Liberty Depends on Keeping Promises

Liberty depends on each of us keeping our word, following the rule of law, and honoring contracts. When men and women will not honor their promises or keep their word, the law must enforce contracts. At least nominally, this is a basic tenent of libertarians and conservatives.

A very small number of men and women who are supporters of Ron Paul believe that they know better than the millions who voted in their State Republican Primary, and they are suing in Federal Court for the “right” to nullify the votes of people who voted in the Republican Party Primaries. This lawsuit is about members of a voluntary association, the Republican Party, who don’t want to follow the rules in existence when they campaigned to be delegates by voting in the first ballot for the person chosen at their State Primaries.

“In a revolt against Romney, at least 40 more national convention delegates asked to join 123 previous plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Republican National Committee, and their attorney said hundreds more may soon follow suit.
“The first 123 delegates, all from the 9th Circuit, sued the RNC, its Chairman Rince Priebus, and every state party chairman in the 9th Circuit in Federal Court on Monday, demanding the right to vote for the candidate of their choice on every ballot at the Republican National Convention, including the first.
“The delegates claim the party violated federal law by forcing them to sign loyalty affidavits, under threat of perjury, to vote for Mitt Romney, though he is not yet the official nominee.

The Republican Party has rules. The people who went to the Primaries to vote thought they were voting for their candidate to be placed on the Republican ballot in November. Expecting people who join our Party to follow those rules is not “intimidation” or “disenfranchisement.” The people who are now suing to change the rules volunteered to join a political party when there were other parties available and no party affiliation is mandatory.

These people actually believe that they know better than the voters in their State’s Republican Primary. Since they are so much wiser than the voters, they want to become their own elite power to trump what they believe is another elite. The honest and honorable thing is to follow the votes in the Primaries. It’s ridiculous to believe that they would sign pledges or contracts and decide to break these contracts, yet be honorable or trustworthy enough to override the election results in their States.

The Constitution (Article 1, amended by the 12th Amendment) is clear about the national election of the President and the Vice President. However, Party delegates are not covered in the Constitution, nor are the Parties themselves. At the least, the contract put in place by State Party rules should be followed. At the most, this is definitely a case of State’s rights that is not covered by the Constitution.

In Texas, our State law imposes some rules and the rest come from our delegates to the RPT convention. Before the candidates stood for nomination at our Congressional District meetings last week, the rules for and requirements of delegates and alternates were read. Anyone who didn’t want to follow our RPT rules shouldn’t have run.

This lawsuit probably won’t extend to Iowa, since the Ron Paul delegates are happy with the outcome in that State. Last January, I represented Governor Rick Perry at one precinct caucus in Des Moines and heard the chair of that caucus explain how the National Delegates would be chosen. Nevertheless, after the Caucus voted overwhelmingly for Santorum, the precinct participants then voted to send the two men who spoke for Romney and Paul to their County Conventions. In effect,whether they knew it or not, they actually voted for Paul and Romney, since those delegates later voted to send Paulers to the State Convention. Of the 28 Iowa delegates going to the National Convention, 23 are aligned with Paul. That’s the rules in Iowa and it’s the responsibility of the voters to know.

Irregularities at the State Conventions are completely separate from the requirement to agree to follow the will of the Primary voters. The news reports from Louisiana seem to be one place that a lawsuit to correct high handedness at the State Convention would be appropriate. If the plaintiffs in the 9th Circuit Court lawsuit can prove their other allegations of ballot stuffing and intimidation at Conventions, then perhaps they have a case there. But two wrongs don’t make a right and they don’t have the right to unilaterally invalidate a contract that they knowingly signed.


Originally posted on WingRight.org.

Comments

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Those who followed the rules- the Ron Paul supporters, have been physically and mentally harmed as well as shut out and trampled on by the GOP and the RNC.  The popular vote in texas- specifically in Houston, Travis county, has been PROVEN to have been flipped- that is correct- Ron Paul received 75% of the vote while Mitt Romney received 15% of the vote. SO, since the popular vote CAN be flipped as has been PROVEN in Travis county, one surely would not know for certain what the actual WILL of the people is. The delegate process however, is done in such a way that is more transparent and if the Ron Paul people got the delegate slots, it is because they actually believe and have faith enough in their candidate with the courage to stay the course through the entire convention. If anyone has been disenfranchised during this election-  it is Ron Paul and the so- called Ron Paul people- who are actually soldiers for Liberty and the Constitution and one would think that the GOP would not only welcome, but EMBRACE those who demand justice.

When the primary vote is flipped - no one in Travis County Pct. 247, who has any kind of finger on the pulse of the voters, will believe that Ron Paul got 19/113 votes - there is no credible claim of liberty to be made.  That precinct is rabidly in Paul's camp.  The entry and exit polling also indicates vote flipping.  The vote in Paul's own district is equally suspicious.  So, don't talk to us about what the primary voters are entitled to expect.This story will be continued as time goes on.

I guess the soundbyte tv watching crowd will have to take a bigger interest by closely watching all the issues, and attending all the meetings next time round.

Knowledgeable Delegates to overcome an ignorant electorate....that's the whole point.---Talk to the writers of the Constitution if you have a problem with that.

exhibited even more blatant disregard for the Republican party rules.  Ballot stuffing in Arizona, allowing alternates and visitors to remain on the convention floor during vote-taking in Oklahoma (no conclusive credentials report from that committee), Calling the police to arrest the duly elected permanent chair in Louisiana (same police dislocating his artificial hip) and arresting the chair in one county convention in Missouri, trying to close the doors and stop the convention in Washington state when the local county chair was voted down as permanent chair; all have been well documented on video.Yes, Texas's convention was above reproach, but the question under discussion is the party in a national sense. My point is only that these delegates are far from the only ones who ought to be lectured about following the rules.

Good Lord woman...do you read what you write? The RNC is corrupt and underhanded at every convention. Romney is the chosen one although he has not won yet. Stupid Reince Priebus has allocated RNC funds to this actor even though he has not won (yet). You are making a grave mistake getting behind this bankers "tool." If you think things are bad under Obombya, wait till this banker shill gets in....I want to thank you and the rest of the RNC/DNC sheep for destroying what is left of our constitution and burning down our country. I hope the chains of slavery sit light on your bones....

In caucus states, the primaries are just beauty contest for the MSM.  It's the county and state conventions that count.  If, people want to become delegates all they have to do is follow the rules to get elected as a delegate.  The MSM and GOP Elitist want people to believe that their primary votes mean something when in reality they don't.  Our forefathers designed the system this way so that only those who educated themselves on the candidates and the issues by going through the delegate process would be educated enough to make the best decisions and to also prevent undue influence over the elections.  In these elections and many beforehand, the MSM and GOP have given the American people the illusion that there votes mean something in the primaries when in reality only the delegates votes count.  In the 2008 elections, a Romney supporter did exactly what the Paul supporters are doing by leveraging Rule 28.  If Romney supporters were allowed to do it, then so are Pauls.  Precedence has been set.

GUESS WHAT ELSE IS IN THE RULES?! the fact that voter fraud is ILLEGAL! So you sit there and you spew propaganda and lies about how we just want to disrupt the party, or you can tell the truth that voter fraud is running rampant among the electronic voting machines, Ron Paul actually won Texas, and these people are not blind. There is no way that Romney received nearly 75% of the votes in RP's home state and Ron Paul got the laughable amount they reported. This claim is not even far fetched as voter fraud was confirmed in Maine and the Nevada vote fraud was so bad that even a romney supporter refused to offialize the numbers.

Second news flash! This nation is a REPUBLIC not a DEMOCRACY ..the delegates are the deciding factor because the founding fathers knew the majority were largely uninformed and easily swayed by propoganda such as this. I suppose youd like me to also believe that RP actually only recieved 90 votes on the day following a rally where 3000 attended. Not a normal 3000 but avid extremely committed ron paul supporters.

And LASTLY, since you want to claim RNC rules and the constitution not covering these matters. Have a look at rule 38 which states that delegates are allowed to vote their conscience. If they were bound to a candidate that would defeat their entire purpose which is to represent the best interests of their respective areas based on the candidates changing stances on issues.

You can only blind people from the truth for so long and the corruption will be your own downfall. The libertarian movement is the future of the party and in the wise words of Dr.Paul "You can not stop an IDEA whos TIME HAS COME!"
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