![Travis Seitler [photo]](http://travis.webseitler.com/wp-content/themes/Elite/images/header-photo.jpg)
I Voted (for Ron Paul)!
I took Katie with me this morning (she’s almost a bigger Ron Paul supporter than I am; she says he’s her “favorite President ever”) out to my local polling place. Now I think it’s weird that the State government is using a religious institution’s building to run a government function, but hey–I’m one of those weird “separation of Church and State”rs. Outside the building was a table where a guy had a sample Republican ballot, as well as this handy-dandy little reference card:
FYI: 100% of the identified Ron Paul supporters (three of the four candidates in each list) are “NOT ENDORSED” by the Republican Committee of Lancaster County, PA. Those candidates are listed at RonPaulPA.com.
You know, this just seems odd to me. I can see a special interest group endorsing certain GOP candidates before the GOP primary, but why would the GOP itself be endorsing particular candidates before the primary election?
Why should their a priori endorsement matter to me? Isn’t that a little bit backwards?
Sorry, I’m just a little bit angry about this. If they’d given reasons for the endorsements (or lack thereof), I might feel better about it. But when they do something like this, aren’t they implicitly saying “those candidates aren’t ‘Republican’ enough”? Fine, make that claim… but support it if you want me to take you seriously!
Just handing over this card, though… party officials are literally dictating to area residents how to vote?! How would it look if your county’s Democratic party was telling all the Democrats to vote for Obama? That’s what this looks like to me.
The purpose of a primary is for me to tell you who to vote for, “Party Officials”; not vice-versa.
Ooh… it just burns me up!
Tagged: GOP · Lancaster County · pa · PA-16 · Republican Primary · ron paul 2008
Hi Travis-
Interesting situation, and I think I’d be as fired up about it as you are! We’re big Ron Paul fans over here too (in Nevada), and had a similar situation happen at our Republican convention, where it was assumed that the GOP-endorsed delegates would get the vote. Our convention, however, turned into mayhem and ended up getting shut down early for what appear to be conflicting reasons.
Regardless, it’s interesting to note that in both your delegate voting experiences outlined above and in the outcome of Nevada’s Republican convention, both seem to assume this sense of entitlement that the voters are ignorant and should follow what they’re told without deciding for themselves.
Great post! Love the site!
Found your site by googling “Sovereign Grace Tithe”. Wow! What a shock to find these websites. Some time ago I had googled Sovereign Grace Cult” after witnessing the change in some family members but nothing showed up. I sensed something at the time that seemed quite similar to a fundamentalist church in which we were members but I brushed it off after being so welcomed and “loved”.
Go Ron Paul!
@Eric: I’ve heard about the NV trouble; it’s terrible! Sadly, I think their assumption is more that true Republicans just plain aren’t liberty-minded; they just seem convinced that being Republican means (1) you support U.S. sovereignty over any nation that makes “us” squeamish, and (2) you support Government bans on any private activity that makes “us” squeamish. Like their Democrat counterparts, these “establishment Republicans” feel like they need to protect the voter from being “tricked” by us wascawwy wabbits.
Hi Travis,
I found your site when Technorati linked it to my ‘I Voted’ photo. The preview included your comment “Now I think it’s weird that the State government is using a religious institution’s building to run a government function…” and I assumed you were linking to a different photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vaguelyartistic/291636102/
I thought you’d appreciate it
The first thing I thought of when I saw the “reference card” were the ‘No Canvassing’ laws that most states have. (And when you check out the link above you can read about the No Canvassing violation I encountered.) I’m not sure about Nevada, but here’s a pretty standard-sounding snippet I found from Rhode Island:
“No poster, paper, circular, or other document designed or tending to aid, injure, or defeat any candidate for public office or any political party on any question submitted to the voters shall be distributed or displayed within the voting place or within fifty (50) feet of the entrance or entrances to the building in which voting is conducted at any primary or election.”
As my dad would say: It stinks to high heaven!