Why Romney Lost

Needless to say last week's election was disappointing but in a way not surprising. I have to admit, I did drink the cool-aide that Romney was for sure going to win, that the polls were wrong, that the intensity was going to carry Romney to victory. But now, as I ponder the fact the America has chosen to ignore economic reality and to in effect vote itself bread and circuses, I remember back to some of my own statements during the primary and in the runup to the convention that if Romney didn't get the Ron Paul folks on board he'd lose.

For a long time the party grass roots was doing everything it could to avoid Romney as the nominee. That was why candidate after candidate besides Romney rose to over-take Romney in the polls only to be carpet bombed and fall back to earth. It was leadership of the party forced Romney on the rank and file by destroying every alternative leaving the rank and file no choice but to go with Romney.

I remember at the Alaska State convention conversations where Ron Paul supporters were told they HAD to support Romney. And the irony is that in this the most important election of our lifetimes Romney, last time I looked, received fewer votes than McCain in 2008!

This was an election that we had to win. This was an election that we could not lose. And yet we lost seats in both houses and the White House! Over the years, the Republican have so shot themselves in the foot. I hate having to defend Bush. There many people who view the Republican Party as the party of borrow and spend (with the Democrats being the party of tax and spend!) Where is the party that defends free markets, sound money and fiscal responsibility? The Republican brand is so bad that I find it easiest when I identify myself as a Ron Paul Republican when I identify myself as a Republican at all.

What I would like to see in the coming years is a thorough purging of the Republican Party of its leadereship. I would like to see Ron Paul type ideas take over. We need to be the party that speaks the truth to the American people even when it's not what the American people wants to hear. We need to be willing to lose elections.

I like the example of Winston Churchill. In the 1930s when many young men in the universities of Britain were making pledges never to fight for their country, Churchill was warning about the growing danger in Germany and the need to be ready. He was not popular. He was viewed as a nut, an anachronism. It was more fashionable to give Hitler a country or two to buy him off. So when the Germans broke through in the west and the British Army was retreating towards Dunkirk, there was no doubt in anyone's mind to whom the country must turn for leadership: Winston Churchill.

The Republican Party needs to be the party of fiscal responsibility, sound money, and free markets. The American people needs to know to whom it must turn when it finally becomes clear that there is no such thing as a free lunch.