Another explanation of why republican voters vote against their own interest.

Utah County republican residents seem to revel in the fact that this is the 'reddest' place in the country. The psychology behind this is complicated, but knowable. What is incomprehensible is the logic used to justify One Party rule as the 'best' for them. Allow me to explain. . .

In a republican government, competing interests elect representatives that will give effect to the aspirations of the largest number of constituents, and these representatives are replaced or preserved by their efficacy in actually creating the policies and laws wanted by their constituents. If they are unwilling or able to represent their constituents, then the institution of elections provides a means to replace them with another who can convince a majority that they will do a better job.

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, as we have all heard. Elective representation is a means to separate the power of government from the person of the governor, and hopefully enforce virtue in the government by (hopefully) prompt elimination of bad actors and creating a vital link between the governed and the government.

This only works, though, when interests can compete in the marketplace of ideas. When the marketplace of ideas fails, then you have the political equivalent of a market failure due to monopoly. The technical problem of monopoly is that the information feedback mechanism that is the basic virtue of a functioning market is silenced. With no alternative source, information about demand is excluded, and the monopolist is free to charge prices dictated by whatever he can get his hands on, rather than needing to charge a competitive price or lose the sale.

Many residents who call themselves conservative republicans believe and vote Republican because there is a feeling of solidarity and safety in being part of the Party in Power. We all crave power, because that can lead to greater security in this hostile world. This would be rational if the political system was a robust market of ideas and competing interests had to provide better alternatives in order to be entrusted with the power of government, and those interests or Parties actually had to strive for and provide better government in order to preserve their positions. Competition would lead to improvement, and improvement would lead to better government, that is better for all of us.

So, back to Utah County.

The Republican Party has had only one challenge to their County Attorney Pick in the past 12 years that I can discover. And that one challenge was during the dark days of the George W. Bush administration, when the country collectively ran ourselves off a cliff, and Utah County was actively supporting the administration more solidly than almost anywhere else in the nation. Put bluntly, Utah County is a One Party Government.

“How bad can that be, if I'm in The Party?!” I'm in power, and there is none to molest or make afraid. THIS IS THE BIG LIE. The error is in the word “I'm”.

When there are two sides to a question of government, each voter is important. If your side is winning, you must appeal to each individual voter in order to maintain that voter in your camp. The government must listen to the individual. Even if you're on the losing side of the question, your voice is important, both to the government, who doesn't want to miss the development of an improvement that would replace them in power, and to the opposition, who needs your vote to replace the current regime, and so must listen to your concerns to win your support.

When there is only one party on a ballot, as seems to be the goal not only here in Utah County, but for the GOP nationally, then everybody who is not Republican is unimportant. This is easy to understand. What is obviously misunderstood in Utah County, and among Republican voters in Utah, is that in this situation, everybody who is not part of the Republican ruling clique also is unimportant.

Ask yourself this question: If there is no challenger to the Republican nominee, what reason is there for that nominee to ask me how I feel about or where I stand on any given issue? If he doesn't really need my vote to win, since he's unopposed, then why should he care about me as a republican voter?

But it's actually worse than that. Newtonian physics dictates that ever minute spent listening to or trying to serve a voter who isn't needed by the candidate is, actually, a drain of energy and time on the candidate who actually does have a job to do – namely, please his real constituency.

What is his real constituency? It is the Republican Party 'leadership', such as it is. It's the mayors and councilmen and legislators who use their positions to enrich their donating cronies, and usually themselves with tax money stolen from the predominantly republican registered voters!

So, to sum it up: People like to be in the 'in crowd'. Once 'in', they seek to eliminate competition. But in blindly supporting the in-crowd eliminating all competition, they make themselves just as exposed, weak, powerless, and vulnerable as the out-crowd. It is only when good people vote for the person and issue, rather than Party, that the democratic process works. In Utah county, the One Party Rule has made democrats and independents powerless, but what most republican voters don't understand is that it has also made them equally powerless and irrelevant.

I Wish I Had The Chance To Write This First. . .

But Can You WIN?

Written by: Andrew Nappi

Posted By Andrew Nappi, FL TAC State Coordinator
Written by Ken Matesz, Candidate for Governor, State of Ohio

Recently, I had a brief email exchange with a tea-party member. He likes everything I have to say, but says he probably won’t vote for me. According to him, tea-partiers must unite around the candidate who a) most closely matches the tea-party ideals and b) can win. He wrote to me and asked very plainly, “Can you win?” Here is what I wrote back:

DearSir:

Until voters realize that this is not a horse race, liberty-minded constitutionalists will never win and never get any significant votes. Not this cycle and not the next one either, nor even the next. I find it incredible that thousands of tea-partiers will go out and circulate a petition to nullify Obamacare with a constitutional amendment, then steadfastly promote the idea that they must vote for the candidate who can win, though that candidate has clearly shown himself to be only slightly less statist than his opponent. That amendment is 100% unnecessary when you have candidates who support the Ohio Constitution, which already nullifies much of what Congress does.

People keep asking me, “Can you win?” as if this is a foot race. When I was in high school, I ran track and was one of the fastest in our district. If someone then asked me, “Can you win?” I could confidently answer, “Absolutely.” It was all up to me and I was a great runner.

This one is not all up to me. In fact it is only marginally about me at all. It’s about you. You say you want liberty. You say you want elected officials who are constitutionalists. You say you want representatives who will nullify unconstitutional acts of Congress. You say you want regular citizens to be elected. You say you don’t want career politicians. You say you want reps who aren’t funded by special interests.

But when the jig is up, to you, it’s all about who can win. So, fair go. Vote for Kasich! He can win! Before the primaries in April, he had over $7 million in his campaign coffers. I haven’t checked what he has now. (You might do that; it’s very educational.) He’s been bought by all the usual suspects. His donations largely come in blocks of $11,000 at a time. Are you one of the people donating that money? How about all the unemployed people, are they the ones donating those huge amounts of money? This scam has been going on for 100 years, and you’re still buying into it after all your recent activism.

While Kasich and Strickland circle the state in their expensive tour buses and do full-time campaigning, I’m here in Northwest Ohio running a small family-run business. I’ve done more to create jobs in the last month than either of these two clowns have done in twenty years of politics, because I participate in capitalism and attempt to operate in this not-really-free free market that the likes of Kasich and Strickland have slowly destroyed over decades.

I’ve found that people such as yourself are completely immersed in the veil of party politics. Though you attend tea parties and write to your Congressman, when it comes to candidates, you cannot step out of the two-party, special interest-supported system in existence. People ask me, “Why aren’t you getting your name out more? Why aren’t you doing radio ads? How come I never heard of you till today? Why don’t you show up in any polls?” And my favorite: “Your PR person is doing a terrible job of getting your name out.”

Sir, going constitutional and back on the route of our founders means stopping. It means quitting the game, and entering reality where the only wasted vote is the one you give to someone you don’t really believe in. It means actually doing what Madison expected when he wrote his share of the Federalist Papers: Just elect your neighbors who are upright individuals – they might be farmers or merchants. Once upon a time – like with George Washington – people were elected because of who they are, not by how well they do in the horse and pony show or the three-ring circus we call campaigning. Once upon a time, it was not about who can win. It was about people and their rights.

Do you know what? Getting elected doesn’t take ANY money. It doesn’t take millions of dollars wasted on unproductive (from the market standpoint) radio or television ads or campaign literature that all goes to the dump after November 2. Getting elected only takes votes. All it takes is for normal people to say, “I’m done with party politics, I’m voting for ____________________ because it’s clear he’s a good man who isn’t on a power trip and making his living off the public dole.

Other people say to me, “Run for mayor first. Get some experience. Then maybe I’ll vote for you.” Experience? The job of governor or mayor or house member or senator is a job of making decisions. Every person on God’s green earth makes thousands of decisions every day. We all have experience. The only pertinent question when it comes to candidates is HOW will they make their decisions. For me, it’s easy because it has nothing to do with popular opinion. Here it is. Are you ready? If it coincides with the original intent of liberty and freedom as outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution and first ten amendments (Bill of Rights) then I ratify it. If it violates any of these, I vote against or veto it. It’s that simple. I dare you to figure out Kasich’s criteria.

So, again, go ahead and vote for Kasich! He’s got a good chance! And in 2014, vote for the next statist Republican (they’re all morphing into statists, the more we support them.) By 2014, even more people will be dependent on government for unemployment benefits, welfare, social security, medicare, Medicaid, health insurance, home loans, auto loans, etc. etc. Who wants to vote for the constitutionalist then? No one, because more millions will be getting their monthly check from the government. Why would they cast a vote that puts that in jeopardy? This is why Kasich, for example, supports the smoking ban: it’s a populist position; wholly unconstitutional, but popular. Who cares about private property rights when it means votes? Same with gun control. And as for the economy? I bet he actually believes we’re in a recovery and he actually thinks that jobs can be created by government acts.

I wish you well, sir. As I stated in my one essay, on my website at _______________________, you get what you elect. I’m polite enough, that when the time comes, I won’t even say, “I told you so.”

Sincerely,

Ken

Andrew Nappi is the State Coordinator for the Florida Tenth Amendment Center. He lives in the Tampa Bay Area with wife Tammy and dogs Emma and Bud Lite.