Well, the New Hampshire Primary was yesterday, as I write this, and I wanted to share my thoughts on it. I have to say, the final outcome was pretty much as expected, what with Romney winning and all.
As you may have gathered if you’re read anything here recently, I’m not that big on Mitt Romney. It’s not so much about what he stands for, as who. It’s clear that he’s owned, body and soul, by a small group of very powerful people. The kind of people who provide what they call Super-PACs for hatchet work, for instance. It’s not that I object so much to Mitt’s ideas, it’s that I don’t think he’ll do anything that his Masters don’t want him to do.
That brings us to the crux of the biscuit; the Tea Party. You do know that TEA stands for Taxed Enough Already, right? To me, it means a little more than that. Not only are taxes already too high and too often wasted, it means that I’m sick of the Powerful People having everything their way.
And this vaunted New Conservatism is the most insidious thing of all. Big Business gets the freedom to rip off anybody they want, and to solace the “victims of unfairness,” endless expensive band-aids are applied to the real problems without there ever being a real solution. Jeez, I sound like a liberal!
But it’s been my complaint about conservatives for decades; if it’s the way to go, then it’s the way to go for everybody. So why don’t any Republicans go to Harlem and the barrios and explain how it works to their benefit? If they could go and explain it, liberalism would cease to exist! Because, maybe, deep in their hearts, they really don’t care about “those people”? And you wonder why the perception of the Republican party is that it’s for white males only?
Anyway, I digress. The Tea Party is for people who remember what Lincoln described; government by, for, and of the people. And so there’s Romney, who represents in many ways the worst impulses of the Republican party, and then there’s everybody else.
It’s not really a surprise that Ron Paul came in a strong second. He is, in a way, one of the fathers of the whole Tea Party movement. (So is Ross Perot, but we don't like to admit that.) Even if you disagree with some, or most, of his ideas, he’s a compelling force. His positions are long-held and well thought out. I think a lot of it is that he has more faith in basic human nature than I do, but that’s a debate for another time. One thing nobody doubts is that, if he’s elected, the special interest groups of all stripes can go take a flying leap off a rolling donut. He will do as he sees as being best, and that’s that.
He’s a funny guy, because I really think he knows he’s never going to be President. He’s 76 years old, fer cryin’ out loud! His whole thing is to educate the voter, and he’s very good at it. I’ve learned a lot from listening to him, even though I didn’t vote for him. I listened to his concession speech last night, and the line that really got me was when he said, “I didn’t know all you people were out there.”
That leaves the other four major candidates; Santorum, Huntsman, Gingrich, and Perry. There are subtle differences in their ideas, but on the whole I think the Tea Party movement would happy support any one of them. The problem is, there isn’t one of them, there’s four. And as long as there’s four, then Mitt Romney stays the frontrunner. Romney’s real support is about 20-25% of the Republican voters, mostly The Party Faithful. The Four Horsemen of the Tea-pocalypse have a lot more taken all together. But they’re not all together. Their personal ambitions have overrun their ideals.
And each of the four are still viable! Santorum came very close in Iowa and essentially tied for fourth in NH. Gingrich was briefly the frontrunner, and is leading with his Southern roots going into the Southern states. Huntsman did as well as he could hope for in NH, so he’s hanging in there. And Perry’s got a ton of money and is another Southerner.
The image that keeps getting referenced at this point is one of a circular firing squad. It’s one that will probably leave Romney the last man standing. Ron Paul will run until the convention, no matter what, but I don’t honestly think he’ll ever get enough backing to ever be more than second. Pretty soon, second place will be last place. The other four will continue to pat themselves on the back every time one of them finishes third, but third is nowhere. If nobody but Romney ever finishes first, then he’ll win.
What I’d like to see the other four do is get together in one room and put all their cards on the table. So far, they’ve each followed their ambition to become President. It will be the end of them all if they continue. They each need to look deep inside and think about why they went into politics in the first place.
I would direct your attention to an Eddie Murphy movie called “The Distinguished Gentleman.” It concerns a con man who decided to run for Congress, because a congressman with the same name as him has just died. Going in as a scammer, he winds up reformed and serving his constituents.
The truth, of course, is that it usually goes the other way around, more like it’s described in “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington.” Mr. Smith – Jimmy Stewart – finds that the Senator he’s always admired has sold his soul, piece by piece, to special interests until he’s as corrupt as they are. And all in the name of compromise.
Now, I’m sure that Mitt Romney doesn’t think of himself as corrupt. He thinks he’s using those backers of his to get in there and really do some good for people. For the little guy. And he can keep doing good for them, as long as he’s careful not to offend anybody. And the oil companies and pharmaceutical companies aren’t really manipulating prices and access to their products and limiting competition to fatten their own bottom line. They’re honest merchants, just trying to make a buck.
Yeah, we the real little people would probably be better off with Santorum, or Perry, or Gingrich, or Huntsman. Well, maybe not Huntsman. But if they would all put their pride and ambition aside for a season and pick one for the other three to back, then maybe that one would have a chance of getting the nomination. I don’t care which, and I don’t care how. Draw straws. Go by alphabetical order. Play a round of poker, have a foot race, a brawl, anything! Just pick one! One, and only one. And the other three come out with strong endorsements, stump appearances, and hand over their staff rolodexes. And they'd better be quick about it, because the train is leaving the station. They might survive South Carolina, but if they wait until after Florida, then they might as well all tie for eleventh place. None of them will have a chance.
I just had this image of Rick Perry with a black eye, saying, “Yeah, after a lot of thought, I’ve decided to support Rick Santorum.” With Gingrich sitting in a chair rubbing his shin, and Huntsman wearing a bandage on his nose. Santorum would stand up, one tooth missing, and grin at the audience.
And Mitt Romney would soil himself.
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