MI Paul Chair Unofficially comments on Kerry's race

[FSP-Rebel]

Dear Michigan Patriots,

I was still reeling from Kerry Bentivolio's victory when I arrived home last night.

The sheer magnitude alone is remarkable: a two-to-one landslide victory, following a poll released by EPIC-MRA days earlier suggesting Kerry would lose altogether.

Perhaps it was a vastly superior Election Day ground game on the part of volunteers for Kerry like many of you. Perhaps it was the influence of supportive PACs (surely backed by grassroots, issue-oriented people like you) who changed people's minds. Perhaps the poll's methodology was flawed. I suspect it was all three.

At any rate, the implications of Kerry Bentivolio's victory can hardly be over-stated.

Kerry's victory was a victory for all of us.

It was a victory for the liberty movement spearheaded by Dr. Paul, as Kerry is with Dr. Paul on every issue I'm aware of.

It was a victory for the conservative movement, as Kerry was backed by grassroots conservatives throughout the district, including local Republican clubs and Tea Party groups, as well as larger organizations like Gun Owners of America, Right to Life, and Freedomworks--all of whom endorsed Kerry.

It was a victory for the politicians who put their good name on the line for Kerry--Senator Rand Paul, Congressman Amash, and of course, Congressman Paul.

But above all, it was a victory for us.

Consider what Kerry's opponent and her establishment backers must have been thinking to run a write-in campaign against him.

They thought we were weak. They thought we were dumb. They thought they could crush us.

Instead, we built coalitions, won endorsements, put a substantial amount of our own money into the race, and demonstrated a vastly superior ground game on Election Day with an army of volunteers.

It was a rout.

Think of the message this sent the political establishment.

At the precinct I was working when the polls closed, the volunteer for Kerry's opponent was the mayor of Novi. At another polling place, it was a city council member.

The establishment are slow learners. They think they can assimilate us. They think we will go away.

But every time, every year, we come back with more experience, more seasoned veterans, and more new patriots.

They will continue being proven wrong until they learn, or lose.

Eventually, I think they will figure it out: we aren't going away.

Eventually, they will fear and respect us.

I think the number of precinct delegates we elected last night--and we're still working to figure out just how many we've got--will shake them up.

And just look at the recent vote for the Federal Reserve Transparency Act.

The bottom line is, yesterday was a tremendous triumph for us and for our movement.

I know some of you were involved in some other races where the results weren't what you hoped.

But remember: win or lose, just by making the fight, you push the opposition in our direction.

In one district, a candidate hoping to un-seat an incumbent didn't win. But the incumbent had to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to survive his primary, and now must spend even more re-building his base. That is tremendous pain.

In another race, a candidate survived being taken to task on his questionable record. But again--tremendous amounts were and will be spent, enough to make him regret his past votes.

In total, we have nothing to be sorry about, and every reason to be encouraged moving forward.

Thanks again for all that you do for Liberty.


Onward and upward,
Adam

 

[Bastiat's The Law]

Amazing well thought out post. That should be on the front page of this forum so everyone reads it. I agree just running our people, win or lose, is a net benefit. Our candidates and volunteers gain valuable experience, we gain name recognition and get our ideas to the public. Perhaps most valuable is we give the public an alternative way of looking at things instead of the same old Dem/Rep establishment way issues are framed. Voters might not bite on our ideas at first blush, but with a little time and education we can win over many of them to our philosophy. Even in a loss we bleed the establishment and bloody their nose a bit, they have to know in the back of their mind that we will be back to fight again.

I also think you demonstrated something vitally important in your discussion with the democrats under that canvasing tent. The level of political discourse in this country is at such a low level because the establishment is fighting each other for power and partisanship reigns. Think John Boehner/Eric Cantor and Harry Reid. They're both of our enemies. They're in it for the partisanship of it all. They're the reason people despise politicians and Congress has a microscopic approval rating. Rare are people in Washington with real philosophical principals. One by-product of this movement is to elevate the debate to where people with real beliefs discuss the issues. When we talk to each other with a mutual respect I think it opens up a whole new way of educating each other or finding some common ground. Think how well this country would be served if Congress was populated by all Ron Pauls and Dennis Kuchinich types. Getting Kerry into Congress is another step to breaking that establishment logjam that argues politics at the lowest common denominator level. The real debate is the philosophy of government and individualism vs. collectivism. Higher order politics is long overdue.