An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Our Legacy
What will our legacy be for our children, and many future generations? Will it be a strong Constitutional Republic, or will we find ourselves mired in the sewer of progressivism? Which honestly, isn’t all that progressive, since they seem to want to turn back the hands of time to a place in history where such policies saw the slaughter of millions of innocent people.
Contrary to what the left believes, Teddy Roosevelt is no hero to real conservatives. And Heaven knows, Woodrow Wilson was probably the third worst president this country has seen. The divisions we are seeing in the Republican Party today are rather reminiscent of that time, 100 hundred years ago. The party chose Mitt Romney, which, is ok I guess, but it would have been nice if there hadn’t been so many in the field to begin with, we could have had a stronger showing for a candidate that we ‘far right extremists’, aka Constitutional conservatives, would have been able to come together and support? Just a thought.
This convention, and those in recent years, really isn’t the type I remember watching on the idjit box with my dad. Yeah…I actually DID sit and watch them, and listened and learned, and at that age, was generally confused. 
To me, choices were simple, it was the grownups that always made it so complicated. Nothing seems to have changed all that much, but the excitement just isn’t there anymore. The party decides, and the delegates just go along.
This year, however, there seems to be a contingent of supporters who are bound and determined to give the opposition another term. Why? What will come of our country if they get their way? How many times have you read in a variety of places that “Ron Paul is the only one who can beat Barack Obama”?? I know I’ve seen it in many blog posts, columns, and on the various social networks. I really hate to break to those disillusioned folks, but no…actually…he can’t. And wouldn’t if he were the actual nominee. He is the Teddy Roosevelt to the Taft, and will hand the presidency to an almost clone of socialist Wilson.
I ask…I plead…I BEG! Please do not be the division that makes our house fall! (Mark 3:25)
Political Convention Drama Begins
The Foundry
This week’s Republican National Convention is already experiencing its own drama thanks to Tropical Storm Isaac, which has postponed most of the events until tomorrow. But this year marks the 100th anniversary of another Republican Convention embroiled in political drama of a different nature.
Unlike today’s conventions, which are little more than multi-day campaign rallies, at the 1912 affair in Chicago, 1,000 policemen stood by to make sure the delegates didn’t get out of hand. Strands of barbed wire lay concealed beneath the bunting on the speaker’s platform to keep disgruntled delegates from charging the stage.
The very nature of our Constitution and our democracy was at stake, as William Schambra explains in a new First Principles essay from The Heritage Foundation.
On one side was Teddy Roosevelt, who ran for President that year aiming to reshape American democracy. He thrashed lackluster incumbent William Howard Taft in the primary contests, declaring, “I believe in pure democracy.”
But his definition of “pure democracy” included upsetting the Constitution. He endorsed “certain governmental devices which will make the representatives of the people more easily and certainly responsible to the people’s will.” These reforms included the initiative, the referendum, the recall of elected officials and even judicial decisions, and the direct election of U.S. Senators.
On the other side were Taft (Roosevelt’s hand-picked successor in the White House just four years earlier) and the Republican leadership, including Senators Elihu Root of New York and Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts. They stood for the Constitution. Root and Lodge were great admirers and longtime friends of Roosevelt, but Roosevelt had sent shock waves through the Republican Party. Roosevelt had proposed a dramatic constitutional change that, according to Schambra, “posed the danger of undermining popular confidence in the institutions of government.” Therefore, Root, Lodge, and Taft were determined to deny Roosevelt the nomination at the 1912 Republican convention.
Unlike the typically bland convention keynote speeches designed to smooth feathers ruffled by the nominating contest and unite the party for the main event in November, Root’s keynote was a call to constitutional conservatism.
As Schambra notes, Root grounded the Republican Party in the Constitution, since it had been “born in protest against the extension of a system of human slavery approved and maintained by majorities.” After all, the GOP was the party of Abraham Lincoln, who had declared in his first inaugural address that “a majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations…is the only true sovereign of a free people.” The party’s duty, therefore, was not to reform the constitutional system but to “humbly and reverently seek for strength and wisdom to abide by the principles of the Constitution against the days of our temptation and weakness.”
Preventing Roosevelt from winning the Republican nomination, these first conservatives saved the party from a platform of radical constitutional reform. But it also meant losing the general election. Taft won only two states, and Democrat Woodrow Wilson became President, with Roosevelt coming in second.
“The result of the Convention was more important than the question of the election,” Root later said. Losing the general election did not supplant their “duty to hold the Republican Party firmly to the support of our constitutional system. Worse things can happen to a party than to be defeated.”
Root, Lodge, and Taft sacrificed their friendship with Roosevelt and victory in the general election to save the Constitution from a proposed overhaul. Constitutional conservatism began with saving the Republican Party from Teddy Roosevelt. It continues today with the fight to save America from a deeper descent into progressivism. Members of the Tea Party movement are the intellectual heirs of Root, Lodge, and Taft.
Thomas Jefferson wrote that “it is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve a republic in vigor.” In a new essay in Heritage’s Understanding America series, President Edwin J. Feulner explores the ways the American people are bound to preserve our republic.
It is up to us to ensure that we remain a virtuous and free people, Feulner writes, and to make sure our government stays faithful to the principles on which it was founded.
“This is partly a job for the free press and the ballot box,” Feulner writes, “but we will not be able to speak and vote in support of America’s founding principles if we forget what those principles are.”
As we watch the political party conventions, we have a duty to educate ourselves on the constitutional role of government and to compare that with what the candidates are saying. As Feulner says, “we have always an obligation to pass the inheritance of freedom on, unimpaired, to the next generation.”
MORE:
The Origins and Revival of Constitutional Conservatism: 1912 and 2012, by William A. Schambra
What Is the Role of the People? By Edwin J. Feulner, Ph.D.
I agree with you, Ron Paul could not beat Obama. Before you blame what is about to happen at the convention please read this transcript from today’s Rush Limabaugh show:
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2012/08/28/gop_establishment_tries_to_change_delegate_rules_tomarginalize_conservatives
The Ron Paul delegate are a loud and boisterous bunch and they push everyone to the limit. They will get the blame for this because they make an easy target. This is about the Republicans getting rid of the Tea Party and the true conservatives. It’s time we all admit the Truth, neither party will represent the Constitution or Bill of Rights. You posted a wonderful piece on our nations guiding philosophy, Natural Law and Natural Rights. Whether you believe it or not these are also the principles of Libertarians. Please read Andrew Napolitano’s latest book, “Is it dangerous to be right when your government is wrong.”
Our government is dangerously, dangerously out of control! Time IS running short. Here’s one of the Judge’s “What if”
http://youtu.be/_eTXdQTmOSg
When Ron Paul spoke at the University of Madison (A very, very progressive institution) he drew 5,000 students. They cheered him! Don’t you think the republicans would welcome someone who could bring students into their so-called “Big Tent?” I have listened for years to republicans talk about the Constitution and Founding principles. Yet, when someone like Ron Paul, who has had a 30 year history promoting Liberty and Freedom gets attention they shut him out and shut him up. What could he possibly say that would hurt the republican party? Well, maybe the Truth. Neither party cares about you, me or anyone but themselves. It’s all about political power and money.
I don’t know if ya saw it or not…a quiz about who I agree with most…more like who agrees with me most…
and it was Mitt, 99%, and Paul, 85%. All Republicans are libertarians, but not all libertarians are Republican. I’m also one of those who think that ‘big tent’ idea is about as bogus as it can get. When R’s are conservative, they win….conservative ideas win. Moderates are to wishy washy, and if ya can’t stand firm on your convictions, then nobody can trust ya. Just my opinion of that big tent crap.
As for Paul…when it comes to fiscal policy, I’m pretty much 100%. But when someone states that if he had been president, 9/11 wouldn’t have happened, and those 3000 people would still be alive, then…. this tells me he knows nothing about Islam. At 72, he ain’t no spring chicken, and I wonder about his mental capacities. Shoot, I wonder about mine at my age, and I have a little while till I get there.
In all honestly, I think one of the biggest turn offs for Paul has been his supporters. 80% of those I have had any contact with have just been flat out MEAN! Too much like liberals in their actions, and I just don’t cotton to that!
Know UW Madison all too well. The Mr is an alumni. LOL Had to live with those Madison non values for 10 LONG years. UGH! Got spat on and stomped by a union thug, for nothing more than NOT supporting Kerry. Go figure.
My wife and I attended several Tea Party rally’s in Madison and other parts of the state, we had to put up with the same type of “Educated” union thug. Disgusting; and I was a Teamster for 18 yrs! Here’s the thing about the RNC; their new rule change effectively blocks any true conservative candidate from gaining any foothold, no matter what the voters want. I feel like an abused wife, the kind that just keeps running back to the monster hoping that things will get better. By allowing Romney to call himself a conservative it degrades the meaning of the word. At some point the true conservative values become lost because no republican represents them. Like I said, Ron Paul would not be a good choice for President. We will vote for Romney, but I don’t believe he or any politician will be able to prevent the debt bubble from sending this country into a nightmare scenario. The populace is no longer educated in our constitutional values of Liberty and Freedom, why we have a Bill of Rights and our founding philosophy of Natural Law. When times get really tough citizens will run toward the government instead of away from it because they don’t know any better. When that happens the last safe haven of Freedom will be lost to the darkness of socialism/communism. Make no mistake, our “Great Leaders” (Including the republicans} know what’s coming. They are making their plans and you and me aren’t included. Pray for our country.
I wish someone would explain, in one syllable words, what that change is! I missed that part, and all I’ve seen are people being outraged.
I’m sure I will be too, but…. Anyway, I see a third party erupting in the not too distant future, and the GOPers dying a slow death.
We all go through changes…heaven knows I have. So, who knows…maybe Romney will surprise us? I was willing to give Obama a chance. He blew it….BIG TIME! Reckon we gotta give Romney the same chance. If he screws up, then …..
There are two sites I have been monitoring, that is after working outside cutting the grass and putting up with all the mosquito’s. Check out Freedom Works, they have people on the convention floor. They also have a play by play of the rules fight and the dirty tricks that happened. Michele Malkin has comments posted from conservative Tea Party folks at the convention. My take on the change is this: In the future, after the primaries are over, all delegates would have to pledge to the candidate with the most overall votes. This would eliminate the second place, or third place holder of delegates from starting a fight at the convention to place their candidate on the election ballot. Example: People who voted for Santorum because they liked his stance on the issues would also like the candidates pledged to him (Because of the vote count) to have a say at the convention and a chance to have input into the party platform. This change eliminates that because they would have to pledge their support to Romney. This puts all the power in the hands of old line party hacks and silences the runner ups.
Oh…that’s just SO wrong!!! This is going to be a war they do not want!!