Tension Between Theory & Practice: Pennsylvania Ron Paul Delegates

I am beginning to realize many of my posts are going to have to open with caveats.  The caveat for this post is:  Please recognize that I do NOT support Ron Paul.  I cannot be more explicit about this.  I’ve been a registered Libertarian.  I’m not any more, and don’t ever want to be one again, at least as long as that party remains the mothership of so many people who may be happier after heavy doses of Thorazine.

That said, GOP Paul supporters in Pennylvania are performing a critical service by running their own delegation candidates.  This is forcing the Commonwealth’s GOP to mobilize to ensure a delegation unencumbered in any way by the wishes of the voters travels to the GOP convention rather than delegates who are actually being straightforward and honest with the voters about who they support.

To that, I say bully for them.  You see, if a registered Republican wants to run to be a delegate with an expressed preference for Paul, that is legally his or her prerogative.  It also happens to be the transparently hilarious reasoning of how the system is designed to work here in PA where the votes of regular registered republicans on primary day have no formal relationship at all with the actions of the GOPs Pennsylvania delegation at the national convention.  Remember, Dr. Paul is a Republican.

Of course, PA’s state GOP committee ought to be expected to mobilize to support the delegation candidates who have already been endorsed by the party.  The same delegation candidates who– as far as I am aware– have not expressed any formal preference at all as to who the presidential nominee of our party should be.

I suppose it is possible the Paul-bearers are running delegation candidates who are trying to sneak in without telling people who they support.  As I said, Libertarianism is overrun by unsavory elements, so I wouldn’t put it past them.  If that were the case, their actions would be unacceptable.

Of course, in that case their actions would pretty much mirror precisely what we GOP insiders are already doing.

Looking For The Number of Pennsylvania Delegates and Other PA Delegate Data?

I noticed in my clickstream that some folks last night were looking for delegate counts for the Keystone State, the Commonwealth of PA, the land of the comparatively free when compared to the rest of the word, but nevertheless underrepresented…

How many delegates does Pennsylvania have going to the GOP convention?  How about the democratic convention?

That certainly seems like an obvious thing this blog ought to deliver.  So there is now a page– look at the top nav to find it– which has this information for both.  Remember, this effort should be for the Democrat convention and Republican convention.  I’m just emphasizing the latter as that’s where I live, so to speak.

Here’s Where I Ask “Can’t We All Get Along?”

Let me start by saying I do not mean to imply the PA or national GOP is outright corrupt.

But I think most people look at the prevailing opinions of political leaders and the voters and detect a divergence, especially on matters of political representation, fiscal responsibility, and illegal immigration. 

Please note that these issues are bipartisan.  This has nothing to do with the boring fights between democrats and republicans.  Regular voters from bothparties see pretty much eye to eye on these issues:  Let my opinion matter, spend my money responsibly on programs with broad local support, and do something about illegal immigrants depressing working class wages and balkanizing our neighborhoods.

To that bulk of regular voters, this quotation resonates [ht Rod Dreher at Crunchy Con, although he was commenting on something entirely different]:

“If we examine any trust-invested agency at any given point in its history, whether that agency be a police force, a military unit, or a religious community, we might find that, say, out of every hundred men, five are scoundrels, five are heroes, and the rest are neither one nor the other: ordinarily upright men who live with a mixture of moral timidity and moral courage. When the institution is healthy, the gutsier few set the overall tone, and the less courageous but tractable majority works along with these men to minimize misbehavior; more importantly, the healthy institution is able to identify its own rotten apples and remove them before the institution itself is enfeebled. However, when an institution becomes corrupt, its guiding spirit mysteriously shifts away from the morally intrepid few, and with that shift the institution becomes more interested in protecting itself against outside critics than in tackling the problem members that subvert its mission. For example, when we say a certain police force is corrupt, we don’t usually mean that every policeman is on the take—perhaps only five out of a hundred actually accept bribes—rather we mean that this police force can no longer diagnose and cure its own problems, and consequently, if reform is to take place, an outside agency has to be brought in to make the changes.”

From The Faithful Departed, by Phil Lawler.  Book about the Catholic Church sex/pederasty scandal.

Well, I’m no hero.  I am one of those “[O]rdinarily upright men who live with a mixture of moral timidity and moral courage.”  But I’d like to think I can do a pretty good job of following one of those heros, or at least be footsoldier of reform.

That’s part of what this blog is about.  That and my insufferable desire to hear myself talk!