John Locke, AFP, and NCGOP: Devaluing conservatism in North Carolina
There are an awful lot of people who make the mistake of equating being “Republican” with being “conservative.”
Look at our alleged conservative majority in the North Carolina General Assembly. The Republican majority leaders in the state House push hard for taxpayer-funded reparations to folks who got sterilized by the state more than 40 years ago. We have no money for stuff like that. Nevertheless, the GOP team in the lower chamber pushed hard for it — joined, surprisingly, in the cheerleading by reported conservative think tank The John Locke Foundation. The state Senate saved the taxpayers from being introduced to this budget-busting bit of social welfare. Instead of thanking the Senate for bringing everyone to their senses, the House leaders and the folks at Locke attacked the Republican leadership in the Senate.
John Hood, president of The John Locke Foundation, has sung the praises of tolls and government-installed GPS devices in our cars. (I haven’t heard much about getting legislators and bureaucrats to crack down on wasteful spending of transportation funds and to live within their means.)
We also had GOP leaders in the state House defending themselves against attacks by leftists about “budget cuts” by claiming they were ONLY spending 1% less than Lame Duck Bev.
Now, we have Americans For Prosperity- NC using congresswoman Renee Ellmers as their spokesperson in the fight to repeal ObamaCare. Really?
AFP was a flagship in the rise of The Tea Party. Ms. Ellmers informed us all recently that she’s “really not one of those Tea Party people.” She told Steve Bouser of The Southern Pines Pilot that she’s all about ushering in a new era of “moderation” and “civility. ”
Her votes in favor of reauthorizing the Import-Export Bank and raising the debt ceiling have helped federal spending and the federal debt EXPLODE in this supposed era of conservative governance.
Renee is not exactly a woman of the people, either. As many Tea Party activists in her district can tell you — she’s got the people skills of Marie Antoinette. She lost one major county in her district, and nearly lost another to an underfunded, virtually unknown GOP challenger in May.
Speaking of ObamaCare — while the country is screaming for ObamaCare to be trashed — Renee has been talking about tweaking and replacing it. Is that what we marched for — and demanded — in 2009-2010?
Another important thing to look at — Renee earned a conservative effectiveness rating of 59% from Heritage Action and 31% from The Club for Growth. (That’s on a scale of 1 to 100.) We had Jesse Helms, for 30 years, regularly ranking in the 98 to 100% range. Are conservatives NOW ready to settle for 59% and 31%?
The most conservative Republican in North Carolina’s House delegation scores in the low-80s with Heritage. By contrast, South Carolina’s Republican members mostly score 100s with a few in the mid to low 90s. South Carolina is not settling for mealy-mouthed weak-kneed watered-down conservatism. Why should we?
AFP should be challenged on this, but meanwhile the search should be on for a serious 2014 conservative primary challenger to ”Renegade Renee” who doesn’t seem to vote much different than Bob Etheridge would have. District conservatives should seek out the help of the Club for Growth, whose PAC has a good track record of taking down phonies in primaries.