When candidates make promises not to raise taxes then break those promises, they must be held accountable by their constituents and particularly by the Tea Partiers that supported them.
Cynically being against tax increases while you are running, and then agreeing to increased spending once ensconced in office is exactly what former Speaker Dennis Hastert, former Senate GOP Leader Bill Frist and former President George H. W. Bush did — and it nearly destroyed the Republican brand.
Touting limited government, Tea Party values during your campaign then voting for a “compromise” budget that authorizes far more spending immediately than spending cuts that are “anticipated” over ten years is disingenuous and duplicitous.
Why should we quietly accept this behavior?
Primaries are where the voters rectify these mistakes. Conservatives must begin now to mobilize, evaluate the true performance of their representatives at all levels. Excuses for bad votes don’t change bad votes or the damage done by them. Hard decisions must be made to evaluate whether or not an incumbent is failing to walk-the-walk. Perfection should not be expected, but self-serving compromise of values and promises should not be tolerated.
In 2010, conservatives elected candidates to be partisans. Partisanship is not a pejorative term. It is only considered pejorative by the faction that is not in power. Conservatives did not elect candidates to compromise away their core beliefs and values. We elected candidates to stand firmly and unapologetically on their core beliefs and values.
If we can manage to convince the conservatives we voted for and elected that they must actually vote conservative or expect a primary challenge, then we might truly begin to wrest control from the establishment Republicans and arrest the fall into the abyss.
***Ed Randazzo, is a nationally syndicated author. He has been a conservative activist and consultant for over 30 years and is currently the Chief News Editor of Life and Liberty Media***
Spot on! Well said!