Partisan Blowback: The GOP and the Politics of Exclusion

R. Kent Nowviskie
July 7, 2007

A famed Southern author by the name of Samuel Clemens once wrote, "Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." This world-renowned son of the South, popularly known by his pen name, Mark Twain, was full of such wisdom. In one of his most famous novels the protagonist, a character meant to embody the very spirit of America, stated, "My kind of loyalty was loyalty to one's country, not to its institutions or its office-holders. "

Sadly, it seems that this notion of patriotism tempered by a health skepticism toward government is all but forgotten in the New South, if recent events in South Carolina are any indication. Yes, we're speaking of proud South Carolina, the erstwhile hotbed of Independence that once possessed such a deeply ingrained distrust of the federal government that they fired the opening salvo in a war of rebellion against it. In recent times we have seen how much that has changed, and nothing makes that clearer than the news last week that the chairman of the Spartanburg County GOP Committee announced his intention to exclude a wildly popular Republican presidential candidate from all party functions in the county.

What reason did Mr. Rick Beltram give for saying that Congressman Ron Paul, MD (R. - Texas) was not welcome in Spartanburg County? In an email exchange, Mr. Beltram made it clear that it was Congressman Paul's stance on the conflict in Iraq that made sure the "door is shut to him". More specifically, he made reference to what he called "a complete 'slam' at the current administration" and an "attack on Bush". He went on to say that "that kind of RHETORIC cannot be tolerated."

Wait a second. Let's get this straight. It appears that Mr. Beltram is saying that no Republican should be allowed to question the policies of the federal government, or at least the policies of the Bush administration. How very different that is from the words left to us by another son of the South, Thomas Jefferson: "What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?" How far removed it is from the spirit of skepticism and distrust of DC which once characterized the politics of South Carolina! How ultimately unAmerican!

All may not be lost in South Carolina, however. On the 4th of July, a massive flood of emails and telephone calls went out to Beltram's office, and they seem to have made an impact. Beltram has now extended an official invitation to the Ron Paul campaign to come to Spartanburg County for a question and answer session attended by area residents. Has Beltram seen the error of his ways?

Perhaps he is indeed open to new points of view. Just as likely, though, is that Beltram has learned by watching the tough lessons that have befallen other GOP partisans who have tried to exclude Dr. Paul from participating in their events. Several high-profile cases have shown that such exclusionary practices rarely have the desired effect.

Indeed, Congressman Paul often speaks of what the CIA calls "blowback", the ripple effect of unintended consequences that inevitably result from our foreign policy of intervening in the affairs of other nations. But in this election season we have seen that the partisan politics of exclusion can have blowback of their own.

After one of the televised Republican debates Saul Anuzis, the chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, publicly stated that Ron Paul should be excluded from all further debates because of his stance on foreign policy. Neither understanding the extent of Dr. Paul's support nor the outrage such an official exclusion would cause, Mr. Anuzis found his email box swamped with letters of protest and his telephone line completely shut down. Party outcry was so great that it took a visit to Detroit by RNC chairman Mike Duncan to convince Michigan Republicans that Anuzis was still cut out to be their leader. He also found himself in front of a camera, admitting to Ron Paul meetup coordinator Mike DeWitt that his attempt to exclude Congressman Paul had unintentionally garnered a lot of press for the Paul campaign.

It seems, though, that not everyone was paying attention. On the 30th of June two non-profit organizations in Iowa, the Iowans for Tax Relief and the Iowan Christian Alliance, hosted a Republican presidential candidate forum. They invited everyone but Ron Paul, attempting to excuse the omission by saying that they had decided months in advance that Dr. Paul was not a "credible" candidate. The omission became public knowledge a week or so before the date of the forum. Blowback ensued.

Incensed that a tax relief organization and a Christian organization had conspired to exclude the one candidate that argues for eliminating the income tax and makes a strong case for government non-interference in religious affairs, Ron Paul supporters from around the country bombarded the ITR's office with phone calls and emails. The news that the ITR had cosponsored the National Taxpayers Union conference just two weeks before, at which Ron Paul was a key speaker and received the NTU's "Tax Payer's Friend" award, fanned the flames of outrage. The subsequent revelation that Ed Failor, Jr., the Iowa event's organizer, is a senior advisor to the campaign of John McCain only added fuel to the fire. Failor found himself on the defensive, confronting Paul's campaign manager, Kent Snyder, on WHO talk radio in Iowa, where even the host told him that his excuse for excluding Paul was "lame".

Failor didn't relent and never invited Ron Paul to the forum. Not one to stand down without a fight, Paul rented the room next door to the forum on the very same day and held a "Rally for Life and Liberty", where he addressed an audience of more than a thousand people, nearly twice as many as the other six candidates together drew to Ed Failor's forum next door. Paul supporters from from as far away as Texas and North Carolina descended on Des Moines and spent the day spreading his message to the people of Iowa. The rally received positive coverage in the press, and Ed Failor had learned the meaning of the term "blowback".

Looking back to South Carolina, we can perhaps surmise that Rick Beltram has learned from the happenings in Michigan and Iowa and has decided that trying to fight Ron Paul on this issue just might have some unintended consequences. Rather than experience first hand the effects of partisan blowback, he is attempting to defuse the situation by extending an official invitation to the Paul campaign. If Paul accepts the invitation, Beltram might still be in for a surprise. There is already talk among the Ron Paul faithful of staging another massive rally in Spartanburg and nearby Greenville.

If thousands of Ron Paul supporters descend on this area, widely considered the key to political victory in South Carolina, we just might see that great state return to its Southern roots and embrace a healthy distrust of Washington. The people of South Carolina may just remember that, as Mark Twain himself said, "the Government is merely a servant" that cannot "determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't."

Maybe even guys like Saul Anuzis, Ed Failor, and Rick Beltram will eventually get on board with Ron Paul's message of non-intervention and personal liberty. After all, Twain also told us that "in times of change, the Patriot is a scarce man; brave, hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, however, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a Patriot." Nothing, perhaps, but a little taste of blowback.


R. Kent Nowviskie is a native of the great state of West Virginia, where it still holds true that Mountaineers Are Always Free.
He is a graduate of Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, VA, holds a graduate degree from West Virginia University, and is a veteran of the US Army Infantry.
He is currently an educator in West Virginia, where he also owns and operates his own business.
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