Although we’ve heard this word frequently in the past couple days, Tuesday’s elections were indeed “historic.”
Not because one party gained more seats than another in Congress. Not even because incumbents were kicked out in numerous gubernatorial and state legislature races.
But because countless numbers of the American people kept their word to stand up for what they believe in and challenge the establishment.
Politicians have heard lots of talk before, but now they know it will be backed up with action on Election Day.
And those newly-elected know that if they don’t stick to their promises, they’ll be next.
Across the country, there’s plenty of good news to report.
Not only was C4L’s Honorary Chairman, Congressman Ron Paul, returned to office with almost 80% of the vote, but Dr. Paul will be joined in his next term by many who went on the record for liberty by answering our federal candidate survey 100%.
In the Senate, these are Dr. Paul’s son, Rand Paul, who won a significant victory over his opponent, and Mike Lee, who beat out Pro-TARP incumbent Bob Bennett in the primary season and cruised to victory in the national. In the House, the list includes John Duncan (TN-2) and Paul Broun (GA-10).
And joining Dr. Paul in the House for the first time will be Michigan’s Justin Amash and dozens of other anti-status quo Republicans who filled out Campaign for Liberty surveys and/or took strong, clear stands for less government and more liberty.
While the national results stole the spotlight, there was plenty of action going on at the state level, and C4L activists were right in the thick of it.
In Iowa, C4L member Glen Massie beat out an incumbent to win a seat in the Iowa State House, while Ron Paul-endorsed candidate Kim Pearson also won a State House seat and Ron Paul-endorsed Liberty leader Kent Sorenson will now represent Iowa’s 37th District in the State Senate.
In New Hampshire, two liberty-minded candidates won election to the State Senate, and at least 10 Ron Paul supporters won seats in the State House, while longtime Liberty hero Dave Wheeler will be returning to the powerful Governor’s Executive Council.
In Georgia, constitutionalist Barry Loudermilk was elected to the Senate and Bobby Franklin was reelected to the House.
Many, many more stories remain to be told of liberty-stealing incumbents losing their seats and Campaign for Liberty activists taking action, but they will have to wait for another time.
Since C4L’s founding, we have seen a lot of great strides for liberty despite unprecedented challenges, but we cannot afford to hit the brakes now.
Soon, the current Congress – including many of those who went down hard on Election Day – will be back in town for a “Lame Duck” session, and there’s no shortage of bad bills that will come back with it.
Upcoming legislation could include Cap and Tax, DISCLOSE, Card Check Forced Unionism, the FDA’s War on Food, Chris Dodd’s “Livable Communities Act,” Joe Lieberman’s Internet Takeover Bill, and many more. Some in Congress will be itching to repay their Big Government allies for their reelections, and many will know they no longer have to worry about answering to us for their votes.
It’s easy to give lip service to the Constitution while on the campaign trail, but far too often, we’ve seen politicians break their promises and massively increase the size of government once in office.
With our candidate survey program, we put legislators on the record concerning the principles we stand for, and now it’s up to us to hold them accountable for their actions and to continue doing everything in our power to fight for more freedom.
Tuesday’s elections sent a loud and clear message to Washington, D.C. Now it’s time to turn up the pressure and remind the establishment we’re not going away just because Election Day is over.
In Liberty,
John Tate, President