Every Hill

You may have heard the phrase, "Some hills are not worth dying on." Maybe you haven't. Maybe somebody I know made it up. Either way, it's a good phrase -- unless you happen to find a hill worth dying on. For clarification's sake, you could also say that some things are not worth fighting for, or you should pick your battles. Or you could just say "Give up and lie down in the dust like a dog because you're not going to get anywhere with this one, okay." Some BS isn't worth hiding behind.

No, I'm not writing this to sound resentful and angry. Frankly, I am not angry. I am thoughtful. I spent the last year and a half holding onto a dream, a principle. For the first time in my political life I fought the losing battle in full knowledge of what I was doing. Most of the time I don't think other people understand that. That would explain why they tell me I will never win no matter how much I do. That would explain why they say that some hills aren't worth dying on or I should pick my battles. That would explain the shakes of their heads. It's not that I go around spouting off about my political beliefs all the time. It's rather that I have some misunderstood beliefs -- I almost said unpopular, but that's not true.

Let me tell you a story. In the winter of 2004 I interned at a congressional office in Washington, D.C. The man I worked for was one of the few true fiscal conservatives to get into office in 1994 and not change into a big spender. He really cared about the issue of spending cuts and smaller government. There was one issue in particular that he wanted to cut so as to reduce the budget. It was a pretty unpopular stance, but he took his stand. I was given the job of getting the word out to the press. This is not a glamorous job in case you were wondering. I spent hours proofreading press releases and painstakingly faxing them to all sorts of publications in the hope that some reporter would write an article about the issue. It worked. We actually did drum up more discussion of the issue than my congressman had in previous years -- so the legislative assistants told me.

The day of the vote arrived and the congressman I worked for was on the floor of the House debating all day. You would not believe the phone calls I had to listen to when all his constituents decided to watch C-Span at once because they had nothing better to do. I tried to watch some of the debates but missed them somewhere between talking with the old lady who just wanted to talk about decency on television (she heard the f-word at midnight) and the old guy from Alabama who claimed the CIA was populated by commies who were putting cameras in walls to watch us (as if we do anything of that much interest to a government agency). Anyway, the congressman was brilliant.

At the end of the day he came back from the vote and I asked him how it went. He told me the numbers. To my surprise his initiative lost big time. I mean, it was a huge vote against it. I was stunned. All those hours I had put in trying to get support and it was over without any fanfare and without even a decent vote in its favor. Everything I had done was for nothing. And I had never suspected for a moment that my congressman was going to lose.

After he went back to his office (busy, busy man) I asked one of the other staffers why the vote in our favor had been so low. "It's higher than it was in any previous year," she said. "We never expected to win this one, but we make it an issue every year. Maybe someday people will get the message."

That's when I learned the most valuable lesson I learned over that long semester in D.C. Sometimes you have to fight the losing battle and show your face to all the world as if you know you're winning. Why be bummed out and down about something that you care about? When you know you're right you should be happy about that. And when you show others that you are going to fight the good fight no matter the condescension around you then they can think of nothing more to do than shake their heads as if you're an idiot. But they will never feel the satisfaction that comes with knowing yourself to have done everything you could for a cause that was well worth losing to advance. Some things are bigger than a full ballot box. I'll take my stand on that hill.

The Funny Thing Is . . .

I remember a year ago people were telling me why I shouldn't care about the economy and why we didn't need a candidate who understood the economy. I was rooting for Ron Paul along with all the other crazies who know something about economics. I listened to so many people dismiss the economy as an unimportant issue. It's only a year later.

Ah, the irony.

The World Turns

Craig and I finally have a house. Yes, to friends and family, I will send photos as soon as I get myself motivated. Move in will not be until August, most likely.

I do live in an area of Iowa where we have had flooding nearby. I am safe and okay. I live above the flood levels.

Ron Paul has ended his presidential bid. However, there are more things to come. Updates on that later. I will be changing some of my blog to reflect RP dropping from the race.

J'onn J'onz died in a recent DC Comics story arc. I am pretty darn ticked and very sad. Martian Manhunter was/is my all time favorite superhero. They had better bring him back from the dead soon. That's all I have to say. I am now going to put that into a strongly worded letter and mail it to DC Comics.

The Race Annoouncer -- That's Me

Virginia: McCain won on the Republican side. Obama won the Democrat primary.

Maryland: McCain won again. Obama won again.

D.C.: Same story by wider margins.

I cannot say I am surprised by any of the outcomes of these states/district. Except perhaps that Obama is doing so well. That's how the Dems are, however. They will shoot themselves in the foot every primary by picking a really liberal candidate who can talk pretty. Republicans prefer the inarticulate guy who's willing to take action whether it's necessary or not. I am still surprised about McCain coming up as the forerunner. He's incredibly unpredictable when it comes to Republican values. He switches back and forth so often. I remember a time when it was thought that he would become an Independent and change the balance of power in the Senate. I respect him for what he has been through, but I do not want him to be president.

Oh, yeah, and Ron Paul's numbers continue to be existent, but low.

Count Them Votes!

Huckabee is contesting the results from Washington state. The state Republican Party chair declared McCain the winner with only 87% of the votes counted. McCain was less than two percent ahead of Huckabee.

Ron Paul won 21% of the votes counted so far in Washington.

The Plot Thickens

Huckabee won with 60% of the vote in the GOP Kansas caucuses. McCain came in far behind with a measly 24% and Ron Paul only got 11%. In Louisiana, Huckabee came in first by a slim majority. Ron Paul received 5%. Washington is still too close for me to tell who has won and not all the votes are counted. I will update when it's closer to 100% of precincts reporting.

Obama won four races. He won by a wide margin in each one. Take that, Hillary!

My thoughts are conflicted. I won't vote for McCain. As far as I'm concerned he has betrayed the Republican party several times over. I won't vote for a Democrat. I don't want to have to vote for Huckabee. He's too liberal. There just isn't a candidate who I can get behind this year. Of course, that's why I worked so hard to get Ron Paul the nomination. I guess I'll start researching Congressional and local races. I officially can't care about the presidential race anymore. But I'll keep updating on it. It's fun to watch.

Super Tuesday Is Over Now

As usual I am linking to the results of the election. Super Tuesday was yesterday. 21 states voted in primaries.

For Republicans the results were still mixed. McCain is considered to be ahead now. Ron Paul beat Huckabee in a couple states and he came out ahead of McCain in Montana and Alaska. I just hope he keeps getting his message heard. I'm going to say right now that I won't vote for McCain. He clearly knows nothing about the economy which I think is the most important issue right now. *cough* RINO *cough*

For Democrats I don't think we can make a generalization yet either. Clinton won New York and California, but Obama won more states and with higher margins.

The race continues to be interesting. Frankly, I am enjoying this year's primary/caucus season more than any other I have witnessed. I want to see this go back and forth all the way to the National Conventions.

Keep It Coming

It's pretty amazing to think that only a few states have voted for presidential candidates so far this year. Next Tuesday we will have 20 states voting on the same day. That still will only amount to a little over half the states in the U.S. I think we should let the election drag on and wait a little longer to make those assumptions on who's winning. But then I'm not the press. I'm just your average American. Since when does my opinion count?

Yesterday was Florida's vote. McCain won despite embarrassing himself with a misquote of Romney that he refuses to back down on. And despite the fact that McCain knows almost nothing about the economy. Romney came in next, however, proving that he is still doing better than anyone else (I think). Ron Paul received 62,000 votes, but in Florida that amounted to 3%. Not that he was counting on Florida. Oh, and goodbye Rudy!

On the Democrat side it doesn't really matter because the DNC took Florida's delegates. I'll report the numbers anyway. We have flip-flopped again. Clinton soundly beat Obama. Obama should announce it's because of all those old people. Don't you think? "Well, I never had a chance in a state with a lot of old people." As for Edwards, when is he going to stop wasting his money and get out of the race?

The Confusion, Er, Election Continues

Nevada: Romney won by a lot. Ron Paul came in second! It's not much more decisive than Romney winning Wyoming, however, because hardly anyone showed up to the caucuses. At least, that's my opinion. The Republican Party still appears confused.

As for the Democrats, Clinton is in the lead. I'm really not sure why the recent Clinton camp shenanigans haven't turned voters completely off toward Hillary. I mean, really, I don't consider Obama to be the nice guy either (considering his tactics in Illinois elections), but something is definitely going on with the Clinton campaign. Ever since that one time Obama did better than Hillary it's been scary. Doesn't this jog a few memories of the last Clinton White House? Why do we want that again?

South Carolina: This was a much more decisive victory for McCain. Still not sure if that makes him the front runner. It probably puts him equal with Romney. As for Ron Paul, he came in ahead of Giuliani, at least.

On the Democrats side we will not find out until Jan. 26th because they have a different primary date for each party.

Confusion

The results of the primaries continue to prove that the Republican party is a mess. Huckabee, McCain and Romney have now all been first in the first three primary/caucus states. Actually, Romney came in first in Wyoming, so he has done better than the other three.

As for Ron Paul, he did really well in Michigan. He totally beat Giuliani and Thompson. We're talking more than double the votes Rudy got and almost double the votes Thompson received.

Word has it that Michigan Dems are not satisfied either. That's probably because the DNC refused to acknowledge the primary when MI moved it up. Take that MI (my home state) for forcing Iowa to move its caucuses up so they infringed on the holidays.

He's My Candidate

. . . and he was on Jay Leno Monday night. Enjoy the show.

I Was Right

Ron Paul did do better in New Hampshire, by about 7,000 votes. Percentage wise he did not do better because he had 8% in NH and 10% in Iowa. No small feat. Especially since he beat another top tier candidate by a heck of a lot of votes -- this time it was Thompson.

As for the rest, I remember distinctly saying NOT Hillary. Why don't people listen to me?

Caucus Impressions

There is much I could say about the Iowa caucus experience. I am not really sure where to begin. A caucus is like a huge Party meeting without the formalities and familiar faces. Since most of my readers have probably never attended a meeting for their political party my description is useless. I'll start from the beginning.

I arrived at about 6:20pm at the caucus location along with my husband. We started to walk inside only to discover Hillary and Obama signs. Democrats were everywhere. A few questions later we learned that the Republicans were meeting on the other side of the building. We found our way into our meeting room and registered. Craig went to make signs directing people on where to go because most people -- Dems and GOPs included -- were confused. I put on my Ron Paul button, stuck a Ron Paul sign on the wall and sat down waiting to see if anyone would approach me. Several people did. Most of them thought that the Ron Paul campaign had sent me over and wanted to know if I could help the chairperson get people registered. I explained that I was a caucus voter just like them and a volunteer for the campaign in my own precinct. I talked for quite a while to a lovely, elderly woman who supported Ron Paul. I met a few other Ron Paul fans. It was great.

At a few minutes after 7pm the meeting began. The first order of business was electing a secretary to help the chairperson. I volunteered because it meant I would be able to make sure nothing bad happened to the votes. No one objected to me being the secretary.

Thus followed a lengthy period of standing on a hard floor in very high heels. My feet still hurt. We had a series of short speeches for each candidate. My husband gave a speech for Ron Paul and it was very well spoken. I passed out voting ballots. Then I collected them making sure that each person turned in only one ballot. I counted votes along with a representative from each of the campaigns. A little over half the people left the room at that point, not caring to stay for the rest of the meeting. We selected precinct delegates. I decided to be a delegate. Then I got all of us delegates and alternates signed up while the chairperson called in the vote, supervised by the representatives of each candidate. The last order of business was to choose important issues to go to the Platform Committee. Oh yeah, and choose a representative to the Platform Committee.

That's when my true party animal nature came out. I could not help myself. A few months ago I vowed to avoid the Iowa GOP at all costs. But now, I am one of them. I volunteered to represent my precinct to the Platform Committee. Part of the reason I decided to do this was, well, I need more responsibility or I'll continue to be a bum this year. Another part is that I really do not appreciate the recent turns the Republican Party has taken. I have not done much good as an independent. I think I am going to try changing the party from the inside out instead of standing to one side aloof and mysterious about my views. I now know of a candidate who champions my own political ideas for this country. Even if he does not make it to the nomination, I can still take his ideas and insidiously work them into the party structure. Wait, I am giving away my hand. Perhaps I should not say anymore about this . . . Then again, perhaps I should. Perhaps I will, at the Platform Committee meeting.

After all that Craig and I went to the Ron Paul post caucus party and hung out with fellow volunteers. It was fun. Ron Paul showed up and made an excellent speech. He gives me hope for America. And even if he does not win the nomination I am thankful that I got to be a part of this movement.

Raising The Money

Ron Paul supporters do it again. This time we raised $6 million in 24 hours. Go us! This is very encouraging news.

In Association With Other Ron Paul Supporters

I thought I would direct you to this article written by a friend of mine about why he is voting for Ron Paul. It's a better read than anything I've written on the subject.

While I'm at it here's something funny pertaining to Ron Paul. I can so relate to this having attended one of the few colleges in the U.S. that teaches Austrian economics.

Shock, But Mostly Awe

I just received a phone call from Jim Guest. He asked me to make phone calls to other Ron Paul supporters to make sure they're going to come to caucus night. I said yes. I knew he was going to be in town tonight making phone calls. I did not expect him to call me.

Get Over It, Already

Raise your hand if you are tired of the GOP looking for Ronald Reagan. Both mine went up. I remember back in 2000 people talked about how Bush was like the next Ronald Reagan. Now it's election cycle again and we are all groaning about how there is no Reagan Republican to elect.
My response is this: Ronald Reagan was there when we needed him. He spent a lot of money. I like him, he's not my hero, but I like him a lot. He was a great man. He helped bring down communism and he made the economy better for a while (my problem here is that I am complimenting government for helping us out with something that government should not be involved in -- the economy). But he's gone, people. He's gone. Get over it. Right now we do not need Ronald Reagan. We do not even need a Reagan Republican.

What we need is a very, very conservative voice that will reintroduce some of the important things about our country that we have forgotten. For example, sound foreign policy, not borrowing millions of dollars from China every day, letting the market work instead of centralizing economic control and spending less money (because we're out of money). We also need optimism. Which, I might add, Reagan had. We need something to hope for. I really don't see anything like that in most of these candidates vying for the presidency. The hope they're offering is an empty hope to anyone who knows anything about how all this spending is going to affect our country.

The way I see it, I'm going to have to deal with the fact that we have huge debt problems and our money is losing value. I would rather we turned this ship around right now than continued heading for that rock over there. Reagan was great, but the problems our country faces now are not the same as the problems he steered us through. We need somebody else. So get over it. He was there when we needed him, now we need a different guy (no, I do not mean to say that only a man can be president, I just do not like Hillary).

Making Headlines

I would just like to draw your attention to the fact that Ron Paul's campaign raised over $4 million in one day. There are two amazing things about this 1) the money is still coming in and 2) most of these donors -- if not all -- are regular people giving as much as they can.

The Tale Of Two Rallies

On Friday I went to a Ron Paul rally. I listened to Ron Paul give the best speech I have ever heard in my entire life. Most of the speech appeared completely unrehearsed. I saw RP look at his notes once and only once. He looked his audience in the eyes and I am absolutely certain there was no teleprompter behind us. That man was not reading, he was speaking from his heart. He explained some rather complex concepts to us about the economy and how it connects with foreign policy. But it was all perfectly understandable. For once I felt like a speaker was not talking down to me, and actually believed I have the intelligence to understand something other than an upbeat blurb. I got a Ron Paul button and a sign. I cheered with the crowd. From where I sat I could have taken two steps and been standing right next to Ron Paul. There were quite a few other people up there with me. And we all sat neatly in our chairs and clapped when Ron Paul said something that was good to hear. We made sure not to clap or cheer too long, you know, let the man have his say. I gave Ron Paul a standing ovation along with everyone else at the end. Then I quietly decided to let the people who had never met Ron Paul throng him and I went home. Actually, throng would be the wrong word to use. They lined up in a neat greeting line and walked up to him in an orderly fashion. All in all, there were 300+ people at the rally, which, I think, is good.

Contrast that experience with the Bush rally I attended back in 2000. Yes, I did go to a Bush rally. No I do not like Bush and even in 2000 I had some misgivings about him despite my concerted efforts to get the man elected. Easy to say in retrospect . . . I digress. There were about a thousand people at the Bush rally. I was near the front of the crowd. The rally was held in a small stadium and the people had to stand on the cement floor to listen to a speech that we had heard many times before. When Bush entered they played some upbeat and overly loud song and we all cheered like he was a rock star (which he is not). Bush did not look at the crowd much of the time, or at least, not where I was. This may have been partly because he was standing on a platform high above our heads. At the end of the speech I got smashed against the side of the stage by a mass of screaming, struggling people. It is amazing that nobody got hurt. I managed to get a sign I had autographed by Bush and I managed to shake his hand as he walked past me. But he did not look me in the eye or even see me. All he saw were my hands sticking out of the crowd. The people right next to me on either side did not get autographs or handshakes. It took me hours to leave the rally. The press of the crowd was overwhelming and infuriating.

I think the biggest difference between these two rallies would be accessibility. Ron Paul supporters feel like Ron Paul will listen to us. He's a regular guy, just like we are and he has no sense of celebrity-ness even though he's famous and we all love him. When Ron Paul is there we are very excited, but we do not have that same desperation that drove the Bush fans to crush me against the wall. We do not mob RP, we just walk up politely, say hello and ask him some questions. I am sure not every RP supporter is that nice to him, but the majority are. There is no one attempting to keep us away from Ron Paul although there is security available. They just do not have much of a job. The Bush people made it impossible for his potential constituents to talk to or reach Bush by putting up an actual fence between us. That made people crazy, it made them feel like Bush was not hearing them. I doubt that we would have mobbed Bush if he had been standing on our own level and we had been asked to line up. Had we been able to ask him questions like Ron Paul supporters can we probably would not have been such a messy crowd.

I am not going to compare the actual candidates in this post, just the rallies and the way things were done. I can definitely say that "it is a far, far better thing I do now than I" did when Bush was running.

Changes Effective

Frequenters of my blog may note a couple changes in my sidebar. First, I have switched my Ron Paul logo to an actual Ron Paul promotional thing and linked it to his official election '08 site. Second, I removed the Pence '08 link and very cool looking icon. I believe I have paid enough homage to the idea of Mike Pence running for president. He is not going to, that's sad, but I am making the best of things by throwing my support behind an even more fiscally conservative gentleman. Lastly, I replaced Pence's spot with my NaNoWriMo participant icon. It is linked to the NaNo site. I used to have this particular icon and link down at the bottom of my list of links. I decided that it deserves a higher spot on the list, so there you go.