antidis-establishment-arianism

All you hear in the media these days is about the Republican Establishment and the insurgents.  I happen to be an avid supporter of Ted Cruz, one of the so-called insurgents.  Yet I think all this establishment talk is overblown.  Here’s why.

            I got involved in politics in 2010 helping a state Rep get elected.  He goes to civic clubs and small gatherings constantly and campaigns door to door.  They call that “retail politics” when you talk and listen to real people.  Since that election, I have been privy to dinners and gatherings of some big shots—US Congressman and our state Governor. People like that have districts or states of 760,000 or more people and can’t begin to talk to all of them.  So they use mass media and direct mail to campaign.  That costs big money.  It will cost about $2 million for a Congressional Representative or a state-wide office.  Thus there are some big donors who support these guys, and when you sit at a dinner, you realize how they are trying to buy influence. Some give $10,000 and some exceeed that.  But the heart of Republican donations remains small businessmen who chip in $50 or $250 apiece.  The Cruz campaign says its average donation is $66.  In the year 2000, Bush campaign average donation was $52.  The Dems are actually the ones with just a few very large donors from Hollywood and unions. 

            That the large donors want influence is human nature.  And studies of the ultra-wealthy show that above all they protect their empire.  So they have certain desires. But do they have enough influence to own a Congressman?  Usually, no.  The job of Congressman is to represent most everybody or else they don’t get the votes. And by nature, politicians have an affinity for making others feel satisfied.  You and I don’t have this talent.  If I ran, I’d get 30% of the vote and the rest would be ticked off at my bluntness.  Nonetheless, some legislators become tied to certain interest groups and donors.  (By the way, First Amendment guarantees the right to petition government through lobbyists.) 

            My guy got a 100% Conservative score last year so he’s true blue conservative.  But often legislators compromise their principles when faced with economic circumstances and political complications.  For example, here in Oklahoma, our cities vote Republican, a rarity.  That’s because R’s use the winning issue of school choice, especially for poor families in failing schools.  But otherwise rock-ribbed conservative Reps from rural areas get squeamish over talk of school choice.  Citizens of small towns worry that if a child goes to a special school, the attendance numbers will drop in their regular public school and they’ll be forced to consolidate and the whole town will die if it doesn’t have a school.  So rural Reps often vote against school choice. State Senators are more liberal throughout the USA than House members.  They represent larger districts which require more money for election, which means more compromise with interest groups. 

            So while there is a donor effect that makes “establishment” pols at the national level compromise their conservatism, it stills remains curbed by voters.  If voters are conservative, so will be the politician. 

            The real problem in this election is Obama.  He is an ideological ego-maniac with the attitude of my-way-or-the-highway.  And he has co-dependent facilitators in the US Congress.  Result is that Congressmen can’t even get things up for vote when Harry Reid squelches them.  Usually, opposition party legislators want to get things done, Presidents want things done, but not Obama and the Dems.  They just look for the politics of blaming the R’s.  This has been exacerbated by political leadership of House and Senate who decided that if Obama will veto it, they won’t push for it.  It would have helped if they’d impeached or challenged more.  Then there wouldn’t be this voter rebellion. 

            But there is.  At this point, I pray that the Republican voters won’t be so angry that they blame all the troubles on our Congressional folks rather than the true villains of Democrats and Obama.  I hope we don’t fall for an avenger candidate—an empty suit who just has talent to “tell ‘em” without any consistent conservative sense of how to make things work—like Trump.  We will need substance, perseverance, conservatism, unity and votes.  If who we choose can’t unite, low turnout will doom our Republican House and Senate candidates. Much at stake here.