Two days ago, I needed to write the following to three leaders among the Republicans:

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Subject: Today's Senate Vote on the Bailout

To:    Mr. Pete Kirkham, Executive Director, NRCC 
         Mr. Tom Cole, Director, NRCC 
         Mr. Tim Albrecht, AFF Political Action

I am horrified to have seen the events that unfolded today in the United States Senate.

Today, over two-thirds of the Senators of my political party, the party that is supposed to be the conservative party, the party that tells me it stands on the Constitution as written, voted in favor of the most massive, socialist-style redistribution of wealth - from responsible earners, savers, and taxpayers, to those who are irresponsible, who do not save, who default on loans, who make bad investments. Under the pretense of nightmare scenarios of the second coming of the Great Depression, these men have voted to reward the mistakes and malfeasances of the irresponsible, on the backs of the people who are the backbone of this country.

Second only to water, there is nothing that seeks its own level more and better that a free-market economy. In a genuine free-market economy, poorly-run businesses sometimes fail. It is not the job or the role of the government to meddle with this. This is how competition works.

The federal government - specifically, the 1995 Clinton-era changes to the CRA, which opened the doors for activist agitators like ACORN and the Greenline Institute to manipulate - caused the current economic situation. These, coupled with the duplicity of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac providing a guaranteed underwriting pool for loans that should never have been written, resulted in what we now call the housing bubble: the escalation of prices artificially as a result of a tremendous increase in demand for homes without a corresponding increase in supply. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac packaged these bad loans as "mortgage-backed securities" and peddled them as an investment products. Needless to say, everyone who has invested in these is now discovering just how sketchy they are. This is remarkably similar to the "junk-bond" investments that manufactured the savings and loan crisis, and I trust each of you has sufficient memory to recall that episode in our recent economic history.

If I were to go to Las Vegas with my life savings and take it to the roulette table, the Federal government wouldn't restore my savings if I were to lose it all, would they? Of course not. I get to keep the profit if I win, and I bear the burden when I lose. Investment in a free-market economy is exactly life that. All these "troubled" companies were able to pocket the increases in the time of profit; on what basis should the loss be nationalized and borne by the taxpaying public?

If I have a cancer, you don't nourish the cancer for the sake of the rest of the body. You remove the cancer so the rest of the body can live. If I have a foot that is irreversibly gangrenous, you amputate it; better that the rest of the body live that the foot go to the grave and take the rest of the body with it. The same applies to an economy. Those companies and institutions that are failing, as a result of poor management and bad investments, you allow them to fail, so the rest of the economy is able to survive. Taking capital away from honest earners and profitable companies and pouring that capital into failing ones is the opposite of a free-market economy.

Understand this - I am a Republican, and have been since I first registered in 1975. I've never missed a state or national election. I am a serious conservative. I have participated in the party, serving in my local State Assembly District committee. I have written and debated in favor of my party. In this election cycle, I have written a series on the presidential election - one that received 800 hits in a single day as a result of one installment in my series. Maybe I'm not a major player, maybe I'm not supremely influential, but I've done my share and been a reliable vote. Sadly, here in California, I have no Senate representation.

On the forum at a friend's website, I wrote the following in a debate that included members of both parties; this was in response to a Ron Paul supporter who wondered at my statement that a Paul supporter should be excited about Mr. McCain because of his selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate:

...

[lengthy quotation deleted for space consideration; supportive of Mr. McCain in part as a result of fiscal restraint]

... 

As a result of Mr. McCain's vote today, I'm sure you can see that I'm going to have some apologizing to do tomorrow.

I hope you can see my perspective. I've stood with the party for years, despite people like Arlen Spector and Lincoln Chafee, as well as my own governor. But today was a make-or-break issue for me. My party has drifted away from me. Given the choice today between free-market capitalism and Soviet-style, central-planning socialism, my party voted for socialism.

I'm going to use a word I don't like using. RINOs. Republicans-In-Name-Only. I feel like my party has become a party of RINOs. Big-government, big-spending, entitlement-expanding RINOs who have forgotten our founding principles and our Constitution we are supposed to hold so dear.

I want to give you a chance to convince me I'm wrong on this. I want to hear back from you, explaining to me what, if anything, my party stands for anymore, and how that is evidenced by the last five years of voting in the Federal Legislature. I have a President who is right on Iraq and wrong about just about everything else, and supported this excuse for a bailout. George W. Bush has abandoned Conservative principles. I have a party nominee to replace him who voted in favor of this bill, and who keeps supporting amnesty for illegal aliens. I have a Congress full of Republicans who spend money like they were Democrats.

I want an explanation of why you aren't all ashamed of yourselves.

I want an explanation of why you think I should give one thin dime to support this party’s candidates, because they seem to keep voting consistently against my best interests, and America's.

I've argued with solid Republicans who feel like they've been sold out by John McCain, and who are voting Libertarian, throwing away their vote because they tell me that can't in good conscience vote for John McCain. The party sold me and America out today, and I feel like I have some friends to whom I owe an apology.

Convince me I'm wrong. And "Barack Obama is worse" in not an answer. I know he's worse. I'm feeling like I'm voting between destroying America quickly and destroying it slowly.

I'm becoming convinced that the only two options are either the formation of a Conservative Party, which would result in a split of the Republican Party and a guarantee that the Democrats would win every election in America for the next twenty years, or another tea party. If the House of Representatives does not vote down this bailout bill, I fully expect to change the party affiliation on my voter registration and withdraw from the Republican Party, because membership does not seem to mean anything anymore. And if I do this, I will write about it and blog about it and speak about it with as much fervor as in the past I have done so in support of the party. And you will be able to thank George W. Bush, John McCain, and every Senator that voted "YES" on the bailout bill for it.

This is your opportunity to convince me I'm wrong about this. I will be awaiting your replies.

Keith Arnold

Today, following the results of the corresponding actions in the House of Representatives, I re-sent it to the chairman of the RNC, with this preamble:

Friday, October 3, 2008

To: Mr. Mike Duncan, Chairman, RNC

After 33 years as a faithful member of the Republican Party, you just lost me. Aiding and abetting the Democrats, we just moments ago approved a socialist bailout and betrayed the free-market capitalism which used to be a necessary support of this once-great nation.

Explain to me if there is any good reason why I should continue to support the party. Explain to me why you are all not ashamed of yourselves. I am ashamed of you. Ronald Reagan is ashamed of you where he is right now.

I wrote the following to Pete Kirkham, Tom Cole, and Tim Albrecht previously. If they have any answer, or if you do, I would love to hear it....

Keith Arnold