Courage of Conviction

Marvin Olasky just wrote an intriguing piece that really summorizes very well what happened to Republicans on election day.

The buzz word from past elections was “values voters.”  This election was different there were “Integrity voters.”  I am one of those voters and I didn’t even know what to call it. 

I’ve written plenty of times about how we lost our trust in our representatives for the many things they have done - the pay raise being one, but also gambling, tax increase, etc.  When one loses trust in another individual, it is very difficult to get it back. 

The real interesting part of Olasky’s piece is where he talks about honest apologies vs. the rhetorical apologies so many politicians give us.  People aren’t stupid and can tell the difference.  Sen. Kerry’s recent “apology” falls into the rhetorical camp in my opinion.  He was sorry that some people were offended, not that he said the wrong thing. 

This is the reason why I am still upset with people like Perzel and the other establishment Republicans - they give worthless apologies and have no intent on changing. 

And so that no one can claim that I won’t follow Olasky’s advice - I’m going to apologize.  I am sorry for every stupid and idiotic thing I have ever done.  I’m not going to make excuses for anything, but will learn from my past mistakes.  I’m sure as I go forward with life I will continue to make mistakes - that’s what life is all about.  Having the humility to recognize this and apologize when necessary is also good for life. 

I only wish some of our Representatives in government could do the same.  I’d have more respect for alot of them. 

There’s a million things to write about King of the House John Perzel. 

First, if you haven’t already, read Lowman Henry’s piece - it’s a great article, and really expresses all my feelings.  Great stuff Lowman!!!

Second, there have been several articles around the state on Perzel talking about the need for reform and how he is going to start fighting the Governor. 

He’s a day late and a dollar short in my opinion.  King John is about as interested in reforming the system that is benefiting him and his cohorts about as much as David Duke is interested in singing “cume by yah” at a black church.  It ain’t happening folks, don’t hold your breath.  How many times does he have to prove it to us before everyone really, really believes this.  The latest proof was the e-mail he sent in response to someone asking for a reform ticket - he told that guy to mind is own business - too bad King John doesn’t understand that anything the almighty Legislature does is the public’s business.

That’s leaves one more thing to cover - the other spineless Representatives.  Louis R. Petolicchio wrote a great piece on what he wrote to his Rep and the reply that he received. 

Before the House Leadership election I sent my own Rep, Will Gabig, an e-mail asking him to vote for anyone, anyone besides Perzel and his cohorts and to push for an open and public election of the leadership.  I still haven’t gotten a response - though that doesn’t surprise me considering that he won’t even acknowledge my presense if we stand next to each other.  I’m not making that up either - we were both at a Santorum rally a couple of weeks ago, where he stood a few steps behind me.  He acted like I wasn’t there.  Of course I’ve helped campaigns against him this past year, so I can understand that he doesn’t like me - but I could care less about that.  Ignoring me though?  Isn’t that a bit pathetic, or high-schoolish?  No wonder we have Reps who won’t stand up to Perzel - they won’t even pretend to to be nice with people who oppose them anymore.  It’s rather wimpy in my opinion.  From here on out, until the Republican Representatives get a backbone, I am renaming their chamber to the House of Wimps.  They no longer represent the people in their district, they are just plain wimpy.  Since when did we start getting wimpy legislators?  How pathetic.  There is more courage in my youngest daughter’s pinky than most of the other Reps combined. 

According to my friend Chris Lilik at www.grassrootspa.com, the Pennsylvania Senate has installed Sen. Scarnati as it’s new Pro-Temp. 

So let’s take a moment and tally things up here.  First you have the voters who got rid of 1/4 the incumbents up for election because of their arrogance.  You also have an unemployed Supreme Court Justice.  The people have been doing some house cleaning. 

On the other side you have a spineless State House and Senate which re-instated the same people (or their puppets) that got the members into the situation in the first place.  You also have a Supreme Court Justice which plans on retiring, but does so arrogantly claiming that judges should not be subject to the people.  You also have a State Party Chairman who won’t resign even though the Party suffered two butt-kickings at the state level. 

Hmm, where does that leave us?  Well, pretty much where we were on the day of the imfamous pay raise.  It’s the same leadership, with an even bigger case of arrogance.  The people thought they corrected this problem - but the establishment refuses to listen. 

There is a term for this - it’s called stubborn.  And because of this stubbornness, the entire Republican party will continue to suffer - both sides will see to that.  The establishment complains about reformers willing to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but the establishment is doing the exact same thing by their act of stubbornness.  What we are about to see in Pennsylvania over the next two years is the destruction of the Republican Party.  But I would argue that this destruction is necessary because the Party is plagued with arrogance.  Once the party is torn down, it can be rebuilt from the bottom up. 

When I look at the state of the Republican Party here in Pennsylvania, it makes me sick.  I can’t wait for the 2008 primaries.  I’ll only be working on campaigns that are set on removing incumbents. 

Will the Pennsylvania Senate Leadership elections go any better than the House did?  There’s actually a chance it could, thanks to the voters doing a job that the members of the Senate should have done long ago. 

But considering that the House has a bunch of thick skulled nitwits, and the Party establishment believes we haven’t lost enough seats by refusing to resign, and our Judiciary continues in its arrogant ways, I won’t hold my breath. 

I sincerely hope Jeff Piccola wins.  He would be a breath of fresh air as he was one of the few in Senate Leadership that wants to make alot of changes.  Plus, I can see that he will be open to reforms that are so desperately needed. 

If the Senate Leadership goes to another pay-jacker, then maybe Russ Diamond can resurrect Clean Sweep again and start working on 2008 elections for all the branchs of government.  I’ll be the first one to sign up Russ. 

If the state house stays the way it is, 102-101 in favor of Republicans, I wonder if one brave Republican soul would decide to take a stand and abstain from voting for Speaker when the chamber votes for Speaker.  I’m not sure what would happen in that case, but I think the chaos would be appropriate.  I know this much, that Republican would be considered in high regard by the public and villified by his colleagues.  Considering how spineless most Reps are, I won’t hold my breath on this idea.

If I recall correctly, Mark Harris, when he was running for the House, said that he would not vote for Perzel as speaker.  Too bad Mark didn’t win his election though because it would have made for an interesting vote. 

On the federal level, I heard an interesting theory - more fun than reality.  What if Republicans hand-picked a Democrat to run for speaker, or just voted for Steny Hoyer for Speaker instead of doing the usual opposition vote?  Hoyer would only need 15 Democrats to support him - he’d be the next Speaker.  He already has support of the moderate Blue Dog Democrats.  It would almost be a coalition much like a parliment.  The biggest benefit would be that Republicans would be able to deny Pelosi her dream of being Speaker of the House. Hoyer would also be able to give her the finger too - since they really don’t like each other.  Again, I don’t think it will happen, but it sure would be fun to watch.