The Importance Of The Republican Nomination Rules Changes

Not a lot has been said in the mainstream about the war over the new Republican National Committee rules governing the presidential nomination process. It has been an ongoing battle since the Mitt Romney presidential campaign lawyers, with the help of the Republican National Committee, hijacked the process in 2012 and muzzled the unruly, freethinking Republicans who dared to challenge the status quo.

The battles have been fought and lost by the grassroots, such as when former National Committeeman Mark Willis opposed Reince Priebus for RNC Chair. The Republican grassroots lost when sweet deals spoke to a number of liberty “leaders” who were elected to positions as part of the Ron Paul presidential campaign infiltration push.

Then there was the Maine Republican Party chair race when National Delegate and veteran Sam Canders lost to moderate Rick Bennett with the help of individuals such as Maine Republican Liberty Caucus Chairman, Vic Berardelli, State Senate candidate Eric Brakey and State Representative Aaron Libby. Canders actually put up a hard fight and possibly could have won had a number of liberty leaders not actively opposed him.

Fast forward to 2014, and the endorsed candidate of various liberty leaders voted for the RNC power grab.

Have we forgotten the 2012 presidential election already?

It’ll never happen again.

What the Ron Paul presidential campaign did was utilized an energetic and diverse grassroots base to score delegates in the nomination race. It turned delegate states into a battleground where conventions ceased to be simple coronations. It was an effective strategy that blindsided the sleeping establishment.

But it’ll never happen again.

In 2012 and elections before, the State Parties had control over their process. This represented a republican approach to the political process that they claim to endorse for our own government. It’s a process that worked for the establishment only because these types of grassroots challenges never happened with such strength. Until Ron Paul.

And only Ron Paul, as it’ll never happen again.

For outsiders of this battle, it may seem trivial. So what? It’s just inside baseball.



The truth is it’s not just inside baseball. The new rules set up by the Republican National Committee will be the difference between a third Bush or Senator Rand Paul being the 2016 presidential nominee. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is an easy establishment favorite because of his name, money, and comfortable background playing it safe on the issues. There is nothing considered “outside-of-the-box” about him, but there is about Senator Paul.



Maybe Democrats, moderate Independents, and centrists prefer Bush, because he is a middle-of-the-road guy. Let’s just hope everyone hasn’t forgotten his brother or father, though. From “mark my words: no new taxes” to bulldozing the Middle East with eternal conflicts and occupations, the Bush political dynasty has been a complete and total disaster.

Senator Rand Paul, who may be considered too extreme for these groups and not extreme enough by some libertarian critics, would still be preferable to another Bush. Senator Paul has stood up against various Orwellian programs the Bush’s supported, such as the NSA and has proven to be a more effective leader than them.

But at this point, the discussion is entirely pointless.

No matter how safe Senator Paul plays it with the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and the rest of the Republican establishment, there will always be someone more controllable. The safest alternative for mainstream Republicans is not going to be the man that a majority of the liberty movement wants.

No matter how entrenched within the party Eric Brakey or others within the liberty movement become, there will always be someone higher with more influence because they’re still considered more controllable and comfortable.

This is the importance of the RNC rules changes.

2016 is coming fast and times are getting scarier in America. Every month, we have a new shocking revelation from a whistleblower such as Edward Snowden about the corruption of the United States Government. The extent of the spying programs against American citizens without due process of law is frightening. Then consider things like the National Defense Authorization Act’s provisions that authorize the President to indefinitely detain a United States citizen without any legal rights, effectively nullifying all constitutional rights.

There isn’t much for Democratic politicians who genuinely care about civil liberties like U.S. Senate candidate Shenna Bellows, so the Republican Party often then sells itself as the alternative to left-wing tyranny. This presents a greater importance to the 2016 elections, as election and ballot access laws are still far too rigged against third party federal candidates.

So who is going to be the Republican alternative to Hillary Clinton? Jeb Bush, because Senator Paul doesn’t have a chance with the power Reince Priebus and the Republican National Committee are going to hold over the nomination process.

President Hillary Clinton or President Jeb Bush, it really doesn’t matter. The NSA wiretaps are still going to continue. All our phone conversations, cell texts, internet messages, personal pictures, and other communications will become intercepted and stored by the United States Government. The president, with access to all this information, will still have the power to indefinitely detain United States citizens without due process of law.


This will continue with the assistance of various liberty movement leaders who, in a bid to maintain political standing, allowed Priebus and Co. to continue providing weak alternatives to the big government Democrats.

Dark days are certainly upon us in America, but we still have yet to hit the pitch black floors of rock bottom.


Chris Dixon

About Chris Dixon

Chris Dixon is a libertarian-leaning writer and managing editor for The Liberty Conservative. In addition to his political writing, he also covers baseball for Cleat Geeks and enjoys writing on a number of other topics ranging on Medium.