I’m not sure it’ll be enough to set Senator Graham on the right track, but I’d like to offer big kudos to South Carolina’s Charleston County GOP for censuring Senator Graham for his RINO tendencies.  Here’s the text of the resolution (from C4L):

Whereas, U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (SC) and John Kerry (MA) have called for a bipartisan bill dealing with “climate change” via a “Cap & Trade” energy bill;

Whereas, the basis of Cap & Trade – global warming caused by carbon emissions – is still in doubt as evidenced by by the past decade of cooling temperatures;

Whereas, the people of South Carolina can ill afford the job-killing Cap & Trade bill’s ripple effects on our state’s economy and on personal energy bills;

Whereas, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham supported TARP and has shown a willingness to discuss nationalizing U.S. banking institutions;

Whereas, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham has shown a condescending attitude toward his constituents by calling them “bigots” when they oppose his stance on amnesty for illegal aliens;

Whereas, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham has stated on many occasions that his primary concern is to “be relevant”;

Whereas, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham continues to hold the Republican Party hostage and undermines Republican leadership and party solidarity for his own benefit by joining the “Gang of 10″ and the “Gang of 14″;

Whereas, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham – in the name of bipartisanship – continues to weaken the Republican brand and tarnish the ideals of freedom, rule of law, and fiscal conservatism.

Therefore, let it be resolved: The Charleston County Republican Party Executive Committee respectfully requests, with sincere sadness that the South Carolina Republican Party withdraw their resolution commending U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham and that the Charleston County Republican Party censure U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham for many of the positions he has taken that do not represent the wishes of the people of Charleston County South Carolina, such as: passing a “Cap & Trade” energy bill, bailing out banks, and granting amnesty for illegal aliens.

YES, YES, and YES!  This is exactly what is needed.  The Charleston County GOP is on the mark with this.  Lindsey Graham is what’s wrong with the Republican Party, and the people of South Carolina need to step up and let him know it.

Hey, South Carolina, if you want to blog about the liberal ways of Lindsey Graham, check out the FireSenator.com blogs.  I’m looking for contributors from South Carolina, and I’d be thrilled to have someone in S.C. calling out Graham on his many, many inadequacies.  There’s a Fire Lindsey Graham blog already setup and ready for you to start blogging about him today.

I’ve written this post no fewer than 5 times, and after each time through, I have to stop myself, delete the post, and remind myself of what I should (or should not) say in a public forum.

Yesterday I saw this blog post, which has some video footage of a recent town hall meeting with Senator Lindsey Graham.  (The footage is tough to watch and is hard to hear, but it’s definitely worth your time, especially if you live in South Carolina.)

Somebody criticized Graham for not adhering to Constitutional principles, and he went on a rant, somehow getting to “We’re not going to be the Ron Paul party” instead of addressing the constituent’s concerns.  So, in the context of the event, Lindsey Graham admits he is not interested in representing South Carolina on Constitutional principles. Sad.

Lindsey Graham says that the Republican Party is “not going to be the party of the angry white guys.”  The problem with that is that I’m a Republican, and I’m an angry white guy.

I’m angry that Republicans will openly say they have no intention of adhering to Constitutional principles.

I’m angry that Republicans will compromise their standards in the name of bipartisanship.

I’m angry that Republicans insist on legislating morality rather than standing for individual freedom.

I’m angry that Lindsey Graham has the audacity to imply that I don’t belong in the Republican Party.

Lindsey Graham is what’s wrong with the Republican Party.  There’s movement stirring.  You can blame it on Ron Paul if you want to, but it’s not entirely his work.  There are people like me who are not happy with their representation, who will work to do whatever it takes to remove RINOs like Lindsey Graham from office.

We will stand for freedom, and we will be governed by Constitutional principles – whether Lindsey Graham likes it or not.

Yesterday ZDNet some highlights of an interview with Bob Ackerman, founder of Allegis Capital, that highlighted some concerns he has about how the federal government is stifling innovation in Silicon Valley with regulations and red tape.

Innovation is in trouble because of restrictions on H1B visas; unfavorable tax policies regarding stock options; the failure to change Sarbanes-Oxley in regards to startups which increases costs; and the government investing billions of dollars picking winners and losers, such as the bailout of the automakers. It’s all building into a crescendo that harms innovation.

So regulation on employment, high taxes, increased regulation on small businesses, and government bailouts will harm innovation!  Who knew?

Ackerman had some other interesting thoughts as well, but that paragraph is the one that really jumped out at me.  You can read the complete ZDNet post here.

Tonight I stumbled across a transcript of a speech that Ronald Reagan gave in 1964.  It’s amazing how much it still applies today.  Here are a few excerpts from his speech.  The emphasis added is mine.

You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man’s age-old dream–the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order — or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. Regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would sacrifice freedom for security have embarked on this downward path. Plutarch warned, “The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.”

The Founding Fathers knew a government can’t control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. So we have come to a time for choosing.

Public servants say, always with the best of intentions, “What greater service we could render if only we had a little more money and a little more power.” But the truth is that outside of its legitimate function, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector.

Yet any time you and I question the schemes of the do-gooders, we’re denounced as being opposed to their humanitarian goals. It seems impossible to legitimately debate their solutions with the assumption that all of us share the desire to help the less fortunate. They tell us we’re always “against,” never “for” anything.

…

Are you willing to spend time studying the issues, making yourself aware, and then conveying that information to family and friends? Will you resist the temptation to get a government handout for your community? Realize that the doctor’s fight against socialized medicine is your fight. We can’t socialize the doctors without socializing the patients. Recognize that government invasion of public power is eventually an assault upon your own business. If some among you fear taking a stand because you are afraid of reprisals from customers, clients, or even government, recognize that you are just feeding the crocodile hoping he’ll eat you last.

If all of this seems like a great deal of trouble, think what’s at stake. We are faced with the most evil enemy mankind has known in his long climb from the swamp to the stars. There can be no security anywhere in the free world if there is no fiscal and economic stability within the United States. Those who ask us to trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state are architects of a policy of accommodation.

They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong. There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right. Winston Churchill said that “the destiny of man is not measured by material computation. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we are spirits–not animals.” And he said, “There is something going on in time and space, and beyond time and space, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty.”

You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children’s children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.

You can read this speech transcript in its entirety here at Reagan2020.us.  They also have many other speeches from President Reagan that you can read through.

Last week I read remarks that Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said at the South Carolina Republican Convention.

Graham quoted what he called the 11th commandment by saying “Thou shalt not speak ill of other Republicans” and then proceeded to attack the Libertarian leanings of Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX).  He said “Ron Paul is not the leader of this Party” after stating that “we are not going to build this Party around Libertarian ideas.”

He’s partly right – Ron Paul isn’t the leader of the Republican party.  The Republican Party doesn’t have a leader. The big government RINO Republicans like Lindsey Graham, Saxby Chambliss, and Johnny Isakson who claim to be real conservatives but whose actions in the Senate say otherwise don’t want to build the party on Libertarian ideas. They know that Republican voters excited about true liberty will fire their Senators for someone ready to get government out of peoples’ lives.

He’s scared.  And he should be.  He’s part of the problem.

There’s a movement of people – and it’s not just the Ron Paul crowd – that’s sick of big government and is looking for a change. They’re looking for a leader.  They’re looking for someone who understands what the role of government in citizens’ lives should be.

The Republican Party is split into 3 very different groups: those who favor and support the government expansion since 2000, those who favor big government legislating morality, and those who want a smaller government that gets out of their lives.  We’re divided; we have no leader, and the Party will never succeed until we get solid leadership.

I don’t know who the next leader of the Party will be, but Lindsey Graham is fooling himself if he thinks that Republicans are going to continue to put up with the type big government foolishness that he has been a part of.  Lindsey Graham’s ignorance and arrogance will eventually cost him his job.

Those of you who didn’t realize there were more than 2 (or maybe 3) people on the ballot in last month’s Presidential election may not know who Chuck Baldwin is.  Baldwin is a Pastor in Pensacola, Florida, and was the Presidential nominee for the Constitution Party.

Baldwin wrote a column yesterday called “where are Dobson and PCC now?“about the religious right’s undying love for President Bush.  The “PCC” in that title is my alma mater, Pensacola Christian College.

Quoting Baldwin (emphasis mine):

Since 2000, James Dobson, Pensacola Christian College (PCC), and their peers around the country have had an eight-year lovefest with George W. Bush. Life-size cardboard posters of Bush have stood in their bookstores for eight long, laborious years. Grade school children in their Christian schools have been subjected to Bush propaganda for eight tedious, tiresome years. To them, G.W. Bush ranks somewhere between Moses and the Almighty. And nothing Bush said or did seemed to matter.

Bravo, Chuck.  Bravo.

The elections are over.  Finally.

That last month here in Georgia was pretty brutal.  The ads going back and forth between Saxby Chambliss and Jim Martin were nauseating at best. But now it’s over.

So now what?

Now is when we get active. Now is when we watch what’s going on in Washington and give constant reminders to our representatives about who they represent and what we stand for.

We have a lot of work to do. There’s talk of the Republican party returning to real conservatism, but we’ve got a long way to go.

A great place to find contact information for your representatives is at congress.org. You just enter your zip code, and it gives you all the contact information for your Congressman and Senators.

Find your representatives. Put them on speed dial. Let them where you stand, and do all you can to pull them back to the right. We can do this. We must.