GOP

The Senate has again voted on an amendment that would attempt to fix the language in S 1867 that allows for indefinite detention of US citizens without trial if they are deemed hostile by the government.

And many Senate Republicans, including Oklahoma Senators Tom Coburn and Jim Inhofe, voted against an amendment today where that vote can only be interpreted one way: the vote shows that they undeniably support the notion that government has the power to declare when and where a citizen has the Right to Due Process, and that Due Process can be denied at the government's will.

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) proposed Amendment No. 1126 with very simple and very clear language.

On page 360, between lines 21 and 22, insert the following:

Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) offered an amendment to S 1867 to strike the provision that would allow for the unconstitutional detainment of American citizens alleged to be involved in terrorism. According to Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), the criteria used by the Department of Justice includes such asinine traits like missing a finger or being in possession of more than 7 days' worth of food at a time.

The amendment failed.

The breakdown by party?

Democrats: 37-16-1

Republicans: 2-44-1

The 61 Senators who voted against the amendment, including Senators Tom Coburn and James Inhofe from Oklahoma, should be held accountable for their votes in the 2012 election.

Ron Paul's 1988 GOP resignation letter:

As a lifelong Republican, it saddens me to have to write this letter. My parents believed in the Republican Party and its free enterprise philosophy, and that’s the way I was brought up. At age 21, in 1956, I cast my first vote for Ike and the entire Republican slate.

Because of frustration with the direction in which the country was going, I became a political activist and ran for the U.S. Congress in 1974. Even with Watergate, my loyalty, optimism, and hope for the future were tied to the Republican Party and its message of free enterprise, limited government, and balanced budgets.

Last week, Rick Perry announced his candidacy for Republican nomination for President. And that basically has the GOP vote divided into two main groups: those for Rick Perry and those for Mitt Romney. We already know how comparable Romney is to Obama (cf. Romneycare), but Perry is being sold as the GOP savior.

But shouldn't Republicans be trying to get away from the policies that have defined the Obama Presidency? Although the policies of both major parties seems to be historically intertwined, the rhetoric from the GOP this year is that, for America to succeed, we have to do the opposite of Barack Obama.

So why are so many Republicans getting behind Rick Perry? It's because the most voters are rationally ignorant about politics and fall for the costumes and empty rhetoric.

I'm sure every Ron Paul supporter is on a high right now after the Ames Straw Poll, where he came in a close second place finish to Michele Bachmann. But now that the real polls are out that aren't affected by micro-targeted turnouts, they need to come down off of that high.

Rasmussen is out today with results from its most recent telephone survey conducted on August 15 of likely GOP Primary voters. In that poll, Rick Perry leads with 29% of support, followed by Mitt Romney at 18% and Michele Bachman at 13%. Ron Paul came in at 9%, just in front of uber-neocon Herman Cain at 6%.

Unless you've been living under a rock for the last couple of weeks, you know that Congress reached a "deal" called the Budget Control Act of 2011. The gist of the deal is this: the debt limit gets significantly raised, the budget gets miniscule cuts, and 98% of the House and 94% of the Senate have no say in the process.

That's right. Unless you're lucky enough to be represented by one (or more) of the 12 appointees to the "Super Congress", you've got no representation as to what budget items should be cut or what taxes should be increased. Sound familiar?

The budget deal is being sold to the American People as a "deficit reduction plan" with debt ceiling increases that are "necessary" to prevent the United States from falling into default. Nothing could be further from the truth. And if you're buying their line, you're being played by both sides of the aisle.

Herman Cain told Fox News Sunday that communities should not be allowed to build mosques, effectively asserting the the Islam religion is an exception to the protections of the First Amendment.

This would be the same as prohibiting churches on the basis that the neighbors in the area do not like them. Mosques, like churches or any other religious entity, must follow the same laws and regulations. Mosques, like churches or any other religious entity, should be be subject to any special considerations.

[I]f someone is attending speeches from someone who is promoting the violent overthrow of our government, that’s really an offense that we should be going after — they should be deported or put in prison.

So much for being a supporter of civil liberties...

The GOP Primary appears to have two liberty-minded candidates to choose from in Election 2012. And yes, both of these candidates would be great choices for President. But with two liberty-minded candidates in the field, one must ask which is the better choice.

Now, I can guess that many will say there is no other choice than Ron Paul. I get that a lot, mostly from uninformed voters with blinders on. And yes, that was true in the Election 2008; if you wanted a candidate that cared about freedom in America, you wanted Ron Paul.

Christopher N. Malagisi has an opinion piece on the Washington Examiner about the GOP debate that took place last week. In it, he rants that Gary Johnson and Ron Paul need to go to a different party and not disrupt the GOP because they don't agree (in his view) with what he sees as core Republican principles.

The Republican Party as a whole though is based on five fundamental principles – individual freedom, limited government, free markets, a strong national defense, and preserving our traditional values and heritage.

Really? If so, then there is some deep explaining to do.