From The Corner comes this story about how the Establishment Republican Old Guard just can’t stand that now taking a shot at a seated TEA Party / Libertarian, Congressman Justin Amash:
Philip Rucker of the Washington Post reported yesterday that Representative Justin Amash, the House’s ur-libertarian, could have a primary situation:
Within Grand Rapids’ powerful business establishment, patience is running low with Amash’s ideological agenda and tactics. Some business leaders are recruiting a Republican primary challenger who they hope will serve the old-fashioned way — by working the inside game and playing nice to gain influence and solve problems for the district. They are tired of tea party governance, as exemplified by the budget fight that led to the shutdown and threatens a first-ever U.S. credit default.
So it seems all over – a Republican that actually says what he believes and then walks that talk come voting. It is the TEA Party / Libertarian wing of the party that is not pulling the Party rightward (which infuriates the Dems as they follow that foreign philosophy call socialism and throws a monkey wrench into the “go along / get along – we’ll do the same things but do them better than the Democrats” world view of the Republican elite (here, in Michigan, at the national level, everywhere). They find it hard to understand that, more and more, many of us are returning back to the philosophy on which this Country was founded – and standing on them. They don’t understand that the “New Republicans” aren’t motivated by “getting stuff done” or “moving the Country FORWARD!“.
Just look at the mess this country is in – Government out of control and $17 Trillion in debt and I ask: “how’s your results over the last 100 years worked out fer us, Establishment? How limited is the republican pillar of Limited Government? How is our Freedom doing? How can we grade you on your stewardship on “the family”? Guarding our religious freedom of expression? Our borders? The value of our Citizenship? The basic pillar of Federalism? The idea that our CongressCritters would actually read the bills – that we would be governed by their actions instead of ruled over by bureaucrats (public servants cum Public Masters)? I could go on and on – but you can see that, along with a lot of other TEA Party / Libertarians / Constitutionalists, the Republican Party has not been all that stalwart.
Then along comes a flock of folks that aren’t beholden to special interests – and both the Dems and the Establishment Repubs are saying “hey, who changed the rules here??“. Aren’t politicians supposed to be owned by those special interests – what’s this deal with actually representing the ordinary person AND fealty to a couple of documents which most people can’t even quote a line from, delegating them to the dust bin of a long ago history to which others only give lip service?
One guy gets it (and believe it or not, there are a few political operatives here in NH that “get it” as well, but I won’t “out” them as they still need to make a living):
Jordan Gehrke, a Republican campaign operative with deep ties to Michigan politics, tells National Review that Amash shouldn’t be too worried. “The Tea Party saved the GOP from itself in 2010, and the GOP establishment has never gotten over it,” he says. ”Case in point with Justin Amash – he was never their guy. He’s doing what the grassroots elected him to do, though, and that’s why he’ll win big again. Establishment donors should focus their resources on beating Democrats instead — last I checked, Michigan has a pretty big Senate race in 2014.”
A few years ago now, Doug (the other co-founder here at GraniteGrok) said that here in NH, the groups now known as the Liberty & Freedom groups would someday hold the power. They did and in 2010, gave the Republican Party its biggest wins in years. Sununu strutted around and gave the Republican Party a big back slap. Meanwhile, those of us in the L&F groups looked around and just smiled. We knew who the workers were, who had toiled unceasingly, and did that grunt work that made it possible – we just smiled at each other as Sununu spoke. We knew. We also know, given the Party internals, what was happening at the same time – there was going to be a backlash against the grassroots – and we were not surprised. Guess ill will is still harbored in Michigan as well:
And a Michigan consultant who preferred to remain anonymous says the challenge isn’t just about the ideological make-up of the House; for some Michigan Republicans, beating Amash is personal. “This fight is about 65 percent typical ‘Tea Party vs. Establishment,’ but there’s another component, too: Amash kind of goes out of his way to an a**hole. He doesn’t care if you like him and really wants to make sure that you know that. It’s not helpful.”
It is all about WHO wields the power – not just at the macro level of Repub vs Dem but internally as well. The fight between the Old Guard thinking Republicans (that wishes to hold onto the power they believe is bequeathed to them forever) vs the more Constitutional looking grassroots (for whom wielding the power is merely a means to revive the philosophy “that brung us here) is going on.
Certainly in DC and certainly out in the States. Of COURSE that consultant wishes to “remain anonymous” – another trait of the Establishment (you can tell by the a-hole reference in badmouthing Amash) – that’s the S.O.P. I disagree with his evaluation to a degree – I’m betting that most of it comes from the Principles over Party.
The question is: which wing of the Party is actually doing the fighting and motivating the base? The Amash / Cruz / Lee wing, or the McConnell one?
