Close Call

I left work early yesterday to hit the bricks and go door to door campaigning for Mike Lee. It was hot and grueling, but my lovely wife stuck it through with me until the final hour before the polls closed.



Here's the story in brief. In early 2008 I realized that the federal government thought it owned me; that they can dispense with my money and my life as they see fit, and send inquisitors (IRS "examiners") any time they wanted to dig through my records and possessions without probable cause or a warrant. I think everyone knows my view on this topic in general.

On top of that, there is a stack of federal law that is growing ever-thicker. It would take two college educations just to read and understand the 25,000 pages. I live in fear of that stack. I'm convinced that any given person, if agents dug hard enough, could be put away for something in there.

I'm not a happy camper. I'd be ashamed to meet one of the Founders and have him (or her) see the yoke around my neck.

So, I started reading. A lot of reading. After twelve thousand pages, I realized that reading about politics wasn't enough, I would have to read about monetary policy. Three thousand pages later I knew about a hill of beans. I still have a long ways to go. Notwithstanding, I benefited greatly from that.

I went to a Mike Lee rally very early this year and there I learned about the Caucus system in Utah. I was impressed with Mike because he talked about almost nothing except the Constitution and knew it inside and out. I thought "here's a guy who will keep his oath of office". He had me at "constitutionally limited government".

I ran for Precinct Chair in my neighborhood and won. Well, it wasn't hard. I beat the street in the rain for a couple of hours the night before handing out flyers. There were only two people in our forty-person caucus running for three Delegate positions. And only forty people showed up out of around 1500 in the precinct. Basically, I got someone willing to nominate me to raise their hand, then I gave a little speech. My only issue: national debt.

I have documented on this blog already how I ran around the county to listen and take notes for every candidate who skirted into range. I couldn't lose in a way. I looked for a candidate better than Mike Lee, but didn't find one. It was very, very important to me as a delegate to be neutral and hire the best person for the job. I looked at candidates mostly in terms of "will this person reduce or expand the government and if so by how much?" As you know, I think the federal budget should be less than a fifth of its current size and with zero debt and zero deficit and all transactions paid with commodity-backed currency. That's a strong nation!

I went to county and state convention. I've got some vids up of that (or will have some up soon) at www.youtube.com/gatelymusings That's an article unto itself. After state convention I started campaigning for Mike Lee (as a private citizen, a regular joe). On election day we really hit the bricks in the blazing sun. I think that was the most effective thing. I was surprised to find so many apathetic voters-- didn't even know it was the day. Well, I guess that was me for 39 years.

That brings us to last night. My wife and I went to the Mike Lee victory/defeat party where the nail-bitingly close results were posted every few minutes as the precincts reported in. It was really close, right around 51% to 49% the entire night, but in the end Mike Lee "The Champion of Liberty" came out ahead. I got it all on tape.

For those of you following this afar, you really must appreciate what happened here. A constitutionalist, classic Jeffersonian-type conservative came out over the neo-conservative Bush-era establishment. Mike Lee didn't just defeat his opponent, but he defeated an out of touch old-guard in a conservative state (Bob Bennett). Not just once, but twice because Bennett tried to be a king-maker by endorsing Tim Bridgewater. Mike's opponent got endorsements from the third AND fourth place candidates. So, to my mind, Mike defeated three opponents at once.

There's a saying attributed to Edmund Burke (but more likely an excerpt from War and Peace): All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. That means you need to do something. Anything. I've started with that.

Quite frankly, I think I'm going to take a three month break from anything remotely political. Then it's back in the fight!