Still Waiting for That Conservative Revelution NC, national GOP throwing limited government under the bus | Eastern NC Now

    Publisher's note: Brant Clifton keeps his foot on the neck of the "big government" GOP in his "bare knuckles" Conservative online publication known as The Daily Haymaker.

    In 2010, we were told a conservative revolution was sweeping North Carolina AND the country. In 2012, we were told conservatism was on the rise -- with the election of a new GOP lt. governor, governor, and expanded majorities in the legislature.

    Fast forward to 2013. We have congressional Republicans teaming with Democrats to raise taxes. In Raleigh, we have a Republican legislature raising unemployment taxes and seriously looking to implement new sales taxes on service providers (mostly small businesses). The new (allegedly) Republican governor has introduced his first budget, which seeks to spend $400 million MORE than the last year of the Perdue administration. Gov. Pat is also seeking pay raises for state employees, the hiring of a ton of new teachers, and funding for something new called the "school violence center." All of this while we still need to pay off a $3 BILLION debt to the federal government.

    Knowing all of this, I just have to ask: Why vote Republican? The establishment currently controlling the GOP at the national and state levels seem to think the mission at hand is to demonstrate they can manage the welfare state more efficiently than the folks with the Ds next to their names. Throwing out Democrats and electing Republicans seems to get us little more than a slightly different flavor of the same ol' unpleasantness.

    Until 1964, the national GOP was controlled by RINOs (a/k/a Rockefeller Republicans). If you were a Republican, you were merely a member of another clique. There were no real ideological differences to speak of. A group of conservative insurgents upset the apple cart in 1964 by sneaking Barry Goldwater in as the Republican nominee. The SAME folks who lecture us to ignore our principles, hold our noses, and vote for John McCain types ran as fast as they could toward Lyndon Johnson. 1964 led to the Ronald Reagan insurgent candidacy in 1976, which came oh-so-close to knocking off Gerald Ford in the primaries.

    1980 and 1984 saw passionate conservatism on display in the presidential campaigns. The GOP won record victories, and the GOP grew by leaps and bounds. The GOP was no longer pasty-faced white Republican Episcopal and Presbyterian yuppies. Ronald Reagan brought religious conservatives of all stripes into the party. Jesse Helms convinced pickup driving rural North Carolina Democrats, who had been voting D for decades, that it was OK to register Republican and even VOTE Republican. What has been a proven success time and again is giving people something to believe in and fight for -- not watering down your principles and trying to be just like the other guys.

    You can sit idly by and cling to that Republican registration and convince yourself that things will turn out OK. Or you can decide you've had enough and fight to take your party, your state and your country back. These people are flushing our livelihoods and our future down the drain. They work for us. We're not their servants. They don't deserve our campaign contributions or votes. They need to be taught a lesson. We need to revive the spirit of 1776, 1964, 1976, 1980 and 2010.