I was Worried this Would Happen

Today is the first day of the Minnesota Republican Convention. As you read this delegates are currently in St. Cloud fighting over political matters. I didn’t go. After my experience at my local basic political operating unit (BPOU) convention I decided to swear off continued participation in this race. Part of it was just the monstrous nature of the big-wig Republican attendees, their desire for power at the cost of others was disgusting. Another part of it had to do with the Ron Paul campaign itself. There’s been something going on with the Paul campaign that didn’t sit right with me but I’ve been unable to put my finger on it. With the recent announcements and other news I’ve been slowly scrapping together the pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together. I posted about the recent announcements made by the Paul campaign.

It seemed entirely odd to me that the campaign would be sending out announcements that could easily be construed as the campaign being suspended and telling supporters that any hope of winning the presidential nomination is basically gone. What campaign in its right mind would tell supporters that the chances of success were basically none? Then I came across the following article and things started to make more sense:

Reince Priebus (the RNC chairman from Kenosha, Wisconsin), and the Republican National Committee (RNC) threw their support behind Mitt Romney after Newt Gingrich announced he would be suspending his campaign. Through the RNC chair, Reince Priebus, the RNC will help register voters and encourage outreach for Mitt Romney.

I’ve had no doubt that the Republican nomination process is fixed and that Romney is the anointed one for this year’s nomination. Between threatening states that sent “too many” Ron Paul supporters and several prominent officials of the Republican National Committee (RNC) openly stating support for Romney it has been obvious that the RNC will go to any length to ensure Romney gets the nomination. The statement released by Jesse Benton, the chairman for the Ron Paul campaign, shed even more light on the actions of the Paul campaign:

“In April, the RNC asked our campaign for our blessing to begin assembling the Victory organization Republicans will require to guarantee a win in the fall. Building such an operation is no small undertaking, and our Party needed to build in a few months what the incumbent president has been building for four years.

“The RNC offered to set up a joint fundraising committee with the Paul campaign and were very clear that if Dr. Paul became the nominee, the Victory Operation would be behind him 100 percent. They also were clear that they would hold off if our campaign objected. I gave my full consent for the RNC to move forward.

“Chairman Priebus has always treated Dr. Paul and our team with respect, and we appreciate his leadership. He has been an outstanding chairman and has our full confidence.”

It is unclear to me is Benton is entirely ignorant or corrupt. The agreement mentioned in Benton’s statement is obviously a sucker’s deal. While the RNC promises to completely back Paul if he gets the nomination they have no intention of allowing Paul to get the nomination. They’re making a bet because they already know the outcome. Did Benton agree to this deal because he believed the RNC was actually planning on playing fair or because they offered him something to advance his political career? The only evidence I have to the latter is circumstantial, Benton was the one who released the recent announcements that appeared to be hand crafted to destroy the morale of Ron Paul’s supporters. Since the only evidence I hold is circumstantial I’m going to assume the former, that Benton and other higher ups in the Paul campaign are naive and believe the RNC is willing to play fair.

Having leaders of the RNC backing Romney is pretty obviously a violation of the RNC’s own rules:

“Rule No. 11 Candidate Support
(a) The Republican National Committee shall not, without the prior written and filed approval of all members of the Republican National Committee from the state involved, contribute money or in-kind aid to any candidate for any public or party office except the nominee of the Republican Party or a candidate who is unopposed in the Republican primary after the filing deadline for that office. In those states where state law establishes a nonpartisan primary in which Republican candidates could participate, but in which the general election may not include a Republican candidate, the candidate endorsed by a convention held under the authority of the state Republican Party shall be recognized by the Republican National Committee as the Republican nominee.

(b) No state Republican Party rule or state law shall be observed that allows persons who have participated or are participating in the selection of any nominee of a party other than the Republican Party, including, but not limited to, through the use of a multiparty primary or similar type ballot, to participate in the selection of a nominee of the Republican Party for that general election. No person nominated in violation of this rule shall be recognized by the Republican National Committee as the nominee of the Republican Party from that state.”

Apparently they have been able to get away with it by offering the sucker’s deal to the Paul campaign. The RNC must have said, “Listen, if you guys don’t pursue this whole rule violation ordeal we’ll promise to back Paul if he gets the nomination.” Like suckers the Paul campaign apparently fell for it.

My uneasiness regard the Ron Paul campaign is finally starting to make sense. I’m not the only one disenfranchised with the campaign at this point, many of my fellow Paul supporters have expressed similar views. Yet many of Paul’s supporters have been creating justifications for the recent actions of his campaign, something I was worried would happen due to the amount of emotional investment many people have in his winning. The most common theory put forth by those who still support the campaign is that the recent actions are part of a master plan to lower the establishment’s guard so we can swoop in unopposed and claim victory. This theory doesn’t make any sense to me because the recent actions by the campaign have caused massive devastation to the morale of Paul’s supporters. Several delegates have even expressed refusal to continue attending conventions, actions that directly oppose the Paul campaign’s supposed goal of motivating as many delegates as possible to attend the RNC and take the Republican Party. If that is the strategy then telling delegates that the campaign is basically over isn’t going to advance the cause.

Another common theory being put forth by those desperately trying to continue believing in the campaign is that the way is merely being paved for Rand Paul’s run next election cycle. To that I say woopty fucking doo. I’m not a big fan of Rand. Many neocons will claim they like Rand better than his father because Rand makes sense. For the same reasons neocons like Rand I don’t. If the master plan has been to pave the way for Rand then I’m sorry I had any involvement in this campaign.

Others are claiming the goal of the Paul campaign has always been to reclaim the Republican Party and return it to its roots. Unfortunately there is no reclaiming the Republican Party, it’s a dying party and a poison brand. The big wigs in the party are bloody thirsty evangelicals who want nothing more than to bring a new crusade to the world. A majority of Republican Party members are mindless automatons who obey the commands of the higher ups and those commands have been to resist control from the Ron Paul supporters. Even if we do reclaim the party we’re left with the party. We will hold control over an empty shell. All of the crusaders will flee and likely establish their own party while we’ll be standing around holding a brand that is known for its opposition to civil rights, advocacy of war, and general authoritarian nature. Attempting to change this image will fail, poisoned brands generally can’t be salvaged. Nobody looks at the actions of a political party, they just agree with whatever propaganda they’re told to.

Either way it’s pretty obvious to me that many Paul supporters are actively disillusioning themselves with the campaign. They want to believe the campaign is attempting to do good so they come up with theories about the recent actions that support their desire. The majority who have been involved in the campaign seem to be willing to question the recent actions, even asking “What if…?” is met with resistance. Those of us standing in the corner asking, “What the fuck guys?” are being accused of devastating morale and attempting to undermine the campaign. Perhaps the latter accusation is true. I have no idea what the Paul campaign is doing at the moment nor can I see their goals. When I don’t know what somebody is doing I get edgy, when evidence indicates what they’re doing isn’t good are move to undermine the plan. The campaign hasn’t offered any valid justification for their recent actions so I have reason to believe they’re up to no good.

Perhaps I’m in a fairly unique position, I never really believed Ron Paul could get the nomination and thus watching this campaign crumble (at least appear to crumble) has had little effect. Part of me did hold up some hope that the good guys could win this time around but it was nothing more than a glimmer, and that glimmer still exists although it’s getting harder and harder to see. If my concerns are true, if there is chicanery going on in the Paul campaign, it will just prove my point that you can’t play the political game without getting fucked at some point.

As of this writing there is a money bomb going on at the Ron Paul campaign website. Usually these rake in a couple of million dollars, this one hasn’t even broke $300,000 yet (if it does break that please realize I wrote this article during the money bomb and likely didn’t have the opportunity to edit this portion before it posted). Obviously the recent actions of the campaign have had a vastly negative effect, the supporters are unhappy and less willing to send money or otherwise support campaign efforts. From where I stand it appears the Ron Paul campaign is the worst enemy of Ron Paul getting elected. They had a plan, claimed to be in the game until the end, and dropped the ball at the eleventh hour. Many supporters of the campaign have resorted to viciously attacking those who question the recent actions because facing the possibility of failure is too much for them to handle. When you’re no longer willing to question your cause, when you turn a blind eye to what’s going on around you, that is the moment you’ve lost and you know it. You don’t want to admit you’ve lost but you know you have.