The Flow of Consciousness

The Daily Newscaster story Secret Service confiscates books, buttons from Ron Paul delegates should piss you of beyond all comprehension. After reading that story, you should be so livid that you could Hulk out and start flipping tables in a manner that Jesus would appreciate.

It shouldn’t matter if you are a Democrat, a Republican, a Libertarian, a Constitutionalist, a Green, or any other party. It shouldn’t matter if you are a capitalist, socialist, communist, constitutional monarchist, or anarchist.

The sneaky confiscation of materials from any delegate to a party convention—especially a federally recognized and federally funded convention—is an abomination and every single member of the party, and any competing party, should be up-in-arms and condemning of such illicit behavior.

This isn’t the Republican party I for which I signed up, and if you’re reading my blog and you’re a Republican, I’m sure it isn’t the party for which you signed up, either.

If it is, leave the party. Go start your own neo-conservative party based around the principles of censorship, control, and centrist propaganda. Better yet, leave the U.S. and go back to from whence you came. I don’t want you here and you are probably not my friend.

I’m taking my party back, and if there is no one with me, I’m gone.

I’ve been analyzing the results of the primary for the past few days in order to get a better idea of the meaning of the results. 99.51% of precincts in PA have reported as of this writing.

I did some canvassing at the Wilmington Township precinct, trying to get folks to vote for Carrie Duffield, the only Ron Paul-supporting delegate who got on the ballot for the 4th Congressional District. I’m pretty sure that most of the Republicans to whom I spoke voted for her—all 20 of them. However, Carrie didn’t get enough votes to get the delegate spot. It was a valiant try, though. Steven O’Conner from the 12th got fourth place, but there’s only three spots there. He missed it by 50 votes.

A few other Ron Paul delegates from western Pennsylvania did get enough votes: Robert Tamburo in the 14th and Chris Detar from the 18th.

On the presidential race, McCain got 576,333 votes, or 72.8%, Huckabee, who has been out of the race since March 4, got 90,035, or 11.4%, and Ron Paul got 125,843, or 15.9%. It’s appalling and nearly insulting that 90,000 Pennsylvanians voted so irresponsibly. Many of Huckabee’s policies were similar to Paul’s, so I’m sure that much of that 11.4% could have gone to Paul.

Locally, the Lawrence County numbers were disappointing. McCain had 74%, Huckabee 14%, and Paul 12%. Statewide, though, the numbers were better. Berks County had the best Ron Paul showing, scoring 26% of the vote. Crawford County had 23%, and Lancaster County had 22%. Allegheny County, home of Ron Paul’s native Pittsburgh, managed 16% to Huckabee’s 9% and McCain’s 75%.

I must remind my readers that the presidential race on the PA ballot doesn’t mean anything. It’s a glorified straw poll, really. PA Republicans directly elect their delegates. Unfortunately, the candidate whom a delegate supports is not listed on the ballot, so supporters of the candidate/delegate must inform voters for whom to vote as they are entering the precinct.

However, it is somewhat indictative of the public opinion of the candidate. Some may see that McCain had approximately 73 percent of the vote. However, I, and John Nichols of The Nation see it that McCain lost 27% of the PA vote. This is further proof that a large part of the Republican party does not support the gentleman—and I use the term only as an honorific—from Arizona.

Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times had another analysis of McCain’s less-than-commanding showing indicating “displeasure” with the party’s candidate, but his analysis was not as quote-worthy as some of the comments to the post. One user said, “130,000. Ron Paul got one hundred and thirty thousand votes, despite the media blackout. The revolution is real, people.” In response to the McCain campaign’s comment on the results, another user said, “So what the McCain Campaign is really saying, is that they would rather concentrate on trying to get votes from registered Democrats and Independants than fixing the issues that have fragmented and tarnished the Republican party. There’s some strait talk for ya.”

I agree. McCain is a RINO: Republican in name only. It is unfortunate and disappointing that the majority of the Republican party seems to be following him. Perhaps the complement of that contingent—the part that wants Real Change in Washington—will recognize this and remain steadfast, refusing to support someone who does not believe as they do.

Also, McCain has not yet released his medical records. I find such a release neither unconstitutional nor unreasonable, especially given McCain’s age. He’d be the oldest president at the time of his election, should that occur. I can’t help but shudder when I think of such a thing.

I haven’t heard the delegate counts yet for the Republicans. The Democrats overwhelmingly chose Clinton in the popular vote, but she only gained 10 delegates (83 to Obama’s 73, according to CNN’s PA results). She got 55% of the vote, winning all but a handful of counties.

I will continue to support liberty forever. Ron Paul is our current philosophical leader, and when he is no longer able to be the leader, someone will rise to take his place. Liberty cannot die.

I’ve created a Facebook group for people who switched party affiliations to vote for Ron Paul.

Many states have closed primaries, and we, the members of this group, have switched our political affiliation in order to support Ron Paul. We retain our same beliefs, but feel that this clerical change is necessary in order to support the best candidate running for office.

If you want to do the same, check out my post from a few weeks ago on HOWTO Become a Republican in order to vote for Ron Paul in the PA Primaries.

If you’re one of those people who thinks that switching parties for this reason is bad, bugger off. The system is flawed, but, fortunately, it just takes a little bit of paperwork to be able to Do The Right Thing™.

Update, 2011-12-10: PA no longer has this neat online form. You have a few options, but the easiest is to just to fill out another registration form and tick the “change of party” box.

Pennsylvania, as well as other states, conducts closed primary elections. I believe this to be illegal, but that’s a topic for another day, perhaps closer to May 2008. For those unfamiliar with the concept of closed primary elections, an explanation is due. American political parties generally must offer only one set of candidates for an office, so all of the competition within the party is resolved in the primaries. However, members of a party can only vote on candidates within their party—the hope is to keep saboteurs from voting a weak candidate into the spot for that party. It’s a lousy explanation, but it will suffice.

Herein lays the problem: I’m a registered Democrat. I want to vote for Ron Paul in the primaries because I want my vote to matter and you should want the same for your vote, too! In order to vote for Ron Paul in the primaries, I must do something I thought I’d never do: become a Republican.

Fortunately, this change of parties is merely for paperwork—it’s not like my ideals change overnight. Can you already see the flaws in the system?

Anyway, here’s how I changed my PA voter registration…somewhat on-line. These instructions can also be followed to register if you haven’t already done so. However, there may be a point where things diverge, so be warned: I’m only showing currently registered voters how to change their party affiliation.

1. Go to www.votespa.com.
2. Click on Voter Registration on the sidebar.
3. Click on Voter Registration Application Forms.
4. Click on Onscreen Voter Registration Application.
5. Login with your PAPowerPort ID, or create one and login with it.
6. Once you’re entirely into the system, click Modify Voter Registration on the sidebar.
7. Leave the information in question #1 alone. It should be correct.
8. For question #2, check the box beside Change of Party. If you’re a new registrant, check the obvious box.
9. Inspect the information for questions #3 to #8. I had to fill in my driver’s license number.
10. Question #9 is the biggie: Change the drop down to REPUBLICAN.
11. Click the Continue button at the bottom of the page. You may be redirected back to the page and asked to fill in a captcha.
12. Click Download and Print Form. Print it out and send it in as marked—the elections office still needs your signature to actually change the information.
13. Click Finish.

Send in that print-out ASAP, as your change isn’t permanent until the office receives your signature.