyester-Flag/dp/B000HHEQYM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365713698&sr=8-1&keywords=gonzales+flag
The GOP saved me the trouble.
As for the motto, I can think of none better than “Molon Labe.”
Me and Merle Haggard are definitely down for the new Outlaw party!
An Outlaw must be very alert and law abiding (except of course when he’s not law abiding) because he realizes that any infraction that focuses law enforcement upon him will be his undoing.
We are entering a stage where the law abiding have become criminals by an act of unlawful law. We have not chosen to be Outlaws, we have been Outlawed.
I was going to disparage the use of this name but I think it’s quite apt and should proceed.
Even if no national party emerges, take to heart my message for soon activities that you used to presume were lawful will now be at least suspect, more difficult to perform and many will be unlawful.
You also may become Outlaw without ever knowing such because an MD (or these days a Nurse Practitioner) has decided to enter you in a data base as suspect.
Shades of the USSR/Russia. They’ve gotten freer and we’ve gotten less.
My ancestors knew the feeling.
Ace must be proud of this dusty, bone speckled, shitpile he calls pragmatic strategy.
SMART!
you have to be very staunch but you also have to be practical
my ancestor jebediah pikachu made a house out of sod, cause of it was all he had what would keep out the damn cherokee
sod and a trusty flintlock
oh my, he done did it again.
Hence his descendant’s high regard for sodomists.
you have to be very staunch but you also have to be practical Mr. McGehee
Is that Vichyite, or Quisling?
OT, jeff, link to SCAR polymer mags on ‘sale’.
Some of my ancestors were Cherokee. If your ancestor had anything they wanted, it would be long gone, along with his trusty flintlock.
“you have to be very staunch but you also have to be practical”
Yeah, it sure worked for California.
california is not staunch except for about not doing stuff what might threaten to grow the economy
orangeman staunch
Boehner: Hastert Rule ‘was never a rule to begin with’
Slogan? Eh–make it simple:
“Defiance.”
Rollback
Democrats have a 5 seat majority. There are 5 vulnerable seats of theirs up in 2014. Reid could let all 5 vote against if he can get Lautenberg on the floor to vote and still get a tie which Biden would break. If he gets any Republicans to vote for the bill then he can let more that are uneasy vote nay. Democrat seats up are 21, 5 are retiring and so wouldn’t have any reason to vote nay. He could even figure, like Pelosi did on Obamacare, that this is worth burning a few weak reeds over and even losing the Senate for a term or two.
List, most vulnerable (my guess) in italic.
Begich, Alaska
Pryor, Arkansas
Udall, Colorado
Coons, Delaware
Schatz, Hawaii
Durbin, Illinois
Harkin, Iowa retiring
Landrieu, Lousiana
Cowan, Massachusetts retiring
Levin, Michigan retiring
Franken, Minnesota
Baucus, Montana
Shaheen, New Hampshire
Lautenberg, New Jersey retiring
Udall, New Mexico
Hagan, North Carolina
Merkley, Oregon
Reed, Rhode Island
Johnson, South Dakota retiring
Warner, Virginia
Rockefeller, West Virginia retiring
I do however think that this, if passed, will put many more Democrat seats in play for the 2014 general if 2nd supporters appose them and also some Republicans will get primaried out.
Oppose, sigh.
deaddeaddead
link
Haven’t read all the comments yet, but my own personal response is “Fuck it, I’m putting my eggs in a different basket, y’all.”
Do you think I’m on an ATF watchlist for having ‘liked’ the Texas Nationalist Movement on Facebook?
deaddeaddead
link
[…] Senate cloture vote tells us one thing: the GOP as a national party is dead | protein wisdom […]
I hear you, SurfinCowboy. Which is why I hedged my bets a little. I don’t mind voting for Republicans who are conservatives/classical liberals/constitutionalists. In fact, I’m happy to (hell, I’d vote for Democrats if the were any of those things). But what concerns me is the Rove Machine working to defeat such candidates using money we send to the RNC, etc.
I think we can all agree: do not give the NRCC / NRSC a cent. Donate to the individual candidate.
Mark Levin: Sixteen Republicans who voted to kill filibuster today must be CHALLENGED and DEFEATED
The problem with trusting an “opinion leader” is they may be leading you off a cliff. Far better to read the bill and decide for yourself.
…which of course pre-supposes that the bill you’re being asked to vote for has even been written yet.
Far from resting with refusing money to the various organs of the Republican party, one can see in Levin’s stance an active opposition in flower, aiming to target (the negative sense of active) — and defeat with better candidates (the positive sense of active) — those who fight against us or ally with the enemies of liberty. It will not be enough to eschew aid to the Republicans — who after all, are the most passive of politicians imaginable. We must take the initiative against them, marking them out, exposing their perfidy, sending them to defeat. And along with them, any voices of that Party who refuse to even attempt to make the argument for our heritage.
Yup. Sen. Toomey Offers Full Text Of Public Safety And Second Amendment Rights Protection Act Online
Do you think I’m on an ATF watchlist for having ‘liked’ the Texas Nationalist Movement on Facebook?
I’m certain that we’re on all sorts of watchlists for all sorts of reasons. I choose to wear it as a badge of honor.
To follow up on SurfinCowboy’s point:
1. How many here have become involved with your county’s GOP committee?
If you don’t show up, the RINO weenies prevail. You don’t change a party by leaving it. (no, that doesn’t mean you have to back the RINO no matter what.)
2. How many of you have attended 3rd party meetings?
I have. The American Independent / Constitution / US Taxpayers Party can’t even decide upon a national name, and the Big-L Libertarian Party can’t do more than demand legalized pot.
Feel free to cuss out the NRCC / NRSC callers (or if they are young kids, just politely tell them that the national party sold us out), but 3rd parties are a joke.
Y’know what’s a serious joke Curmugeon? A political party that doesn’t know it’s ass from a principle.
Y’know what’s a serious joke Curmugeon? A political party that doesn’t know it’s ass from a principle.
No shit. But have you ever *been* to 3rd party meetings?
I cut my political teeth on Ross Perot’s cult of personality back in the day, and I can’t fall for that again.
Wasn’t the GOP born as a third party?
Oh. I get it —
Wasn’t the GOP born as a third party?
NO. Learn your history. The Whigs had already disintegrated first. the GOP was #2 from the day it began in 1854. And no, a narrow defeat in 2012 is not the GOP disintegrating. Yes, it was narrow, contrary to what the DemSM has been feeding you.
But I do despair. I remember the otherwise good Club For Growth urging me to send money to Pat Toomey to help defeat that RINOiest of RINOs, Arlen Specter.
That said, I can’t waste time and energy on 3rd parties. Been there as a naive lad, did that.
“The Whigs had already disintegrated first”
And you don’t think the GOP has disintegrated? Sorry, following up McCain with Romney is not the behavior of a viable party. Certainly not one I’m interested in supporting.
Autopsy was the GOP’s choice of terms. Reince may as well have said “I’ve got an idea! Let’s show them our ass!”
Ha!
“but 3rd parties are a joke.”
The GOP is a scam.
Ha!
Sez you! :-P
“but 3rd parties are a joke.”
The GOP is a scam.
“And yew are–the owners of the country….” (drawl)
Scams, indeed. Sorry, I have been there, two decades ago. You have to show me a plausible alternative.
Meanwhile, was it just two years ago that the Tea Party gave the GOP a congress sweep that was even more devastating than the Great Political Enema of 1994. A few candidates like Christine O’Donnell were not ready for prime time, but how about building upon what happened then?
Well, proportionally that is. In 1994, more seats were in play, so 1994’s impact was more in absolute impact.
“was it just two years ago that the Tea Party gave the GOP a congress sweep”
The GOP promptly returned the favor by marginalizing them and calling them whackos, while promptly changing the convention rules to insure that “that sort” doesn’t pose any real threat to the party elite at the national level.
Again: McCain.
“You have to show me a plausible alternative.”
I don’t consider the GOP to be a plausible alternative. I did until 2012 though it was a near thing. Now I don’t. You follow what you want to. I’m done.
You toughed it out longer than I did, palaeomerus. I was done after McCain. I voted for him, but promised myself “never again” afterward. And I didn’t.
The whole inevitable cheerleader thing tore me loose but then Benghazi happened (along with Egypt going nuts) and I realized that Obama doesn’t have a foreign policy so much as he has a naive reliance on the world being submissive to the whims of his cult of personality and silly gimmicks like ‘overcharge’ buttons. So in a state of near terror, I voted for Romney anyway. Of course he didn’t really even broach Benghazi in any significant way and got lectured on bayonets and submarines by President Idiot instead. Now? I guess I don’t much give a damn. I got Ted Cruz I guess. For the moment. He’s about the only nutsack in the whole congress and I’m sure he’ll get gelded when the time is right. Ryan is squish. Rubio is negotiating for how he’ll squish. Rand Paul is doing okay but showing a few signs of not liking the glares as much as he though he would. Boehner is a wuss or a back stabber depending on his mood. Hell my Congressman is Lloyd Doggett and my city just decided to make it illegal for grocery stores and other stores to give you a non-reusable bag with your purchase. This is at best a rebuilding phase and it SUCKS to live through it.
Same here. I voted for Romney because he showed more spunk on Benghazi (before the rest of the phoney “Conservative” media chopped off his knees) than he had on any other issue.
I had opposed him vehemently and vociferously since well before the first primary debates, but I knew it was “his turn” so he would be the nominee. Had many fights over at Michelle Malkin’s site (and endured many accusations that I was a “Marxist” if I didn’t vote for the Republican, no matter who or how horrible. Ultimately I caved for the same reason you did, but at this point, a Republican will have to work hard to earn my vote; A Democrat can give it up.
I’m another Benghazi Romney voter. That pushed me over the edge.
And yet, here we are anyway.
Oh, a Rubio update:
Looks like a last ditch effort to replace with illegals all the conservatives and classicals they have driven off.
[…] Jeff Goldstein at Protein Wisdom dispenses some cold hard truth: […]
Harry Reid’s strategy in words and pictures.
The House part is chugging right along in the now usual “Lockstep [D]-RINO [R] Party” fashion. Pelosi will be so happy her face may crack.
I counsel non-compliance.
Reid hopes to place Obama in rarefied “liberal” company, FDR and LBJ. Both got permanent societal entitlements passed, FDR – social security, LBJ – medicare. And both got permanent gun controls passed, FDR – NFA-34, LBJ – GCA-68.
Obama has Obamacare and now only needs a permanent gun control act to cement his “legacy.” One cloud in the sunny “liberal” sky is that these legacy builders may just Cloward-Piven the entire edifice built since FDR and the cement of his legacy will be Chicago style shoes fitted to the whole of the progressive dream.
We needed humble honest heroes. We elected conceited lying shitballs.
[…] Senate cloture vote tells us one thing: the GOP as a national party is dead […]
I am tired of all the whining by those who have no skin in the game. I have been a GOP foot soldier for decades and have had it with all of you “movement conservatives,” who refuse to get your hands dirty to do the everyday work to build the party.
The likes of Lindsey Grahmnesty, John McCain and Lamar Alexander all have been elected and kept in office because movement conservatives have sat on their hands and watched.
If you want to take over the GOP, it is there for the taking. Just get off your fart arsses and go to meetings. Walk the precincts. Drop the literature. Put in time at the phone banks. Contribute, but not so much as to be taken for granted.
When I walked in 2008 for GOP candidates a woman with a McCain sign on her lawn cursed me out and told me she only became a “repuglican” so she could vote for McCain, and would not support any of our other candidates (some of whom are very good conservatives). I wanted to tell her that she just convinced me to vote for Obama, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t vote for a socialist intent on destroying America.
I know the frustration of having moderates and idiots (literally from the greek, idiotas means those without the vote or apolitical) outnumber and outvote you. But the answer is not turning your back on the only viable alternative. The answer is in taking over the party.
Stop whining, and man up. Get in the game. Take over the GOP and make it into your vehicle. And then where will Carl Rove go with his moneyed friends?
Nice rant.
I don’t want to take over the GOP. I want to drive a stake through its heart then expose it to direct sunlight and hope never to see it again.
Karl Rove spells his name with a K, Mr. Concern Troll.
Thanks for playing.
Yeah. Because you’re the only one who does any of that stuff. Not like we here.
Yup.
Keep telling yourself that.
The Republican parties viability is debatable and it damn sure ain’t an alternative.
Team R’s policies do not reflect my values, as an American
whether it’s porky porky chris christie’s welfare cash for snooki trash
or Boehnerfag’s indefatigable hate campaign against both matrimonially-minded gay peoples and Danny Hastert’s legacy
or Meghan’s coward daddy’s unending assaults on our freedoms
or smarmy Roobs el hispanico mas authentico and his weirdo dark-of-night backroom immigration schemes
or Susan. B. Anthony crotch-sniffer Paul Ryan and his extreme lifeydoodlism
these people lack charm and curb appeal
I will abide
put yo hands up put yo hands up
Wave your hands in the air like you don’t care!
if I may ask, who was it that allowed the dogs to roam freely
I’m three months ahead of you, Jeff:
http://babalublog.com/2013/01/02/new-years-resolution/