Party Crashers Like Us

The biggest buzz in the Minnesota GOP in the current electoral cycle has been, regrettably, not been the whole "beating the Democrats" thing.

It's been the whole Ron Paul "Revolution".

Whatever side of the situation you're on, let me just say - I've been there and done that.

I left the GOP in 1994, out of disgust with the GOP's support for Bill Clinton's 1994 "Crime Bill", which did fairly ghastly things to Americans' civil liberties. I joined the big-L Libertarian party, and ran for office (The story's right here).

I came back about ten years ago because I realized that the reason the Libertarian Party could be so ideologically pure on liberty was that they were never going to have to prove anything to anyone; they were never going to have to put their beliefs through the scrum of interaction with other peoples' ideas, the eternal "tug of war" that politics really is.

And when I came back, I was regarded with suspicion by some of the regulars in my district. It was almost funny, back then; the district conventions would like up with about half the people to stage right whose only apparent issues were abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research, and the other half to stage left who were into everything else - taxes, guns, terrorism, growth, what-have-you. Talking amongst ourselves, some of us thought that some of the Fourth District leadership might be a lot happier if we'd all just shut up.

But we didn't. -

And so I, and the few other Libertarian Party refugees, jumped into the fray and did our best to pull the district toward our agenda. We didn't win every battle - but we made our presence felt. And some of us are still involved with the party.

That brings us to this year. Whatever you think of Ron Paul's politics (my take: gratifyingly pure from a libertarian perspective - which is a perspective that can lend a lot of great points to the larger GOP, but can only exist as an entire political philosophy in a hothouse. You're more than entitled to your own opinion - indeed, if you're an SD66 blog writer or feel like leaving a comment, by all means do!), the good news is that he brought a lot of enthusiastic new people to the party - and to SD66.

And while some in the Fourth, the City and the District are upset about some of the things that the influx has brought to the party (a concern about long-term commitment to the party, as opposed to Ron Paul alone), they bring something the Fourth CD and District 66B desperately need; enthusiasm.

So here's my hope; that the "old line" Republicans in the district will take the influx of Paul supporters and their agenda for what it is; a challenge to put up or shut up; to espouse your own principles (and, if necessary, refine them) as effectively as they do theirs. To bring the same energy to the table that they do. To represent for your own beliefs, whatever they are.

Viewed that way, the Paul influx is a gift.

And I hope, in turn, that the Ron Paul supporters will learn something from those of us who've been banging away for this party for years, sometimes decades; that there's a lot to learn; that while politics starts with passion, it ends - inevitably, since our government governs with the consent of all of the governed, one way or another - with compromise. And that compromise is like that tug of war I keep writing about; the best you can do, always, is pull that compromise as far your way as your reason, your dedication and your passion can pull it.

So let's get out there and pull. Together.

(Cross posted at Shot In The Dark)